NEW MUSIC CORNER (2011 HOUSE CLEANING) DAWES/THE CIVIL WARS/GILLIAN WELCH/POP EVIL/THE PARLOR MOB/THE SMITHEREENS/DISTURBED/IN FLAMES/U.D.O.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Yes, it's the mother of all NMC posts.  This will clean the 2011 slate for me.  I set this up with "like" albums together.  The first 3 posts are all folk style music, followed by 3 hard rock or pop rock albums, and I'll finish up with 3 heavy (metal?) albums.  I'll also have a separate player for each album cover.  That way, once again, you can pick and choose what you feel like listening to.

 

Folk Section

 

Dawes (Nothing Is Wrong)

1. Time Spent In Los Angeles

2. If I Wanted Someone

3. My Way Back Home

4. Coming Back To A Man

5. A Little Bit Of Everything

This is a nice little album.  It's definitely folk.  The standout track for me is "My Way Back Home".  I remember a thread Niels started at some point referring to simple, but very effective guitar solos.  This song has one of those.  And the vocals after the solo just blow me away.  This really reminds me of James Taylor.

 

The Civil Wars (Barton Hollow)

1. 20 Years

2. I've Got This Friend

3. My Father's Father

4. Barton Hollow

5. Birds Of A Feather

Anothe cool folk album.  Very simple musically with outstanding male/female vocals throughout.  If you are familiar with the AMC show Hell On Wheels, this could be the soundtrack.  I like all of these songs, but the two true standouts are "20 Years" and "Barton Hollow".  If you listen to nothing else, at least listen to the latter.

Gillian Welch (The Harrow & The Harvest)

1. Scarlet Town

2. The Way It Will Be

3. The Way It Goes

4. Tennessee

5. Hard Times

Okay, the last of my folk albums.  Welch has a great voice, but for me, the first half of the album is definitely stronger than the second half.  This is also the weakest of the 3 folk albums, in my opinion of course.  As with the previous album, if you are familiar with Hell On Wheels, the song "Scarlet Town" (the best song here for me) was definitely featured in an episode, probably episode 3 or 4. 

 

Hard Rock/Pop Rock Section

 

Pop Evil (War Of Angels)

1. Last Man Standing

2. Monster You Made

3. Let It Go

4. Boss's Daughter

5. Purple

I do know that Gordon likes this band.  They sound a lot like Shinedown on this album.  Overall, the vocalist is good, but a couple of the early songs sound a bit weak to me (vocally).  I'm pretty sure "Monster You Made" was released as a single, but that's about all I know here.  I actually bought this as a digital download from Amazon with some credits, so I got it for a couple of bucks.

 

The Parlor Mob (Dogs)

1. How It's Going To Be

2. Practice In Patience

3. Hard Enough

4. Slip Through My Hands

5. The Beginning

I got Niels to post a video from this band, and I don't think they went over to well.  But I'm hard headed, so here is some more.  I like The Parlor Mob.  They have a bit of that retro sound, which I do like.  I think maybe Jon didn't like the singer, but I do.  I really like the songs "Hard Enough" and "Slip Through My Hands".  I have this and their previous album (their debut), and I'd have to say this is a little better.

 

The Smithereens (2011)

1. Sorry

2. One Look At You

3. Keep On Running

4. Ring On Her Finger

5. Nobody Lives Forever

Ah, The Smithereens.  They were once one of my favorite bands.  This is their first album in quite a while.  As a Smithereen fan, I'll say that you should look to one of their first 3 albums if you have any interest at all.  This one is certainly typical style wise, but the songwriting for the most part is well below their best stuff.

 

Heavy (Metal?) Section

 

Disturbed (The Lost Children)

1. Hell

2. This Moment

3. Leave It Alone

4. Midlife Crisis

5. Living After Midnight

Either you like Disturbed or you don't.  There isn't much middle ground with these guys.  I fall into the former group, but I think their earlier stuff was better overall.  Like so many bands, everything begins to sound just like what came before it.  If you don't like Disturbed, this will not change your mind.  But I do recommend the last 3 songs.  "Living After Midnight" is a Judas Priest cover (not particularly good), but I do like the drum intro.

 

In Flames (Sounds Of A Playground Fading)

1. Sounds Of A Playground Fading

2. Deliver Us

3. Fear Is The Weakness

4. The Attic

5. Darker Times

If I remember correctly, Jon showed surprise when I listed this as a purchase.  He should have warned me ahead of time.  This isn't really for me, but that doesn't mean others won't like it, so it's included here.   Honestly, although it's not for me, it isn't all that bad.  I kinda liked tracks 3 and 4.

