Archive for November, 2009

FRINGE SEASON 2 EPISODE 8: “AUGUST”

When a rogue Observer kidnaps a young woman, the Fringe team and the other Observers (Yes! There are more than one! Imagine MY shock when I found out) try to figure out why and Walter worries that they’ve come to collect a debt.

The Observer, named August (which leads me to believe there are 12 observers in all, being named after each month of the year) kidnaps  Christine, a young art student, and The Fringe Division is quickly on the case. Especially Peter. If you remember last season in the episode “The Arrival” The Observer first appeared causing Peter to become really interested in joining the Fringe Division.  Walter seemed more secretive than usual in this weeks’ episode since it was The Observer who, if you remember, saved Walter and Peter when their car crashed into a lake… though we all know there’s more to that story.

We also learn that The Observers have been present all throughout time including, but not limited to, the Boston Massacre, the beheading of Marie Antoinette, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  It would seem they are here to observe disasters and death, and to make sure that these disasters occur as they’re supposed to.

August didn’t exactly kidnap Christine, but saved her from boarding a flight to Rome that eventually crashed, killing everyone on board and The other Observers do not approve and send a hit man to finish the job. Furthermore, we learn that August was present when Christine and her parents were caught in the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco. Her parents died in the quake but Christine survived and August has been watching her ever since.

August seeks out  Walter’s help in order to prevent Christine’s death. He tells Walter that he in particular can help him because he had solved a similar problem. “Not really, I just missed my son,” Walter replies. We did learn after all that Walter made a deal with one of The Observers for Peter; a deal perhaps Walter hasn’t fully lived up to??

Anywho, as we all know, August goes back to Christine and sets her free before he fights the hitman, gets shot just as Olivia and Peter arrive, gives Peter his cool gun and Peter shoots and kills the hitman. August disappears when the other Observers somehow swoop in and pick him up. As August lies in the back seat of the car, he confesses that he loved her and that was why he decided to save her. Now, in some weird Observer “code”, this means Christine deserved to be spared since August gave up his life to save hers, and somehow was worthy of remaining alive. Proving that The Observers do have some capacity of concern in them for earthlings. And, Olivia got to conquer her fear of rollercoasters as two Observers let her have her happy moment. For as they said, “Things are going to get very hard for her after all.

Comments?? Questions?? Feel free to leave them!

Until Next Time,

Michael Queenstown

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Desperate Housewives

Season 6; Episode 8

“Coffee Cup”

This week Susan manages to avoid jail time for shooting Katherine, AND instead is sentences to garbage pick up for all of her “trash talking” of Katherine. Talk about the punishment fitting the crime!  Katherine taunts Susan and her orange jumpsuit, and Susan to turn the tables on her. Katherine has a hissy fit and reveals that she and Mike once had sex five times in one day, which of course gets Susan all worked up. When Susan can’t get Mike in the sack more than three times in one day, she has one of her typical annoying tantrums. Mike comforts her by telling her that the only reason he and Katherine had sex five times in one day is that the sex was the only thing that their relationship was founded on. I guess this was meant to be an “aww” inducing moment, but I was too busy wondering where M.J. has been in the last few episodes.  Besides, I couldn’t be more over the whole Mike, Susan, Katherine love triangle.

On to Angie, who is becoming my favorite addition to any of the seasons so far. And to be honest, the other housewives toils and tribulations were becoming dull and boring, and almost made me give up the show altogether after the dismal season five. Anyway, Angie’s now beside herself, what with giving Nick grief about his affair with Julie and being too involved with Bree’s life.  Orson admits to Angie that he suspects Bree is having an affair, and of course, Angie immediately tells Bree.  She refuses to spy on Bree, and yet still manages to get all tangled up in it, looking on as Orson enters the house while Bree and Karl are upstairs getting it on. Angie intervenes and saves the day, but how long before she asks Bree to return the favor. Also, when Orson is discussing the plot of Madame Butterfly, I got the impression he was hinting at the thought of killing  himself because he will, as everyone else in due time, find out about Bree’s affair. Personally, both Karl and Orson kind of bug me so I’m just as torn as Bree is about which man to choose.

