TONIGHT: Adler's Appetite

This is a little confusing: Steven Adler, the OG drummer for the OG Guns 'N Roses and his band will be at (here's the most confusing part) Big Mama's Karaoke Cafe in Seymour (just outside of Knoxville) tonight.

First of all, the fact that Steven is still playing and touring, let alone still alive, is beyond me. And the fact that he is able to play old school GNR songs and isn't/hasn't been sued by Axl is also beyond me. But the fact that he is playing a show to 300 people in Seymour, Tennessee at Big Mama's Karaoke Cafe is the most puzzling piece of this story to me.

Anyways, check him out here tonight, and on his Myspace to hear the tunes. If I make it down there, I'll let you know how it is.

Best of '08: A Little Late

2009 is here, and already a week is gone. The blogging vay-cay is over and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things. I had originally intended to have my Best Albums of 2008 set up to coincide with the 12 Days of Christmas, but like it did with many this year, Christmas snuck up quicker than ever, and was gone even faster.

So, pretty much here's my BO'08 list, broken down into two halves. And I went with the 13 best albums. "13?" you ask.

"Why not?", I say. 13 is rock and roll, right?

And by "The Best", I mean the albums I liked the most and that I enjoyed listening to...these are not necessarily albums that will change the world.

But they will change your mood.

The Best Albums of 2008

+++++

#13. Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind - Lost Highway Records

Hayes broke through this year with an album full of drinking, loving, losing and Jesus. You know, a good old country album, full of cliches and twang. But this is good, and Hayes has a sense of humor and doesn't take himself too seriously, especially in the novelty hit "She Left Me For Jesus", for which he won Americana Music Association Song of the Year.

Review previous Hayes posts here.

+++++

#12. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue - Warner Brothers

Jenny Lewis breaks from her gig with the Watson Twins and joins up with Elvis Costello , the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson and others to deliver an album mixed with her swingin' blues tunes, her sexy rockers and soulful tunes that can only be delivered as Jenny Lewis does.

+++++

#11. Backyard Tire Fire - The Places We Lived - Hyena Records

Backyard Tire Fire's '08 release should probably be higher on my list, but several of my previous favorite bands released stellar albums (which we will get to), and without being a fan boy (as if), I gotta go with the albums that I simply couldn't stop listening to. Backyard Tire Fire is up there, just not quite all the way. If you haven't heard this record, you definitely need to. It's got a little bit of everything on it that a rock record should, but don't take my word for it. Go get it.

Review previous Backyard Tire Fire posts here, including my interview with vocalist Ed Anderson.

+++++

#10. Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine - Rounder Records

The Delta Spirit came out of nowhere this year with an outstanding record, complete with old-timey piano, a harmonica and trumpet, a marching band bass drum and a trashcan lid? How can this be? I don't know either, but it's damn good. Oh, and these white kids from Cali have more soul, and what I like to call 'the hurt', than I've heard in a long, long time. Fo' reals. Check out "People, Turn Around" if you don't believe me. If you haven't heard "Trashcan", do yourself a favor and buy it at least right now. The record is great, but their show is unbelievable. If you have a chance to see them live, do it (they are touring the South in February). It felt like a religious experience to me. I left the show feeling more uplifted, and emotionally exhausted, than I had in quite some time, especially from going to a show.

That, my friends, is what music and shows are all about.

I interviewed the multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist but primarily bass player Jon Jameson between their Knoxville and Nashville shows in the fall, and just before he spent a night in the pokey in Hudspeth County, Texas. Somehow though, with the craziness of Knoxville, and me, I haven't gotten around to cleaning it up and posting it. I should probably work on that.

Review previous Delta Spirit posts here. DS will be on Jimmy Kimmel on January 16, so set up those DVRs or put on a pot of coffee and be sure to catch them.

