Janet Devlin - Hide & Seek

The debut of Janet Devlin has been in my anticipation since her elimination on X-Factor UK a couple years ago. She was unlike everyone who's ever been on one of these elongated audition shows. Her voice is fragile, sweet and brilliant. Hide & Seek is the title of the vehicle that will hopefully shoot this incredible talent into the stratosphere where she deserves to go.

The album opens what I'm hopeful this set of songs is going to be "Wonderful" a bright sunshine pop ditty that immediately makes me smile. A little outside of what I expected but Janet shines through as magnificently as she did the day I watched her audition. The interesting thing about this album is that Janet doesn't allow the pop mainstream hit machine to invade what she does. This isn't the vision of a production team of the pathetic team of vanilla pedestrian writers and handlers from the reality music show. This is Janet Devlin and her gift being delivered honestly and to the best she could.

The production on this album is incredible the music and the vocal are balanced to absolute precision and is presented perfectly on "Walk Away" a sour sweet and tender song letting her emotions through to stab you in the heart with a shot of heartache and passion. With nothing to dislike on Hide & Seek I can't give it much more than just say this is a five star album and it has delivered everything I hoped for and anticipated for all this time. This doesn't happen often when something lives up to what you build up in your head and Janet Devlin's Hide & Seek album has done that and more.

Excellence personified!

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Bowling For Soup - Lunch. Drunk. Love.

It looks as if this could be the end of their run as a band and it makes me a little sad as over the years I've really become a fan of them.

This album is an improvement over their last album Fishin' For Woos. I love the opening number "Critically Dsidained" which has all the flavor and sarcasm of their best stuff. The song is followed by "Since We Broke Up" another solid tune with a good chorus and a barrage of na na na's which is my kryptonite.

Jarred has honed his craft to the point of perfection, "And I Think You Like Me Too" which shows off that as well as many other times on L.D.L. The album plays through with BFS laying a really nice simple production on the album that allows the songs to breath and all their melodies and harmonies shine brightly through.

The boys drop a nice little ballad called "Circle" and then head right back to their power pop sarcastic greatness and continue through to the end of the album that is a really strong addition to their great catalog of fun power pop with a slight punk pop twist. I sure hope this hiatus is short lived but if not I'm sure Jarred will continue to supply us with his sarcastic whit in some manner.

"There's Nothing To Fix, I Like Normal Chicks"

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Tantric - 37 Channels

Hiatus Advantageous

Tantric is a band that I've had a love hate relationship with over their career. I've always been waiting for the album that blows my socks off but they always came up short. With that said they always have good songs on their albums.

The four year hiatus turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for the band. This album is by far their best and most complete album as well. You can tell right away that this band has come armed and is ready to take rock radio by storm. With their competition being pretty good for airplay at this point in time they shouldn't have anything to worry about with 37 Channels.

The band brings some seriously good material in the way of "Blue Room", "Broken", "My Turn" and what I believe is the first single "Mosquito". This album is one that can be listened to front to back and enjoyed all the way through. My favorite track comes at #11 called "My Turn" a sweet little campfire ditty that I can't wait to hear them play live in concert.

Don't pass up this album if you are a fan of modern rock music and bands like Shinedown, Theory Of Deadman and Alter Bridge.

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Luke Bryan - Crash My Party

And this is what country is selling us right now he and Jason Aldean are the supposed be all end all of the hip side of country music. Well I listened to this piece of crap and I want my frickin' time back! This album is barely country when it comes to the music, sure it has some twang and some small town bullshit lyrics and lots of wanna be cool "I drink beer a lot" lines but this is nothing but contrived garbage for the absolute lowest common denominator. There is nothing on this release that is delivered with an emotion outside of needing to fart and holding it in.

Songs like "Roller Coaster" are so pathetic that I'm sure most of the talented Nashville unsigned artists are thinking I throw away better songs than this. Then you get the astoundingly awful in "Blood Brothers" and "We Run This Town" songs that anyone with talent should be embarrassed to sing and whomever wrote this crap should be sent back to the minors for lack of creativity and melody. I'd goes as far as sentenced to songwriter death and have their guitars confiscated.

