Derek And The Dominos - Layla And Other Associated Love Songs

Classic Thursday brings an absolutely amazing album to the forefront. Many people know Layla, but because of his superior solo career, think that it was done by Clapton alone and forget about the Dominos. Well, this record was the first of four (which is really only one, the others are In Concert, or Greatest Hits records) put out by this clan. And everyone still knows Layla, and how amazing that track is. I think it stacks up versus any other song ever made in the conversation of greatest ever. Who doesn't love a 5 minute piano solo? If Layla wasn't on this record, Bell Bottom Blues would easily by my number one in the Top 3. If you've never heard that track, go out on iTunes, Amazonmp3 - ANYWHERE and pick it up. It's flat out amazing. This record is pretty bluesy, seems to have lent a lot of influence to Clapton for his solo work. Crazily enough, I don't own this - so I'm going to tell you the same thing I'm telling myself - GO GET IT!! Top to bottom this is a great record and has something for everyone. Even if you skip to certain tracks most often, still worth it. Enjoy!

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Layla
2. Bell Bottom Blues
3. Thorn Tree In The Garden

FINAL RATING:
4.75 out of 5 stars

TAB The Band - Long Weekend

STP! STP! STP!!

Okay...so here's the story. TAB opened up for STP at the Rave show last month. Let me give any aspiring band a piece of advice, don't be some no name, never heard of band and try to perform for one of the greatest groups in music history. If I formed a band of my own, the last thing I'd do is decide to open up for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. Why you ask? Because everyone in the building wants to see one thing, FREAKIN LED ZEPPELIN!! When 'The B Side All Stars' come out jammin, we're going to suck no matter how good we actually are. Just silly. Well anyways, I decided to give these guys a real chance. So I picked out Long Weekend as that's all I could find samples to. Seems they only have a couple records out there so far, and they don't get a lot of attention from anyone. This is fairly surprising because they licensed some tuneage to tv shows, they've gotten press attention from some very large publications and did some work on television for various programs. I guess nothing much works for these fellas. Well, maybe The B Side can change all of that. I'll even give these guys a decent review, because they're really not that bad. They've got a Cheap Trick meets the garage type feel I guess. Check this one out, you might find a couple gems in there.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Backseat Lover
2. Looking Pretty, Pretty
3. Where She Was On Monday
4. Sticky Wickets
5. Apple Of An Eye
6. I Know That You're Leaving
7. Skip Your Class
8. My Baby Is Fine
9. Heavy Idea
10. Sallie Maw Wilcox: Ramblings Of A Suitor

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Sticky Wickets
2. I Know That You're Leaving
3. Looking Pretty, Pretty

FINAL RATING:
2.75 out of 5 stars

Kenny Chesney - The Road And The Radio

Country day on The B Side seems to be approaching a certain theme - I may have run through all the 'modern' country a little too fast, as the last few seem to be that older, methodical country that I'm not a huge fan of. I do enjoy some of the background on this record - it has a few more beats and more than a twang guitar compliment. I don't think Road and Radio offers much substance lyrically - but overall it was more entertaining for me than Randy Travis. I wouldn't put this high on my list of stuff to listen to - but I wouldn't totally shut it off either. It sounds like this record was put out at a very odd time in his life, he got married, divorced and put out 2 records all in one calendar year. This being the 2nd album he released in 2005, and after all the personal shenanigans took place - I think it's completely reasonable that this one feels rushed out. Especially later in the record the tracks all start to blend in and feel the same. I guess I'm not sure whether to think Chesney has a sound all on his own or if he's trying to blend styles a little bit from some inspirations of his. Perhaps I'll have to listen to more Chesney in the future.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Road and the Radio, The
2. Living in Fast Forward
3. Who You'd Be Today
4. You Save Me
5. Summertime
6. In a Small Town
7. Beer in Mexico
8. Freedom
9. Tequila Loves Me
10. Somebody Take Me Home
11. Like Me

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Who You'd Be Today
2. Summertime
3. You Save Me

FINAL RATING:
2 out of 5 stars

Muse - The Resistance

I'll be the first to admit - Muse and the like are typically bands I'm not super familiar with. I know a lot of folks who are big time Museheads - but I've never paid all that much attention to them. They have a similar sound to the Killers for me - whom I'm a big fan of. The 'US of Eurasia' track has a little bit of a Queen feel to it also. Some of the guitar riffs are pretty cool on this record too. It definitely has a progressive rock type feel to it - and not really that of an emo type band like Taking Back Sunday or Fall Out Boy. They're also more peppie than the White Stripes. All in all - I feel they're a pretty unique band. Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean it's going to be a solid album. I've gone through start to finish on this twice now, and nothing is really sticking out to me. It's possible that in two weeks something will catch in my brain and I'll start listening to it all over again. I don't really understand mixing the orchestral stuff in at the end of the record - but I'm sure they had a good vision when they created it. To me - it doesn't really fit, but what do I know? It's a very bold choice which will either go down as incredibly visionary or a risk that didn't pay off. Let me know what you think!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Uprising
2. Resistance
3. Undisclosed Desires
4. United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)
5. Guiding Light
6. Unnatural Selection
7. MK Ultra
8. I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S'Ouvre a Ta Voix
9. Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 1: Overture
10. Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 2: Cross-Pollination
11. Exogenesis: Symphony, Pt. 3: Redemption