Elsewhere, Lynette thinks she has the perfect way to hide her expanding secret pregnancy. She’ll just wear Tom’s clothes! Ah, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, when she and Gaby start squaring off over one of Lynette’s colleagues. Gaby convinces Carlos to transfer Terrence, the colleague in question, to Florida so that Juanita can take Terrence’s daughter’s spot at a Catholic school. Realizing that she won’t be able to take maternity leave without Terrence, Lynette turns the tables and convinces Terrence to reject the transfer. The tables turn on Lynette when Gaby discovers that she’s pregnant — and Carlos is pissed. He gives Lynette an ultimatum — take the spot in Florida, or quit. Though Carlos’s anger is understandable, I think I’m on Lynette’s side here. Carlos had been complaining about another co-worker’s pregnancy, so Lynette had every right to be scared to tell him.

And, lastly, who killed the coffee shop waitress at the end of the episode? We know Nick was the only customer in the place right before it happened, but could it be THAT obvious? Where has Danny been? Was it him? Was He watching through the window?  Are you in favor of Orson or Karl? Tell me!

As there will be no episode this week due to the American Music Awards, we’ll talk again in 2 weeks!!

Until Next Time!

Michael Queenstown

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FRINGE

SEASON 2; EPISODE 7

“OF HUMAN ACTION”

Another great episode of “Fringe” with all the twists and the high intensity moments that the show is famous for. And I wouldn’t want it any other way!
Episode seven: “Of Human Action” begins with a hostage situation, a suspected kidnapping that then turns strange when the kidnappers appear to have mind control capabilities. However, this IS Fringe, and as I had figured out after a few scenes, in all actuality the boy named Tyler is actually the kidnapper, just using two patsies to make it look more believable.

Now, the episode takes us back to Massive Dynamic, where Tyler’s Dad is a researcher and as they realize Tyler’s Dad and Massive Dynamic are involved, she of course, in true Nina Sharp fashion, offers any assistance Fringe Division needs.  But, do we ever really know when or not to trust anyone from Massive Dynamic?

Peter is kidnapped by Tyler as he goes on a search to find his mother, who apparently abandoned him and his father when he was young.  And in true Fringe fashion Walter saves the day by discovering a way of shutting down Tyler’s mind and blocking his capabilities.

With Tyler incapacitated all seems right with the world until Nina corresponds with Bell, sending him an email update about how their “Tyler Project” is progressing.  We also see that there are many more versions of “Tyler” and it seems this one malfunctioned. And what is Massive Dynamics fascination with mind control, anyway? I’m Sure we haven’t seen the last of mind control. Or Have we?

I am very excited to see more. How about you?

Until Next Time

Happy Viewing!

Michael Queenstown

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Hello Housewife watchers!

Not the BEST episode by far this season, but I guess they’re just getting geared up for the big plane crash episode.

First of all, where were Anna and Celia? Maybe we’ll see them next week, who knows? Other than that, Juanita is a snooty little kid, working on my last nerve, and Gaby really isn’t meant to be a teacher at all. I’m glad they figured that out, too, because all the yelling was getting old to me. The kid just needs a good spanking, sorry.

I know it’s not her fault, but somehow Lynette just becomes the one that everyone confides in. I’m glad she stood up to Nick. And I’m glad that she and Tom went to the police to tell them what they know.

Well, no Karl rendezvous this week. Looks like Bree is keeping true to her word. That and the fact that she got a client wanted an Italian Spread at their wedding anniversary, so Bree “borrowed” Angie’s Grandmothers super-secret family recipes. Ultimately Bree hired Angie to work for her, and I was quite entertained to see such different ladies working together.

Katherine got Susan thrown in jail by police detective guest star Kathy Najimy, who back in High School her boyfriend was stolen away by Susan. Susan, apparently was quite the popular girl in high school and just so happened the one girl who didn’t like her decided to be her detective on the case to solve Julie’s attack. I think next week will be better when Susan actually goes to court against Katherine.

I am loving Angie more and more with her straightforward personality, and then the fact that she knew about Nick’s affair and then punched him over it, and her amazing Italian cooking…yeah she’s a keeper. However, I do love the mystery, too, when she was fighting with Nick and saying how they can’t leave each other; yeah, I’m waiting for that storyline to come to a head. I Still say they are either in witness protection or in the mob…

Next week looks quite promising, with a trial, sleeping around, and, well basically another day on Wisteria Lane!!

Until Next Time

Happy Viewing

Thanks for visiting and leave your comments if you like!