As far as I'm concerned this album is for those fans who don't actually "listen" to music those that immediately like it because the singer might be considered cute or handsome both lacking in this guys sense but hey there is no accounting for taste. Crash My Party never gets to party status unless sitting in a corner with your thumb up your ass drooling over a playgirl magazine is your idea of a party. The songs are all snoozers none of them kick it into gear as the title suggests and everyone should pass on this pale attempt at making a country record. This is far from a country album and very far from good. Please someone stop whomever is signing these untalented wastes and paying off everyone to play the crap the release and then say nice things about douches like Luke Bryan who sound as fake as their images. This isn't Milli Vanilli because Bryan actually sings but everything else is fake including his twang. Go buy a real country album like Wheelhouse by Brad Paisley, Ashley Monroe's brilliant Like A Rose or even the more rock oriented LoCash Cowboys major debut album that actually brings the party. Just stay the hell away from this sort of pedestrian bland faceless drivel!

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The Top 20 John Cougar Mellencamp Songs Of All-Time

One of the greats and he's had some stellar tunes. Here is my list of his best songs.

20. Crumblin' Down
19. Teardrops Will Fall
18. Human Wheels
17. I Need A Lover
16. Hard Times For An Honest Man
15. Rumbleseat
14. Play Guitar
13. China Girl
12. Rooty Toot Toot
11. Rave On
10. China Girl
09. Authority Song
08. Jack And Diane
07. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To '60's Rock)
06. Hurts So Good
05. Hand To Hold On To
04. Under The Boardwalk
03. Cherry Bomb
02. Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)
01. Dance Naked

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2003 Best Albums Retro Rewind List

As I was reading some stuff I got the idea to do a retro best of year albums list and as I was checking out years 2003 came to mind because of poor the albums turned out to be in that year. Some of the worst crap and seriously disappointing albums from bands like  I Mother Earth, Third Eye Blind, Styx, Skid Row, The Romantics, Puddle Of Mudd, Metallica and the solo debut of Josh Todd to name but a few. This list wasn't easy to compile considering the girth of garbage 2003 gave us but a couple of hold overs from late 2002 helped fill it in.

25. Thunder - Shooting At The Sun
24. Toby Keith - Shock'N Y'ALL
23. Moulin Rouge - OST
22. Sloan - Action Pact
21. Black Label Society - Blessed Hellride
20. Keith Urban - Golden Road
19. Electric Six - Fire
18. Jason Mraz - Waiting For My Rocket To Come
17. Liz Phair - Liz Phair
16. A.F.I. - Sing The Sorrow
15. Static-X - Shadow Zone

14. Kenny Chesney - No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem
13. White Stripes - Elephant
12. Tracy Byrd - The Truth About Men
11. Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age Of Grotesque Jane's Addiction - Strays
10. Blake Shelton - The Dreamer
09. All-American Rejects - All-American Rejects
08. Alice Cooper - The Eyes Of Alice Cooper
07. Mandy Moore - Coverage (yes seriously)
06. Sugarbomb - Bully
05. Good Charlotte - Young & The Hopeless
04. Jet - Get Born
03. Shania Twain - Up
02. Hoobastank - The Reason
01. Brad Paisley - Mud On The Tires

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Retro Review: Black Sabbath - Headless Cross

After pulling out and listening to TYR I had to go back and listen to Headless Cross again and so this review appears.

The instrumental opening "The Gates Of Hell" fairly typical for the time but the excellent title track kicks this album and made my ears perk right up as I missed the previous Tony Martin fronted album. After the lengthy title cut the Sabbath gallop appears in a more accessible way as it is produced for a very much commercial audience who were at this point in love with the MTv Headbangers Ball program. Tony does a great job in the RJD forum of vocal styling on the excellent "When Death Calls". Listening to this again post Ronnie's passing is eerie. Still a great track and now I think I like it just a little bit more.

One of my favorites from this album is the monstrously good "Kill In The Spirit World" with the creepy breakdown before the excellent solo by Iommi. This song is probably the closest you can get to merging RJD and Ian Gillan into one voice. Martin does at many times sound a little like the brilliant Gillan and that only does justice to the album. Here and there are hints that Iommi is moving into the power metal genre to a more epic sound. "Call Of The Wild" does a good job of blending the genre's together in a manner that keeps them commercial enough. I have to admit a really great re-master that adds some more punch to the guitars would be welcomed because a song like "Black Moon" would sound so much better.