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Uprising
2. Undisclosed Desires
3. Unnatural Selection

(Wow that's a lot of U tracks)

FINAL RATING:
1.5 out of 5 stars

Prodigy - Fat Of The Land

Techno Tuesday has arrived at The B Side! Once upon a time, a man said that the 'Fat of the Land' album has better than any record Jimi Hendrix ever put out. A bunch of die hard Jimi fans laughed hysterically and made fun of that man for the rest of his life. Well, that probably isn't true - but this record is still really, really good. Start to finish, has to be one of the best dance albums in the genre's history. I'm not sure I've ever put this on in the car and whoever was listening wasn't moving along with the beat. The music video for 'Smack My Bitch Up' is also phenomenal. These guys have been making incredibly good music for a long time and not that many people seem to notice. Although this is dance/electronic music - it's also just fun to listen to on a rainy day. I've talked about it before, but tossing this on at work can make your day fly by. If you've got a large subwoofer at home - toss this in and crank that sub up. Wake the neighbors and drift away in some sweet dance tuneage!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Smack My Bitch Up
2. Breathe
3. Diesel Power
4. Funky Shit
5. Serial Thrilla
6. Mindfields
7. Narayan
8. Firestarter
9. Climbatize
10. Fuel My Fire

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Breathe
2. Smack My Bitch Up
3. Firestarter

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

DMX - It's Dark And Hell Is Hot

It is a real honor to have this album cover grace my blog with its presence. When X busted on to the scene in '98 or so, he hit the ground running. I was all of 14 when this record dropped, so I didn't know the hip hop environment at the time, or a way to hear underground stuff before it hit the commercial shelves. So when DMX popped out - it seemed like it was out of nowhere. Hearing this record for the first time was quite amazing. I mean, you had your gangsta rap with hardcore lyrics. You had your west coast style that was almost trying to tell a story. You had your east coast rappers trying to also be gangster and tell stories. Well, no one did either of those things like DMX. One of my favorite X lines of all time, "I'm the only n***a walkin the streets with four felonies.." It's true. He is one of the few artists out there that can talk about crime, jail - all that is associated with the rap game and really say that he's lived it. His storytelling abilities are truly second to none. When he comes at you with a prayer skit, you sit and listen. You can hear his struggle between finding himself with the lord and falling back into his sweetspot with crime. The conflict alone makes it worth listening to, because similar to Eminem - his life is detailed on his records. I love that. This was DMX's first studio album and I'll get to all of them. He's slated to put a gospel record and a hip hop record out on the same day sometime in 2010. Hopefully they live up to his high standard.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Intro
2. Ruff Ryders' Anthem
3. Fuckin' Wit' D
4. Storm, The (Skit)
5. Look Thru My Eyes
6. Get at Me Dog
7. Let Me Fly
8. X-Is Coming
9. Damien
10. How's It Goin' Down
11. Mickey (Skit)
12. Crime Story
13. Stop Being Greedy
14. ATF
15. For My Dogs
16. I Can Feel It
17. Prayer (Skit)
18. Convo, The
19. Niggaz Done Started Something

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Ruff Ryders' Anthem
2. Let Me Fly
3. X Is Coming

Also Check Out:
4. I Can Feel It
5. Damien

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

Disturbed - The Sickness

Time to rocket into Monday with some metal! This isn't your grandfathers type of hard rock right here though - this is a breed that's heavy, loud, in your face and lyrically gifted. It's neat when you listen to a metal track and want to go back to listen to the lyrics closer. I picked this up shortly after it came out, and was very impressed. This album (and the band for that matter) don't get the credit they deserve. This is a decade old now, and you can still pop it in and sing along to the great tracks. Sometimes groups fall victim to overpopulation to a certain genre, and maybe that's what happened here. Critics often want to compare them to Korn, Limp, Rage, NIN etc...but I don't want to lump them into that category. If we're painting with extremely wide brushstrokes, sure they all fit into metal - but listen closely to all those bands, and I think you'll find they all have a different and unique sound. Celebrate the decade old 'Sickness' one more time!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Voices
2. Game, The
3. Stupify
4. Down with the Sickness
5. Violence Fetish
6. Fear
7. Numb
8. Want
9. Conflict
10. Shout 2000
11. Droppin' Plates
12. Meaning of Life

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Voices
2. Down With The Sickness
3. Stupify

FINAL RATING:
3.5 out of 5 stars