Vanilla Ice - Hard to Swallow (1998)

A colossal misfire from the rasputin of Rap

Listening to his third studio album, you start to wonder if the american rapper Vanilla Ice aka Robert Van Winkle should have stayed an obscurity after his initial super duper reign of success. His long absence from the music scene was hardly noticed, until this ill conceived mishmash of an album with rap core and nu-metal elements reminds us of why rap and hiphop fans are glad he's been gone. 

In his heyday, he tried to pull the wool over our eyes and have us think he was a gangsta rapper from Miami, and legit. This image go-around finds him hoeing a row different than before this time, but it's just as pointless. Hard to Swallow is just that. 

The eleven proper songs are indicative of his prior style stealing. This time the victim is the metal-esque rap metal done by bands like Rage Against the Machine, Korn, etc which Ice calls "Skate Rock". The songs are all way too long and wear quickly. Ice raps in a lower register as he attempts to growl / rap in a poor de la Rocha imitation. All in all, the whole idea is way too contrived. 

The raps themselves are ridiculous. "Fuck Me" is a long rant through all the finest of foul language. He spouts off obscenity at every turn for no real reason. Did he think we would find him cool because he can swear? Then we have the needless "Zig Zag Stories." In another attempt of trying to convince us he's cool, Ice spouts off a story of smoking blunts and every other pot cliché and nickname you can think of. In addition to this beauty, "Prozac" finds Ice chanting "We gets crazy like Prozac." Isn't that backwards? you're crazy so you need Prozac? To top off this banality is the utterly idiotic "Stompin Through the Bayou" with its faux metal swamp guitar and Ice's mundane refrain. 

All through the record Ice refers back to lines from the first piece of schmaltz: "Ice, Ice, baby" gets many repeatings in many different contexts. An album like this is hard to review as it's so contrived. From it's style copping music and raps, to the bare breasts on the cover it is one piece of material that reeks of corporate composition in an attempt to cash in and revive a dead stars career. It is an abhorrent waste of money, time and plastic and nobody would have missed it's existence.

S&M - Metallica (1999)

Reliving Metallica's most musically unusual album ever!

While the pairing of superstar American Heavy Metal band Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on this one of kind live album might seem musically bizarre at first notice, the weird combination recorded on April 21–22, 1999 at The Berkeley Community Theatre in California is actually a logical fit. 

Metallica's music had and has always been full of the kind of dynamic shifts that are often found in classical music, and Michael Kamen (1948 - 2003), the famous American composer of films like X-Men, Brazil, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, had worked with established rock bands like Queen, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Queensryche, Def Leppard, Rush  and Pink Floyd for years. 

The first CD in this two-disc Album set opens with two instrumental pieces before launching into "Master of Puppets." This track sounds awkward, as if the band and the orchestra were still getting comfortable with each other. The orchestra plays a small role on this track, providing brief symphonic flourishes in between Metallica's waves of heavy metal thunder. "Of Wolf and Man" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" work better, as Metallica backs off a bit to actually play with the orchestra. By the time the band reaches a stellar track "No Leaf Clover," both parties seem to be delightfully in sync and actually feeding off of each other's intensity beautifully. 

Disc two begins with Metallica's majestic super hit "Nothing Else Matters." If any song in the band's repertoire is suited for the orchestral treatment, this is the one. Unfortunately, singer James Hetfield's over-the-top performance prevents the song from being a total standout. That honor goes to "One," the band's epic tale of a critically wounded soldier. Two of the heavier tracks on disc two, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Enter Sandman," are highlights as well. 

Needless to say, the orchestral flavor is often drowned out by Metallica's bang-and-slam attack, but overall this odd combination works and works rather well. There are even times when Michael Kamen and his orchestra steal the spotlight. When the two groups really work together, as they do on "One" and the instrumental "Call of Ktulu", the results are impressive. Ignore the lukewarm reception this album received from the critics and listen to it for a unique collaboration of musical style it provides! Besides, there must be a reason why this still sold over 8 million copies worldwide!

The Top 20 Albums of 2000 - No.20 to No.16

Compiling the best Albums of the year 2000 - Lets starts with the bottom 5

Here's a rather ambitious attempt at listing the year 2000's best Albums! Why 2000 you may ask? I feel it was a momentous year with ground-breaking new music, brand new bands and brand new genres. The Y2K millennium bug doomsday clock made it even more enticing!

Anyway, lets say I have a love/hate relationship with these "best of the year" lists. I love reading other people's lists to see if there are any potentially great albums I might have missed, but I hate making my own "best of" lists. Part of the reason for this list loathing is that I know for certain I will regret making this list the moment it is published. By the time this issue hits the streets, I will have decided that some of these albums don't belong on the list or should have been ranked differently. 

Another reason I enter this endeavor with much trepidation is the fact that ranking Albums can be much like the fabled "apples and oranges" dilemma. How can you really compare a live techno album with some acoustic fingerplay? I wrote this list for one simple reason - to pay tribute to the albums that meant the most to me that year. I have literally spent weeks listening to some of these records, and I'm sure that I'll still be listening to them over the next several weeks (again). I hope that you'll read this list with the same spirit that it was created, and view it as a starting point for creating your own "best of" list. After all, the list you keep yourself is the only one that really matters. 