Some of the balding generation still think the outdated sound they grew up with can't be done any better, no matter what they hear, they reject the new sounds of their favorite bands.This is a terrible because in this case they are really missing out on some great heavy metal/hard rock. I'm a Black Sabbath fan and I can ebb and flow between their singers easily but I can't get into the last two Osbourne album at all and don't like the Gillan fronted album much at all. This is one of the Black Sabbath everyone who's a fan should own for sure.

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10 Songs That Should Be On Your I-Pod

The Weezer Edition:

10. Let It All Hangout by Weezer
09. The Odd Couple by Weezer
08. Island In The Sun by Weezer
07. Hash Pipe by Weezer
06. (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To by Weezer
05. Keep Fishing by Weezer
04. Photograph by Weezer
03. Autopilot by Weezer

02. We Are All On Drugs by Weezer
01. Buddy Holly by Weezer

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Retro Review: Black Sabbath - TYR

As far as I'm concerned Tony Martin did a fine job as fronting the band from the stand point of replace RJD. Now for the Osbourne fans maybe not so much as the music is definitely more inspired by RJD's epic-ness. TYR kicks off with the grinding groove of "Anno Mundi" showing a power metal direction has been taken in full-force after hinting a lot on Headless Cross. The album continues to deliver with "The Law Maker" one of the many good tracks TYR has to offer.

This album is given little credit as the band has been just a solo project for Toni for too many years and too many vocalist. The rhythm secton is Neil Murray of Whitesnake fame on bass guitar  and his onetime Whitesnake cohort Cozy Powell swing sticks on the drums. Both of these seasoned metal veterans do more than adequate work bringing Toni's vision to light. You can definitely hear their sound and influence bleeding through on "Jerusalem". But that's about as snake bitten as you get.

The excellent "Valhalla" is a very good addition to the Sabbath catalog of songs and shouldn't be dismissed as not Sabbath or ignored because of Toni's inability to move on from his band name. Any fan of Dio will love this song and be thankful after hearing it. The album ends with two numbers that aren't terrible just aren't standouts and that's fine considering this album is a much better listen than the current Sabbath album with Geezer and Ozzy back in the fold. Underrated and forgotten by most but not I. Horns Up!

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Check Out: Lighthouse & The Whaler

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The 20 Worst Bands Of All-Time

So let's have a go at the absolute worst bands to have ever existed but I'm only putting popular bands that most people know not those obscure weird ones.

20. Phish - this band is so overrated and loved for something called being a jam band. I don't anyone that could listen to this tripe sobre so stoned and drunk hipsters and college kids being their fan base makes sense.

19. Dave Mathews Band - I don't know nor do I understand why this shit was ever popular. They are one of the most boring and lame bands I've ever heard in my life. None of the songs make me want to listen to them a second time and Dave is a far better actor than a songwriter or musician.

18.  Pearl Jam - Here is a band that hasn't written a good song for years. Actually have they ever written a good song? Well yes they have but if you take the girth of their work and pull out the two or three tunes that don't suck donkey dick you'd be in the 97th percentile of sewage.

17. Black Veil Brides - I've listened to these posers enough to know that this is nothing but fake popsters trying to emulate bands like Motley Crue and Kiss but with even less musicianship and more goofy emo techniques than anyone should have to suffer through.

16. Animal Collective - Their brand of twee is cloying and grating like an attention-starved, sugar-crashing eight-year-old who wants you to admire his finger painting, while you're trying to wash the dishes.

15. NSYNC - They do not need additional information added to backup why they made the list.

14. Korn - There has never been any reason to put a Korn album unless you wanted to clear the room of anyone cool, intelligent or that has taste in music.

13. Blink-182 As far as the pop punk revival bands this one is terrible in comparrison to all the rest. They are like a cheap paper-machete version of Green Day that have nothing good to offer.

12. Lady Antebellum -  You can polish a turd and this band comes about as close to a polished turd as you can get. They have championed placid drivel their entire career and if they could ever record a song that wasn't over produced to the point that any and all character has been removed I'd be surprised. This band has no heart or depth and is the epitome of vanilla.