+++++

#9 - Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy - Geffen Records

I can't help it. I didn't want to like it. I didn't at first. But I gave the Axl project one more listen. Upon doing this, I heard something that I didn't catch the first time, and it made me listen another time to see what else I missed. That led to another round, and then another, and another. The next thing I knew, I listened to the album straight through four or fives times, and kept it in the car cd player (no iPod for this guy...) for at least a week and a half straight. Seriously.

This was followed by me then knowing every song well enough to whistle the hooks and the choruses, and it just went downhill from there, fast. I tried. I really did. I didn't want to like it. I didn't like the single of "Chinese Democracy". But if one thing can be said, this is a creeper album. Probably the biggest creeper of all time.

I do know it's the most expensive creeper of all time, coming in at 17 years and $14 million+ (shew!). Whether it's worth the $14 mill that Axl dropped to make his Pet Sounds or not, it's a solid album. Yes, it's over produced, and waayyyy over the top, but who are we talking about here? Axl was never one to be shy, or content with "eh"-level entertainment. Old schoolers and hardcore GNR fans probably don't/won't/can't dig this album (out of principle, and 80's teased-hair pride if nothing else), but I was introduced to Guns in their bloated production, big sound and orchestrated Illusion albums era. Hey, I can't help my age, so that was the Guns I knew first. And this isn't GNR, but it is Axl. It is his masterpiece that he slaved away on for more than four times as long as the original band was even together. And for that I give him credit, and appreciate his dedication, precision and attention to too many details.

Just next time, don't call it a GNR album. Just list it as "Motherfucking Axl Rose" on the cover and call it even.

Review previous GNR posts here.

+++++

#8 - David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - Todo Mundo

This was the biggest surprise to me in 2008. I like the Talking Heads as much as the next guy that thought the late 70's in NYC at CBGB's was probably the coolest place on Earth and that the 80's were awful. With that being said, I had never gotten into Byrne's solo and collaboration records spanning back all the way to his and Eno's first collab in '81. I tried with 2001's Look into the Eyeball and 2004's Grown Backwards. I tried. I couldn't. Maybe I was too young, or just didn't get it. There's a chance that I just might not have been cool and smart enough for it.

This record is different. I am all over this one. It's fantastic from start to finish. Of course it's quirky- it's David Byrne (and Eno). That's what makes it good, and why we love David Byrne. ETHWHT has several stand out tracks including my favorite "One Fine Day", as well as the title track, the lead single "Strange Overtones" (which is funky and fun), and "I Feel My Stuff". It didn't hurt that I was lucky enough to catch Byrne in concert in December, which really helped everything fall in place with this album. It makes sense on stage, and that's about the only way to explain it. Trust me.

Review other Byrne posts here.

+++++

#7 - Motorhead - Motorizer - Steamhammer/SPV Records

Umm, it's Motorhead. It's Lemmy. What else can I say? What else could I say? What else do I have to say?

Oh, Lemmy is God?

In all honesty, this is Motorhead's best album in 15 years. Maybe longer. It's just LOUD and BIG. Put it on, turn it up, and prepare to get fired up, and probably break something! This is automatic "I feel like a badass now" music. Listen to this in the morning before work. Or before school. Or before a job interview. Or before "business time". Or any other time you need a "pick me up". Just be careful: too much exposure may result in bleeding ear drums, bloody knuckles and fists and a soar throat from guttural singing/yelling.

My advice: Take one Lemmy and call me in the morning.

Motorhead was set to tour with Social Distortion on the MusInk Tour in early '09, but it has since been cancelled. Keep an eye out though for when Motorhead does eventually roll though your neck of the woods...you'll probably hear them coming.

Review previous Motorhead posts here.

(...to be continued...)

Smashing Pumpkins - "G.L.O.W."

Check out Smashing Pumpkins' (if they can be called that anymore) new tune "G.L.O.W.". Ironically, this sounds more like the Pumpkins of yore, and not the split personalities of soft, industrial and electronica that they were prone to producing in their latter days. See what you think.

I guess if Axl can come out as GNR still, Billy Corgan can continue the same too, despite there is only half of the original members now, but it sounds like old school Pumpkins with a modern updated sound.