Michael Queenstown

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FRINGE SEASON 2; EPISODE 6: “EARTHLING”

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Stephen Pearlman, aka Haberdashery

Haberdashery – Valence

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit right off the bat that I am friends with the driving force behind Haberdashery, Stephen Pearlman. This will not read as much as a review (and for this purpose, there will be no “stars” attached to this), but rather an advertisement. But the thing is, I believe in the Haberdashery experience, and would really like the listeners and readers of WAGM to believe in it, too. So, you may ask, why would one want to believe? Haberdashery is someone you should know.

For those of you who are Erasure fans, Haberdashery will not disappoint you in the least. Chicago based, and working out of a home-studio (although you’d never know it listening to the final product), Haberdashery invokes many of the styles and beats that would sound very familiar on an Erasure record, without sounding like a clone. There’s a “voice of his own” quality that is still unmistakable. Valence has one common theme: love. Whether it be about love lost, or love found, it’s love, love, love… And in a world filled with nothing but fear and contempt these days, wouldn’t some love be very refreshing right about now?

Valence is the 5th Haberdashery release. The new single is “I Love You Too,” with a video featuring someone very near and dear to my heart… ME! There’s several other folks in the video who are near and dear to my heart, as well. Other songs of note on the record are “Two Become One” (the single for which containing an incredible Japanese sounding remix, the Matsuri Mix, and a wonderful cover of the Rufus Wainwright song “Poses”), “Paradise,” and “Stars.”

I invite you, actually implore you to check out this fantastic Chicago artist. Go to www.haberdasheryinfo.com for more information and the ability to sample and purchase, or add Haberdashery as a friend on Facebook or MySpace as soon as you can. Haberdashery is someone you should know. This is what it’s like when music becomes fun.

As I’m new to the WAGM family, I thought I’d give you, my utterly intelligent and sexy readers, an idea of who I am by giving you mini blurbs on some of my favorite albums ever. This way you can understand where I, the marginally intelligent and sexy reviewer, might be coming from on the rest of my reviews going forward. I’m not going to even attempt to put these in some sort of order, as I’d be spending the rest of my life trying to make the musical equivalent of Sophie’s Choice, and to keep it to an even 10, I had to leave many albums out. However, I think this gives you a good cross-section of my tastes. Let’s begin… 

Cibo Matto – Viva! La Woman (1996): There are so many things to say about this album, I don’t even know where to begin. 2 Japanese girls, who moved to NYC, formed a band with an Italian name which roughly translates to “lover of food,” and created an album of songs using food as a metaphor for sex throughout the entire time (I’ll let you figure out what “Sugar Water” means, ’cause I know my take on it is quite dirty). Is the album pop, is it trip-hop, is it alternative, is it creepy? The answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes. Notable tracks: “Sugar Water,” “Apple,” “Know Your Chicken,” and “Theme,” which clocks in at almost 11 minutes, and will both bring you up, and calm you down. There’s even a cover of the classic “The Candy Man” on here that you wouldn’t even recognize. 

The Beatles – The Beatles (The White Album) (1968): I know, I know, pretty trite to include a Beatles album on here, and usually people go for the usual suspects like Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band or Abbey Road (which are also incredible records, and Abbey used to be my favorite), but this one just grabs me. It’s the album where the most variety is shown (proof: Birthday and Revolution 9 are on the same record? Really?). The tension that the Fab Four had at that time only helped to fuel the fire, so to speak. The ironic thing is that this is the album where they worked with each other the least, utilizing approximately 50 guest musicians in the process, including Eric Clapton on the classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps;” and yet, this is the album they chose to self-title.

Notable tracks: “Revolutions 1 and 9″ (for different reasons), “While My Guitar…,” “Back in the USSR,” and too many more to mention here. 

They Might Be Giants – Flood (1990): To call TMBG quirky would be like calling Barack Obama the current President of the USA. It’s not a label, it’s just a fact. These guys have even gotten into making quirky children’s albums such as No! and Here Come The ABC’s! Early in their career, they released what I consider to be their masterpiece. 19 songs over 43 minutes that never leave you wondering if they can get weirder in their lyrical tone, or their musical style. Even as they proclaim “I’ve got a simple message and I’m leaving out all the whistles and bells,” there’s plenty of whistles and bells on this record to keep you bopping your head around. Notable tracks: “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” “Particle Man,” and the self-titled “They Might Be Giants.” 

