Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The 11 Best Creedence Clearwater Revival Songs (that you've never heard of):



What most people know about CCR is what they've learned while watching Vietnam movies. But in 3 short years, this true piece of Americana defined the country rock genre for the next 40 years. Everyone from Ryan Adams to Wilco to the Kings of Leon and even U2 owe a little debt to John Fogerty and Company. This week, all of CCR's albums are being re-released as 40th anniversary editions...all featuring live tracks and demos. But the add-ons are almost throw-aways...the best aspect of these albums is the sonic upgrade. The remastering of the tracks is outstanding, giving these already slam dunk rockers an added kick in the pants. Listening to these new versions is like watching Usain Bolt run a marathon with a pair of rocket shoes. They didn't need it...but now that they have it...there's not stopping them from kicking some serious ass.

The 11 Best Creedence Clearwater Revival Songs (that you've never heard of):

1. Walk On The Water (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
2. Wrote A Song For Everyone (Green River)
3. Ninety-Nine and a Half (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
4. Effigy (Willy and the Poor Boys)
5. Ramble Tamble (Cosmo's Factory)
6. Chameleon (Pendulum)
7. It Came Out Of the Sky (Willy and the Poor Boys)
8. Pagan Baby (Pendulum)
9. Don't Look Now (Willy and the Poor Boys)
10. Porterville (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
11. Tombstone Shadow (Green River)

Buy the 40th Anniversary Editions of all of CCR's albums now!!! I have posted the un-remastered versions...so they are just a taste of the greatness that you can at your fingertips!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Unknown: The Complete Travis B-Side Archive

Don't get too excited...there are no MP3s on this page. I just wanted to do a complete list of all the Travis B-Sides, Bonus Tracks, EPs, and various rare stuff from each stage in their career. I've compiled all the tracks from each era into their own individual albums, obviously named for the parent album they were spawned from. I'm actually only missing two of the tracks (12th Memory from the Japanese version of 12 Memories...and the studio version of All The Young Dudes.) If I missed anything...please let me know. I've excluded most of the bonus tracks that are usually available at the end of the albums...maybe a few have slipped in...but for the most part, if you can buy the album and the track is on it...it's not a b-side and you won't find it here.

Next week is Travis week...so considered this like a sneak preview trailer...

Pre-Order Travis' new album...Ode to J. Smith

Bad Feelings (Good Feelings Era)

1. Gimme Some Truth
2. Hazy Shades of Gold
3. City in the Rain
4. Unbelievers
5. Standing On My Own
6. Me Beside You
7. Blue on a Black Weekend
8. 1922
9. When I'm Feeling Blue
10. Everyday Faces
11. Mother
12. Whenever She Comes Around
13. Combing My Hair
14. Good Time Girls
15. Reason
16. Beautiful Bird

The Woman Who (The Man Who Era)

1. Green Behind The Ears
2. Only Molly Knows
3. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
4. High As A Kite
5. Be My Baby
6. Where Is the Love?
7. River
8. Days of Our Lives
9. Urge For Going
10. Village Man
11. We Are Monkeys
12. Baby, One More Time

The Highly Visible Band (The Invisible Band Era)

1. Coming Around
2. Rock N' Roll Salad
3. The Weight
4. Just The Faces Change
5. The Connection
6. Central Station
7. You're A Big Girl Now
8. Ancient Train
9. A Little Bit Of Soul
10. Killer Queen
11. Beautiful
12. No Cigar
13. All The Young Dudes
14. Here Comes the Sun

16 Memories (12 Memories Era)

1. Walking In the Sun
2. Bring Me Round
3. I Forget My Name
4. Life and Soul of the Party
5. The Distance
6. Distraction
7. Definition of Wrong
8. Enemy
9. Don't Be Shy
10. Know Nothing
11. I Don't Mean To Get High
12. 12th Memory
13. Good For Nothing
14. Back In the Day
15. The Sea
16. The Score

The Girl With Too Many Names
(The Boy With No Name Era)

1. The Great Unknown
2. Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)
3. Chances
4. Up The Junction
5. This Love
6. You Bring Me Down
7. My Last Chance
8. Perfect Heaven Space
9. The Day Today
10. Say Hello
11. Lovely Rita
12. Is That Love?

