hardwood floor

I saw the Hoodoo's at the Chestnut Cabaret probably around 1988? or so? one of the loudest shows i've ever seen i dug their records but the live show was just too fucking earsplittingly loud

pretty cool stuff ... i remember penn having some amazing shows back then but i never made it to any of 'em - don't think they really promoted them off campus. now they have world cafe and they still have tons of great bands playing on campus. hey, where was that opera house? i don't remember that venue

I listened to Half Smiles & Off to Business last night just to kind of try and get a better feel for what's missing these days and I think ya know Todd Tobias is an amazing technician and he can play a lot of instruments proficiently, but there's no fucking SOUL in these songs. It's been Tobias'ed out. Bob desperately misses Doug & I guess that's why he's trying again with Tommy Keene, but Doug's playing gave Bob's songs life, and they have very little of that now.

Yeah, Gratification is a good track. But saying this is the best thing he's done since From a Compound Eye is damning with faint praise because the guy has been on a downward spiral since FaCE, which I thought was every bit as good as B000, Alien Lanes or Under the Bushes. (although I do like Keene Brothers but haven't found it particularly enduring) These songs are hollow and boring, watered-down Bob Pollard product. There's no spark. There's nothing musically adventurous about them. I mean, listen to Christian Animation Torch Carriers or Storm Vibrations from UTaC and compare them to the

magnet and steel is a freaking GREAT song. i saw egan open for starcastle and journey that year ... hell of a triple bill i should really make a list of every band i've seen. it would be insane.

I saw the Monkees. They were great. Actually, it was one of the reunion tours, probably early 1990s? Opening bands were Gary Puckett & the Union Gap and I think the Grassroots. In an incredible coincidence, all three bands shared the same drummer, bass player and keyboard player!

i remember seeing gabriel right after his first solo record came out outdoors somewhere on the west side in NYC and it was just astoundingly great i also remember the opening band, riff raff, who sucked but i learned years later included a very young billy bragg

oh yeah, i saw the Dead Boys in Cleveland in 1978

i saw muddy waters in 1978, that was pretty legendary and got to smoke weed with him, which was even better and got to watch pinetop perkins goof around on the piano before the show & did see REM with the Feelies opening, probably in 1984? and a few other times during their mid-1980s heydey before they started sucking beyond description

interesting thread, i'm enjoying reading the responses guided by voices -- friend plopped vampire on titus in the car on a road trip and that was it, it was over. everything i'd always looked for in pop music. weird, mystifying, goofy and explosively melodic yes -- we were 15, bored with music on the radio, at my friend's house, and then roundabout came on. we just blasted it. whoa -- they were actual musical with guitar, keys and bass all winding around each other but making sense, all in a tight pop package. very cool. still dig 'em replacements -- i'd been avoiding them because all my

I like the Captain & Tenille more than I like Conor Oberst Ducks.

it seems that my list will have at least 7 Guided By Voices or Robert Pollard releases and there's a chance that none of my 20 records will get a single vote from anybody else

Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow, The Monkees Mary, oh, what a sweet girl, Lips like strawberry pie....

Steve Wynn is the fucking greatest.

a little role reversal? slushy moves from bass to guitar and narduccy from guitar to bass? nice to see keene back in the mix too i'll always go see pollard, but holy crap his last few records are just awful coast to coast carpet of love? standard gargoyle decisions? superman was a rocker? off to business? there are maybe a combined three good songs on them combined i keep buying them though since this guy had an unparalleled 50-album run of genius from sandbox up through from a compound eye. don't think he can write a good song anymore though. these records just keep getting more an

that's the holy trinity how many bands have had a run like that almost up there with bee thousand, alien lanes & under the bushes under the stars almost

you & I have different definitions of rock

ya think he could have mentioned the guys he's playing with

took me a while to realize it, but i think The Search may be as good as any of 'em & I love Straightaways, Trace & okehmah and if i had to pick one Uncle Tupelo record for such a list, it would be Still Feel Gone & not Anodyne love 'em both, but Still Feel Gone is iconic ... Anodyne is just a great record

it's got GBV on it, so it's a good list

Uriah Heep brought the sledgehammer of rock on a nightly basis i love this band

their burritos rock, too

i actually dig the Neil Diamond song more than the Van Morrison stuff come dry your eyes

you can actually see it

i once heard a Muzak version of Everchanging Moods in a Walgreen's i happily sang along