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Shining a light upon music that matters |
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Quick Notes!
is compiled by the Rockzillaworld staff.
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Previous Quick Notes!
Highest Number are the newest
QN4 QN3 QN2 QN1
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 Various, Brown Eyed
Handsome Man: St Louis Salutes Chuck Berry.Undertow Records
The brainchild of Community Radio DJ and bastion of the St.
Louis music scene Kip Loui, this genre-crossing tribute to St.
Louis' musical favorite son demonstrates not just the depth of
Berry's catalogue, but the depth of St. Louis' musical talent.
Devised as a fund raising opportunity for Community Radio station
KDXH, Brown Eyed Handsome Man has name Americana acts
(Jay Farrar, The Bottlerockets, The Skeletons) as well as St.
Louis musical mainstays that are not as well known (Loui's band,
The Rockhouse Ramblers, Bob Reuter and Palookaville). Highlights
include gospel-soul singer Fontella Bass' (of "Rescue Me"
fame) singing "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and up-and-coming
rockers Waterloo with their take on "No Particular Place
to Go."
More information and samples at http://www.kdhx.org/chuck
or order your copy from Amazon.com. --AK
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 Haymaker, Music
From Ed's House Honey Bucket Records (Long Beach, CA)
Ed, owner of the house where Haymaker's music was rehearsed
and recorded, knows how to create ambience. The house was the
ideal setting for the aptly titled Music From Ed's House,
a cozy eleven-track affair.
Haymaker reminds me of what early Eagles demos might sound
like. Pleasant harmonies, restrained lead lines over acoustic
strumming, a solid rhythm section and a sonic mixture somewhere
between straight-ahead rock and roll and countrified pop/rock,
provide merit for the comparison. Yet, Haymaker doesn't take
itself too seriously, and lead guitarist Mike Bay is more Chuck
Berry than Bernie Leadon.
"Uneasy Street", "Morphine Pump" and "What's
That Got to Do With Me" are fine examples of songs without
pretension. Haymaker is a band that is not afraid to release
a fun record.
This disc goes best with a beer or two after work, or a casual
gathering of friends sitting around shooting the breeze. Cheers.
www.haymakerband.com
--ZP
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 Johnny
Hiland, Johnny Hiland Favored Nations
Ricky Skaggs is quoted saying that Johnny Hiland is the most
versatile guitar player he's ever heard. That could be true,
the songs on Hiland's instrumental debut are all over the map
with numbers that pay tribute to all his influences. Those influences
are, among others, Skaggs, Danny Gatton and Steve Vai, the album's
executive producer.
Hiland doesn't seem worried about paying overt tribute to his
heroes. Every song on Johnny Hiland conjures thoughts
of some earlier guitar stud and it's not until the album's last
track, Hiland's take on "Orange Blossom Special" that
one sees this instrumentalist's true originality.
Johnny Hiland is an album worth owning. Playing
this clean and fast just doesn't come around that often. Just
keep in mind that his next album, after he has shed the heavy
specter of his influences, will be the real masterpiece that
this effort nearly was.
www.johnnyhiland.com,
www.favorednations.com --MPS
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 Various, Stay All Night
Buddy Holly's Country Roots Western Edge Records
The original Rockabillys initially identified themselves as
country singers, but quickly rebelled against the Nashville norms
of the day. If you've seen The Buddy Holly Story you'll
remember Buddy taking issue with the dictates of his Nashville
producer, eventually escaping to Norm Petty's studios in Clovis,
NM to push the envelope of country music and make history. (If
you haven't seen the movie you should buy or rent the DVD now.)
The premise of this disc is to gather a sampling of Holly's "country
roots" on one volume.
Heavy on West Texas artists and former Holly collaborators
(Jack Neal, The Flatlanders, Bob Wills, and Carl Bunch) the choices
make sense although they don't quite justify putting Holly's
name on the disc. The solid tie-in comes from three duets by
Holly's brothers (Larry and Travis) plus two tracks that feature
Holly, "I Saw the Moon Last Night" and "I Hear
the Lord Calling Me," both previously-unreleased duets with
Jack Neal. Hardcore Holly fans need the disc for those tracks
alone, but it has a good cross-section of classic '50s country
for everyone. www.westtexasroots.com
has purchase information, complete track listing, plus a succinct
history lesson on West Texas country music.--AK
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 Bobby
Lindstrom, A Lick And A Promise Blue Eyed Crow Music
There's a scene in the 2001 movie Ghost World where
Steve Buscemi's character goes to a club to see legendary (if
fictional) bluesman Fred Chatman. After Chatman tires of being
ignored and leaves the stage, a group of white, twenty-something
frat-boys called Blueshammer launches into a song called "Pickin'
Cotton Blues." Visibly horrified by the sight of these pretty
boys singing about the trials of back-breaking labor in cotton
fields, Buscemi's character flees the club, his misanthropy bolstered.