20. Elastica - "The Menace" 

British punk rockers Elastica followed up their bratty debut with a daring, bold, experimental sophomore effort. Too bad hardly anyone noticed. "The Menace" wasn't a great album, but it was one of the more consistently inventive and interesting discs I heard that year. Reviewed here. 

19. Rage Against the Machine - "Renegades" 

On "Renegades," one of rock's most incendiary alternative metal bands paid tribute to the forefathers of "revolutionary music" (as well as ... um ... Devo) on their first cover album and fourth studio album. Their reworkings of classics like "Street Fighting Man," "Kick Out the Jams," "Maggie's Farm," and "Renegades of Funk" made the band's final studio effort a memorable one and platinum rated success. Unfortunately, RATM lead singer Zach De La Rocha left the band before this album was released (laying the seeds for Chris Cornell's Audioslave)!

18. Richard Ashcroft - "Alone With Everybody" 

Former Verve frontman, the English singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft's solo debut was a hit-and-miss effort. The moments that hit - most notably "A Song for the Lovers," "New York," and "You On My Mind In My Sleep" - were enough to propel this CD into the Top 20. 

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17. Modest Mouse - "The Moon and Antarctica" 

Many wondered if experimental indie rockers Modest Mouse could possibly work within the confines of a major label. On their Epic Records debut (and their their album), Isaac Brock and company made the album they always wanted to make but could never have previously afforded. "The Moon and Antarctica" is a difficult album to digest, and it reveals its secrets slowly, but the rewards are well worth the time that you'll have to invest in order to appreciate it. 

16. U2 - "All That You Can't Leave Behind"

Bono and the boys returned to their core strengths on their tenth studio album, making us remember why they were once the most popular and most critically acclaimed band on the planet. Lets not forget, this album sold over 12 million copies too!

Natural Born Killers (1994) - Original Soundtrack

A Defining Movie Soundtrack from the 90's 

Film maker Oliver Stone couldn't have picked a better soundtrack producer for his 1994 ultra-violent cult movie "Natural Born Killers" starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey, Jr., Tom Sizemore, and Tommy Lee Jones than Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Reznor, the leader of Nine Inch Nails, was hired to sort through the more than 70 songs used in the film to create this a one of a kind soundtrack that would complement the controversial storyline incidentally based on a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino.

The final product is one of the more eclectic soundtrack compilations ever assembled. In addition to the 27 songs which appear on the disc, snippets of dialogue from 27 different characters in the film can be also heard. How many other discs could feature greats like Patsy Cline, Peter Gabriel, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan with the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Marilyn Manson, Jane's Addiction and Dr. Dre? Fans of every type of music will find something they like on this soundtrack. 

The disc opens with Cohen's "The Miracle" and ends with Tha Dogg Pound's "What Would U Do?" In between, it's a ride through the vibrant landscape of music past and present. Nine Inch Nails is featured on three of the disc's tracks. Two of them, "Burn" and "A Warm Place," are great tracks. There is also a remix of "Something I Can Never Have" from the band's debut album. The new mix of this song includes sound bites by some of the characters in the film, and the dialogue adds to the dark mood of the song. Reznor also remixes the Jane's Addiction song "Ted, Just Admit It." The remix, titled "Sex is Violent," features an interesting section of Diamanda Galas' "I Put a Spell On You." Similarly, the Peter Gabriel track "Taboo" is an exotic affair featuring support for Pakistani Sufi Legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

While some soundtracks are nothing but boxed collections of the songs you hear in the film, this one stands apart because it captures the tone of the film itself and the music of those days. Although this album never sold as many copies as the likes of other 90 hit soundtracks, say "Forrest Gump" or "Bodyguard" soundtracks, it is more adventurous and creative than either of those. Even after 20 years, there is yet to release an album of such vivid contradictions and extreme variety blended in one soundtrack. Perhaps, with the "Natural Born Killers" soundtrack, Trent Reznor wanted to set the standard by which other future soundtracks would be judged. A challenge that is still to be bettered!

Home - Staind

A post-grunge fav from the archives

Staind is part of the post-grunge, nu-metal generation coming out into the light in 1995. Having released over 7 albums to date, this track is from their 1999 second album - Dysfunction. Staind displays an obvious Alice in Chains connection: vocal harmonies, melody lines, guitar lines but to dismiss Staind as purely an Alice in Chains clone is not to give justice to the work presented in Dysfunction.

Dysfunction is a alternative grunge blend - a swirl of Alice in Chains meets Coal Chamber, it flirts with Tool and Soundgarden, it's best friends with Korn and Deftones, it's Creed and Stone Temple Pilots. Original? Yes and no - Given that last sentence, a little stretch on the imagination but they're good at it. The music is driving, punchy, heavy and might make you exceed the speed limit while listening on the way to work. "Home" as expected was a slow rising  radio hit. Bottom line: if you're a fan of any of above mentioned bands, check out Staind and this killer track.

