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Post by pacinoyes on May 10, 2022 13:22:07 GMT
Matt Speedway (Matt Julian of The Speedways) - The Sincerest Form Of Flattery - 5 Song Demo (Released February 25th, 2022) - 8 / 10The THIRD, best - and last - free 5 song solo demo he's thrown out there - more like The Speedways than either of the 2 earlier ones. This is just awesome fun - and this is now 15 demo songs in less than 60 days.......I guess The Speedways are recording studio album #3 - and across these 15 songs (14 originals, 1 cover) he's given away - at least half of them are already fully formed standouts in just demo form. Track 4 is the real winner here - "Mary-Anne Lowe" - doing that spoken word intro he likes to use and Track 5 is his best titled song ever "Frankly, I Want You To Die"
Arguably the best songwriter in Rock atm - fronting a stupendous band who is on none of these 15 songs - just Matt - and in these 3 demo releases he's shown a whole fantastic balladeer side too. Matt Speedway (Matt Julian of The Speedways) - Yeah, OK - 5 Song Demo (Released May 10th - TODAY, 2022) - 7.5 / 10
Oh, the last one wasn't the last - I guess - his 4th free EP - all reviewed in this thread (you're f'n welcome) - in 5 months - that's 20 songs. This one has the same limits - crappy sound, no band performance / demo quality - and same fascinating strengths - dropped with no warning, a genius Power Pop songwriter - showing us his sketches - across multiple styles some of this sounding a bit like - The Cure, Rick Springfield (um), The Shoes and Armed Forces era Elvis Costello - I love him so much for his theft and spin on it - but now it's starting to look like "Ok, wait how many songs did he write during the pandemic anyway?" - and does he have really great ones fleshed and saved for The Speedways and if he does ..........when do we get them? He can't write a bad song, or a bad sketch of one even it seems........the issue now is.........can he officailly deliver on the formal follow-up (later this year?) to Radio Sounds (2020) - the best Power Pop album of the last several years - or even longer. Full EP link below the photo mattspeedway.bandcamp.com/album/yeah-ok
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Post by themoviesinner on May 11, 2022 18:21:31 GMT
Lake Of Tears - Moons And Mushrooms (2007) -- 9/10This is one of my favorite rock albums of the 21st century. It's the band's second best work, as it features influences from all their previous albums. It mixes the band's early doom/gothic metal sound, with the psychedelic rock of their middle albums and all is presented in an alternative/hard rock wrapping. A great album, catchy and easy to listen to, but also quite dark and melancholic at parts. pacinoyes I believe you quite enjoyed the previous Lake Of Tears album I recommended you, so this is worth checking out as well. I think it will be even more up your alley.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 12, 2022 7:54:29 GMT
The Christian Family - The Raw and Primitive Sound of The Christian Family (2022) - 7 / 10
Rock and roll is built on contradictions - I mean Elvis and Bowie yanno?
Well this duo on a very conceptual album emphasizes them - they play as The Freaks of Nature - but here are another band whose side gig is better than their main one - mixing blues, gospel, Satan / God and straight up noise Punk on another pretty good 2022 debut.
This is wild, though one note stuff - that evokes The Cramps, Jack White / White Stripes / Flat Duo Jets, the buzzing reverb heavy sound of JAMC and Sunday Church whoopin and hollerin via The Gun Club. Would be even better if it cut loose more - a little Jerry Lee or Little Richard would send this over the edge which I think is where they really want it to go..........but still one of the few cool things coming out of the US in 2022 and this is VERY Americana..........not sure they can expand on this sound.........but hope they can.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 13, 2022 18:02:38 GMT
The Clams - The Complete Clams (1986 -1988) - (2022) - 6.5+ / 10
Minneapolis had its own version of an all girl Replacements with the same influences - The Stones, Chuck Berry, Pre-Punk: they cover the Dolls ffs - and have the same general attitude except that the dudes are a GOAT band and The Clams are ........who?
Compiling everything they ever cut, and some live stuff - this is decent ......and listenable even when the songwriting falters.
At the time they were around there were 3 major label American girl bands - all different - The Go-Gos (the most successful of the 3), The Bangles (the most influential of the 3) and The Pandoras (from 1984-1986, the best of the 3)........this is closer in spirit to The Pandoras but not nearly "Stop Pretending" level awesome (come on) and not as clear in intent either which hurts them a bit.
