Odds and Ends

Each week I use this space to post some mini-reviews, cool tracks, random thoughts, neat news, or whatever else I damn well please.

MiniReview
Simon Felton “Surrender, Dorothy!” – This is the second solo record from Garfield’s Birthday’s Simon Felton. His last solo CD, “Failing In Biology”, was a notable nugget of smart Brit pop (read review here). Felton marches along the same track on “Surrender, Dorothy!”, constructing careful melodies augmented with airy harmonies and psychedelic overtones. The hooks take longer to sink in than last time and the abundance of slower tracks is going to make some people yawn. On the other hand, there is some more sizzling guitar work to be found – check out the solo on “Peepshow” for example. The main attraction is the pop perfection in “Marbles”, and “Novelty” is another highlight I’d encourage you to check out. Recommended for fans of The Smiths, XTC, and The Divine Comedy.
Simon Felton – Official site.

Surprise of the week
Footloose is being remade. But the surprise comes from looking at the soundtrack artists…dissing Kenny Loggins and recruiting the likes of Cee-Lo Green amongst a bunch of country stars and…Smashing Pumpkins?! What sort of musical schizophrenic is going to want this? Here are the gory details.

And if that isn’t bad enough, they are remaking Dirty Dancing too.

News
Swallow this: Poison frontman Bret Michaels believes the band will make another album when the time is right. Here’s to hoping they can recapture the magic of their heyday. Read the story here.

Whose gonna buy your wild reissues? Get a load of all you get with the 20th Anniversary edition of U2’s landmark record “Achtung Baby” – check it out here.

Another hodgepodge of “new” stuff is coming from Foreigner in September. A 3CD collection – one acoustic disk, one full of re-recordings of hits (why?), and one of a live concert. Read all about it here.

New Butch Walker called “The Spade” arrives August 30. In the meantime, grab a FREE DOWNLOAD of the first single, “Summer of ‘89”. Details here.

Michael Sweet has left the band Boston for his old band, Stryper. Good news, bad news, who cares? Story here.

Random iPOD song of the week
Pop perfection. Squeeze’s “Hourglass” – one of their finest moments.

Review: Michael Sweet "Michael Sweet"

Does anyone remember Stryper? These guys sold tons of records to kids in the 80s who craved glam rock, but who had parents that did not permit them to listen to Poison. Similar sound, similar look, but way different lyrics. Instead of "Talk Dirty To Me," they rocked to "Talk Jesus To Me." Instead of "Shout at the Devil," they'd opine, "To Hell With the Devil." But they laughed all the way to the collection box, even scoring a top 40 hit with the God-awful (no pun intended) power ballad, "Honestly".

In 1994, Michael Sweet put out this solo record, which stays true to the Stryper creed, both lyrically and musically. Sweet's voice is still theatrical and over the top, the guitar volumes could raise the dead, and an altar boy gang joins in to chant through most of the choruses.

For fans of Stryper and the Christian AOR genre, I think they will largely be pleased with this record. For me, the music sounds very dated for 1994...Sweet is clearly stuck in the 80s here. The horrific ballad "Tomorrow, Tonight" even has saxophone! You can't get any more 80s than sax. On most of the tunes, Sweet's vocals are just too dramatic...even more so than Dennis DeYoung. There are some tracks however, where he sounds more like Richard Marx (e.g. "Together" and "All I Wanna Do").

The record kicks off with "Together," which is the best track on the CD. "Together" is a testament to AOR perfection, with plenty of na-na's and A-B-C lyrics. "Take Me Home" continues in the big and bold arena rock mode, with so many hoot-hoot's that an owl might mistake this song for a mating call. "Someday" is a pleasant piano driven ballad, but ultimately forgettable. "J.E.S.U.S," which shows his obvious love for spelling bees, starts off like Hysteria-era Def Leppard...a "Pour Some Jesus On Me" if you will. "All I Wanna Do" is another song that, if you didn't know better, you'd swear was recorded circa 1987. With acoustic guitar driving "Forever Yours", this track sounds considerably less dated and shapes up to be a fine, albeit simple love song. "I Think You Hear Me Knockin'" brings out the na-na gang again, but actually has a decent hook and toe-tappin' beat. In contrast, his ode to abstinence, "Ain't No Safe Way" tries to rock out but just falls flat. Besides, if we were to apply this same narrow minded logic to listening to rock music, we'd have quite the conundrum: rock and roll is of the devil; hence, his Christian listeners should abstain from even listening to Michael Sweet.

iPOD-worthy: 1, 4, 9

Michael Sweet: Official site.

Check out the video for "All This And Heaven Too":