11. Incubus - It's not that this band shouldn't be on this list it is where should they sit. They are fucking terrible and it is very easy to hear just randomly pick an album and a track and the suckage will present themselves immediately. Anna Molly anyone?

10. Hootie & The Blowfish - You can't find a band more blah and vanilla that this one.  The pseudo country pop of this band is cringe worthy. There hit singles were hits in the worst period of music history the grunge era. 

09. Dimmu Borgir - Never have I heard a band so over the top and pretentious than this one. Their music is all pomp with astoundingly stupid lyrics. The entire black metal genre is ridiculous but this band is easily the worst in the genre of dumb.

08. Red Hot Chili Peppers - I can't explain how terrible this band is and how much suckage takes place on their awful albums. The lead singer can't stay in tune, actually, he's always flat and monotone. Flea is by far the most annoying bass player in all of rock. Their heroine addict guitar player is too sporadic and well if you like the same 3 or 4 drum patterns repeated over and over then you are in heaven with this shit.

07. Jonas Brothers - Do I need to say more?

06. The Arcade Fire - I'm still waiting to hear something attractive to my ears. In a way, they're like the over-processed food our generation consumed as children; with color and nutrients added after the fact, they almost smell and look like something that's good for us. But they're not. Arcade Fire is not good for us.
 
05. Talking Heads - David Byrne can't sing the band can't write a good song and they are way too artsy in a bad way. This band makes shit music and creates nothing memorable.

04. Radiohead - The hipsters wet dream band but I can't agree with anyone who thinks the music this band makes is anything but awful. They have nothing going on when it comes to melody and the one time they wrote a passable song (Creep) they still managed to fuck it up by swearing on the original version that needed to be re-recorded without the F-bomb. There are really bad bands out there raking in the cash and moving units but not many that stink like this one.

03. Eagles - When it comes to pathetic this band brings a whole new meaning to the word. Sure they are popular and it proves that popularity doesn't mean good. Song after song of fecal matter is spewed out of the speakers with each and every album.

02. Insane Clown Posse - Garbage flow, terrible lyrics, nonsensical rambling, violent on a 12 year old level, cheesy as cheesy gets and never had a hit single this shit shouldn't be allowed to record music ever again and save the world from their stupid image.

01. Tragically Hip - Sure they are overrated and have some of the worst lyrics in music history and maybe the most annoying front man to ever grace the position. This band is by far and I mean miles and miles the worst band that has found success that I've ever heard.

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Five Finger Death Punch - The Wrong Side Of Heaven & The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1

After the long winded title of this album and the so A typical bullshit topic of it we get to the music which is completely worth a listen. The band are like a metal version of a hip-hop on this release with all the guests that include Rob Halford, Jamey Jasta, Maria Brink, Tech N9ne & Max Cavelera. The band do drop some fine heavy metal numbers here like the brain crushing "I.M.Sin" that Cavelera does his level best to rip your head off with his vocals.

As this album is presented as a part one it does sound incomplete even at the girth of 14 tracks. The band do a great cover of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" with Tech N9ne and it is totally worth a listen. The devastation of the lyrics are much more believable here than they were on the original. The album has some really good tracks like "Dot Your Eyes" and "Burn MF" but they just don't make it to the level of the best from American Capitalist.

The albums best track is the first single and lead off number "Lift Me Up" with the legendary Rob Halford. The album never comes close to matching that song again even though I don't dislike anything on Volume 1. I have to say the candidate for second single/video should be "Watch You Bleed" this song is a beast and at major ear shattering volume sounds even better. The song "You" is also worth a mention because it takes their heavy sound and mixes their commercial sound together enough to create another excellent song. The only song on this album that I'm not too impressed with is "Wrong Side Of Heaven". The song just doesn't capture any energy or emotion and comes off really lame especially when lyrics like "I heard from god today she sounded just like me" and then the same basic line but the devil and looked like him. Stupid lyrics like this have no place in good metal and just make me roll my eyes with disdain.

I can only hope that the band works more of this sound into their second volume along with the superior song writing of "Lift Me Up" as I'd prefer this more dynamic sound over too much of the overtly aggressive tracks that can come to blur together. As far as it goes though Five Finger Death Punch do not disappoint and released an album worth heading down to your favorite record store to purchase a copy.