Still something of a historical find kind of compilation all in one place and a having a cool very 80s jangle-pop single that's the real gem here:
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Post by pacinoyes on May 15, 2022 8:41:11 GMT
Kevin Morby - This Is A Photograph (2022) - maybe slightly under a 7 / 10 for me .....but you can't go by me this is Critic BaitIf you ever wonder what kind of records I don't usually care about much it's the Adult New Americana.... Those records like Kevin Morby makes (and his girlfriend too Katie Crutchfield / Waxahatchie) always are instantaneous "new classics" that people forget about almost immediately and I forget about them even faster than that. Usually with a sincere earnestness with the ghost of Dylan hanging over everything (Young too) always make critics lose their shit and I often find .....pretty dull, musty and quite humorless ...... like studying for a test. I don't find this album very exciting or funny either......but I do find it better and less annoying than his previous work and very organic - the roots, gospel, folk are all integrated in an appealing and natural way. His Dylan schtick bothers me less that he's you know NOT Dylan than he knows he's not Dylan either......but that's ok......with him at least. As for me I'm just sticking with The Basement Tapes thanks but I appreciate not making the experience entirely unpleasant. Side note: Mike Krol did the cover design. He made albums himself once.....2019's Power Chords was the best one too according to the pacinoyes rankings™........um that was well over 3 years ago .....come on ......
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Post by pacinoyes on May 16, 2022 8:31:54 GMT
TV Crime - Metal Town (2019) - just under a 7 / 10
Matt Julian (The Speedways) once praised this band - who I think have broken up (?) ......and I never heard them - and the irony is that these guys had a Glam - Punk - Hard Rock sound that should have been far bigger than Julian's (far better) own band tbh.
Sort of sounding like a cross between the NY Dolls and Thin Lizzy - (or D-Generation, um) very much "see how Rock and Roll we are?"- and very much probably way better live than it is on record. In the 80s this music was sometimes done right (Julian's beloved Hanoi Rocks sometimes nailed this sound on singles)......often it would be a bit of overproduced dreck.
Very interesting but not very appealing to me - sounds cool as it plays, but not particularly memorable tbh ......but there's something to this. Some of this sounds like late 80s Soul Asylum.....
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Post by pacinoyes on May 17, 2022 10:10:27 GMT
The Smiths - Goodbye To Elvis (1985) Bootleg - at least 7.5 / 10
Good sounding 4 song bootleg of non-essentials from Scotland '85 when you could still say "oh, they're ok - kind of wussyish ..........some good singles" before they dropped The Queen Is Dead (1986) - and shut everybody up until you didn't know what to think of them anymore..........except of course Morrissey ...........who would never shut up
Live you realize that Rourke and Joyce were a lot more important to this bands aesthetic than Morrissey likes to (often) suggest.
Ah well, this will show up on that awesome (one day) boxset (Reissue! Repackage!) when the lads all meet up in some bar to hash out the messy legalities of it all. Um.
Full bootleg only 12+ minutes:
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Post by themoviesinner on May 18, 2022 16:21:33 GMT
Seven Spires - Gods Of Debauchery (2021) -- 8.5/10This was surprisingly great. It mixes a lot of different styles of metal (black metal, melodic death and power metal are the most prominent) and combines them with epic sounding symphonics. The only downside is it's length, as, at nearly 80 minutes, it does get a bit tiresome, despite all of it's variation. But there is a lot of great stuff in here. This is definitely the best metal album I've heard from an American band in a very long time.
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Post by countjohn on May 18, 2022 18:36:55 GMT
Not the last album I heard but I forgot to do a review when I first listened to it.
A Light For Attracting Attention The Smile
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood's side project outside of Radiohead with a different drummer. Not sure why this wasn't a Radiohead album. Anyway, I was really excited after a couple straight ahead rock songs were released as the singles in advance, because I've been wanting them to do that forever. But it turned out it was mostly jazz fusion stuff harkening back to Kid A which I've also been wanting them to get back to for a while. And a couple ballad-y piano and strings songs reminiscent of In Rainbows or A Moon Shaped Pool. It doesn't really hang together but the song quality is sky high so it doesn't really matter, it's still the best rock album in ages and likely the best new music that will come out this year.
9/10
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Post by pacinoyes on May 26, 2022 11:03:17 GMT
Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers - Pretty Good For A Girl Band EP (2022) - ~ 7 / 10
Great band name huh, that has the youthful right idea - sounding like regular Australian teen girls (they may be in their early 20s at most?) who like stuff like Avril Lavigne and all catchy Pop via Courtney Barnett's debut - in a way I expected The Regrettes to develop but didn't....
Because they're so young - no album yet - they don't really care, what a critic - or a guy (see the album title) says anyway - though this 5 song EP is sweet but too samey to be the knockout I really want it to be.
