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The Urge: Receiving the Gift of Flavor

Thu, 02/28/2008 - 05:10 — R.J. Lorimer
Information: 
The quintessential album of a band that never quite made it.

Receiving the Gift of Flavor Album Cover

Overview

The Urge was a St. Louis-based Rock/Punk/Ska band that started making noise in 1989, but didn’t really hit their big acclaim until the mid ’90s. While their most commercially-successful single was easily “Jump Right In” (man, that video is terrible) from Master of Styles, their most complete and consistent album, at least in my opinion, is Receiving the Gift of Flavor.

The Good: 
Dark, soulful sound of Steve Ewing, a killer horn section, and surprisingly good musical composition.
The Bad: 
Live 'party' songs don't jive well with home-listening; some shaky mastering; the band is not around anymore!
Conclusion: 
I can't give this album any more rating than I have, simply because of the rough edges - but the innovation alone carries it far.
Rating (out of 10): 
7.5

Friday Flicks: A Little Tool

Fri, 02/15/2008 - 20:51 — R.J. Lorimer

Here are just a few more interesting videos from the lineage of Tool.

Danny Carey Interview

A few years back after Lateralus was released, Danny Carey (the drummer from Tool) did an interview with Jeff Ocheltree for ‘Trust Your Ears: The Drum Tech Explorations of Jeff Ocheltree’, during which he plays the climactic section of the title track of the album (one of my favorites of their entire collection).

Friday Flick: Broken Down - A Live Sevendust Performance

Fri, 09/14/2007 - 17:47 — R.J. Lorimer

I was just poking around on Youtube, and ran across this great live video from Sevendust during the Seasons era (2003-ish). It looks like it may be from Saturday Night Live, but I’m not sure, and don’t really care all that much. Given that Clint Lowery is still on guitar (as opposed to Sonny Mayo) and Lajon’s hair is short, this has to be an album promotional for some show - it’s a very good live performance either way.

Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight

Tue, 05/29/2007 - 22:39 — R.J. Lorimer
Information: 
Linkin Park's 2007 Rock Return

Overview

The Good: 
This is not a corporate-driven rehashing; the music is new, inspired, and a totally different direction for LP.
The Bad: 
The good is very good, but some of the music on the album takes a very bland turn. Also, as with almost all of their albums, it's pretty short.
Conclusion: 
Well worth the $9.99 Best Buy will charge you; as usual, be discriminating about your music purchases - don't feed the machine if you don't have to.
Rating (out of 10): 
7.5