 

U.D.O. (Rev-Raptor)

1. Rev-Raptor

2. Leatherhead

3. Dr. Death

4. Terrorvision

5. Pain Man

I can't say I like this either, but I do know that TageRyche does, so somebody else may as well.  I do remember liking the video that Niels posted (I think it's called I Give What I Get).  I picked the songs with the coolest titles to play for you. 

So there it is.  I'm tapped out as well.  C'mon new music 2012!

P.S.  The best cover art from this batch (Top 3) is:

1. In Flames

2. Disturbed

3. U.D.O.

[Jon]

Actually, the Smithereens did have an album out a couple years ago, they did the Who's "Tommy" and it really ain't that bad.

[Alan Christensen]

I have a BOOK edition of Believe with a heavy iron badge. Then I have Indestructible and Asylum on vinyl (which also included the CD). I thought I liked the few radio songs back when they were playing, but I think my tastes are changing back, longing for the songs I heard in High School.

I am planning on fixing my Ipod soon, and sorting through my already existing collection. I think I will be buying less. :) Plus I've been using the internet more to listen to music through Facebook! YEAH!

I have Colony and Clayman from In Flames. They really are not my thing anymore either. I'll keep them for now. Actually, I traded them once, and later bought them back just to hear it one more time. :)


Rock N Roll Soldiers is a good track on Rev-Raptor. I know he is best known for Accept (Maybe Metal Heart is the best Accept CD, I'm not sure. I have most, not all).

I actually really like U.D.O. Animal House, Mean Machine, Faceless World (all are good). Out of the newer stuff, Mission number X (ten) is really cool. Also Man and Machine.

http://www.udo-online.de

[Jon]

Smithereens--Thumbs Up

Liked this a lot, sounds like they haven't missed a beat. No "hits" I guess, but it is their style of power pop. Favorite song is #3, but the last two was a smidge of a letdown but not enough to have my thumbs waver.

[Jon]

The Civil Wars--Thumbs Up

I dunno what the hell is happening, but I must be aging really quickly. I liked Glen Campbell's latest and I like this. Not a bad track out of these 5, Barton Hollow is the "heaviest" but they're all good. 

So far Rjhog is 2/2 in my book...

[Gordon Williams]

Well, I missed this until today. Listening to the Pop Evil first, and I do like it. Became aware of this band when they opened for Judas Priest, either 2008 or 2009, whatever it was.

The bill for that show was supposed to include Whitesnake, and "Good To Be Bad" had just come out. But Whitesnake dropped off the tour just 3 days before the Atlanta show I went to. Dropped out because of throat problems for David Coverdale. At least that is what I heard.

Anyway, very cool post, and I will be back to listen some more. I'll even check out the folk music.

[Jon]

Disturbed--thumbs in the middle, trending down

Everything sounds the same, except for the remakes. Both remakes aren't bad but this band just ain't my cup o' tea.

[Jon]

In Flames--thumbs 3/4 up

Probably one of the few here that will like this, but it's more complex than you might believe, especially is you listen to it more than once (and with an open mind).

[Jon]

U.D.O.--Thumbs up

Whoever doesn't like this is silly. Silly I say!

[Jon]

Pop Evil--Thumbs down

Wow. This completely sucked. It started off ok. Second song gave me a horrible, disgusting Creed flashback. Third song was country. Yes, yes it was. Fourth song had promise, lyrics were stupid though. The fifth song made me puke; "changed" IS NOT A TWO SYLLABLE WORD, plus I got another disgusting Creed flashback on this. Man, did this ever suck. Out of all the albums that I've listened to in this post so far, this is the absolute worst. 

[Jon]

Parlor Mob--Thumbs mostly down

And yes, this is because of that whiny, nasally, quavery vocalist who sounds like he's going to break down sobbing at any moment. Better than that blight called Pop Evil though.

[Jon]

Dawes--Thumbs 3/4 up

Sounds like Jackson Browne, Neil Young, The Eagles and probably a bunch of other 70's bands/artists that I can't think of. Nice listen.

GIllian Welch--thumbs in the middle

I dunno, it really didn't grab me. It's not bad like, say, Pop Evil, but it really didn't hold my interest after the first song. 

So I was able to get thru the rest of these at work today, surprised I wasn't interrupted more.

I believe I liked 5/9, so not too shabby.

[Gordon Williams]

Finished my listening to this...and the Smithereens and the Pop Evil (despite Jon's opinion) are the best two for me.

It's funny, because I still love old Accept with Udo on vocals, but just could not get into this new stuff too much. Liked the guitar work, but his "never changing" vocal style has gotten old for me, and I just can't listen to him much anymore.