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The 11 Best Jenny Lewis Songs


Years ago, a blogger, named Maddox, did a brilliant commentary about "your" kids being special. Basically, he said...your kids are not smart, your kids are not talented, and your kids are not special. They may be all these things to YOU...but to the rest of the world...they're just stupid kids.

I want to take this one step further and talk about the fact how many parents today don't think their kids are sick...and worst of all...that they're not contagious either. Yesterday, while I was waiting for my older daughter during her gym class, or as I like to call...glorified and expensive babysitting....another parent had her younger androgynous child running around with a nose dripping like leaky faucet. This kid would not leave my 10-week-old daughter alone. Every other minute, the kid was devising some master plan to put its mucus-coated little hands on my young one. And what did the mother do to try and stop this from happening? Nothing. She just smiled and told me with some sort of guilt-inducing smugness...her kid luuuuves touching babies...she's just obsessed! As if I'm going to put my daughter's life at risk so your disease bomb can grabble with her maternal inclinations. If you kid's that obsessed with babies that it can't find something else to do in a room full of toys except accost mine...then you need to buy this kid a freaking doll...fast! I finally, gave up trying to be nice and told the woman that I'm really trying to be conscious of trying to keep my kid from getting sick. The woman totally understood and responded..."don't worry, my kid's not contagious...I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow."

The 11 Best Jenny Lewis Songs (minus Rilo Kiley)

1. You Are What You Love (Rabbit Fur Coat)
2. Handle With Care (Rabbit Fur Coat)
3. End of the Affair w/ Johnathan Rice (Further North)
4. The Charging Sky (Rabbit Fur Coat)
5. It Wasn't Me (Rabbit Fur Coat)
6. The District Sleeps Alone Tonite w/ the Postal Service (Give Up)
7. Rise Up With Fists!!! (Rabbit Fur Coat)
8. Roll On w/ Dntel
9. Melt Your Heart (Rabbit Fur Coat)
10. It Was Love w/ the Elected
11. Little Boxes w/ Johnathan Rice (Weeds Sdtk)

Savefile is down...so I'll try to post some new tracks soon. If anyone knows of a better free service than savefile...please let me know.

Buy Jenny Lewis' new album, Acid Tongue.

Monday, September 22, 2008

The 11 Best TV on The Radio Songs

I'm obsessed with bonus tracks. Any rare or unreleased track from a band I love, I will hunt to the end of the earth and pay thousands of dollars just to hear a 30 second clip. If I heard Nirvana covered Bruce Springsteen's Cover Me and it's only available on 8-track tape in Montana...I'd be checking flights to Helena within seconds. But I think lately bands are taking this specialty to an annoying end. This week sees the release of some major albums: Kings of Leon, TV on the Radio, the Cold War Kids and Jenny Lewis. All but Jenny have albums coming out with bonus tracks. But where can you buy these tracks? Itunes has many of them. But not all...TV on the Radio has an extra track Dogs of Light on itunes...but not amazon and instead has a song called Non-musical silence. Kings of Leon has one bonus track at itunes and a 2CD set at Target. Cold War kids has a bonus track at itunes...and supposedly a different one at emusic. The problem is that each track is exclusive...you can't buy the album at one place than the special track at the other. You want the bonus tracks...you have to buy the whole album! It doesn't make it more exciting...just more frustrating. And the record labels wonder why people illegally download music.