Potentially could be something though.......I could see a producer looking at this band and seeing big flashing dollar signs tbh....
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Post by pacinoyes on May 28, 2022 0:22:38 GMT
Lost Cat - Lost Cat (2022) - 7 + / 10 ......
Kinda love this debut which meticulously recreates mid-60s garage in an exciting way.
Sounding like a more kitschy spin on The Pandoras 1st album It's About Time (1984) - this band eliminates keyboards and comes off a lot scuzzier.........sort of the darker side of the garage take on 1966 / or an all female version of The Sonics.
Too repetitive to rate higher but repetitive in all the right ways......so you want to rate it higher.
Along with the even better Kate Clover - finally some good America RnR - and both of them are from LA ? (Wtf)....their videos are a retro blast too.....in the tradition of LA RnR like The (initial) Pandoras, Gun Club, The Blasters .......and The Go-Gos actually (?!?)
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Post by pacinoyes on May 29, 2022 10:11:31 GMT
Gentleman Jesse - Compass - 3 Song EP for Jack White's Third Man Records (2022) - ~ 7.5 / 10I've called this guy one of the best songwriters in the world (there's a "Songwriters" thread, duh)........but he has only made 3 solo albums from 2008-2021 - so no one cares......but you should - especially if you want to learn how to write songs and the craft of doing it. Last year he came out of nowhere after 8 years (wtf) and made an album - no announcement, no hype - unlike any he had made before - a very mature, singer-songwriter record that made my best of 2021 list at #7 - nothing like his 2 Power Pop "classics" - and his 2nd album - "Leaving Atlanta" (2012 / 2013) is a small time genre classic. 2 of these songs here are fine: Compass from Lose Everything (2021) (pretty good but better on the OG album) and a cool obscure cover song.......but the standout is the track he co-wrote with another somewhat obscure but beloved figure - Greg Cartwright of the Reigning Sound - "Protecting Nothing" - link to that song on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/thirdmanrecords/gentleman-jesse-protecting-nothing/s-rbYnrSKIOLA?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 4, 2022 18:22:18 GMT
Horsegirl - Versions of Modern Performance - ~ 7.5 / 10
Not sure this is my kind of thing .......but it's gonna be everybody else's I'm pretty sure - like Big Thief and the last Fiona Apple this is American Rock Critic Catnip - and people who write about Rock are going to write A LOT about it. All female teen (?) trio plays Indie Rock's Greatest Hits on their noise-focused debut and people who think Indie Rock, feminism, and diversity are awesome will think this is too.
Some others will think this reminds them of THE "hip indie" record they wanted to love but couldn't quite - Vampire Weekend........Slint.......Neutral Milk Hotel.......whatever it is for you. ........depending on your age / worldview.....and when you left this stuff behind .........which you should have a long time ago tbh
Possible multiple "album of the year awards" coming its way (or runner up to Big Thief because its just their debut isn't it?)........what a year for Rock and Roll, huh?
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Jun 5, 2022 11:56:07 GMT
070 Shake - You Can’t Kill Me
wow, early contender for album of the year. synth heaven. the kanye, weeknd, and travis influences are quite obvious, but she turns this album into her own and makes it something unique and special
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Post by themoviesinner on Jun 5, 2022 17:44:18 GMT
Neurosis - Souls At Zero (1992) -- 10/10Simply monumental, one of the greatest albums ever made. Crushingly heavy, full of anger and despair, but also has shades of melancholy and sorrow. Musically it mixes a lot of styles, mainly sudge metal and hardcore punk, but there are a lot of tribal and folkish elements as well. Unique and unrelenting, it is definitely one of the pinnacles of avant-garde metal. pacinoyes are you familiar with Neurosis? They are among the most acclaimed metal band from the US (although they are far from popular, because their music is the exact opposite of what one would call catchy).
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 5, 2022 18:49:21 GMT
Neurosis - Souls At Zero (1992) -- 10/10Simply monumental, one of the greatest albums ever made. Crushingly heavy, full of anger and despair, but also has shades of melancholy and sorrow. Musically it mixes a lot of styles, mainly sudge metal and hardcore punk, but there are a lot of tribal and folkish elements as well. Unique and unrelenting, it is definitely one of the pinnacles of avant-garde metal. pacinoyes are you familiar with Neurosis? They are among the most acclaimed metal band from the US (although they are far from popular, because their music is the exact opposite of what one would call catchy). VERY familiar with this band and the 80s era they started out in - my buddy is a huge fan of theirs - if he plays metal for me it's usually from that decade .........I am pretty sure he's seen them live several times too........I think I have an almost shocking general knowledge of 80s metal for someone who isn't into metal........I mean I have his copies of Witchfinder General's Death Penalty and Friends of Hell (great album covers btw) - that he may not remember I have - to go along with a copy of my ex's Onslaught The Force .........not many can claim THAT kind of random metal credibility
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 12, 2022 19:09:57 GMT
Young Guv - Guv 4 (will be released June 24, 2022) - 6 / 10
Young Guv 3 - also released this year - is by far the best thing he's ever done - and is still among my top 10 or so fave records of the first 6 months of 2022.