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Trouble - The Distortion Field

The sludge rock meets doom metal is ever present on The Distortion Field and the lead vocal debut of Kyle Thomas filling some very big shoes is decent. Musically the band do not disappoint at all but Kyle doesn't have enough bottom end to his voice to raise this album to the lofty heights some might expect. On the opening cut the band seem to be inspired but the song isn't as good as one would expect the introduction to the album to be. 

The band hit their Black Sabbath groove on "Paranoia Conspiracy" and now we are officially off on the journey. As the album unfolds I wish that it was produced in the same manner as the latest Sabbath album 13 because with that production this album is 10X better. The music here stands up in the writing and on the very doom paced "One Life" screams for serious thunder from the production. Then Trouble gets into just that with "Have I Told You" a really dreadful ballad that misses the mark.

Founding guitarists Rick Wartrell and Bruce Franklin pile on the riffs, the tempo's range from slow to a medium pace and new vocalist Thomas does have enough dynamics in his deeper gruff voice to deliver the goods. “Hunters Of Doom” perhaps the heaviest song on the album is also one of the major standout tracks. The very Ronnie James Dio "Butterflies" comes off more like a Dio tribute than a Trouble song which isn't a bad thing just really sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the album.

When Kyle hits the tone he really nails the classic sound of yesteryear as "The Greying Chill Of Autumn" shows. This is one of the best songs on this album and if you are a huge fan of this band shouldn't disappoint you at all. At the albums end is "Your Reflection" which easily makes all that disappointment from Black Sabbath's pretty weak swan song effort 13 go away for a little while anyway. Trouble does what they do best on The Distortion Field and that is add to the Sabbath sound they so vigorously borrow. I enjoyed this album and will do so for the rest of the summer of 2013.

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20 Best Heavy Metal Debut Albums

As far as I'm concerned these are the best heavy metal debut albums to this point in time! Horns Up!

20. Sinner - Drowning Pool
19. Heavy Metal Maniac - Exciter
18. Feel The Fire - Overkill
17. Hard N' Heavy - Anvil
16. Slipknot - Slipknot
15. Saxon - Saxon
14. Metalized - Sword
13. Walls Of Jericho - Helloween
12. Facelift - Alice In Chains
11. Anthrax - Fistful Of Metal
10. Headtrip to Nowhere - Flybanger
09. Out Of The Cellar - Ratt
08. Holy Diver - Dio
07. Wisconsin Death Trip - Static-X
06. Resurrection - Halford
05. The Sickness - Disturbed
04. Too Fast For Love - Motley Crue
03. War Of Words - Fight
02. The Legacy - Testament
01. Kill Em' All - Metallic

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Alice In Chains - The Devil Put The Dinosaurs Here

Once you get past the stupid album title and awful album art and to the music I'm not sure how much of an improvement it is...ok I'm joking the music isn't as bad...I guess. The opening track "Hollow" has been kicking around the internet for a long time now and I am still not all that big of a fan of it. Sure it sounds like classic AiC but overall it's a pretty boring droning song with a barely average chorus. The albums current single "Stone" is another one of those tracks that comes off as forced and disingenuous. Jerry and company sound as if they are trying to hard to be AiC from the 90's Dirt era and that just isn't possible anymore.

The excellent "Voices" picks up in the dynamics department but is a little sterilized from the production. After the surefire hit finishes a very cool groovy psychedelic title track comes in at a whopping 6:38 which is far too long for this sort of song no matter if it is good. "Low Calling" finally brings it together  again which sounds like old school AiC but has enough of a pop groove that it should be considered as a single at some point. The band are much better when they lay off the Black Sabbath debut sludge rock and just write concise rock songs (if you can consider five minutes concise).

It's obvious that when Jerry writes more commercial material he's much more honest to his craft. He has a skill to write a decent hook and one listen to the albums best track "Scalpel" is proof of that. This is what I expect from the band even without the talented Staley on vocals. A near departure in all thing AiC is "Phantom Lab" as its more uptempo on an album that is very slow and plodding overall. Once again the song is too damn long to make a real positive impression on myself. I am not against long length songs I just want them to be interesting like Rush or Yes make them even Supertramp is more entertaining over seven minutes. The bands very "Black Hole Sunish" "Hung On A Hook" is nothing but a droning mess of nothing. One of the albums worst tracks that goes nowhere and is coma enducing. The band apes David Bowie's Ziggy era for inspiration on "Choke" to close an album that is much too long and should have had way more focus on creating songs that don't drive the listeners crazy with their over the top length and unnecessary
droning that sometimes feels like it will never end.