The 11 Best TV on The Radio Songs:

1. Wolf Like Me (Return To Cookie Mountain)
2. Staring At the Sun (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
3. Blues From Down Here (Return To Cookie Mountain)
4. Satelite (Young Liars)
5. New Health Rock (New Health Rock)
6. Dreams (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
7. Hours (Return To Cookie Mountain)
8. Snakes and Martyrs (Return To Cookie Mountain)
9. The Wrong Way (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
10. Dirtywhirl (Return To Cookie Mountain)
11. Province (Return To Cookie Mountain)

Buy TV on the Radio's new album, Dear Science.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The 11 Best Cold War Kids Songs

Last election, the candidates used terrorism to scare people into voting for them. This time around people are sick of terrorism. So what the best thing to scare people about? Their money. Each candidate is proposing tax cuts. Each candidate is claming the other guy is going to raise taxes. Who's telling the truth? Who's lying? Well, they both are. They each are cutting taxes but only on specific americans. So how do you know which one you are? Here's an easy chart...made by the Tax Policy Center that breaks it down in the simplest terms possible. If you make more than 112K a year, McCain will cut your taxes more. If you make less than 112K a year, Obama will cut your taxes more.

  • Annual Salary______McCain avg. tax cuts____Obama avg.
  • Over 2.9 million______ -$269,364______________ +701,885
  • 603K+____________ -$45,361_______________ +115, 974
  • 227K- 603K________-$7,871_________________ +$12
  • 161K- 227K________ -$4,380_________________-$2,789
  • 112K - 161K________ -$2,614________________ -$2,204
  • 66K - 112K_________ -$1,009 _______________-$1,290
  • 38K - 66K__________ -$319________________ -$1,402
  • 19K - 38K__________ -$113________________ -$892
  • Under 19K_________ -$19_________________ -$567
The 11 Best Cold War Kids Songs:

1. We Used To Vacation (Robbers & Cowards)
2. Hospital Beds (Robbers & Cowards)
3. Robbers (Robbers & Cowards)
4. God, Make Up Your Mind (Robbers & Cowards)
5. Quiet, Please! (The Mulberry Street EP)
6. Hang Me Up To Dry (Robbers & Cowards)
7. Hair Down (Robbers & Cowards)
8. Tell Me In The Morning (Robbers & Cowards)
9. Don't Let Your Love Grow Away From Me (The Mulberry Street EP)
10. Electioneering (OKX)
11. Passing The Hat (Robbers & Cowards)

Buy the new Cold War Kids, Loyalty To Loyalty.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The 11 Best Okkervil River Songs


The world is in financial ruin. And who is everybody blaming? Clinton. Hilary? Nope...Bill Clinton. Why Bill Clinton you ask? The man hasn't been in office in 7 years. What is it that Bill did to cause this crisis? What is the evil thing that he did to cause you to lose your life's savings? Simple...he was a Democrat.

Many of the so-called economic experts (or also known as journalists with a self-proclaimed title) are claiming that Clinton strong-armed banks to give bad loans to low income families under a Carter-era law. Here's the problem with that...it's just not true. The "Carter-era" law was actually signed into law in 1974 under Gerald Ford...a Republican. "Regulate" is a republican code word for "enfore the law." So clinton enforced a Republican law that said you couldn't exclude low income families because of the color of their skin...and therefore caused the financial ruin that we're in. But here's where it totally breaks down...90% the bad loans that caused the subprime mortgage crisis were written in 04, 05, and 06...when Clinton was no longer in office and no longer able to strong-arm anyone.

Ironically, through-out all this...no one has brought up John McCain's direct role in the Savings and Scandal of the 80s that cost Americans billions...and made his wife lots of money. Although, I'm sure if you ask a Republican about it...they'll find some way to blame Obama for that one.

