The Muffs - The Muffs (1993)

cover sux like scooby doo meets aqua chilling with jesse bernstein. music rulz like ramones-ish minimalism meets surly relationship stories, something which appeals to me whenever i come across it-- like 'answering machine' as opposed to anything else on 'let it be'

B

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The Posies - Frosting on the Beater (1993)

The band who famously or infamously joined Alex Chilton to sloppily/sexily/alt-ily redo Big Star songs more frequently associated with pop trapped in an airtight faux-nostalgia than being open to sloppiness, sexiness, and modern day alternative rock. I got a kick from the outcome of this precious bubble bursting and noise and addiction and genuine affections spilling forth so wondered what those who assisted Chilton sounded like without Chilton. It's what you'd expect but with more attention paid to getting the power pop vocals perfect- this one's Big Star, this one's Sunny Day Real Estate, and this one's Foo Fighters. That sloppy, sexy, alt-y mix of perfect pop and noisy guitars

A-

here

(2002)

I mean, c'mon

A+

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Greatest Hits (1993)

A greatest hits collection for anyone who ever heard one of the 18 tracks on here when they were drunk and happy and thought why did I never get into Tom Petty?, or maybe heard a Petty vibe in Kurt Vile or The Replacements and thought Vile and Westerberg are cool guys, maybe they're onto something?, and anyway it's a greatest hits collection for people who did that and then ended up with a collection of Tom Petty albums that can't hold, won't hold, attention, but contain hits and hooks so good you wonder how that ever happened. An instant hit of Petty goodness without the tedium. Someone's done the work for you, so relax braj. Maybe that's shallow, but I get that maybe he's shallow too. The rock n roll spirit is there (or is it power pop now?) along with shallow Dylan-isms which make for d-grade Springsteen-isms and, god forbid, b-grade Seger-isms, but we're shallow too, right? Just in it for the hooks? Look no further. It's almost beer season too

A

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Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos (1992)

Recorded three years before Chris Bell RIP'd and then released in 1992, I Am the Cosmos alerts the listener to how much of Big Star was him even though he only hung around for their first and least impressive record like maybe Chilton felt eyes on him during the cutting edge Radio City and future ghosts on the avant-garde Third. The title track I Am the Cosmos might be the best thing by either of them and it actually sounds like it's both of them- perfect pop in a heartrending shambles either "a harrowingly schizophrenic tale of romantic despair" or "adolescent self-absorption at its most sex-starved" or an attempt at sex-starved spiritual self-absorption in light of romantic despair. The appeal's in that dichotomy the whole way through- addiction, depression, and then faith. Better Save Yourself sounds like Lennon REALLY losing his shit and sometimes Bell and Chilton just sound the same (Make A Scene)- anachronistic pop as it sits so safely in the hazy faux nostalgia of the listener's head getting torn apart and collapsing while the song staggers on. Postmodern mockery or the sound of the artist doing just that (getting torn apart and then staggering on)? With Bell, as with Chilton, we like to believe it's probably both.

A-

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Big Star - Columbia: Live at Missouri University 4/25/93 (1993)

By all means a failure that the listener can't deny the multifaceted success of- i) Big Star's  perfect 60s English pop through the lens of 70s American youth through the lens of ii) Chilton's decline and so fascination with imperfection and avant-garde fuck ups through the lens of iii) alt rock's embrace of Chilton's pop mastery and avant-garde fuckuppery (The Posies make up half the members). Facet (iii) makes it all dirtier, garagier, heavier than he allowed himself to go even during his (ii) period, with songs from his (i) period, and some nice covers too. Chilton fans rejoice, Big Star fans beware. Nothing's sacred, etc

A

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Big Star - Radio City (1974)

#1 Record might be 60s english pop/folk/ideologies as heard/relayed by young men from Memphis full with false nostalgia for a colonial India with pools, sun, and gin and tonics, and rebellious rock and roll is here to stay rebuttals to parental worry. The follow up, Radio City, somehow manages to look forward to both new wave and 90s alternative rock. The guitar sound kills. The harmonica/piano jams make sense because the pop is so straightforwardly pop, but also don't at all, then drawing attention to how perfect the pop is and also suggesting that it could all collapse at any moment. The sound of pop falling apart where #1 Record promised the listener that it never would.

A+

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Dwight Twilley - Twilley Don't Mind (1977)

Dude on the left looks like Michael Bluth until you think about it, then he doesn't any more. Turns out I'm not picky enough to write about Twilley Don't Mind. If I was pickier, I'd compare it to Sincerely and say that it doesn't rock as hard or have the same impact and sounds more like a good power pop album by a band rather than two guys overdubbing every component of their powery pop- synthesizing voice, instrument, hook, person into a single entity: Sincerely. I'm not picky though! I feel spoiled listening to an album with so many great hooks, and which at only 10 tracks, never threatens to lose my interest. Less Romantic in a rebellious handsome pop way, more band absolutely kills it on 10 tracks sorta way. And I don't mind.

