Buying Music As Therapy

So it's been over a week since my last post, and that's just not cool. No excuse really, other than laziness and distraction by that little thing called real life. This'll be a bit of a wandering post, but it'll more or less get you up to speed.

I've spent the last several weeks (since I got home from college, pretty much) job hunting. Given the fact that I'm using present tense here should tell you how said search has gone. Turns out that nobody particularly wants seasonal help from college students while in a recession. Imagine that.

Pearl Jam - Unemployable [iTunes]

There is some good to be found in this though, since nothing gets my mind off the frustrations of reality like buying some new(ish) music. After a particularly unsuccessful day of job hunting I went to my local used CD shop and got 4 CDs for 8 bucks and some crappy trade-ins. Below are short and sweet thoughts on each.

The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
I have a bit of a take-it-or-leave-it relationship with The Eagles. They can either be really freakin' good, or just boring to listen to. Hell Freezes Over is par for the course. The opening four studio tracks are forgettable, save for "Love Will Keep Us Alive", the only real hit the band had in the 90s. The live tracks are where the meat of this album is, with awesome, energetic performances of most of their big hits ("Tequila Sunrise", "Life in the Fast Lane"), and mediocre renditions of some lesser tracks. All in all I would feel bad trading it back in, but it's not going to have much shelf life in my rotation.
Final Score: 5/10

Fuel - Sunburn (Original 1998 release)
Any Fuel fan I talk to has told me that Sunburn was by far their best album, and the remaining Brett Scallions-era LPs paled in comparison (and don't get them started on the misfire that was Angels & Devils). I never took too much stock in the sentiments, since I thought Something Like Human was serviceable, and also probably their peak as a band. If Jill, Mike Newsham, or any other aforementioned Fuel fans are reading...you were right. Sunburn is a spot-on blend of the radio-friendly post-grunge casual listeners are used to and the heavier, headbanger rock that they never pursued after this album. Their might be more awesome tracks on this album than on the other two albums combined. Most of this album is lined up for immediate addition to the iPod. Even if the other albums I bought were to suck, this keeper would've made the venture worth it.
Final Score: 8/10

Gin Blossoms - Congratulations I'm Sorry
Two things made me pick up this one:
1) The essay of a comment Matt from Addicted to Vinyl left here discussing the first two Gin Blossom albums made me want to hear it for myself.
2) Wanted something to bide my time while I waited for my eBay purchase of the deluxe version of New Miserable Experience.

So there you have it. At $3.99, I had few qualms about paying for a potentially craptastic album. All in all it's not a great album. The seeds are all there for what might have been a really good album (thus dispelling the notion that the late Doug Hopkins was the genius in the band), it just doesn't really follow through. The choruses aren't as energetic and it just makes for a much harder listen. There are good points to be found, but nothing on this disc holds a candle to "Hey Jealousy" (now my most played song on iTunes).
Final Score: 4/10

Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning
Few people in the music world are above the regard in which I hold Chris Cornell (I think it's Dave Grohl and John Lennon, and that's it). I knew that the general consensus said that Cornell's solo debut flat out sucked. But I bought it anyway. Memo to the general consensus: Euphoria Morning doesn't suck. It takes work to listen to, and sounds more like Radiohead than it does Soundgarden or Audioslave. But that sound worked best for Cornell when he was with Soundgarden and Audioslave. Here Cornell gets to write songs that have some weight and meaning and not have to worried about it getting lost behind the amped-up guitars. Euphoria Morning is a good album, just not what you'd expect in a Chris Cornell album.
Final Score: 7/10

Chris Cornell - Can't Change Me [iTunes]
Gin Blossoms - Follow You Down [iTunes]
Fuel - Bittersweet [iTunes]
The Eagles - Love Will Keep Us Alive

That's it for now. I'll be back in a couple hours with more.

==TJ==

What I listened to this week

What with it being my first week back in civilization, I had quite a bit of catching up to do when it comes to music. I spent an unhealthy amount of quality time with my iPod (whose name is Dash Z. Linkin, if you were curious), and here's a quick rundown of what I was playing:

-Fuel released Angels & Devils, its first album with Toryn Green as lead singer on Tuesday. Green's a decent fit with the band, but in some ways he's almost too good a fit, and his voice gets lost behind Carl Bell's guitars and just becomes part of one big clusterfuck of radio rock. Tracks like "Wasted Time" and "Scars in the Making" show off how well the band can be when everyone's on, but Fuel has always been about its lead singer, whether it's Brett Scallions or Toryn Green, and for too much of Angel's and Devils Green gets washed out by simply serviceable instrumentation
Ruling on the field: 5.5/10
Highlight Reel: "Wasted Time"

-It only took about a week for me to get tired of "Who Knew" by P!nk. It's OK, 'cause that's still 6 days, 23 hours, and 57 minutes longer than it took "Girlfriend". Meanwhile, the new singles from Velvet Revolver and Finger Eleven are incredible.

-I know I'm a month late, but I got around to hearing Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist. It has it's moments, but like everything else Billy Corgan's done, it's just a bit too weird and without direction for my taste.
Ruling on the field: 6/10

-At the suggestion of a friend from over the summer, I picked up the second album from Boston duo The Dresden Dolls, entitled Yes, Virginia. Expecting an hour-long lesson in elitist girl punk a la Courtney Love with a piano, I was very pleasantly surprised. Amanda Palmer's voice is strong, albeit it not very nuanced, but the drummer is absolutely sick in every sense of the word. Think Panic! At the Disco for people who have too many brain cells to deal with P!ATD.
Ruling on the field: 8/10
Highlight Reel: "Backstabber"

Downloading music from my blog makes me feel good about myself, but buying the music is good karma.

Fuel on iTunes
Smashing Pumpkins on iTunes
Dresden Dolls on iTunes

==TJ==