XTC – Skylarking (1986): XTC had a very wide and changing career, starting off as a new-wave band in the late 70s, all the way to their most recent releases, one of which was dubbed as “orch-ustic.” In the mid-80’s, they got Todd Rundgren as a producer, and released their masterpiece, Skylarking. This isn’t a concept record, persay, but there’s different flows of ideas that happen on this record. “Summer’s Cauldron” flows into the song “Grass” (summer and grass, see?), “Ballet For A Rainy Day” flows into “1000 Umbrellas,” and “Dear God” flows into the song “Dying,” which flows into “Sacrifical Bonfire,” the last of which being more of a thematic flow. You may remember that the video for “Dear God,” was nominated for a few MTV Video Music Awards very early in the life of the VMA’s. Notable tracks: the ones I listed above. (Note: the original version of this album didn’t have “Dear God” on it, but had a track called “Mermaid Smiled.” Make sure you get the updated version. 

Gavin Bryars with Tom Waits– Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1993): This is the one that’s going to make most of you go “what?” Classical minimalism at its absolute best. Take a London hobo from the early 70s, record him singing a drinking song about Jesus, sample him, loop the sample for over 70 minutes, add an ever changing orchestra, and then let the demonically voiced Tom Waits duet with the bum for about the last 20 minutes of the composition, and here you are. The first time I was given a chance to hear this album, I said “c’mon, you’re kidding, right?” Nobody’s kidding here. If you’re a minimalism fan at all, and you don’t have this album, you’re missing out. You really are. The original 1971 recording of this piece was only one side of one vinyl album, approximately 25 minutes long. Tom Waits met Gavin Bryars at a party and said he’d lost his copy of said album, and wondered if Bryars could get him another one. The answer, for all intents and purposes, was “only if you do me a favor.” Hence, this recording was born. 

Joni Mitchell – Hejira (1976): To start, I’m an unabashed Joni apologist. I think she’s possibly the greatest female singer-songwriter of her generation, or any other. She also crosses the gender line as being one of the greatest singer-songwriters ever. Of course, everyone knows her 1974 hit single “Help Me,” but that’s only part of the story here. Joni’s career includes folk, pop, jazz, and orchestral genius. Hejira is a border album between the pop and jazz phases of her career. Hejira, or also spelled Hjira, refers to Muhammad and his followers escaping Mecca to the city of Medina, marking the first year on the Islamic Calendar. Joni uses this term to describe a cross-country driving trip across the United States that she had recently taken all by herself. As with all of her work, it is very confessional, very personal work; but it’s also very deft at still providing a third person point of view in some of the tracks. My favorite Joni song of all-time starts off this album, “Coyote,” about being a “prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.” The title track, “Hejira,” has some of the most intricate chord structures that Joni would ever put together, and some of the most personal lyrics she ever wrote. “Amelia” is a song about Amelia Earhart, and is said to be written “from one solo pilot to another.” 

Radiohead – OK Computer (1997): This really took the band that recorded the college-radio hit “Creep” and propelled them into absolute legendary status. It’s an album that is inspired by Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew without sounding like it. Thom Yorke once described that as wanting to build something up and then watch it fall apart, which he says is what they tried to do with OK Computer. While they claim it is not a concept record, it is hard not to hear a theme of how modern electronic life can drive one absolutely insane, even to the point of suicide. Take note of that last sentence, because this is anything but a happy album. And really, how good is an album when the band records it and realizes they can never do anything better in that genre so they decide to start switching up their style? OK Computer was the culmination of a 3-album arc that began with Pablo Honey and The Bends. They showed that they had completely matured from their initial releases. And after, decided they’d rather go in a more electronic rock direction with the albums Kid A and Amnesiac. Most of you will be familiar with the songs “Karma Police” and “No Surprises,” (the prettiest song ever about suicide) which are 2 of their best compositions ever, and possibly “Paranoid Android,” which goes in a few directions during it’s 6:23, evoking memories of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” without ever sounding like it. “Fitter Happier” is hardly even a song as much as it is a collection of buzz-phrases from the 90s spoken by a computer over a series of sounds that can only be described as eerie. It’s no wonder why OK Computer was once referred to as “the Dark Side of the Moon of its generation,” because it truly is.