B+

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Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert (1979)

1. Boogie Shoes

2. My Rival

3. Hey! Little Child

4. Hook or Crook

5. I've Had It

6. Rock Hard

7. Girl After Girl

8. Waltz Across Texas

9. Alligator Man

10. Like Flies on Sherbert

11. No More The Moon Shine On Lorena

A strange album from Alex Chilton, master of perfect pop songs. Intentionally terrible in every way: production, musicianship, what is and isn't being recorded. I'm unsure whether he's deconstructing and leaving imperfect rock & roll like Neil Young did on Tonight's the Night to expose a song's constituents and capture the artist's anguish, or whether he's being chaotic and punk rock just for the sake of it. Either way I like it. True, nobody would care about Like Flies on Sherbert if it didn't have someone like Chilton behind it, but it's interesting because it's someone like Chilton being so unlistenably amateurish

B+

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Dwight Twilley Band - Sincerely (1976)

Where the artist intends for their songs to be throw-away, writing an album of disposable hooks so good they become quite the opposite: Electric Warrior, #1 Record, Cheap Trick at Budokan, Ramones, Sincerely

You hear I'm On Fire and think how's he gonna do that again? and then the little turns in Could Be Love declare YOU ARE IN THE HANDS OF A MASTER OF DISPOSABLE HOOKS, YOU CANNOT FUCK WITH ME

I'm Losing You is just delightful and if you can make it to TV, you'll probably forgive him for it

B+

delightful!
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The Wrens - The Meadowlands (2003)

If bummed out dudes could be a concept album and the bummed out dudes behind it figured that in order to really capture that feeling of total bummed out-ness, their songs could not flow and build together, but would instead benefit from being demo-like if your'e being kind, stream-of-consciousness if you're a fan, or messy/random/unfocused if you're not. All of this because being bummed out is a confusing affair and so jarring highs-and-lows are needed 'cause who can explain the brain any way? Certainly not these indie rockers, although they do manage to say a lot about being bummed out, from nostalgia through to marriage.

Being neither a fan nor a music critic, I don't fully buy the stream-of-consciousness theory, so I'm either stuck assessing the individual songs or half-buying it but finding the concept frustrating. As it so happens, I have a real soft spot for indie emo so like a bunch of the songs quite a bit. But here I'm gonna say focus! Boring, I know, but I just can't dig that in practice. THAT SAID, the more likeable interpretation of the unevenness of The Meadowlands is that it has a collection of demos like quality, and that way of thinking's endeared musicians like Daniel Johnston through Sebadoh and Sparklehorse to me. Apparently this is a real grower so I'll have to wait and see. C for the few songs I liked until that happens (or doesn't)!

C+

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The Replacements - Tim (1995)

1. Hold My Life 4:21

2. I'll Buy 3:25

3. Kiss Me on the Bus 2:54

4. Dose of Thunder 2:19

5. Waitress in the Sky 2:02

6. Swingin' Party 3:51

7. Bastards of Young 3:38

8. Lay It Down Clown 2:24

9. Left of the Dial 3:44

10. Little Mascara 3:36

11. Here Comes a Regular 4:45

Highly acclaimed at the time of its release, Tim is now often believed to be inferior to the classic Let it Be. Let it Be had the band mastering their diverse influences for the first time. Tim is just as diverse in its sound, but with 11 totally new and different sounding songs.

The main difference I find when listening is that Let it Be has 2-3 songs that aren't beat anywhere on Tim. And that the awesomely catchy Waitress in the Sky is strangely misogynistic seeming coming from a band that wrote Androgynous. On the other hand, there's no wasted space on Tim as there is on Let it Be. I'd never want to skip a song.

O yea, there's Here Comes a Regular probably one of the most moving singer-songwriter-y songs of all time.

A+

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The Replacements - Let It Be (1984)

1. I Will Dare 3:11

2. Favorite Thing 2:17

3. We're Comin' Out 2:20

4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out 1:51

5. Androgynous 3:14

6. Black Diamond 2:36

7. Unsatisfied 3:59

8. Seen Your Video 3:05

9. Gary's Got a Boner 2:25

10. Sixteen Blue 4:21

11. Answering Machine 3:37

Let It Be is one of my all-time favourite albums (along with the follow-up, Tim). A crazy versatile album released the same year that Meat Puppets and Hüsker Dü tried (and succeeded) to do something new with punk rock and then released classics. I Will Dare is everything I want from an REM song (Peter Buck plays guitar on it), Androgynous is moving in its drunken lo-fi-ness, Unsatisfied is epic, and Sixteen Blue features one of the best guitar solos ever recorded.

Bridging the gap between their punk origins and less cool shit like country music, Tom Petty, KISS, and Bruce Springsteen, this probably influenced alternative music in a huge way. And then there's the fact that every song is awesome in its own way, Paul Westerberg has one of the best voices in rock (part of that Lennon, Springsteen, Cobain lineage), there's an affecting, shameless sincerity to songs like Answering Machine, and at half an hour Let It Be feels like the perfect length.

A+

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