Thank God, and Be a Pepper

Well, the supposed Apocalypse came, and went, this weekend, with no instances that I know of. Now, I haven't actually held a copy of Chinese Democracy in my hands, or even seen an actual copy of it yet, but the word on the street is that it indeed came out yesterday...and we all survived.

And Thank God that we did because we get a free Dr. Pepper today! DP promised earlier this year that if Axl released Democracy this year, everyone would get a free Dr. Pepper. Ironically, as long as it took for the album to actually come out, you only only have until 6pm EST tonight to get your coupon here for your free 23 flavors of goodness. (The promotion was only supposed to last through yesterday, but their site went down due to the traffic and they extended the promotion through today to accommodate the Doctor's orders.)

So enjoy, and Be a Pepper, at 10, 2, and 4.

Let's Not Jump the Guns Just Yet

Love 'em or hate 'em, or you're just plain tired of hearing about it, but we are all interested to hear what the 15 year wait (AND FUSS) is all about. Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy is the most anticipated album of all time. It's hard to imagine waiting this long for an "active" band's follow up to three of the biggest rock albums in the last twenty years of popular music- a wait that is almost three times longer than the original members were in the band together. It's even harder to believe that the world has been waiting on this album for nearly a third of the time that rock and roll has existed (think about that for a minute).

If you haven't heard the leaked tracks, or the various versions of Chinese Democracy that have been floating around since China actually regained control of its territories from the UK back in the mid-late '90s, you can (be one of the last to) preview the album tonight starting at midnight EST on GNR's myspace.

Of course, there is no way in the world that this album can be as good as it has been hyped up to be. How could it be? With the breakthrough success of Appetite, and it's double barrel blast of a follow up with the Illusions, then a half-assed covers album that really isn't considered to be a part of the GNR legacy as it shouldn't be. Chinese Democracy since its many "first" conceptions, has been destined for greatness, and failure...mostly failure, and let down. And here's why: a brief history- a somewhat fairly accurate timeline between 1993 and 2008 all from my memory, because let's be honest, it really doesn't matter now in what order it's listed in- every stage and step of the album happened a couple of times as Axl pined over, slaved on, and beat his Democracy into submission with his dictating iron fist, and lungs.

Democracy was recorded, hyped up, set-to-be-released, delayed, re-recorded, members thrown out, new members brought in, recorded some more, a single released on a movie sound track, set-to-be-released again, delayed again, recorded some more, re-arranged, leaked to the internet, more band dismissals, more band hirings, lawsuit, MTV Music Awards, a failed tour attempt, a subsequent revolving door installed in the multiple studios to make it easier on the cast of this colossal record to come and go (but mostly go), recorded some more, leaked some more, tweaked some more, remixed some, lawsuit, set-to-be-released, delayed, set-to-be-released, now. Again, I'll believe it when I see, err, hear it.

The only way that Axl and company could follow up with those initial three records would be to produce the biggest, baddest, loudest, hard rocking-est, balls and cockin'-est, mean-machinin', boozin' and bruisin', spillin' out of the bar room out to the back parking lot brawlin', son-of-a-bitch record of all time. And that is just the music. Axl has to be the baddest bitch on the block for this record to work; to even have a shot at living up to half of its hype, and to make it the wait somewhat plausible.

Will it be? Your guess is as good as mine. I have heard most of the tracks here and there, but not all together, not in album order. Hell, I'm not sure that they are the final mixes and masterings. Knowing Axl, they probably aren't. So I decided to wait, just like everyone else, so I know for sure what I am listening to, and also, because, I am a little bit excited too, that this record is about to see the light of day, and the laser reader in my car. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Chinese Democracy is set to come out finally on Sunday through Best Buy stores "exclusively", but I bet your local neighborhood indie store will find a way to have a few copies there for your (dis)liking...I'll believe it when I see it though. However, if you do so choose to G-N-R it up this weekend or later on, please shop locally, especially this holiday season, and help your fellow brothers and sisters out:

Find your closest independent store and support your 'hood, yo-- Represent!