A Salute to Hymie Packwottle

Happy birthday, Jamie! Jamie, along with Listmaker, is mostly responsible for my interest and subsequent obsession with music. If you think this blog is boring, long winded or overly geeky, he is to blame. So hats off to you, Jamie. Let's take a trip down memory lane and hit some of your personal musical highlights.

The Paquette Sessions
Back when we both lived at our parents house, we'd often waste time in the basement pounding away on our instruments, hoping for some approximation of Versus style indie jangle mixed with Sonic Youth's noisy clanging and banging. We recorded hours of this stuff which I later sifted through, hoping for little flecks of gold. The best of the endless 8 minute jams in search of a coherent piece of music ended up on a tape called the Paquette Sessions. Here's a crunchy little treasure showcasing Jamie's chugging guitar stylings and my heartless drum bashing. Enjoy!

Vale-Mover (Return) - The Paquette Sessions

Mitten
When indie rock hit us, it hit hard. Mitten was started by me and two friends - three people who could barely play their instruments. It was not a pretty sound but the DIY spirit coursed through our veins and we weren't cowed by the obvious lack of talent or songwriting abilities. Over time, we fumbled our way into being a somewhat competent band of troubadours who were never offered a gig we wouldn't play. The basement of a library? Sure. The summer camp where Listmaker and I were counselors? Of course. The mall in D.C., an empty coffeehouse on the Jersey Shore, a crowded pool hall who wanted nothing to do with us? Check, check and check. Jamie joined us in time and played with us whenever he could adding a much needed je ne sais quoi to the sound of Mitten. We always missed his guitar playing whenever he wasn't around but none of us could ever figure out what he was playing on any of the songs. It was a complete mystery. Here he is, trucking along on a song written specifically to kick of our shows, giving the audience a preview of the nonsense to come.

Whatever Happened to the Beautiful South? - Mitten

Leka
Jamie's post-college, pre-NYC band was a somwhat legitimate enterprise that played at actual venues like the Black Cat and even put out a 7-inch. I was so amazed and very jealous. While my band at the time was playing open mike nights at cheezy bars, he was living the good life, trashing dressing rooms and writing contract riders longer than Moby Dick. This is from the aforementioned 7-inch, the only record I've ever seen that is played at 33 1/3 RPM on one side and 45 RPM on the other. Once again, happy birthday and have a rockin' day.

Drown - Leka

Hey Hey Hey Hey

So I finally went out and bought the new Kanye West cd. I downloaded the whole thing and figured I only needed a song or two but after a few more listens, it all became indispensable. Even though I had the digital files, I rarely listen to those since I don't have an iPod or anything similar so, Luddite that I am, I wanted an actual physical copy of the album. I love it. Where has Kanye been all my life? Or, where has this 808 lovin', old school soul Kanye been? I've heard some of his hip hop and liked it fine but there's something special about his newest foray in auto-tune soul searching. I've been trying to figure why I love 808s and Heartbreak so much and I think it boil down to three main points.

1. It reminds me of the soul pop I loved as a kid. There are hints of Lionel Richie and New Edition all over this album and that does it for me.
2. That unbelievably pleasing robot vocoder sound. I love robots and I love vocoders and I love the chrome emotions that saturate this record.
3. It's a concept album and I am a sucker for concept albums. If you don't know, the concept here is bitterness and sadness caused by the dual tragedies of Kanye's mother's death and the breakup with his fiancee. These events made Kanye reexamine his life of fast times, private planes and endless parties. I have nothing in common with this guy or his problems yet I find the stories compelling and his regret and raw emotions deeply affect me. When he says he had to leave his sister's wedding before they even cut the cake, I feel the sting. During the final track, "Pinocchio Story," the whoops and hollers from the crowd sound so out of place as Kanye pours out his heart screaming he wants to be a real boy. It sounds horribly cheesy and lame - Oh, poor little rich boy - but it absolutely kills me. Try opening track "Say You Will" on for size and try to tell me it's not the proper follow up to Lionel Richie's "Hello."