The 11 Best Okkervil River Songs:

1. Black (Black Sheep Boy)
2. Lady Liberty (Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See)
3. Plus Ones (Stage Names)
4. No Key, No Plan (Black Sheep Boy Appendix)
5. Okkervil River Song (Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See)
6. Love To A Monster (The Stage Names Bonus Track)
7. For Real (Black Sheep Boy)
8. The War Criminal Rises and Speaks (Down The River of Golden Dreams)
9. Listening To Otis Redding (Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See)
10. You're United Again (Sleep and Wake-Up Songs)
11. You Can't Hold The Hand of A Rock and Roll Man (Stage Names)

Buy Okkervil River's new album...The Stand Ins. Get it for free on emusic if you haven't signed up yet!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The 11 Worst Ice Cube Movies


Ice Cube may be one of the most important figures in all of rap. But his movie legacy is more like a trip to Knott's Berry Farm. There are always long lines and the ride usually ends up sucking...with a few exceptions. For Ice Cube these exceptions would be Friday, Three Kings, Boyz, and a slight smile for Barbershop. And why is the "Ni**a we all love to hate" doing family films? He went from"F**k the Police" to "Are We There Yet?" That's like George Bush leaving the White House to become a welcoming host at an abortion clinic. I don't know whethere to laugh now or cry later.

The 11 Worst Ice Cube Movies:

1. First Sunday (2008)
2. Ghost of Mars (2001)
3. Friday After Next (2002)
4. Are We Done Yet? (2007)
5. Are We There Yet? (2005)
6. Anaconda (1997)
7. XXX: State of the Union (2005)
8. Next Friday (2000)
9. Torque (2004)
10. Higher Learning (1995)
11. Trespass (1992)

Pick Ice Cube's new release....The Essentials.

Monday, September 15, 2008

The 11 Best Kings of Leon Songs


I'm starting to becoming a little suspicious of the Presidential Polls. All the polls are showing McCain and Obama are either tied...or McCain is up a point. There is no way this can be accurate. I'm not saying that there's no way McCain can be winning. Actually, quite the opposite. The thing is, there is no way you can conduct a random poll everyday and come up with the exact same result every time. That's not the way randomness works. If the polls were truly accurate...there should be polls that show Obama up 15 points or McCain up 20 points. They shouldn't be common...in fact, they should be very rare...but they should still exist.

Here's a very easy exercise to try to show how randomness works on a very basic level. Grab a deck of cards and pull ten cards at random. How many red and how many black cards did you pull? 5 and 5? Do it again...and again. Try it 20 times. How many time did you get 5 black and 5 red? I tried it this weekend. Out of 20 tries...I only got 5 black and 5 red 4 times...that's barely 20%. That means 80% of the time...I got inaccurate readings. I know this isn't exactly how polling works...but the polls are still supposed to be random. So how can all the "random" calls come out exactly the same every time. If you don't know who you're supposedly calling, then there should be occasion where you call 70% Obama supporters...or 90% McCain supporters. Again, these should be rare...but they should still occur. If the results come out the exact same every time...then they can't be random.

The 11 Best Kings of Leon Songs:

1. Knocked Up (Because the Times)
2. The Bucket (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
3. Slow Night, So Long (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
4. True Love Way (Because the Times)
5. McFearless (Because the Times)
6. Spiral Staircase (Youth And Manhood)
7. Soft (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
8. California Waiting (Youth And Manhood)
9. Four Kicks (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
10. On Call (Because the Times)
11. WooHoo (B-Side)

Pre-Order the new Kings of Leon, Only by the Night.


Saturday, September 13, 2008

The 11 Best Metallica Songs (90s and beyond)


There's been one things on America's mind. One thing over the past couple weeks. Sarah Palin. It's hard to know the real Sarah Palin. There are so many internet rumors, it's hard to tell which are true. She's the grandmother of the Downs Baby, she supports Jews For Jesus, she left Wasilla in financial debt, and she tried to ban books. "Banning Books" was the one that grabbed my attention. Did this woman really try to ban books? According to her people...no. She only asked the librarian if she would be okay censoring some of the books in the library. It didn't mean anything...it was just a question. Okay...well, let me ask you this...who the hell asks someone if they'd be okay censoring books...if they didn't want to censor books? She obviously wanted to censor books...or she would have never asked the question!! It would be like me asking my friend how he would feel if I slept with his wife. I don't really want to sleep with your wife...I just want to know how you feel about it. Yeah...that would go over great with anyone!