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Fitz & The Tantrums - More Than Just A Dream

Fitz & The Tantrums return with their blue-eyed soul/pop on an album the stands up and demands to be noticed. Their debut album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, was released in 2010, and contained the single "MoneyGrabber" that, although may have been played a couple times on alternative radio, was really nothing but a small blip on the Alternative charts. Three years later the bands sophomore debut shows a band that has learned how to write pop hooks and mature into a sleek potential hit making machine. 

The chemistry between vocalists Michael Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs remains a considerable strength, and producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, M83, Foster The People) gives everything a nice sheen. Album highlight “6AM” lies somewhere between Taylor Dayne’s “Tell It To My Heart” and a G-Funk banger. The synth bass and slow groove isn’t far from The Chronic-era Dre, but the imprint of ’80s freestyle danciness is all over it. Hip-hop beats actually make up much of the record’s backbone, from the scratchy breaks of “Keepin' Our Eyes Out” to the big, modern bombast of “House On Fire.” 

 “The End” takes things back to the bright and shiny band sound again. This one is good but but doesn’t really stick out like some of the others. When this is the first thing that even approaches filler, that is a very good sign. “Get Away” takes us into throwback land, mixing the big Motown sound with a little bit of psychedelic late 60s garage brit-pop. This one is a definite highlight and one to make your feet move. The closing track is “Merry Go Round”, a track about the adventure and the spin that life can be. It has some late 60s style possibly Hammond organ driving it along. This is a great note to end on and one of the more memorable tracks from this great album.

More Than Just A Dream is definitely one of my favorite releases of the year so far. It is simply twelve songs of feel good soulful (mostly) blue-eyed pop. It’s completely genuine. Soul only works when the musicians truly feel it unlike what many look at today as soul music, these guys do. I really hope that Fitz & The Tantrums continue to have a big breakout year because with material this strong, they deserve it.

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Tom Keifer - The Way Life Goes

Well, finally the terrible sounding live recordings of Cinderella and Tom solo have been replaced with an actual studio quality album of new material. My Cinderella starvation has been satisfied and I'm talking only from the first track that opens the solo album that has been far too long in coming. Tom's trademark vocal is present and sounding awesome today as he did in 1986 maybe even better actually.

The music surely is more mature and that would have to happen because he's grown as a human and lived, loved, raised children which all change you in many ways. That's all brought together on the catchy pop rock number "A Different Light" that has all the sweetness one could anticipate from Keifer but then add sprinkles of bubblegum and singer-songwriter and this song glistens brighter than a diamond on a sunny day.

The album reminds me overall as the natural progression of Heartbreak Station in sound and production. This is an expensive sounding album, the bright production has a high clarity but doesn't remove the organics of performance and emotion that should naturally bleed through when recording something you truly believe in.

Tom's a little more mellow than you might expect and he sings more in his natural tone on this album but he never fails to deliver no matter if he's in full on wail or soft and tender. The tender moments on this album are of high quality as proven with "Ask Me Yesterday" that has a really pretty acoustic lick in the melody. The mid-tempo brilliant "Fools Paradise" was immediately one of the standout tracks for me. I was immediately hooked by his very Beatle-esque composition.

Coming in at fourteen songs The Way Life Goes delivers full value 100%. There isn't a bad song on the entire album and there isn't a weak song on the entire album. This is by far a wonderful addition to the Keifer career collection. If this was a Cinderella album and the comparison to their previous catalog was to be used in the review wholly this album would be equal to their best overall albums. Does it have a "Shake Me" or "Gypsy Road" specifically no but who could expect that in 2013.

Now go buy this great album and support music that actually matters and that was created with love and talent and recorded by actual musicians.

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Jonas & The Massive Attraction - Live Out Loud

The next chapter in the career of Jonas & The Massive Attraction is a little better overall than their debut. This time 'round the band has improved the quality from song to song and the impression after the first listen was completely obvious. I will admit that the album lacks that gut punch of awesomeness that was "Big Slice" which I can get past because there is so many songs to like on this new album.