That is exactly how I felt when I heard Lindstrom's opening track,
"R.J. Blues." To wit:
Sometimes I feel like Bobby Johnson
That's when I sing the blues
Seems just like I know him
And how he's gettin' used
Life in a central Oregon coastal hamlet must be harder than
it seems. The rest of the album is standard barroom bluesy fare,
altogether unremarkable and indistinguishable from the thousands
of other acts making the same music. Hey, but that's not all
bad. After all, there are thousands of barrooms.
www.blueeyedcrow.com
--MPS
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 Anthony Michael
James, Old Friends Compendia Music Group
At least half the songs on this disc are indistinguishable
from the ballads by no-name-Nashville-hat-acts that send me skittering
across the radio dial in search of the Oldies or Classic Rock
stations, definitely not my thing. But interspersed through Old
Friends are a few gems. Opener "Sweet Sarah," should
be lumped with the previously mentioned ballads, yet still grabs
my attention. The Chris LeDoux-ish "Steel Stampede"
will get your toes tapping and the infectious song-of-comeuppance,
"First One to Leave," is well worth your attention.
www.anthonymichaeljames.com
has samples of all the songs so you ballad lovers can decide
that I missed the boat on this one before investing your money.--AK
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 Tinsley Ellis, The
Hard Way Telarc International 2004
Tinsley Ellis is still in the game and, as he says, the rules
ain't changed. A man who's played 200 nights a year for thirty-years
ought to know. Now he's out with a new record that sounds like
all his other records do: great.
The Hard Way showcases Ellis' sizzling, clean picking
style laid over an easy
blues-rock groove and nailed down with sixty-penny riffs. The
Tinsley Ellis experience is out in force in the songs, "Me
Without You," "Her Other Man," and the unexpectedly
funky "Love Bomb."
I caught his show one night early last year. I think I remember
him trying out "Me Without You," but I can't be sure.
Ellis writes songs I think I've heard before, with sticky lines
like "You call me Mr. Wonderful, but you call me when you're
stoned."
Nod your head knowingly and click www.tinsleyellis.com --
SLW
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 Kate James and Lost
Country, Homewrecker, Heartbreaker Hayden's Ferry Records
2004
She's real pretty, she's real twangy and she can really sing.
But, her songwriting is formulaic and her band plays in a meek
and dispassionate manner that makes every track seem too long.
I mentioned that she's really good-looking, right? -- SLW
www.katejames.com
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 Craig Dillingham,
Almost Yesterday Carnival Recording Company 2004
Craig Dillingham is real twangy, too. Almost Yesterday
is a collection of polished, note-perfect honky-tonk stylings.
He does his best work here covering George Jones' "Just
One More," never bending a note or letting slip even a hint
of emotion.
Craig Dillingham plays all over Texas. Mom and grandma will
enjoy his music. -- SLW
www.craigdillingham.com
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 SETH, Nowhere
Sometimes Epiglotic Records 2004
SETH (Thompson) is a self-described folk singer, composer,
painter, photographer, poet and vaudevillian from the Midwest.
Nowhere Sometimes is an unfocused, cacophonic mishmash
of folk, rock, country (because of the dobro, you know) and beat
poetry pretensions, stripped down until nothing remains but the
pretensions.
In places few and far between, SETH is not too shabby on the
guitar. -- SLW
www.epiglotic.com/seth.html
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 The Straight 8s,
Casualties of Cool. Rock N Roll Purgatory Records, 2003
Casualties of Cool blends swing, surf, and mild rockabilly.
The Straight 8s, a trio of roots-rock weirdos from North Carolina,
are appearing at Halloween fraternity parties and dollar-beer
nights at sports bars near you.
Try the hot wings with bland music. -- SLW
http://www.straight8s.com
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 The Last Call
Brawlers, The Last Call Brawlers. Rock N Roll Purgatory
Records, 2003
The Last Call Brawlers are a lightweight punkabilly band from
Tucson, where apparently it's not so much the heat but the banality
that gets to you. This is their second record and the last song
on it, "Don't Come Back," is a good highlight if not
an unwitting self-admonishment. -- SLW
http://www.thelastcallbrawlers.com
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 Reed Foehl , Spark
Neverfoehl Records, 2004
Reed Foehl sounds a lot like David Gray and John Ondrasik (Five
For Fighting.) And like most of the music from the Milquetoast
Mafia, Spark is as passionate as cold pancake batter. It's also
fraught with some especially dingy existential anxiousness:
You used to be my morning sun,
Your warm ways, my golden one,
Is it feet that make you run?
Why do clouds block the sun?
How am I gonna get down?
I will run I will fly
'Til I open my eyes
Do what? --SLW
http://www.reedfoehl.com
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 Allen Ramsey, Allen
Ramsey Self-published, 2003
Sometimes it's easy to forget just how hard real musicians
try, how much their work means to them and how much passion they
put into it.
Allen Ramsey lives in Nashville. He doesn't play in bars or
honkey-tonks and he isn't trying to get a record deal. His record
is about thirty-nine minutes long and has eleven songs on it.
It's hard to sing like you have a southern accent. --SLW
http://www.allenramsey.com
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