Week 11

Sometimes music takes you to places long forgotten or helps make sense of life through the messages within. Often, music is a reminder of a place and time. Just the mention of Levon Helm takes me to Woodstock and reminds me of a long road trip with a good friend, snowy adventures to a Big Pink house, dinner at a tiny restaurant in a small town, or a night of music forever captured to remind you of the bonds music has between us all. Music is a feeling, a memory, or just something that takes you away from the drone of day-to-day life. Sometimes the reminders come in the form of tracks like Big Balls from Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which was performed karaoke style at a work function. I didn't say they were all shining memories. Keeping in theme let's call this "dirt" week (3/15-3/21):

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (vinyl)
Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust
Cry Of Love - Diamonds & Debris
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary Of A Madman
Alice In Chains - Dirt
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
AC/DC - Dirty Work Done Dirt Cheap
Rolling Stones - Dirty Work
Van Halen - Diver Down

I had to back-track figuratively and literally to listen to Cosmo's Factory by CCR. This record is full of some epic tunes like Travelin' Band (my personal favorite), I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye cover), Who'll Stop The Rain, Lookin' Out My Back Door, and Run Through The Jungle. The album also features a tune made famous by Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby. Also of note, the last album of the week includes another Orbison tune - (Oh) Pretty Woman. Diver Down is a good Van Halen album, but is heavy on the cover songs. I love a good cover song and Eddie and the boys do a great job making them their own, but this album doesn't have any signature originals that other Van Halen albums include.

Bruce Springsteen has released several albums that deviate from the sound that made him popular to show a folk side that only The Boss can so aptly handle. Devils & Dust follows the same pattern as Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad showing the narrative story-telling skills of an artist not afraid to take a chance. The album actually peaked at #1 on the Billbord album charts, but this album is far from radio friendly by modern standards. That's exactly why this is one of my favorite albums by The Boss. The title track and Long Time Comin' are my favorites with the real highlight being the dual-sided DVD with just Bruce, harmonica, and acoustic guitar playing and giving commentary on the songs.

Cry Of Love only released two albums, but Diamonds & Debris was not quite as strong as their first album Brother. Audley Freed's amazing chops hold this album up entirely on it's own, but the songs just aren't as strong. The instrumental Hung Out Redux shows how influential Hendrix was to Audley. Front man Kelly Holland departed and was replaced by Robert Mason for this album. Favorite among the vocal tracks are Empty Castle and my favorite song Bring Me My Burden.

Once Ozzy left as front-man for Black Sabbath, he enlisted one of metal's most influential in gutarist Randy Rhoads. Diary Of A Madman is the final chapter in the guitarist short career, but proved that the Ozzy/Rhoads team was far from finished before the guitarists life was cut short. The album is full of great guitar work on tracks like Flying High Again and the simplistic acoustic work contrasted my running metal scales on You Can't Kill Rock And Roll.

Alice In Chains is another prime example of a musician leaving before their time. Lead singer Layne Staley burnt out long before his time, but sometimes the most troubled souls create the best music. The case is true as Dirt is perhaps one of my favorite hard rock albums from the 90's. It's gritty, angry, and well - dirty rockin album full of the plights of addiction. While Cantrell is given credit for most of the song-writing, it's Staley's voice that gives the album and band it's signature sound.

Even a band like the Rolling Stones can make a "bad" album, but when they make a bad album it's still better than most crap out these days. I find it interesting that it looks like Keith Richards is kneeing Mick Jagger in the groin on the cover. It's almost as if Keef is saying, "Keep your crappy drum-looping and over-dubbing out of our rock-n-roll and stick it in your solo crap". This album was a period in the Stones career where Richards and Jagger were not on good terms. It's clear that the music on this album just doesn't meet the standards for this band. It's also proof of just how bad an album cover can look when the label is in charge of decisions. Pastel on the Rolling Stones just doesn't fit. Additionally, the album features Jimmy Page on One Hit for which he is not credited - again due to record company red tape.