This one however...........isn't that one.
Stick with 3 not 4.
Wimpy, unnecesssary, kind of flat.......a disappointment.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 17, 2022 16:59:13 GMT
New Brutarians - New Muse EP (2022) - 7.5 / 10 Kind of a sound made for me that they have going on here - the female drummer and male guitarist work the lo-fi vein that the Jacobites did, swiping off the masters of course - The 68-72 Rolling Stones and what they invented / perfected. Sloppiness gives way to beauty - a beauty significantly enhanced by backup vocals (the drummer) - going for Sticky Fingers / Exile in its shambolic effect. No one is doing this exactly right now and it sounds legit - when it should sound like a generic style copy only. The last song is a Stiv Bators-like (partial) piss take on Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" which somehow ties this band into all the great sub-Stones addicts (pun intended) you can name. This title song is apparently on a forthcoming album (the others are EP only?) - where they may not be able to sustain this awesome concept for the long haul........but I really hope they can......
The New Brutarians - Hysteria (2022) - slightly above a 7 / 10 Not as good as an album as it was in small doses before^........ Still good though.......on Spotify - right now as of 12:00 PM EST - and the drummer is cooler when you can see her playing and adding her vocals too. Their single is as close as we're getting to 70s Faces / Stones stagger / swagger in 2022 tbh:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 24, 2022 22:13:51 GMT
The Delinquents - Too Late, Too Little, Too Loose (2022) - 7 / 10 Debut by a band who must really love The Dolls - but especially The Heartbreakers & somewhat The Ramones - like all kind- hearted people do of course. Then again a lot of people love those all-timer bands but they don't have Johnny Thunders or Johnny Ramone in their band either, yanno? From Italy - this would stand with some of The Manges better records but not quite ...... Some songs copy their heroes beats down to the Thunders like fills on Pills and Chinese Rocks - and they have the drug references down too "Fix Me Up" - one of the best songs here. This also would appeal to fans of The Humpers "Positively Sick On Fourth Street" - which on this board is.......um....me I guess which I reviewed and sorta raved in this thread - and is sorta the modern Rosetta Stone album for fringe culture things like this - very narrowly focused, very scuzzy, cheap beer, withdrawals evoking music ... Full album:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 29, 2022 18:12:02 GMT
The Bobby Lee's - Hollywood Junkyard (4 Song EP) - 2022 - 7.5 + + - 8 / 10........
Wayyyyyyyyyyy better in this smaller dose form than their 2 so-so full albums and the best Rock record by a Hollywood "actress" (Sam Quartin) .......since I don't even know when (?).
Quartin unleashes so many memorable simple Garage Punk lines - it's kind of perfect when she howls them out - heck just in this one song (below) - "I hear he's looking for wife #3, guess what - it's gonna be me!".............."I know you're hiding.......... out now......I'll find you ...........somehow!" and ........"I can't get it out of me, no!"..............deliriously at the end
A top 10 "best of 2022" record atm - in a stupendous music year already - certainly one of the very best EPs, with the cover song of the year too so far......... and this superb, frantic original single.
Thrilling stuff ...........and in the video....... a speaker resting on top of a microwave.........cause that shit gets really, really hot......
