VOTM - "Country Boy" by Heads Hands & Feet

I was referred to this band by a guy on one of my guitar forums. I have a little Albert Lee in my collection, so I'm familiar with his work, but I had never heard of Heads Hands and Feet before (probably because I'm not British). Anyway, Albert lays down some of the best country picking I've ever heard on this track, which is impressive for a bunch of British dudes.

Video of the Moment - "Can You Go Out Tonight" by The Singles

Stellar work and a great video from one of the better power pop bands in recent years.

The Cars - s/t

I already reviewed my CD copy of this album over here, but I also own the album on vinyl. Rather than re-reviewing it, I'll just hit what I missed on the first review, which is that it's simply ridiculous for "Good Times Roll," "My Best Friend's Girl," "Just What I Needed," "Don't Cha Stop," "You're All I've Got Tonight," and "Moving in Stereo" to all be on the same album. Most bands don't have greatest hits lineups that strong. This is an insanely good cars album and you should own it.

The Carpenters - The Singles 1969-1973

Along with Boston's self-titled debut, which you should own because there are a zillion copies and it's really really good, and Frampton Comes Alive, which you should own because there are a kazillion copies and it's better than you think, every vinyl collector should also own this Carpenters compilation. Why? Because it's everywhere and because you like the Carpenters more than you think you do.

Remember this scene from Tommy Boy? Well that's actually how the Carpenters work. I bought this album because my parents used to own a lot of Carpenters stuff and it's the only concert my Mom has ever been to. Anyway, the first time I dropped the needle on this record and heard "We've Only Just Begun," it really worked on me. Let's just say that I was attacked by a sudden cloud of dust and pet dander which made it look for all the world like I was openly weeping to the first song on a Carpenters compilation. I double dog dare you to listen to this album and see if your room doesn't get dusty all of a sudden. If the music itself doesn't do it, just think about what a ball of talent Karen Carpenter was and how her untimely death could have been prevented. There will be waterworks. This is a top-to-bottom solid introduction to the music of The Carpenters. Buy it, cry to it, don't let your friends see.

Eric Carmen - s/t

As a fan of power pop, I have nothing but respect for The Raspberries, which is why I bought this album. Eric Carmen is the former frontman of the classic power pop combo The Raspberries. While most people pick up this album for its mega-hit "All By Myself" (yes, the very one you just started singing in your head when you read the name of the song) I picked it up to see if there were any other Raspberry-esque nuggets hidden anywhere else on the album.

The most Raspberry-ish tunes on the album are probably "My Girl" and "Last Night," but they're not quite as good as the "Go All the Way" heights of Carmen's work with his former band. There are a few very pleasant tunes on this album, one instantly recognizable hit, and, I'm sad to say, some substandard filler. Put this album on a set of scales, and there's more going for it than against it, but I honestly hoped it would have been better.

Badger Postulate #1

Postulate #1: If you introduce your children to the music of Cheap Trick, they will enjoy it.

Cheap Trick has a certain universal appeal. They rock hard enough for heshers, they have enough pop appeal for girls, they're deviant enough to make teenage boys chuckle, they're sensitive enough for your parents, they're rebellious enough for punks, weird enough for nerds, and normal enough for everybody else. Oh, and they write great songs. If your child is a human being born on Earth, chances are they will be receptive to Cheap Trick, given the chance.

Ben Folds - Supersunnyspeedgraphic

This compilation brings together some of Ben Fold's best work from his EP's and tosses them all into a weird ol' salad bowl. There's really only one reason I own this album: the superb cover of The Cure's "In Between Days." Everything else is just gravy. Most of the gravy is a little lumpy, but some of it goes down smooth.

Baleeted? No. Also, a clever comment about why not.

Ben Folds - Way to Normal

Ben Folds has always been one of the smartest musicians of his generation, but this album sounds like he actually outsmarted himself.

Baleeted? No, but I won't be listening to this a whole lot, either.

Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman

The prospect of a double disc Ben Folds solo album sounds like a gift from up above. Unfortunately the reality of this album is something less than its promise. When you go double disc, you better have written at least three discs worth of material because albums are generally made more awesome by what they exclude as much if not more than they are by what they include. In listening to this album, I felt like there was one solid disc's worth of material here. All the rest could be released later as b-sides and later on a rarities compilation where the pressures of cohesiveness are not as great.

Lest I knock this thing to the point that it sounds like it has no redeeming qualities, I must point out that "Landed" is one of Ben Folds' sweetest melodies and that the heartfelt "Late" is a perfect epitaph for Elliott Smith. If this were one disc, it would be one of Folds' best, but he doubled down and it didn't quite hit the way he wanted it to.

Baleeted? No, but I am tempted to recompile this album as a single disc.

Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs

This is the album where two things started happening simultaneously. 1) We all breathed a collective sigh of relief because we could all stop pretending like we cared about the other two guys in Ben Folds Five (Sorry, other two guys in the band.  If it makes you feel better, I once played bass in a band where the guy who wrote all the songs, sang them, and played lead guitar could also play the bass better than I could. The only reason I was in the band to begin with was because the main dude didn't have two extra hands. The same is true for you and Ben Folds. You just gotta know the score and deal with it). 2) Ben Folds took his already nifty knack for pop songwriting and distilled it down to its purest and most potent form.