Say You Will - Kanye West

Opinions No One Asked For

Happy birthday, Listmaker. I just want to say how grateful I am for your years of friendship and mix making. Even though they come at a slower pace these days, I still cherish each one even when not made specifically for me. In response to your latest wonderful compilation, here is my report card. In case any readers out there haven't already downloaded their copy I say quit yer stalling and click on the link now. You'll be glad you did as the mix is full of hits and the reviews below will make a lot more sense. Now, on to the nonsense:

1. The Searchers – Hearts in Her Eyes – I think this is how you started that first mix for me way back in 1994 perhaps? Oh how much has changed. Instead of camp counselors you are now a teacher of children and I manage adults who act like children; you are no longer making mixes on cassette with covers made of rubber cement and old report cards and instead post them as digital files with photo covers for others to print; One thing that has not changed is the viselike grip that power pop has on your soul. A-
2. Nick Lowe – Rollers Show – Maybe it’s the Republican method wherein constant repetition becomes truth but this song makes me desperate to hear the Bay City Rollers. I thought they were a much-maligned bunch of castoffs but if the Jesus of Cool gives his seal of approval, count me in. A
3. Deerhoof – Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back – I now hate Deerhoof, basketball, Dick Vitale and all music thanks to this utterly horrendous puzzler of a “song.” F
4. The Feelies – Loveless Love – You know how Ian Mackaye’s entire musical output all stems from The Minutemen’s “This Ain’t No Picnic”? Well, this song is The Technical Jed’s “This Ain’t No Picnic.” A
5. Caribou – Eli – I liked him better when he was in the Dictators but this is still lovely. Breezy like a summer's day and soft focus like a Summer’s Eve commercial. B+
6. The Dodos – Jody – Drum and Guitar duos are kind of the dodos of the music scene what with Meg White on semi-permanent hiatus and the singer from the Black Keys putting out a solo album but these dudes make me nostalgic for those ugly, awkward, flightless birds. I love the insistent strumming, clattering percussion and the out of step intro and outro on this one. Marvelous perfection. A+
7. Rodriguez – Rich Folks Hoax – What if Donovan had something to say besides moon-eyed semi-poetic nonsense? It still wouldn’t be as ass kicking as this song. So gorgeous I nearly fell over the railing of my yacht. A
8. Jacques Dutronc – Hippie Hippie Hoorah – What is making that sick sound? And I mean sick in both the old “ill” sense of the word as well as the new “illin’” meaning. B+
9. Ify Jerry Krusade – Everybody Likes Something Good – True. Very true. Even Hitler apparently had a soft spot for puppies and soaring classical music. B+
10. Young-Holt Trio – Wack Wack – At first I thought this didn’t hold a candle to the live version, and while I still love the raw insanity of that version, I’ve come to appreciate the professionalism on this one as well as the weird bowed bass/distorted vocal parts. A good song for every elementary school orchestra to learn. A-
11. The Baseball Project – Harvey Haddix – As compelling as “Hurricane” when it comes to story songs based on real life crimes that have devastating effects. Perhaps, like that story, this song will lead to an overturned ruling. A
12. John Fogerty – I Can’t Take It No More – Speaking for disgruntled baseball nerds everywhere, John Fogerty, a man who will forever be associated with the sport thanks to “Centerfield,” screams his head off about the injustices of Harvey Haddix’s lack of a perfect game acknowledgement. B+
13. Gentleman Jesse – Highland Crawler – At first I thought you were breaking the cardinal rule and including the same artist twice on one mix but then I realized this isn’t “So It Goes.” Close call there, Raphael. Is this band the Mayflies USA of the late 2000s? A-
14. Sloan – Cheap Champaign – This band deserves their almost-ran status. Their songs are effervescent and pleasing but leave little trace once they’ve trickled down your throat. I couldn’t sing you a single line from any of their songs. B+
15. Gilberto Gil – Frevo Rasgado – This could be the theme song to the creepiest children’s show ever. Creepier than anything Sid and Marty Kroft ever dreamed up. B
16. Stormy – The Devastator – Standard Issue Soul Song #23-F. B
17. The Records – Teenarama – You already blew my mind once with this song but you’ve done it again. Every time I revisit it I find a new favorite line. Currently it’s “First bra/Too far” which I think perfectly sums up the ultra-creepiness and heavy, heavy guilt this song is trafficking in. B
18. The Collins Kids – Hot Rod – From a song about teens to a song by teens. The wish for a speedy death machine is great but she knows she has to wait until she’s legal. Maybe she should hang around with the hussy from the Records song and teach her a thing or two about the beauty of patience and delayed gratification. B+
19. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Gardenia – This song is as good as any legendary Pavement gem. I like his jams but I like the short bursts of perfection too. A+
20. Alemayehu Eschete – Tchero Adari Negn – Like James Brown blessed with voodoo power and itching powder. B+
21. Jo Ann Garrett – Goin’ Man Huntin’ – An update on The Most Dangerous Game? B
22. Crooked Fingers – Your Control – Hot damn this is an amazing song. Once again relegated to the cheap seats, Eric Bachmann will not be deterred. A+
23. Bon Iver – For Emma - A beautiful song and a perfect closer. Too bad the same can't be said for Harvey Haddix. A

