Because I’m in a giving mood (and because no one, and I mean no one, ever comes to our house for candy on Halloween), I thought I would load up the musical candy bowl and liberally hand out the goodies to those who come knocking at the Popdose door.

“Frankenstein,” The Edgar Winter Group (download)

Well, as an albino who’s also a rocker, Edgar was pretty much made to create a song called “Frankenstein.”  I’ve never really been a fan of this group, and know very little about them, but our friends at Wiki had some nice tidbits:  1. Winter loves his Scientology; he’s made no public comments on what he thought of John Travolta’s performance in Battlefield Earth. 2. Dan “I Can Dream About You” Hartman was in the band at one point. 3. This song was featured in Guitar Hero — which I’ve never played.  (more…)

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did that sound screamy enough? Be honest. Okay, lemme try it again … Uhh-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!! Yep, that’s the one. I’ll stick with that one.

Bootleg City is back! Or, rather, you’re back in Bootleg City. (You sure did skip town in a hurry last year. Now where’s that $5,000 you still owe us?) So open yer yaps, boyos, and prepare to take in AC/DC’s “Live in Concert” bootleg, taken from an August 21, 1978, performance at Boston’s Paradise Theatre that was broadcast on WBCN. At one point the disc jockey refers to the Australian hard rock band’s lead singer as “Bon Tyler” instead of Bon Scott. Mr. DJ, stop dreaming about Boston’s pride and joy, Aerosmith! But it’s not like he could dream about Steven Tyler’s movie-star daughter Liv instead — in the summer of ‘78 she was only 13 months old.

Live Wire
Problem Child
Sin City
Gone Shootin’/Bad Boy Boogie
The Jack
Whole Lotta Rosie
Rocker
Dog Eat Dog

I was ready — so ready — and fired up to tear into the new AC/DC album like a grizzly bear on chubby hikers. These old guys have been cranking out the same album all career long, including a jump from deceased lead singer Bon Scott to longtime and current singer Brian Johnson. The AC/DC pattern is simply a thudding stomp of a beat, a concise riff, often dumb lyrics based on substances, debauchery, lust and mayhem and a voice that could never work in any other setting. Add in the predictability of material, a chunk of years off, another one of these cheesy Wal-Mart distribution deals and the AC/DC logo becoming a fashion statement as bland as the Nike Swoop and there should have been no reason for me to be kind to Black Ice.

Guess what? It’s not bad.

(more…)

Ah, the fourth quarter. It isn’t as much of an event as it used to be, but even as the music industry crumbles to dust before our very eyes, artists and labels continue to focus on the last few months of the year for the biggest glut of high-profile releases on the calendar, and 2008 is no exception.

Rather than punishing your eyes with a comprehensive fall music preview, or soliciting input from everyone on the staff, I decided to put together a list of the titles I’m either looking forward to (Lindsey Buckingham, Brian Wilson), need to hear to satisfy some dark, unexplained urge (Gym Class Heroes, Queen), or simply find interesting for some reason (Todd Rundgren, AC/DC). If you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you how to spend the “music” portion of your discretionary income for the next few months, look no further — without further ado, here’s my list of 21 fall releases to watch for.

Rodney Crowell - Sex & Gasoline (Yep Roc, September 2)

In which one of country’s most freewheeling (read: consistently interesting) songwriters hooks up with Yep Roc for a song cycle that, if the press kit is to be trusted, is “about women.” You can be certain the songs do more than just live up to that simple billing, especially with titles like “The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design” — and as an added bonus, our pal Joe Henry was behind the boards (and does a duet with Crowell on one track, “I’ve Done All That I Can”). What, you don’t like country? Yeah, me neither. But I’m buying this. (more…)

The cutout bins are filled with what I’ve always called “blatant pop attempts” — albums created for maximum commercial appeal that, despite such intentions, failed miserably on all fronts. In most cases, one listen to the album in question reveals precisely why it was such a dud. I mean, we consumers have bought a lot of crap over the years, but we know when we’re being pandered to, right?

But what about those BPAs that really weren’t all that bad?

One such album is Kix’s 1983 release Cool Kids. I remember seeing the cover and thinking the band had a bit of a Ramones vibe going on. They looked metal, of course, but these were the days before “hair metal,” so the shaggy manes weren’t an automatic turn-off. I was in the mood to rock and these guys looked like they might just deliver, so I bought the album.

What I heard both confused and delighted me. Imagine, if you will, a band that looked like a Baltimore street gang (not that I’ve actually seen a Baltimore street gang, mind you) coming at you with a synth-heavy mix of bubblegum and vintage AC/DC. It’s a weird mix on paper and even weirder coming through the headphones, but once I wrapped my teenage mind around it, I was hooked.

“Cool Kids” is the kind of song that should’ve been blasting out of radios during the summer of ’83, a pitch-perfect slice of teen angst set against staccato guitars and a tight-as-a-prom-date (did I really just type that?) bass line. Seriously, download this bad boy and give it a spin. If you aren’t rockin’ the air guitar in your cubicle by the first chorus, we may wanna start feelin’ for a pulse, brah.

(more…)

DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE

Bonjour mes amis! This week’s mix is brought to you by the letter “L” — which is the first letter in leukemia and lymphoma. I know, blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma are real Debbie Downer things, but the good news is that every year the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society raises a large amount of cash to continue research in fighting blood cancers. One way they do it is through Team in Training, where people train with coaches to do crazy things like, oh, ride 100 miles around Lake Tahoe in June. If you couldn’t guess by now, I’m training to do “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride” in June, and that means I’m spending a lot of time in the saddle trying to build up my endurance. Because I get bored just listening to myself breathe heavy and periodically swear while riding down the road, I load my iPod with a “bike mix” to help me stay motivated — so this week’s mix is culled from that bike playlist to help you (if you like working out) move a little faster than you’re used to.

Riders to your marks! (more…)