George Michael – Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (1990): Do I have an affinity for this record because it was released around the time I was starting college? Sure, we all love our “college albums.” Do I have an affinity for this album just because it’s George Michael? I sure do. But here’s the thing, this is one hell of a mature record from a man who had made a career in fluff-pop and controversial sex songs up until this point. It was with Listen that George Michael said to hell with convention, and wrote completely from his heart. “Praying For Time” could be the best song he ever wrote, dealing with many social ills, and was a #1 hit despite not having a widely distributed video, which was unheard of in the year 1990. The album would be the first of 2 to contain a cover of a Stevie Wonder song, “They Won’t Go When I Go,” and GM accurately conveys the same emotion that Stevie did when he first recorded it back in 1974. And why just cover “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” when you can incorporate it into a new composition, “Waiting For That Day,” which Georgios Kyriacos Panayioutu does on this album (did you know that was his real name?). This album destroyed the notion of what George Michael was in Wham! and what was recorded on Faith, and classically set the tone for the rest of his career into a thoughtful songwriter, for which I think he is so truly underrated.

D’Angelo – Voodoo (2000): Where the hell has this guy been for 9 years? Seriously. He releases his stellar debut, Brown Sugar, and then comes out with an absolute masterpiece in Voodoo, and then just drops off the face of the Earth, getting into a car accident and getting kind of fat in the process. Voodoo is in a tight race with Andre 3000’s The Love Below from OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as the best album that Prince never recorded. D’Angelo has never made it a secret that he’s very heavily inspired by Prince, and it couldn’t show anymore on this album, even including a song called “Chicken Grease,” a phrase that Prince himself used on the 1987 album Sign O The Times. When your album contains a video that is merely nothing more than your standing shirtless in front of a black screen singing your song, and it’s one of the best videos ever, you know you’ve got something special on your hands. Notable tracks include the wonderful cover of Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” for which the shirtless video was made, “Playa Playa,” “Devil’s Pie,” and the aforementioned “Chicken Grease.” And speaking of Prince… 

Prince – Sign O The Times (1987): Anyone who knows me has been waiting for this entry to pop up, so I figured I’d use it last to keep ‘em reading. If I’m a Joni Mitchell apologist, then I’m a downright worshipper of Prince. Well, let’s be clear about that, everything he did up until the late 90s. Since then, it’s been hit or miss, but while Purple Rain always gets the most accolades, it’s Sign O The Times that is truly his masterpiece. Much like The Beatles’ White Album, this sprawling 2-disc set shows the most variety of his career. Starting with the title-track, which is much like George Michael’s “Praying For Time,” in how it addresses problems in our society. Unfortunately, those ideas he brings up are still very much prevalent over 22 years after the album’s release. But the rest of the album doesn’t just work off of the “things are screwed up” concept. “Play In The Sunshine,” which follows “Sign,” is a playful song. “Housequake” is just downright funky. “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” straddles the line between sexy and pensive in a way that nobody else could ever pull off. “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night” is such an incredible song that it doesn’t even have a studio version, because it doesn’t need one. Heck, “U Got The Look” is a good song, and hit #2 on the charts, and it’s not even close to the best track on the record. My personal favorite is “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” a song both about sex and friendship that TLC covered, not taking into account that it was supposed to be sung by a man. Don’t believe me? Read the lyrics.

It would be completely unfair to say that I was expecting more from this album, because I’d not heard much of Owl City before listening to Ocean Eyes, except for their hit single from earlier this year, “Fireflies.” Keeping that track in mind, I expected a really fun album. What I got was kind of a mess.

Owl City is just a band name for Adam Young from Minnesota. He’s a 1-man synthpop/electronic band, and at moments on this record, it shows. I suppose there’s an easy way to describe the album, which is schizophrenic. It can’t decide whether it’s synthpop, electronic, acoustic, rock, or just plain ol’ pop. And at the same time, the album seems to be broken up into 2 sections, fast and slow.

I’m a big believer in song-placement making or breaking a record. In this case, the album starts out pretty fast and poppy, and then veers off into this section of nothing but mid-tempo ballads. And the whole time, you’re left wondering, “Who is this guy, and what is he trying to say?” In my opinion, it’s good when you have a band that does ballads with the occasional upbeat track, or vice-versa. In this case, it’s split way too much down the middle.