This One's For You, Flapdoodle

It's always fun to find a new blog to read and in my case, since I only read blogs written by friends and family, it's fun to find a new friend. Flapdoodle is someone who we'd see occasionally around town over the years and recently have gotten to know better thanks mostly to the public school system since she is Sebastian's school librarian. She is also a regular listener to Battle for the Earth (bless her heart) and introduced me to the wonder of the Mont Blanc for which I will always be grateful.

She recently posted a comment on Hott Mama's blog wherein she mentioned a moldy oldie about a girl so busy she has to wait until the weekend to see her man. How busy is she? Well, Thursday is all booked up with a taffy pull if that gives you any indication. In the comment, Flapdoodle asked if I could track down the song, which I instantly did because I'm obsessive, and while I don't think it's a hidden gem by any standards, it is fun and cheesy and reminds me of one of my favorite MST3K shorts, so it gets bonus points for that. Here it is:

Come By Sunday - Diana Dors

And here the MST3K short for those with extra time to kill:

Life During Wartime

I've finally hit the halfway mark in The Rest is Noise and we're moving into the 1950s and beyond. The recent chapters have been incredibly fascinating and heartbreaking as they've discussed music during Hitler and Stalin's dictatorships and the way these governments manipulated composers and the use of music. Many composers were silenced either through threats, fear or murder while others were propped up like puppets to glorify the nations. Composers had few options. They could leave the country and the life they knew and loved, refuse to play along and suffer the consequences or they could swallow their morality and give themselves over to the control of the state. It's an aspect of the horror of World War II that I had never read about.

Dmitri Shostakovich's tale is deeply disturbing and highlights the hoops some jumped through to continue following their passion even as it was twisted and manipulated by the governments they despised. The Soviet government officially denounced him twice during his lifetime so had to learn to subvert his true emotions and code his beliefs inside music that would pass muster with the cultural gatekeepers of the era. After his second denunciation in 1949, he was forced to publicly repent as most of his works became banned from public performance.

In 1941, Shostakovich completed his seventh symphony which he dedicated to the city of Leningrad. In its time it was viewed as a symbol of resistance and a condemnation of Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. It is also viewed by some as a depiction of Shostakovich's disgust a totalitarianism of all kinds, including that practiced by his own country but this is a more modern interpretation. During the war, the Leningrad symphony made Shostakovich a symbol for Soviet propaganda. It debuted in New York on July 19, 1942 with professional badass Arturo Toscanini conducting. To get there the score had to be transferred to a microfilm which was put in a tin can, flown to Tehran, taken to Cairo in a car, then put on another plane to South America and lastly flown to NYC. But the most amazing story about the symphony concerns its debut performance in Leningrad itself. As author Alex Ross writes:

"Besieged Leningrad heard the symphony on August 9, 1942, under the most dramatic circumstances imaginable. The score was flown in by military aircraft in June, and a severely depleted Leningrad Radio Orchestra began learning it. After a mere fifteen musicians showed up for the initial rehearsal, the commanding general ordered all competent musicians to report from the front lines. The players would break from the rehearsals to return to their duties, which sometimes included the digging of mass graves for victims of the siege. Three members of the orchestra died of starvation before the premiere took place. the opposing German general heard about the performance in advance and planned to disrupt it, but the Soviets preempted him by launching a bombardment of German positions...An array of loudspeakers then broadcast the Leningrad into the silence of no-man's land."