This album has some of the best songs Ben Folds has ever written which should appeal to everyone on the planet. Seriously, I defy you to dislike "Annie Waits" "Still Fighting It" and the poignant "The Ascent of Stan." Also, I know you put "The Luckiest" on a mix for your significant other. Don't even try to deny it.

Baleeted? Nope. As a fan of great pop, I am contractually obligated to keep this album and listen to it regularly.

Ben Folds Five - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

While Ben Folds Five has never had a tendency to lay back in the groove, this is the album where they really went for grandiosity, which I mean in the complimentary, not the pejorative. I simply mean to say that everything on this album feels bigger. Bigger swells, bigger orchestral arrangements, bigger chords requiring more fingers than ever before (I still have to fact-check that last one, so don't quote me on it).

The one thing I don't like about this album is that it feels like Ben Folds trying to tell me that he's smarter than I am. There's no question that he actually is smarter, but I don't want to be reminded of that fact. Even so, there are a number of very good tunes. I especially like "Don't Change Your Plans," which feels like a Bacharach song.

Baleeted? No, but on an unrelated note, the cover art for this album makes me anxious for some reason.

Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen

This album is jaunty and timeless. Oh, and it has an all-time megahit that despite whatever you tell yourself, it is actually about abortion.

The 90's was a time when albums met controversy for a number of ridiculous reasons (stores wanted to boycott Goo Goo Dolls' Boy Named Goo because the naked boy on the cover standing in front of a grape vine with grape smears all over his face looked like a cannibal to the insane people who protest such things. In short, Goo Goo Dolls want your children to eat people. It's in their music and everything) but "Brick" had a legitimate reason for controversy. 40 years have passed since Roe v. Wade and abortion is still one of the most divisive topics available. People actually vote for soulless morons because they agree with their stance on abortion. I'm telling you this because people can't stop loving "Brick" even if they don't agree with its content at the very core of their being. It's that good of a song.

There are other songs on this album as well. They are all amazing. On the expanded version there is a cover of "She Don't Use Jelly" that I actually prefer to the Flaming Lips original. Ben Folds is amazing. The two other guys in the five aren't bad either.

Baleeted? No. Not until I really nail down my complex feelings surrounding "Brick."

Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five

Before "Brick" and the album surrounding it became one of the biggest and most controversial hits of the 90's, Ben Folds Five was already up and running, doing precisely what they have always done. The band's debut album shows that they have always had a metric ton of talent and a heaping buttload of vision. They pretty much were who they wanted to be from the word "go." Of course when I talk about the band, I'm mostly talking about the guy the band is named after who eventually went solo and kept doing what he does despite the lack of two other permanent members of the band. So yeah, any and all compliments for Ben Folds Five apply equally and retroactively to Ben Folds himself. I'm sure he'd want it that way.

Anyway, while you could point to at least a half dozen other famous piano rockers from the 1970's, the same could not be said for the 1990's. Ben Folds didn't have any company in the piano rocking department until that guy from Something Corporate came along, but he's not even technically in the same genre, so I don't know why I even mention him. Ben Folds and the other two dudes who make up the five were in a genre of their own when this platter hit the shelves in 1995. This is something unique and amazing. Every song on the album reminds the listener that Ben Folds has an uncanny grasp of his instrument as well as an equally uncanny knack for write oddly compelling pop songs. If you told someone who believes in UFO's that Ben Folds was a being from beyond the stars, they would believe it; partially because it seems a logical explanation and partially because they're a gullible whackadoodle. In summary, this album is really good and you will love it.

Oh, and big ups to me for not mentioning Todd Rundgren in this review. And no, me mentioning that I didn't mention him doesn't count as a mention. I make the rules and I don't break them, fool.

Baleeted? No, but only because I believe in UFO's. Not the flying saucer kind, but the kind with Michael Schenker. It's a bad joke, but I couldn't help myself.

Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love

At this point, I'd consider any Belle and Sebastian album to be gravy. Write About Love comes in the band's 14th year of existence. Very few bands hang around this long, and even fewer manage to still sound vital at this point in their careers.

While I'm more than happy to grant the band a pass, they don't need it. They have more than enough awesome to go around. They don't need my pity stars. They're still earning them. On a somewhat related note, "Calculating Bimbo" goes in ways I couldn't have predicted, even with 14 years of research into the Belle and Sebastian way of life. It's awesome and precisely the thing I was missing on The Life Pursuit.

Baleeted? No. I'm just happy that Belle and Sebastian is still going strong.

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

The Life Pursuit is another step down the new stylistic road forged by Dear Catastrophe Waitress. When you listen to a track like "We are the Sleepyheads," it's hard to believe that this is the same band that gave us "Stars of Track and Field." There's a vibrant and zesty feel to the new Belle and Sebastian sound, and I happen to like it.

The only knock that I can lay on this album is that it's not quite as fun as Dear Catastrophe Waitress. There's no innuendo-laden "Step Into My Office, Baby" or shimmering "Wrapped Up in Books." While not quite as fun as I'd hope, The Life Pursuit is still highly enjoyable and a promising indication of where Belle and Sebastian are heading in this era of their career.

Baleeted? Nope. It's not surprising, right?