Not to say there aren’t good songs on the record. “Fireflies,” “Dental Care” (the happiest song ever about going to the dentist), “Hello Seattle,” and “Vanilla Twilight” are a few that come to mind. But this album goes away from the “album” concept and starts to sound like a collection of singles. And, wuite frankly, while a drum-kit works on the more electronic sounding songs, I’d have preferred to hear a regular drum-set during some of the more organic sounds.

And going back to the song-placement concept, why would you put a remix of an earlier track (“Hello Seattle,” which actually would work quite well in a club setting) before ending with a new song? Breaks it up in a way it shouldn’t, when the rest of the album isn’t broken up in a way it should. As it’s got an issue of being too 50-50, and trying to play all sides of a multi-sided coin, I don’t feel comfortable reviewing it any differently.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

~Mark Massi

This is the debut studio record from the ambient duo Jónsi & Alex, a collaboration between Sigur Rós vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi) and partner Alex Somers that deftly combines acoustic instrumental music alongside a string quartet, Amiina, and the Kópavogsdætur Choir. To call the album ambient is truly understating things. The ambient can be carved with a chainsaw.

I have to admit openly, I’m not always the biggest fan of the work of Sigur Rós, Iceland’s second most famous musical export after Björk. Sometimes, I feel like their stuff drags on a little too long, and is slow and depressing for the sake of being slow and depressing. But the Riceboy Sleeps album doesn’t have those qualities. While some of the track times are fairly long, they’re not too long. And without any discernable lyrics, it’s tough to be depressed by this record. It’s one of those good “I really need to relax right now, possibly even sleep, and I need an album to help me do that” albums. The acoustic qualities blend beautifully with the less organic qualities of the record. It’s tough to say much more about a record that has very little to say itself. 

Notable tracks: “Boy 1904,” which supposedly has the last known castrati singer ever recorded (thank God they stopped that barbaric practice), “Daníell In The Sea,” (for which there is a video on their official website), and the opening cut “Happiness,” which has many qualities of the Gavin Bryars 1995 minimalist-classical piece The Sinking Of The Titanic without ever really stealing from it. 

3.5 out of 5 stars.

~Mark Massi

It’s fairly obvious to fans of Stephen Patrick Morrissey and his previous band, The Smiths, that he’s not always the happiest man on the planet.  You merely need to cite the lyric “Good times, for a change…” from the Smiths song “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” to prove that point, amongst countless of other lyrics.  Moz’s music can often be described as “razor to the wrists” kind of fare.  I think if he released a happy record talking about how content he is with his life, many fans might actually start to worry about him (example: it hardly ever works when The Cure tries to be happy).

Well, don’t you worry, this isn’t a happy album.  But here’s the thing, it sounds happy.  In a way, even though the lyrics still convey a state of unhappiness, despair, or even giving up, so much of the record is uptempo and peppy that it takes a few listens to realize that the guy’s still as melancholy as he’s always been, proving the validity of the grey hair he now dons in the temples.  And unlike a few of his more recent releases (Ringleader of the Tormented, You Are The Quarry, and Maladjusted), there’s more of a cohesive feel to this album.  It’s a fast paced record that clocks in just over 40 minutes (unless you get the ITunes version with 2 bonus tracks), and I never feel like the album is dragging.

It starts off with a bang with the excellent track “Something is Squeezing My Skull,” a rocky track that features the lyrics “Thank you, drop dead,” and a list of generic medications with their brand names… and it works.  This spring’s single “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris,” while one of the slower songs on the record, is also one of the better ones that basically says, “if you’re not going to be here for me and to hold me, I’m just going to Paris.”  Hey, who can blame him, right?

In my humble and scary opinion, every track on this album is a highlight, but if you had to nail me down to just a couple more than the ones listed in the previous paragraph, I’d go with “Mama Lay Softly On the Riverbed,” “When Last I Spoke To Carol” (which has a slight flamenco feeling in the guitar at times), and “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell.”  If I had to change 1 thing about this album, it would be the ending to “You Were Good In Your Time,” which sort of trails on for 2 minutes of just sounds and such that could have easily been condesnsed to about 30 seconds.  But if that’s the only complaint I have, I’d say this is a pretty strong record.

Why am I reviewing an album that came out this past winter now?  Because if you don’t have it yet, you need it.  Plain and simple.

5 out of 5 stars.

~Mark Massi