Judging an Album by Its Cover

When I was younger, I knew a boy so rich his house was monogrammed. The first time I met him he was bouncing on a trampoline in his backyard and firing a BB gun into the air. I was afraid for my life. Their family was unlike any I had ever met. Their father was a brain surgeon and was rarely home but when he was, it was best to clear out. They not only had a pool and jacuzzi but a tennis court and horses. It was always a strange visit.

One time his older brother, who was reportedly a stripper, came home just long enough to show off his cool sunglasses (which he was wearing inside the house) and to beat the hell out of the kid I knew. There was also a younger brother who it later turned out was actually a nephew since the father was not the brain surgeon but the stripper. I could go on about the terrible tales from that house but the whole point in me relaying this story is to say there was another brother who was obsessed with snakes, so much so that he once bought an Alice Cooper album simply because it had a snake on the cover. I can't remember which one it was but I hope for his sake it was Killer and not Constrictor.
I thought it was so stupid to buy a record simply based on the album art. What if you ended up with some piece of junk? What a waste of money. I doubted he even listened to the cassette he purchased which just infuriated me more. I later became fascinated with the world of Incredibly Strange Music and learned there were serious benefits to buying albums solely because they had insane covers but at the time I didn't get it at all. While I still won't buy a cd by an unknown band with a cool cover, it can cause me to investigate further and a good album cover from an artist I already like can make the anticipation that much sweeter. M. Ward's new disc drops tomorrow and I can't wait to hear it but nothing compares to the hyperexcitement caused by the new Neko Case cover.
This one I'd buy for the picture alone. What musical treasures could possibly lurk within?

Flop Sweat

Gavin Bryars - The Sinking of the Titanic
Animal Collective - Guys Eyes
Mates of State - Great Dane
Gastr Del Sol - Work From Smoke
Farizon - The Transport
Liars - The Wrong Coat Mt. Heart Attack
Kronos Quartet - Farwell My Good I. Forever (C. Tye)
M. Ward - Post-War
Pang & Arctic Skies - Strife, It Becomes You; Life, It Overruns You
Calla - Traffic Sound
The Double - Hot Air
Fugazi - 23 Beats Off
Henri Pousseur - Trois Visages de Liege
Scout Niblett - Relax
Lymbyc Systym - Pittsburgh Left
Brian Eno - 2/1
Bang on a Can - 2/1
Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani "A Te, O Cara"
Aarktica - You Have Cured a Million Ghosts...
Pang & Arctic Skies - Feels Like Ten Below
Zero 7 - In the Waiting Line
Crystal Castles - Insecticon
Les Savy Fav - We'll Make A Lover Of You
Albert Ayler - Divine Peacemaker
Charles Mingus - Duet Solo Dancers
Little Joy - Brand New Start
Sonic Youth - Hoarfrost
Arctic Skies - Somniosus
John Zorn - La Flor del Barrio
Crooked Fingers - Let's Not Pretend (To Be New Men)
Andrew Bird - The Privateers
Band of Horses - Monsters
Bon Iver - re: Stacks
Arctic Skies - Lunula
Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Sigur Ros - ( ) song 3

TRL, Where Are You Now?

So it seems that all the critics calling Animal Collective's new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, their 'pop' album may be on to something. Their music is typically a secret pleasure in my house as some of the sounds they make don't always go down easy with the others who live here. One night there was an actual meltdown due to the incessant noise and high pitched squeaking of "Spirit They've Vanished." Let me assure you it wasn't pretty. Another time I was listening to the Panda Bear cd Person Pitch and Sebastian had a freakout, screaming and crying and begging me to turn it off. I don't even know what song was playing but my days of finding that a peaceful listen were over. Somehow, the gorgeous melodies and fascinating noises that I heard were like serrated daggers into the brains and spines of my housemates. Their albums have certainly been getting more and more "listener friendly" with each release and some have claimed that this new cd will finally launch them into the larger spotlight of public attention. While I find it hard to believe that songs as odd as "Lion in a Coma" or as dreamy as "Bluish" could catapult them to stardom, I've been wrong before and could easily be again. Tonight as I listened to Merriweather with the boys, there were no tears, no complaints, no repeated, panicky requests to turn it off. "Who is this?" Sebastian asked during "Guys Eyes." "Animal Collective" I told him and he merrily went back to drawing. Later, final track and colossal mindblower "Brother Sport" came on and he asked again who we were listening to. I told him again to which he replied, "This is the first album of theirs I've liked all the way through. I like every song." As the music blared through the house, I smiled. Dorian then shouted "Yeah! I like every song too!" Watch your back, Lady GaGa.