Best Halloween Songs of All Time

15 Superb Halloween Inspired Tracks (or Something like that)!!

With Halloween practically over by now, I know this post is at least a full one week late but that should not stop mortal souls like you from downloading this grand, splendid, impressive (well, I cant think of more superlatives) selection of superb Halloween inspired tracks featuring assorted genres.

Included in this truly ‘one of its kind’ (one more superlative) compilation are cool cover renditions of Halloween classics by Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Eurythmics, Ray Parker Jr, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and the inimitable Michael Jackson. Watch out for BeatFreakz remix of Rockwell’s super hit “Somebody's Watching Me”, Matt Pond PA’s tuneful “Halloween” and Massive Attack’s eerie “Inertia Creeps”.

Time to relive the Halloween magic!!

15 tracks in playlist, average track length: 4:41

Playlist length: 1 hour 10 minutes 22 seconds

1. Apollo 440 - Don't Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult Cover) (5:28)

2. Aqua - Halloween (3:51)

3. Crystal Therapy - Welcome to My Nightmare (Alice Cooper Cover) (3:03)

4. Diesel - I Put A Spell On You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins Cover) (4:09)

5. Hoobastank - Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr Cover) (3:02)

6. Ian Brown (The Stone Roses) - Thriller (Michael Jackson Cover) (3:28)

7. Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics Cover) (4:53)

8. Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps (5:54)

9. Matt Pond PA - Halloween (5:02)

10. Michael Jackson - Is It Scary (5:35)

11. Rockwell Featuring Michael Jackson + BeatFreakz - Somebody's Watching Me (3:22)

12. Shadowland - Scared of the Dark (6:07)

13. Trans-Sylvanian Orchestra - Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield Exorcist Theme Mix) (5:15)

14. Washington - Halloween (3:50)

15. Yahel - Fear Of The Dark (Iron Maiden Cover - DNA Remix) (7:23)

Free Mp3 Download - 94.06 MB Single Zipped Folder – Link EXPIRED

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Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer (1979)

The Original Ultra Violent 70's Slasher

The late 70’s especially 1979 saw an explosion in insanely violent movies, judging from the release of the classic “Dawn of the Dead” and the utterly deranged “Cannibal Holocaust” that year. Another entry in this category was “Driller Killer”, Abel Ferrara’s (Bad Lieutenant, Ms. .45) first major film effort and another in a long procession of late 70s horror and exploitation films to argue that everyone at Manhattan was losing their mind. In fact, Driller Killer was banned in the UK for the unadulterated scale of violence in it and was officially re-released only in 1999.

The premise is fairly straight forward though. A seedy artist (played with aplomb by Ferrara himself), who’s gone several weeks without a shower, has holed up in a Manhattan apartment with two equally seedy, dope addicted lesbian lovers. He’s trying to complete a large masterpiece painting of a buffalo and sell it to an art gallery so that he can pay the rent. He discovers the wonders of the "Porto Pak," a strange device selling for $19.95 that allows you to run any AC-powered appliance no matter where you are. This is handy. Since the horrors of Manhattan’s seamy side have led him to start hallucinating and flying into psychotic fits of rage, he decides to pick up a Porto Pak and start killing derelicts with a power drill. Hence, the name Driller Killer.

This one made me feel out of sorts for the rest of the day. Any fool can make a movie that’s just frankly obscene, but it takes an edge of intellect to make a film that crosses the line into the unspeakably repulsive. “Driller Killer” is such a film, and Abel Ferrara is just the man to make it.

I feel like I have got a pretty good stomach for these sorts of things, but two scenes made me flinch - a street person throwing up on himself and a highly nasty bit of business involving a skinned rabbit. There are also long sequences, recording the rehearsal of a talentless no wave band called "The Roosters," which are almost as hard to take. The vomit, the dead rabbit and the garage band are all real, by the way - used in favor of more edible pea green soup, latex and actual musical talent in a convenient intersection of budget economy and cinéma_vérité.

And yet the movie has got just enough intelligence to get you through the unwatchable parts: there’s a overt menace in the apparently purposeless, atmospheric shots of the painter drinking in Manhattan’s horrid squalor, there’s a fascinating bit after his psychotic break in which he appears to split into two people simultaneously, and the ending is quite nice, eerie and stylized.

If there's a point to be taken from this perplexing but not totally insipid film, it concerns a sort of artistic Judgment Day. The painter decries the Roosters’ ability to forge a group of followers despite their appalling and plagiaristic music. Frantic for money, the painter later agrees to do a portrait for the Roosters that will end up on the cover of their next album and this is when he splits in two - the lead singer is prancing around his apartment playing abysmal guitar and the painter is trying to work on the portrait despite the lead singer’s constant, pretentious entreaties that he "communicate" - "what part of me are you putting there?" he demands, pointing at the canvas.

The film’s culminating moment comes when the gallery owner mocks and rejects the painter’s magnum opus, proclaiming it "worthless" and calling it proof that "the worst thing that could happen to a painter has happened to you; you’ve become merely a technician." Economic and class anxiety saturates the film - the painter loathes the homeless but is only a step away from homelessness himself but aesthetic anxiety, a perceived death of art, culture and music, is what really makes this movie tick.

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