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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