Mighty Funny

As I've mentioned before, I read Magnet magazine and sometimes wonder why as its articles sometimes seem barely more than thinly veiled advertisements for tiny bands you've never heard of and, once you close the latest issue, you'll never hear of again. The cd is barely tolerable and always makes for a painful hour+ of listening. One of Magnet's saving graces is Andrew Earles who writes the ferociously catty "Where's the Street Team?" column in which he attacks the sacred cows of the indie world. Sometimes I wholeheartedly agree with him and other times he besmirches bands dear to my soul but it's always hilariously cruel and at times wonderfully specific about topics interesting to tiny pockets of people. The Nov. 2008 issue featured what has to be my favorite nerdy music joke since my guitar teacher asked me, "What do you call a drummer who breaks up with his girlfriend? Homeless." Here it is:

Q: How many members of Against Me! does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Against Me! isn’t going to change shit.

Perfection.

It's Not You, It's Me

I try to keep an open ear to all music but there are some bands I just don't get. Critically lauded bands. Musicians with legions of die hard fans who promote their songs on blogs and fill mixtapes with their music and spread the gospel like hardcore devotees are won't to do. And I try and I try and I try some more but I just don't hear what's so special. What am I missing?

Deerhoof is a perfect example. This band reminds me of the unholy offspring of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and anime for children. It seems amateurish and silly and entirely disposable yet review after review talks about how innovative and amazing they are. They have a song about basketball that Listmaker included on his latest volume and it confounds me just like the rest of their songs do but nothing is as odd as "Panda Panda Panda." This is what melts the heart of cynical critics nationwide?

Panda Panda Panda - Deerhoof

Another group I have no love for is the Hold Steady but apparently I'm an army of one when it comes to the ugliest band in America. I guess people love songs about young people drinking and fumbling around in the back seats of cars, making mistakes that they'll later regret. The Hold Steady allow the audience to relive the ugly and awkward periods of their life while pumping their fists and downing beer after beer. The music is competent but I just don't hear anything special here, especially in the nearly slam poetic vocal delivery of Craig Finn.

Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady

The latest group to bewilder and stun me is TV on the Radio. I liked some of their earlier songs but everything I've heard off of Dear Science sounds absolutely terrible to me. When I heard most of the album previewed on Bill Slammon's Saturday Morning show I thought, "Well, they've obviously lost whatever talent they had before and went off and made a crushing disaster of an album." But then it debuted at #12 on the Billboard charts and earned them near universal acclaim. What was I missing? The songs sounds like to many genres thrown in a blender and mixed until undrinkable. They were on SNL this past weekend so I stayed up to watch thinking that maybe the visuals would help. They did not. It still sounded cacophonous and busy for no reason (and I love cacophony and busyness) so I throw my hands up and leave defeated.

Dancing Choose - TV On The Radio

These bands have all bested me. I just don't get it. what am I missing? Maybe some day these will be my new top three as many of my favorite bands began with me not getting it and handily dismissing them. R.E.M., Neutral Milk Hotel and M. Ward all bored or confused me at first but now I have seen the error of my ways. Perhaps pandas and teenage boozehounds are the Anne Franks and auctioneers of the future.

The 3 Rs: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

The Fall - Repetition
Quasi - Repetition
Blur - Repetition
The Au Pairs - Repetition

Nick Lowe - Rollers Show
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Of Montreal - Buried With Me
Animal Collective - Brother Sport

The White Stripes - Astro
Fugazi - Repeater
Need New Body - Hot Shot

Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
Circulatory System - Forever
Gavin Bryars feat. Tom Waits - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Tortoise - Ten-Day Interval
Jim O'Rourke - Prelude to 110 or 220/Women of the World

Tocotronic - K.O.O.K.
Cake - Mexico
Cat Power - Nude as the News
Wilco - On and On and On

