Thursday, December 19, 2013

349. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
1976













Tracks
1. Rockin' Around With You
2. Breakdown 
3. Hometown Blues
4. The Wild One 
5. Forever 
6. Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll 
7. Strangered In The Night 
8. Fooled Again (I Don't Like It) 
9. Mystery Man 
10. Luna
11. American Girl


I listened to the song "American Girl" a lot when I was younger.  Then I saw the movie Silence of The Lambs and came to the conclusion that if I ever heard that song again, I would be murdered shortly afterward.  If you don't believe me see for yourself:
This is just like when Stanley Kubrick ruined "Singin' In The Rain" for me.

Anyway, Tom Petty introduces us to 1976 with a well known album that apparently is classified as heartland rock, which means rock and roll that is aiming at a blue collar audience and trying to convey a message.  See, you learn things from reading my blog.

Petty was good at coming up with catchy songs, but his voice became a little grating after awhile, particularly in "Fooled Again" when the singing transitioned into screaming.  He also doesn't seem to be very photogenic, although I guess I can't blame the album for that. In fact, his photo on the album looks like my middle school photos.  I think we had the same haircut.

Anyway, it was a fun album and it was refreshing to get something that wasn't so pretentious.

RATING: 4/5

Sunday, December 8, 2013

348. There's No Place Like America Today

There's No Place Like America Today
Curtis Mayfield
1975













Tracks
1. Billy Jack
2. When Seasons Change
3. So In Love
4. Jesus
5. Blue Monday People
6. Hard Times
7. Love To The People


Continuing with the funk trend we have had lately, here we have a Curtis Mayfield album.  For those of you that don't know who Curtis is, he did the Superfly soundtrack.  Anyone remember that movie?  Or are we all just trying to forget that genre in general?  I would be fine with either answer.

Funk isn't my favorite genre to begin with, but there was something about Mayfield's album that I just didn't like.  I felt like he was trying to be Marvin Gaye but falling seriously short, both lyrically and musically.

I am probably being too harsh with Curtis Mayfield but I think I am getting sick of the never ending funk especially when there seems to be no variation.

RATING: 2/5