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 1, 2022 13:16:51 GMT
CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) - If My Wife New (sic) I'd Be Dead (2022) - 7.5 ++ / 10.........higher probably A stunning sad clown on medication (or needing to be) play on Pop Country music - that is yet another brilliant 2022 debut. Gee, shame about the movies this year, huh MAR? .......and how the fnck is this ANOTHER 2022 album from Ireland which already has maybe the album of the year ( Fontaines D.C), the years best EP ( Sprints) and now one of the Best Non-Rock / Pop records of the year....... .......this is almost an hour long - whaaaaaat? ......... and has more words in it than Dylan in a blender.... I recently praised The Jeanines Don't Wait For A Sign album as being an "I don't care about it at all" record that is sort of a masterclass within its lame genre (twee IndiePop). Well, this is like that too.........but the complete opposite in its execution - where that is simple, small and charming this is roaringly complex, ambitious and even more charming.......This is quite simply my favorite Pop Country album by someone not from America.........um, like ever? ....... urbanpatrician might dig this.... But: This album is fncking exhausting too - she's finding a sweet spot like a wise ass would - she's not selling sex - she's far more subtle (..........and odd ..........she loves Robbie Williams, getit?) it is so packed with stream of consciouness lyrical ideas, with cleverly integrated instrumentation and vocal lines.......but also and the length of songs (4 minutes + - it's like taking a test sometimes) - that it works best if you split in half imo. I'm not kidding - this album is hysterically funny and hysterically camp.........a refracted mirror through a Pop cultural history tour.......You might not "like" it but this is an essential 2022 listen......what a year.....
CMAT If My Wife New (sic) I'd Be Dead - Deluxe Edition (released today, July 1st 2022) - now at least an 8..........because I've fallen in love with it, ok? Currently number 5 on pacinoyes' "Best of a Mind-Blowingly Awesome 2022"™ list.............. CMAT is already taking her well deserved victory lap ............because she's that damn good, isn't she? Adds 4 songs - done in clever, different musical versions - but the original album is still here ............. it's all good. Still not reviewed by the hipster morons / out of touch geezers @ Pitchfork or Rolling Stone .......GTFO
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 15, 2022 6:24:01 GMT
Screeching Weasel - The Awful Disclosures of Screeching Weasel (released today July 15, 2022) - ~ 7 / 10I don't think this is as good as Ben Weasel's comeback record 2020's "I'm back, bitches!" stinging Some Freaks of Atavism but does that matter that much? A lot of his records are ~ 7's with one or two classics added to a genre that doesn't get many these days..... He has two of the all-time Pop Punk albums - maybe THE two for his specific niche - My Brain Hurts (1991) and Anthem For A New Tomorrow (1993) - albums that predate Green Day - and are better than they were at their peak.........and Green Day lost it long ago....... Ben Weasel will never lose it entirely - he invented this shit - and has a million good songs in this formula - count them sometime - scattered across a lot of albums & singles & EPs (and names) - he is the Dylan of this genre, ok? So - this time it's slightly generic - but for a guy over 50 - playing music he peaked at when he was in his early 20s - its kind of amazing that he outpaces the "stars" of this faltering (nowadays) genre ........and the new bands playing it too. A bit more Pop which has always been his secret weapon - like the superb Pandora's Eyes would make it even better - and of course he could write a billion of 'em..........if he wanted to.......but he's a difficult guy......
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 3, 2022 6:32:18 GMT
The Humpers - Journey To The Center Of Your Wallet (1994) ~ 7 / 10
Everything they ever did ends up around a ~ 7 /10 - a little higher or lower in some cases - except for the one before this - the lethal Positively Sick on 4th Street (1993) which is clearly better and the one to seek out - more songs, more good songs, worse production (a plus for them), less restraint, less manners ..........and a more coherent listing of their many vices.
One of the last genuinely threatening straight up Rock bands - how they stayed together for almost the entire 1990s is genuinely baffling - certainly they were out of step with everything in that shitty decade.
Even though you don't "need" this - half of it is still pretty righteous (half is repetitive junk filler), and it has one their very best songs "Space Station Love" which got a video (wtf) and sums them up pretty well:
"Space Station Love.........spaced out........fncked up"
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 4, 2022 7:32:09 GMT
The Vice Principals - After School With The Vice Principals (2000) - a good bit above a 7 + / 10 tbh
1/3 Stones - 1/3 Thunders - 1/3 60s garage ..........made up of ex-members of the infamous The Humpers and sounding like a more palatable version of them.
Only record they ever did ......consistent........focused.........underrated..........love some of this actually. This album starts with a smoking cover song of Screaming Lord Sutch's novelty hit "Jack the Ripper" which is a perfect cover and quite appropriate way to start this thing because the album kinda kills.....
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 4, 2022 22:18:48 GMT
Tonio K - Life in the Foodchain (1978) Positively excellent, Pacinoyes-approved album. Almost posted in the underrated album thread - it has no wiki page, yet feels like it should, as a huge classic or something.... like pick a song any song - why arentcha on every rock radio rotation. But then maybe it wouldn't be as cool. You can't say this album isn't a pretty deep-going songwriting feast and fun and funny as hell.
“You can bullshit the baker and still get the buns—you can back out of every deal, except one"
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