Misfits - We Are 138
Shellac - A Minute
Ex-Models - Pink Noise

Moondog with Orchestra - Stamping Ground
The Kinks - Days
The Pixies - Gigantic

Don Caballero - You Drink A Lot Of Coffee For a Teenager
Ten Years After - I'm Going Home

They Should Have Stuck With Mookie Blaylock

I've been thinking about grunge a lot lately. Or should I say "Grunge." Maybe it's the cold weather and the need for long underwear, even when going to sleep for the night, but I've recently been revisiting the music that soundtracked my early teenage years. It all started, as most of my musical rethinkings do lately, with Rock Band. While playing this greatest of all games a few months ago, Alice in Chains' "Man in a Box" came up and even though I initially groaned, I quickly was won over by the song and its sludginess and nihilistic tone. Maybe enough time had passed and I was ready to delve back into the Seattle scene and dredge up all those memories of bad facial hair and drop D tuning. Maybe Tad were a band of genuises in retrospect and all I needed to do was take the time to rediscover them.

My interest quickly passed. I relistened to Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and I liked it. I didn't fall back in love with it but it was enough to erase the painful memories of Audioslave and push me further down the flannel path. Next stop: Pearl Jam. Thanks to Eddie Vedder and Co., the journey was over almost as soon as it began. What an overrated dung heap of a band they are, with nothing but spotty albums, at best. Ten is atrocious most of the time, including the excruciating "Even Flow," a song that is in contention for worst single of all time. Everyone always talks about their third record Vitalogy as being a highwater mark featuring hit after hit but in reality it, like all of their other albums, is an absolute slog to get through. It is joyless music. Eddie Vedder is a brooding fun-vaccum, oftentimes in desperate need of a melody that just won't come. I listened to 5 of their cds and got so mad at them and the boring, boring songs that I ended my foray in the grunge world right then and there.

So today at work, for no reason I can figure out, Stone Temple Pilots's "Creep" drifted into my head. I haven't heard this song in years yet it was not an unpleasant visit. I found myself humming the "Take time with a wounded hand" chorus as I wandered around the building. Even in the early 90s my love affair with this band was brief but I still liked, and apparently still like, this song. It was a great ripoff of a slow burn Nirvana tune and that's good enough for me. I remember back when Core came out, I thought the first 15 seconds of album opener "Dead and Bloated" were the coolest thing ever. What a shock it was to hear that exact song on the radio on the way home tonight. I braced myself for the worst but it didn't come. Radio turned up, I listened intently and loved every second of this supercheesy intro, sticking around for the rest of the song which was so low end and gross that it reminded me of why I wanted to revisit 1992 in the first place. Who would have thought that 17 years later, Scott Weiland would trump Eddie Vedder?

Dead And Bloated - Stone Temple Pilots

Narcotic Daydream

I love love love this new video for M. Ward's "Hold Time." The black and white slo-motion images from days of future past perfectly match the woozy swooning in the song. I love the idea of a song replacing the need for a photograph, using music and melody to capture a fleeting moment in time. This is a beautifully hazy recollection of a cherished memory and absolutely nails that indescribable feeling of awkward conversation and communication that happens without words. Another highly anticipated album in what is already shaping up to be a great year for new music.

Tonight I Celebrate Myself

Band Themes!

They Might Be Giants - They Might Be Giants
Atom & His Package - Atom & His Package
Devo - Jocko Homo

The Besties - Besties Theme Song
Go Sailor - The Boy Who Sailed Around the World
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands!
Talulah Gosh - Talulah Gosh
Beastie Boys - Beastie Boys

Talk Talk - Talk Talk (Version 1)
The Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules Theme
The Gothic Archies - We Are The Gothic Archies

Minutemen - History Lesson Part II
Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
The Avalanches - Avalanche Rock
Whodini - We Are Whodini

Motorhead - Motorhead
The Ramones - R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
The Clash - Clash City Rockers
Jilted John - Jilted John
The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn)

Manowar - Manowar
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Hammerfall - Hammerfall

The Thermals - Everything Thermals
The Soft Boys - Give It To The Soft Boys
Mull Historical Society - Mull Historical Society
Yo La Tengo - The Story of Yo La Tengo

Queen - Killer Queen
King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King