The 11 Best Metallica Songs (90s and beyond):
1. Enter Sandman (Black)
2. Die, Die My Darling (Garage Inc.)
3. Bleeding Me (Load)
4. Don't Tread on Me (Black)
5. Sabbra Cadabra (Garage Inc.)
6. So What (B-Side/Garage Inc.)
7. Sweet Amber (St. Anger)
8. Holier Than Thou (Black)
9. Fuel (Re-Load)
10. Ain't My Bitch (Load)
11. Unforgiven (Black)

Buy Death Metallic...or...the bigger question is...why haven't you?
Live songs from LiveMetallica.com ...they're all free...so seriously...what are you waiting for?

Friday, September 12, 2008

The 11 Best Metallica Songs (80s)

So I've decided to split up the Metallia lists into two days. Today will be the songs of the 80s while tomorrow will feature everything else. I only really did this because none of the songs that came after AJFA even made the countdown. There were already too many great songs from the 80s that didn't even make this list: Battery, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Creeping Death, Damage Inc., Dyer's Eve. I wasn't about to shove "Hero of the Day" alongside some of the greatest high-octane thrash metal songs from Kill 'Em All and pretend that they were the same thing. That's not to say that there isn't good material in the Bob Rock years. There are...and there's some great songs, too...but they're just not the same.

The 11 Best Metallica Songs (80s)

1. ...And Justice For All (...And Justice For All)
2. One (...And Justice For All)
3. Fade To Black (Ride The Lightning)
4. Last Caress (Garage Days)
5. Four Hoursemen (Kill 'Em All)
6. Master of Puppets (Master of Puppets)
7. Seek and Destroy (Kill 'Em All)
8. Blackened (...And Justice For All)
9. Sanitarium (Master of Puppets)
10. Things That Should Never Be (Master of Puppets)
11. Whiplash (Kill 'Em All)


(all songs from the Free concerts at LiveMetallica.com)

Buy Death Metallic...NOW!!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The 11 Best Metallica Albums



You can never make everyone happy. In fact, you can never make ANYone happy. I have a two-month-old baby. It's my second, so I kinda know what I'm doing. But if you ask the rest of the world, I'm the worst father ever. According to my wife, what ever clothes I pick out for the baby, they are ugly (even though she bought them...or one of her crazy family members gave them to us). If I take the baby to the market, I get people scolding me for taking a baby so young out of the house. And worst of all, everyone wants to touch my baby. And if I let them touch the baby's feet, they get mad because they wanted to touch the baby's hands. If I let them touch the baby's hands, they want to touch the baby's face. If I let them touch the face, they want to lick the baby. (Okay, I made the last part up)

So here's what I've decided. I gave up trying to make people happy...instead I'm giving them a taste of their own medicine. If my wife comments on the baby's clothes, I tell her that her clothes are ugly. (you can't even imagine the reaction) If someone bitches that the baby is too young to leave the house, I comment on how old that person looks. (I called an 40-year-old lady a senior citizen...she almost cried) And if someone wants to touch the baby, I let them do it as long as I get to touch them. (it works better than bug repellent)

The 11 Best Metallica Albums:

1. ...And Justice For All
2. Master of Puppets
3. Kill Em All
4. Ride The Lightning
5. Garage Days Re-Visited/Re-Re-Visited
6. Load
7. The Black Album
8. S&M
9. Garage Inc.
10. St. Anger
11. Re-Load

download FREE Metallica Concerts from LiveMetallica.com!!!

Buy Death Magnetic...out Friday!