Damn Yankees-s/t

So is the Nuge ducking to show he is wild man and can't still like the rest of the band or is he ducking because his so much taller and doesn't want to tower over them? Either way it's a pretty sorry excuse for an album cover.

Redd Kross - Neurotica

I love everything about this album, one of the best seventies rock revival vibes within a punk facet that started well ahead of the pack following Kyuss and Fu Manchu's wake. People today frequently forget (or never knew) Redd Kross existed and I guarantee you one spin of "Peach Kelli Pop" today with a proper channel reaching like minds would start a small revolution of antipop (despite Redd Kross' inherent embracement of pop) purification.

Though this cover of Neurotica's reissue from a few years back is a modification of the original, there's something gleefully unhinged about those slightly eerie faces peering down at the band. Almost reminds me of the lotus eaters and dope heads in Enter the Dragon for some strange reason. One thing's for sure, Redd Kross got their figurative psychedelic point across. No wonder they were laughing at all the assholes at The Rainbow, or so how it goes...

David Lee Roth-Crazy from the heat

When I think of music for summer the top bands I think of are the Ventures and Van Halen. That of is course is real Van Halen which means with David Lee Roth. To a lesser extent I do think of Dave's solo stuff as well. I almost forgot about this one. The Diamond one looks so cool and relaxed here like he doesn't have a care in the world. Having just finished the tour for the highly successful "1984" album we may have thought that was true. However in reality it was just months before he was going to be out of Van Halen and out on his own for a long time. Maybe that was part of his charm, even though he could be a flake and even when things were rough below the surface Diamond Dave had a way of making it look like he was having the time of life.

Dream Theater, Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Per the pattern of the past four releases, Dream Theater has released a new studio album in an odd year.

And that's a good thing for fans of prog metal. Although I'm still giving it critical iistenings, I can already say it's better than 90% of the other stuff I'm hearing.

The cover is typical DT--interesting, but somehow falling short of the complexity of the music within. I'm naturally curious about the elephant and the mouse, the bird and the all-seeing eye on the easel, and the moons ... but it doesn't keep my attention for too long.

It's thus a good thing that a few of the songs do.