Ani Difranco – Not So Soft – 1991 (iTunes – Amazon) The playing is more confident. More aggressive. The singer more assured. Older, but by just a year. The road has given DiFranco a sense of self assuredness. She knows who her audience is. And she doesn’t want to fade Continue Reading
Music Reviews
Reflecting Pool: Ani Difranco – Ani Difranco
Pre-eminent DIY, Folk/Punk Grrl Power rocker. Ani Difranco – Ani Difranco – 1990 (iTunes – Amazon) When “Hear Music” was just a record store on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica, before it was bought by uber-cafe Starbucks, they were one of the best places to find out about Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Pearl Jam – Backspacer – 2009 (Go to the store and buy it. Why? Answer at the end of the review.) I recently was asked to list my top 50 albums of the decade for a “best of” the 00s list. I was the one who suggested that this website Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam
The inevitable eponymous record. Every band, it seems, either starts with it, or tries to revive their career with it. How did PJ fare? Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam – 2006 (iTunes) Live Blog!1. Life Wasted is a perfect album opener. In your face and groovy and it’s followed up Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Riot Act
Pearl Jam – Riot Act – 2002 (iTunes) Riot Act is better than I expected it to be. By this point I’ve come to accept that the old Pearl Jam is gone. The visceral, biting, musically challenging artists of the first couple albums is gone. Replaced by a band that Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Binaural
(Note. This review is kind of half assed. My blood sugar is really low. I’m hungry. Thanks.) Pearl Jam – Binaural – 2000 (iTunes) I like Binaural. I’m not exactly sure why, though. Sure it kicks off with a great rabble rouser (Breakherfall) and it gets denser as the album Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Yield
Just as I was about to give up…. Pearl Jam – Yield – 1998 – (itunes) Brain of J is a good way to open an album if you’ve felt you’ve lost me and want me back as a fan. If you’re a band and you’re thinking, “We really have Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – No Code
“Huh? What? Is it over? What time is it?” Pearl Jam – No Code – 1996 – (itunes) We’ve reached that critical point in Listening Posts. Like the very end of Aerosmith where I just forgot about the band. Or Sonic Youth where I just quit because they were making Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Vs.
How do you follow up one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock? Put a sheep on the cover to start. Pearl Jam – Vs. – 1993 (iTunes) “Suppose I abuse you?”Ouch. On Vs. Pearl Jam sounds like they’ve got something to prove and, I guess they do. Continue Reading
Listening Post: Pearl Jam – Ten
Little different this time. With the release of “Backspacer” and it being the first Pearl Jam album I have purchased in over a decade, I thought we’d go through the catalog of a band that I once loved and then, just as quickly as they arrived, I forgot about. Let’s Continue Reading