449 - WAR - The World is a Ghetto

We're just going to have to put this album in the "It's not bad, but not my cup of tea" category. After having some fun with "The Cisco Kid" and "Where Was You At," the bulk of the remainder of the album is one HUGE jazz-funk jam. I'm just not much of a jam person. An epic song or two? Yes. But "City, Country, City," (13 min) "Four Cornered Room," (8.5 min) and "The World is a Ghetto" (10 min) being back to back completely fatigued me. When I would just listen to the songs by themselves, I was able to appreciate them more. These are good songs that may have benefited from breaks between them since, to me, they all seemed to blend into each other and seemed like one HUGE 31 minute jam on my mp3 player.


Songs I knew I liked: "The Cisco Kid"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Where Was You At?" and "City, Country, City," the latter illustrating its title well with sections of hustle and bustle sandwiching where the harmonica just sways in the breeze. There is no doubting that every instrument in the band got a chance to shine during the course of the song.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I wouldn't want to listen to the full album again, but having these tracks in shuffle with other albums/artists or a mix tape wouldn't be bad.

448 - Cheap Trick - In Color

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. You mention Cheap Trick and I instantly think of "I Want You To Want Me." Oh, how I hate that song. Well...apparently, after hearing the studio version on In Color, I now realize that I just hate the Live at Budokan version of the song. I actually really enjoy the version I heard today.

Cheap Trick has been one of those bands that sound great in print, but I've had uneasy feelings of the songs I've heard from them. There's something in their power pop formula that is out of balance for me. After this album, I think my problem has to do with the 70's hard rock element. I love the power pop, the elements of punk, and the guitar work is extremely impressive. It are the songs like "Big Eyes" and "You're All Talk," with the stronger levels of 70's hard rock, that grate on me. I like the balance you get on songs like "Hello There," "Downed," and "Oh Caroline" a bit more. Maybe it is the production and the vocal delivery, I'm not exactly certain what it is that tips the scales one way or the other for me with Cheap Trick.

Songs I knew I liked: "Hello There"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Downed," "I Want You To Want Me," "Oh Caroline," "So Good to See You," and "Oh Boy"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Big Eyes" - ugh.

Writer's Block: Double vision

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The biggest what if I have about my life is what it would be like if I went the music radio route instead of rolling with the punches and staying in talk radio after getting a job there. As if I haven't demonstrated my desire to program a music station enough on this blog through the years, I will never quite settle down until I either can get a good idea on what it would have been like or I get a "late in life" second chance somehow. Maybe talk radio kept me employed in radio where I would have struggled more in music radio...possibly never quite able to become the music/program director that I've always dreamed of being and instead spending my life feeling trapped in another department. *shrugs*

447 - Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

The band is the same as would later put out Freedom of Choice, but I do miss the keyboards when I listen to this earlier album. It was quite a move at the time to use keyboards as much as they did with Q: Are We Not Men?, but the instrument is still in a secondary role behind the wiggly, jittery guitars. If you ignore the vocals and lyrics entirely, they don't sound terribly different from others on the scene on this album.

Q: Are We Not Men? is filled with songs that explore what it is to be a man: the hormones, the masculinity, the humanity, and man vs. woman. Mark Mothersbaugh's vocals add its own dimension to the words he sings (sometimes in support and others in seeming contrast). Let's face it, no one is going to confuse Mark's singing with Glen Danzig or Nick Cave.

Songs I knew I liked: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Mongoloid," and "Homo Jocko"

Songs I didn't know but now like: I've heard the album a few times in the past. My listening to it today didn't drastically change my opinion on any songs. I like it better overall than I did previously, though. If I had to pick one, I'd probably say that I like "Praying Hands" a bit more.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Sloppy" and "Shrivel Up" really do absolutely nothing for me.