Modified Bear

Bob Dylan has become Wesley Willis. By which I mean, Modern Times sounds like Dylan rambling aimlessly and amelodically over laughably canned and generic "ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC"

Here's my take along those lines: http://www.richbradley.org/blog/?p=55

I had to see it to believe it, but lo, at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/char...0&g=Singles There it is: Radiohead - Nude, a few positions below the Jonas Brothers and a few above Taylor Swift. Good for the band, I guess, as this is only their second Top 40 US hit, and their first since Creep back in '93. But...WTF is this about?

I guess I'm another one of these ill-informed Americans who hasn't been exposed to much of the BeeGees' early stuff... very open to hearing more though. I'm intrigued now. Kinks: Victoria (as perfect a pop song as any ever written) Beach Boys: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)

The last time I saw Radiohead, in 2006, FPT was the one big song I was really hoping for, having been lucky enough to see just about all of my other favorites performed on different occasions. It was kind of an off night for the band, sound wasn't great and they seemed to not be hearing themselves (Thom sang "No Surprises" in a completely different key than what the band was playing)... then FPT started and it was MAGIC. Brilliantly played, and the moment I heard everyone talking about after the show. IMHO Radiohead is the best band in the world today on record, and Wilco is the best live ac

TAPES N TAPES, people.

So all the fuss over R.E.M. learning to "rock" again and writing songs under 3 minutes, and it turns out the best song is "Sing for the Submarine," a midtempo waltz that clocks in at 5 minutes. Ha. I generally agree that this is a solid album, no more, no less (after two listens anyway). Certainly nowhere near as actively awful as Around the Sun, but still very slight compared to the IRS years.

Good call here, should definitely have made my list

Nah we can't count EPs, that would make this whole thing impossible. And yeah, Come On Pilgrim is an EP. Surfer Rosa was Pixies' first full length LP, then Doolittle.

http://www.elfboyz.com/polu.html Googled it and it looks like the whole album's still on the band's site. I stumbled across this once a few years ago, I don't even remember how. I know absolutely nothing about the band, and I think it's probably better that way. Don't know if I can explain the appeal really -- it isn't really "good," but I still listen to it every once in a while and continue to find it oddly captivating.

The Elfboyz - Pat Often Left Us VERY obscure, VERY lo-fi, VERY awesome

Don't forget about the Velvet Underground's SQUEEZE -- technically it's their last album, much as everyone would love to forget that. 1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 2. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless 3. The Beatles - Abbey Road (should probably be Let It Be, but there's at least an argument for it) 4. Nirvana - In Utero 5. Joy Division - Closer 6. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill 7. The Police - Synchronicity 8. The Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks 9. Nick Drake - Pink Moon 10. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne 11. H

I took some liberties with the Beck one, since One Foot in the Grave and Stereopathetic Soulmanure are often considered "unofficial releases" But as far as Nirvana goes, a) Inscesticide isn't an album it's a rarities compilation and it came out after Nevermind anyway

1. Radiohead - The Bends 2. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea 3. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless 4. Nirvana Nevermind 5. The Beatles - With the Beatles 6. The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight 7. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere 8. Pixies - Doolittle 9. Eels - Electro-Shock Blues 10. Beck - Odelay 11. Wilco - Being There 12. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model 13. Super Furry Animals - Radiator 14. Joy Division - Closer 15. Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust 16. Fiona Apple - When the Pawn... 17. Squeeze - Cool for Cats 18. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

The new Tapes 'n Tapes is streaming for a very limited time on the band's official website: http://www.tapesntapes.com/preview/index.php After one listen I think I'm really into this. It's nice to hear Dave Fridmann's production complement a record so well again (it had been a while, IMO). I wasn't even all that fond of the first TnT record, but this could be a great one here.

See if it WAS all raw and dirty sounding, that'd be something. R.E.M.'s Crazy Horse album. But this single DOES sound over-polished and produced all slick and loud, which is why Stipe's vocal track sounds a little off to me. If it was a more lo-fi live take with the entire band, the vocals would probably fit better. Don't get me wrong though -- I definitely like the song.

Agreed, good pop song, ugly production, etc. The thing that stands out to me though is Stipe's messy vocal performance. Here's a guy who's known to strive for perfection in his studio singing performances -- even the vocals on the otherwise horrible Around the Sun were great -- so this is kind of a weird change. I know this is the quickest R.E.M. has recorded a record in 20 years, but was this really the best take? Is Stipe starting to show his age/effects of years of smoking on the ol' vocal cords?

They still do Bejar songs even without him... I've seen them three times, and I swear the one Dan-free show had more Bejar songs in it than the other two put together

It IS God Only Knows. And September Gurls is a great one too. But just to be original: As perfect a pop song as any, ever. And the best pop song of the '00s:

1. Radiohead - OK Computer 2. The Clash - London Calling 3. The Beatles - Revolver 4. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps 5. Squeeze - East Side Story 6. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 7. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home 8. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 9. Eels - Electro-shock Blues 10. Blur - Parklife Even though R.E.M. doesn't crack the list they get the award for strongest catalog for the whole of their 80s material (Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document, Green).

Squeeze - Sweets from a Stranger on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...28&s=143441 This album takes a lot of flak even from those Squeeze fans who are still around, mostly because it marked a big shift from their previous upbeat, power pop stuff. This record is absolutely soaked in booze, paranoia, depression... but the band's trademark wit and soul is still there. I get new things out of this album every time I hear it, there's a level of depth to it that's somewhat lacking on the band's more popular LPs. Also, "Black Coffee In Bed" is a freaking amazing song.

Those of you in the Hartford, CT area probably know that the radio market around here is a total abyss... many, many stations 100% devoted to utter crap. Back in the mid-late nineties, when I was in middle school, there was an alternative rock station called radio 104 that played its share of Stone Temple Pilots but also introduced my young mind to some quality stuff like Beck and Radiohead... but inevitably that became "Power 104," yet another hip hop station. But here, long after I'd given up on CT radio, I find out they're bringing the alternative format back to 104.1 FM. I flip it on mo

Can't I love both SBS and IR? Because right now I do... SBS turned out to be quite the grower, and IR hit me like a brick on the first spin, and I don't really have a negative thing to say about either at the moment... ...oh wait, forgot about "Shake It Off." Nevermind, In Rainbows wins.

Let's all keep in mind that you can legally get this from Radiohead 100% FREE... if you plug zeros into the price field, it doesn't even ask you for a credit card #. So no reason to complain, and kind of silly to look for it using filesharing programs...

According to NME: "NME.COM understands that the record will be made available to those who have registered for it from around 10am (BST)."