The sweeping bounce of "Tidal Wave" has his song written all over it and hopefully will be the start of a major swing into the minds of rock fans everywhere. When the band hits it right you get songs like "Respire" and "Bonnie & Clyde" or the top notch "Riot" but they do hit a foul every once in awhile like "Too Young To Be Broken" a true stinker in every way possible.

Overall I hope see the Canadian rockers hit it big and gets lots of airplay and media so they can be rewarded for their creativity and work that is Live Out Loud.

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20 Best Heavy Metal Songs Of All-Time

20. War Pigs by Black Sabbath
19. Princess Of The Night by Saxon
18. Behind The Crooked Cross by Slayer
17. Under & Over It by Five Finger Death Punch
16. King Of The Kill by Annihilator
15. Toxic Waltz by Exodus
14. Down With The Sickness by Disturbed
13. Shout At The Devil by Mötley Crüe
12. Crazy Horse by Black Label Society
11. Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden
10. Rock You To Hell by Grimm Reaper
09. The Henchmen Ride by Testament
08. Made In Hell by Halford
07. Devil You Know by Anthrax
06. Symphony Of Destruction by Megadeth
05. Iron Man by Black Sabbath
04. Seek & Destroy by Metallica
03. Peace Sells by Megadeth
02. You've Got Another Thing Coming by Judas Priest
01. Nailed To The Gun by Fight

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The 20 Best "One Hit Wonder" Songs

20. Pop Muzik by M
19. Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce
18. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
17. Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
16. Cotton Eyed Joe by Rednex
15. Kung-Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas
14. Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
13. Groove Is In The Heart by Dee-Lite
12. Cars by Gary Numan
11. Right Here Right Now by Jesus Jones

10. Spirit In The Sky by Doc & The Medics
09. Don't Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston
08. Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce
07. What I Am by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
06. Tainted Love by Soft Cell
05. Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles
04. I Melt With You by Modern English
03. Sex & Candy by Marcy Playground
02. No Rain by Blind Melon
01. Get It On (Bang A Gong) by T-Rex

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The 20 Greatest Rock N' Roll Bands Of All-Time

After an interesting and fun night of lists and opinions, some being wrong and some being right I've decided to start adding some cool lists to my music blog. This starts with this one here and it is in countdown order.  I took into consideration album quality and catalog girth as well as great songs.

20. Nazareth 
19. Creedence Clearwater Revival
18. Judas Priest
17. Mötley Crüe
16. Pink Floyd
15. Steve Miller Band
14. April Wine
13. Yes
12. The Guess Who
11. Status Quo
10. Testament
09. Metallica
08. Kiss
07. Iron Maiden
06. The Kinks
05. Black Sabbath
04. Van Halen
03. Led Zeppelin
02. The Rolling Stones
01. The Beatles (The Greatest Rock N' Roll Band Of All-Time Undisputed Champions Period!)

Honourable Mention List: Trooper, Stone Temple Pilots, Queen, Overkill, Rush & The Beach Boys

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10 Songs That Should Be On Your I-Pod

It's been a long time so here we go with a seriously great 10 pack of audio crack!

10. Sick Of It by Skillet
09. Put The Gun Down by ZZ Ward
08. City Of Light by Wang Chung
07. Just A Little Bit by Kids Of 88
06. The Way We Move by Langhorne Slim & The Law
05. Complicated Creation by Cloud Cult
04. Chocolate by The 1975
03. Down The Road by C2C
02. Weed Instead Of Roses by Ashley Monroe
01. Hush Hush by The Pistol Annies

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Check Out Kacey Musgrave

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Suicidal Tendencies - 13

Oh hells yeah baby! The return of Cyco Miko and his band Suicidal Tendencies. I became a fan of them back when they made their more metal turn in 1990. I always enjoyed How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today but it was 1990 and Lights Camera Revolution when I truly fell in love with the band. This album has had me excited with anticipation since learning that it was coming.

The band albeit is completely different from the 90's but the music and feel of those albums is here and the quality of song writing is as well. When you hear the excellent "Who's Afraid" there is no way you won't reach for the volume dial to crank it up just a little to get into the massive groove this song lays down. This is true of much of the album with songs like "Smash It" and "Shake It Out" Mike is really on point with his re-launch of this band. 

