You probably have read plenty of “Year-End” Lists on the Internet. The fun thing about these lists is that you might discover an album or a song you haven’t heard before. What’s not so fun about these end-of-the-year lists is that all of them unavoidably lead to heated debates and, in some cases, protest. So how did the good folks who work at Daily Reverb rank their personal favorites? Here’s how staff writer Trent Fitzgerald ranked the year’s best:
LEGOs has been a favorite children’s toy for over 50 years.
LEGO addicts Digger Digger Dogstar and minifig are among several “big kids” known for having a lot of spare time on their hands to create LEGO-ified rock album covers.
Dr. Dre — The Chronic Dr. Dre looks so happy — it must be the chronic.
Ghostface Killah — The Big Doe Rehab Ghostface looks more like a horse jockey in that LEGO cover.
Super Lover Cee & Casanova RUD — Girls, I Got ‘em Locked Despite the album’s title, it looks like they got each other on lock.
On a side note, do LEGOs have any brown-colored LEGO men? All of the rappers are yellow and angry for some reason. And where are the ladies? No Salt N’ Pepa, Queen Latifah or MC Lyte in the mix?
Prog-metal mavens Uriah Heep have returned with their first studio album in more than a decade, Wake the Sleeper. The disc, which was released in the United States in late August, offers an inspired mix of soaring vocal melodies, spacey keyboards and blazing guitar riffage — the latter supplied by the group’s sole remaining founding member, Mick Box. I phoned the band’s resident axe wizard recently at his home in England, and he talked at length with me about the new album, as well as the band’s extensive touring plans. (He rattled off a long list of countries the group is either scheduled to — or planning to — visit, including the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Finland, India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Brazil.) The Heep kicked off a fall European trek in support of Wake the Sleeper with an Oct. 10 concert in Reichenbach, Germany. That gig is the first of a series of German shows also featuring Thin Lizzy. As for the possibility of a U.S. jaunt, Box told me, “We’re hopefully coming to American in mid January or mid February,” adding that a package tour may also be in the offing later in 2009. Click here to listen to audio clips of my conversation with Box:
Advertising Week V in New York City kicked off Monday (Sept. 22) with an AOL/Amp’d-UP-sponsored night concert at the Nokia Theater featuring N*E*R*D and OutKast’s Big Boi. Daily Reverb was lucky enough to nab an invite to the corporate event (with an open bar) as marketing reps, ad sellers and media buyers were encouraged to loosen up their ties and have some fun.
Pharrell & Co. had the most entertaining show of the night and threw in some political rhetoric along the way. Skateboard P and his partner, “Shae” Haley (Chad Hugo was mysteriously absent), rocked out to a bevy of tunes from their latest disc, Seeing Sounds, like “Spaz,” “Sooner or Later” and “Everyone Nose.” They also performed a few of their older songs like “Rock Star,” “Lap Dance” and the set closer “She Wants To Move.” During N*E*R*D’s performance, Pharrell announced that he fully supports Barack Obama and jokingly called Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a “hot MILF.”
Big Boi looked like a military baseball player during his fun set that featured a mixture of OutKast songs (disappointingly without André 3000) and selections from his upcoming release, Sir Luscious Left Foot . . . Son of Chico Dusty. Backed by a 9-piece band, Big Boi was dressed in all-black army fatigues, red baseball socks and all-red Nike Air Force 1s sneakers as he cranked out more hits than New York Yankees’ slugger Alex Rodriguez. He went through most of ‘Kast’s catalogue including “Bombs Over Baghdad,” “Rosa Parks,” “Miss Jackson” and classic jams like “Elevators (Me and You)” and “Player’s Ball” (from their 1994 debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik). Boi also previewed tracks from his new disc, Sir Luscious Left Foot, like “Something’s Gotta Give,” “Back Up Plan” and “Royal Flush,” but they fell on deaf ears mostly because the cuts are relatively new. By the end of the night, Big Boi had drunken concertgoers gyrating back-and-forth to his groovy rendition of “I Like the Way You Move.”
Unlike Pharrell, Big Boi gave a quick nonpartisan message about the upcoming elections. He simply told the crowd, “I don’t care who you vote for in November, just go out and vote, damn it.”
Billionaire Boys Club Blog has more pictures — click HERE.
Photographer FlySi also took some fantastic photos of the concert.
“Doing this tour is like being swept around on a creamy bed of bubbles!” Squeeze frontman Glenn Tilbrook cooed in his charming Cockney accent during our recent phone interview. Not being fluent in Britishish, I wasn’t quite sure what this meant, but after attending the new wave explosion that was Squeeze’s show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall last Friday, it makes perfect sense.
Confession: I hold Paul Carrack’s uber-poppy pipes, the producers of Reality Bites and the gods of advertising responsible for the overshadowing popularity of Squeeze’s “Tempted.” While one can’t deny that it’s a pop-rock masterpiece of biblical proportions and perhaps the best thing to happen to men’s jeans since the button fly, the band boasts an awesome back catalogue of doo-woppin’ synthy singles and that deserve just as much attention as the fruit of another. For the final stop on Squeeze’s Five Live tour, the ying/yang twosome of Tilbrook and co-singer-songwriter Chris Difford tore through a career-spanning set that included every track from their best-selling 1982 set, Singles 45’s and Under, a must-have collection favored by my namesake and personal hero.
Thanks to Blabbermouth, we find out the guys in Buckcherry aren’t really seeking a Viagra endorsement deal. In an interview with music magazine Penthouse, singer Josh Todd champions Cialis for his male enhancement — although he’s still searching for a pill with the correct dosage. Read his ribald, NSFW comments after the jump.
From Lifehouse bassist Bryce Soderberg on the band’s MySpace blog:
This is amazing….As we were checking in at LAX yesterday to come here, Rick taps me on the shoulder and says "Hey check it out, there’s Kanye West." As soon as we turn to look a fight breaks out and he grabs a paparazzi guy’s camera and smashes it on the ground. We were so close that a piece actually flew right by our sound engineer’s face. Crazy huh? There is video of it online but i couldn’t find us in it. Hilarious.
The guys can’t get enough of "Broken" stuff. See below.
Now that Kanye is out of jail, he says on his blog: "We back in the lab!!! I’m cool with the paparazzi. This guy wasn’t cool. I gotta work now… I’ll rant later!" We’re counting on it.
