Sunday, May 07, 2006

Red Hot Chili Peppers are back

Kudos to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for dominating SNL last night, as they performed their new single "Dani California" and old classic "Give it Away". They seem to be in great playing shape, as they were all on fire, especially John Fruscianti, who absolutely crushed his guitar during solos in the latter.

RHCP have a new double album coming out this Tuesday, May 9 - Stadium Arcadium. If it is on par with their last few releases, the Chilis can make a reasonable case for cracking this site's All Time Best Rock Bands list. Definitely an exciting month for rock fans, especially those of us who prefer our bands from the 90's.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Official Site

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Pearl Jam and Tool record reviews: Rock and Roll is back... for a day, at least

Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam




Tool
10,000 Days



I have been thoroughly enjoying the new records from Pearl Jam and Tool, Pearl Jam and 10,000 Days, respectively. They've both been great company on my nearly two hours of driving time to and from Frederick these past couple of days.

By the way, definitely feel free to consider this "Pearl Jam and Tool Week" for this blog.

Quick summary: new PJ is one of their best records, period. Not as good as Ten or Vs., but still a five star album - and before anyone asks, "How can one 5-star album be worse than another 5-star album?", let me say that I think of scores for records from 1 to 100, with anything above a 95 getting a 5-star rating. It's also worth noting that, in my book, a lackluster Pearl Jam album is better than pretty much any other record you could ever buy.

Even though Pearl Jam is a classic, and superior to 10,000 Days, I find myself addicted to the new Tool and listening to it more. I'm just constantly amazed at the complexity, mystery, and pure anger behind Tool's songs.

Monday, May 01, 2006

new Tool tomorrow: May 2

One of my favorite bands currently recording is Tool.

the band members are:

Danny Carey - drums
Justin Chancellor - bass guitar
Maynard James Keenan - vocals
Adam Jones - guitar

Highly adored by their fans, Tool's brand of guitar-heavy rock music proves to also be lowly accessible to the mass-consuming, music-buying public; let's just say that their music is considered extremely "loud" and "angry", and "only dudes seem to like it".


The musical virtuosity and synchronicty of their songs is what makes the band great. Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor are an incredible rhythm section, and both can be counted among the best at their respective instruments. Carey is often cited as one of the most talented rock drummers in the world.

Tool is a band I wish recorded far more material (just 4 LP's in about 12 years).

Their new record is entitled 10,000 Days, and it's due out May 2nd. "Vicarious", the lead single, while sounding like several of their other radio tracks ("The Grudge", "Schism", "Stinkfist"), is nevertheless a strong song, featuring metal guitarwork and drum hits during the closing seconds which harken Metallica's classic opus "One".

Pearl Jam's self-titled record comes out the very same day, so I'll be a happy camper at the record store tomorrow.

Two 90's powerhouse bands releasing highly anticipated albums? Count me in.

Both Tool and Pearl Jam have reputations for sick, exciting live shows. I can vouch for the latter first-hand, but I cannot - as of yet - safely say that I've witnessed the Tool live experience.

Speaking of the devil, I'm going to try to catch Tool in Philadelphia on May 17th, and Pearl Jam in DC on May 30th. The summer concert season in 2006 is looking like a great one.

more to come...


Tool Unveils North American Tour Plans

Official Tool Website

New Pearl Jam Update: World Wide Suicide MP3, Record Album Cover Artwork, Tour Dates - new PJ drops tomorrow

by F.J. Delgado
originally posted March 8, 2006

First of all, check out merz's money MP3 Pearl Jam post...

The brand spanking new Pearl Jam single is available for free MP3 download on their official site (link below), and I've been listening to it non-stop. It's pretty badass, and things look good for the 8th studio album.

Stream the new record here

The song sounds like some songs off of Yield and Vitalogy. As Eddie Vedder has mentioned in recent articles, one can definitely hear some punk influences, as well as some sweet Who-inspired touches.

To be completely honest, "World Wide Suicide" is probably Pearl Jam's best lead single in more than a decade.

Pearl Jam could bust a move up the Letter Never Sent Best Bands of All Time list after this new studio record, we'll just have to wait and see.


download new PJ here ----> http://bootlegs.pearljam.com/wwslogin.aspx

UPDATE

One of the gentlemen in charge of online promotion for the new Pearl Jam record got in touch with me with the album cover artwork.

Here it is:


My Morning Jacket will open on the first leg of the tour.

Public on-sale dates and ticket information will be announced in local markets in the coming weeks.

Leg One of Pearl Jam's 2006 World Wide Tour follows:

DATE CITY VENUE

May 9 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
May 10 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
May 12 Albany, NY Pepsi Arena
May 13 Hartford, CT New England Dodge Music Center
May 16 Chicago, IL United Center
May 19 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
May 20 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
May 22 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
May 24 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
May 27 Philadelphia, PA Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
May 30 Washington, D.C. Verizon Center
June 1 East Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena
June 3 East Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena

also... the below is reprinted from the following Rolling Stone article:

MAY

Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Out: May 2nd

"A couple of rock songs, a couple of ballads -- it's not rocket science," says Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard about the band's new disc. Not that he wants to undersell the hard work the band put into its eighth studio album, and its first studio record for Clive Davis' J Records. Pearl Jam entered Seattle's Studio X in November 2004, each member armed with ideas. After whittling about thirty songs to sixteen working tracks, singer Eddie Vedder took the rough sketches and wrote lyrics for them. "That took a while," says Gossard, "but it was worth the wait: He wrote some beautiful lyrics for this record." The title, Pearl Jam, reflects the group's most collaborative effort yet: It produced the album together, along with Adam Kasper; each member will receive writing credits; and, for the first time ever, guitarist Mike McCready contributes lyrics, to the album closer, "Inside Job."

The boys are also bracing for a yearlong world tour, to kick off in late spring. "All of our new stuff is so much fun to play," says Gossard, on a break from rehearsing the album's first single, "World Wide Suicide." "I can't wait." (AUSTIN SCAGGS)