The band just set it on fire with "Cyco Style" that made bang my head and want to dance like a crazy nut all over the livingroom. That feeling stayed when the following song "Slam City" was cranking out of my speakers. I'm having a shit ton of fun listening to this new Suicidal album and there is little to not like about it. If I wasn't to say that it is easily as good as their classic material I be doing them a disservice as this album is on par with the bands best albums.

If you were ever a fan of Suicidal Tendencies then please come back and check out 13 it is a plethora of great Suicidal Tendencies songs.

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Walk Off The Earth - R.E.V.O

Walk Off The Earth's debut album I guess...is here and now we get to hear what this group of crazy talented folks can put together in album form. The opening cut is also the title track which is a super catchy number that I immediately wanted to hear again. The song is splendid in every aspect of song creation. If this isn't a hit single then the world has lost their freaking minds and taste and have no idea what a great song is any longer.

The group is two fer with the excellent "Red Hands" another purely infectious pop gem. So far I'm listening to what could almost match Jack White's brilliant Blunderbuss. You know you are being treated to something amazing when you instantly grin as the first song is playing and by the third track that grin has turned into a smile so big it could nearly eclipse your face. I guess this band's viral video explosion covering "Somebody That I Used To Know" wasn't a fluke as they just have it. Even the oddly annoying "Sometimes" gets stuck in your head. The first song on the album I'm not big on but then "Shake" brings it all back together and keeps them from going astray with all that creativeness.

I've fallen in love with Walk Off The Earth and it happened after track one but by the time "Summer Vibe" graced my ears at track nine I knew I was defenseless to their pop crack. Bands like Of Monster & Men and Mumford & Sons who are getting rave reviews for similar styled music that can't even come close to being this great. "No Ulterior Motives" is the closing number and has all kinds of awesomeness sprinkled all over it. There is some seriously great music on R.E.V.O. and if you like indie folk and pop this album is some of the best I've heard this year.

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Sevendust - Black Out The Sun

I've never liked this band until now maybe it is that my tastes have evolved to enjoy their brand of heavy metal. The intro track "Memory" is pretty typical as an intro the nu-metal mayhem is unleashed with the stop start stumble rythm that quickly drops down into emo mode for a verse and then returns to the stumble with a little more aggresive vocals and we are caught in the Nirvana grunge loop of loud soft loud soft loud nausium. So far this not a worthwhile journey but it has only just begun so of course I continue to listen to Black Out The Sun to see it to its ultimate conclusion.

The next track is a great slice of dirgy nu-metal that kicks off with a little death vocal the blows up into a very melodic chorus. I'm not a major fan of the bands lyrics and honestly prefer it when the death or scream-o style is blasting from my speakers because it has a nice sonic texture and melodic quality I really like. Sevendust’s balance of aggression and melody are showcased on "Mountain", which has a southern feel to it, along with "Cold As War" and the very groovy "Nobody Wants It".

The disc’s lead single, ‘Decay,’ is a prime example of Sevendust’s combination of harmonious melodies and pummeling guitars. The song is one of the albums best tracks as it combines their sounds perfectly and isn't forgettable as much of this album turned out to be. The one track that I've gone back to multiple times is "Dark AM" I just really dig the energy and melodic synapses. I wish this band would explore more AIC territory and in so include the pop sensibilities they can blend into their sound as shown on "Dark AM" and to a bit lesser degree "Decay".

Witherspoon’s soulful vocal could put this band in the same league as Shinedown or Tantric if they would just fully realize they have the skill to unleash a very commercial CD and grow their fan base. I absolutely love "Got A Feeling" the crisp production on the acoustic guitars is flawless. I'm again not impressed with the lyrical content and their religious bend but anyone that knows me will know that. The long player comes to it's climax with "Murder Bar" that has a pretty kick ass groove but lacks some in the thunder department and could benefit with more bottom end.

Overall this album is a decent one and the first time I've really given the band an indepth listen. It doesn't make me want to go seek out their previous material in anyway but I do enjoy this one and will add "Dark AM" and "Decay" to my I-pood for more listens.

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