Weezer - Red Album

Okay, so this is nothing new - or something you've never heard before. But I've never hidden my love for Weezer. I grew up loving them, and they keep putting out really good music. (Ratitude and Make Believe set aside). I really needed something great to get the bad taste of HU out of my ears. If you recall, I gave a perfect 5 out of 5 review to Weezer's illustrious Blue Album. Well B Siders, this one is NOT far behind it. I absolutely love this album! It runs the gambit of awesome. Fast paced pop tracks to sing and dance to, slow brooding tracks to ponder over and lyrically awesome tracks that make you want to write and write. I think it's fair to say I loved this from first listen - which is rare for me. ...And many of you may think that I like this purely because I love Weezer - but that's simply false. It's typically the bands I love most I'm most critical of, because I expect genius out of every single track they ever record. So - yeah, don't think that. The only way I can show you how great this is, is to encourage ya'll to listen to it. And make sure you pick up the 'Deluxe Edition', because the four bonus tracks are all either good, quite good or really good. One that's teetering on great. I think I'm going to encourage my writing protege to do something Weezer related this week. We'll see - no promises. This just made my Monday better, so I'm going to run through this at least twice to make my Monday go by like lightning. You should too - Happy Monday B Side!!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Troublemaker
2. Greatest Man That Ever Lived, The (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
3. Pork and Beans
4. Heart Songs
5. Everybody Get Dangerous
6. Dreamin'
7. Thought I Knew
8. Cold Dark World
9. Automatic
10. Angel and the One, The
BONUS TRACKS:
11. Miss Sweeney
12. Pig
13. Spider, The
14. King

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. The Angel And The One
2. Dreamin'
3. King

FINAL RATING:
4.5 out of 5 stars

Hollywood Undead - Swan Songs

Monday. First day of the week. Longest possible moment until the last day of the work week. But as always B Siders, it's also the best day of the week for blogging. I get to write at least 10 reviews this week, which always makes my week tolerable. Anyway, on to Hollywood Undead which is yet another request from follower Christina. Just a side note, you are all doing a GREAT job with suggestions. I'm extremely happy with the amount of new stuff and even some old stuff that I've gotten to run through again because of you fans. Much appreciated. So on to HU, these guys are - hmm...odd? When I first looked them up, they were listed as a hard rock/metal band. I then read that they all wore masks and went by pseudonyms and not their real names. So immediately, I was thinking they were going to be similar to Slipknot or that like. Boy was I wrong. If I was comparing them to a masked band, I'd probably lean more toward the Insane Clown Posse - which is really not a good thing. They're more of a rock/rap hybrid type band - which doesn't quite live up to other genre expectations. They have a sound very similar to Linkin Park, but no tracks nearly as solid as they do. The problem is, what you might expect is some really crazy, nasty lyrics - but those never show up. It's more tame like Asher Roth or even the very WEAKEST of Eminem lyrics. Instead of having shock value and making headlines, they're just uninteresting and tired. I feel like they have a big time identity crisis since they're image doesn't match their lyrics that don't match the beats. It's just confusing. These fellas were made famous via Myspace - even signing a deal with Myspace records. Well - I suggest they relegate themselves back to obscurity and the answer to an odd trivia question. I don't see the music the thing ever making them famous.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Undead
2. Sell Your Soul
3. Everywhere I Go
4. No Other Place
5. No.5
6. Young
7. Black Dahlia
8. This Love, This Hate
9. Bottle And A Gun
10. California
11. City
12. Diary, The
13. Pimpin'
14. Paradise Lost

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Everywhere I Go
2. Undead
3. No. 5

FINAL RATING:
1.25 out of 5 stars

Bad Company - Self Titled

Hooray for 'Two Self Titled Friday'!! Should that be a new B Side installment? Hmm, probably not. Not only would that be incredibly hard on our amazing writer (ahem) but it's also kind of lame. So we'll go with it being a fun (and VERY coincidental) one time affair. Seriously, everyone in the world has heard of Bad Company right? I mean, if you haven't - I question how much music you really listen to. These guys have been just about everywhere for 4 decades. Crazily enough, this British band has sold more records in the US than in the UK. That pretty much never happens guys. Home countries 99.9% of the time always support and artist more than somewhere else. I can't even conjecture why that happened for Bad Co. They have a TON of hits in America, and you don't have to look any further than this - their first record. I'll retort that back in the '70s when everything was in vinyl, you could only fit 8 songs or so per LP. So naturally this album is short, but very, very amazing. Released in 1974 - it has sold over 5 million copies in the US alone. It's no Boston, but really good nonetheless. Even if you're reading this and thinking, "This B Side fella, what an a-hole. How dare he question my musical prowess because I haven't heard of Bad Company??" Well I'd say, relax there wonderful reader, and my point is - you most certainly have heard of these guys. Listen to the sample tracks posted, you'll have heard at least one song from this record. And probably at least 5 Bad Co songs from all their works. Great music, it's Friday, it's nice outside - this just keeps getting better! Blast some Bad Co not only on your Friday, but pump it all the way through the weekend!!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Can't Get Enough
2. Rock Steady
3. Ready for Love
4. Don't Let Me Down
5. Bad Company
6. Way I Choose, The
7. Movin' On
8. Seagull

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Bad Company
2. Can't Get Enough
3. Ready For Love

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

Blessid Union Of Souls - Self Titled

YAY!! Finally - not sure about you guys, but when we have a 'short' week due to holiday or whatever, it feels even longer than a regular week. Perplexing, yet true. I feel like I've been working 17 days straight on like 4 hours of sleep. But that's neither here nor there. What is here, is my 'odd' review for Blessid Union. Now - some of you may have heard of these guys because of one pretty monstrous single that dropped back in 1998. But even for those that have heard 'Light', I'd guess you didn't rush out and by the album back then. Or heard that song a decade later and went to pick this up. So I'm here to let you know - I really dig these guys. These fellas are from Ohio and formed around 1990. This was their second studio release, and the only reason I didn't start with that album is simple...I've never heard it. Their first album 'Home' gets really rave reviews and I need to get to that very soon. If it's half as good as this one, I know I'll love it. I got tuned into them in 2005 or so, and had no idea they sang the big popular track on here. I mean, vocally now that I know, it makes total sense - but still a nice surprise. I encourage anyone who enjoys 'mood' type music to check these guys out. They're really solid. They've got half a dozen records out there, and as always, I promise to get to them all in due time. Happy Friday!

TRACK LISTING:
1. I Wanna Be There
2. Jelly
3. Light In Your Eyes
4. Scenes From A Coffee House
5. Hold Her Closer
6. My Friend
7. Where We Were Before
8. It's Your Day (Bronson's Song)
9. Humble Star
10. When She Comes
11. Peace And Love

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Peace And Love
2. Hold Her Closer
3. Light In Your Eyes

FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars

Beck - Odelay

Time for another alternative style review, and who is more alternative than Beck? This guy has never made two albums that even closely resemble each other. Seems like every time he touches the mic in a studio - he has a totally new ambition for how he wants the music to sound. Beck has a DOZEN albums out since his debut in 1993. I honestly had no idea he had that much music out there. I mean, I've heard probably half of those records, and I thought that was a lot. Mainstream got familiar with him via '94s 'Mellow Gold' which of course was made famous by 'Loser'. He actually released another record in 1994 that didn't fare quite as well on the charts. So Odelay ended up being his next record, and the first single 'Where It's At' ended up being HUGE. I remember back in 96 when this came out, and MTV still played videos - this was on all the time. Many stations played it and it seemed like you could never get sick of it. It just had a certain feel to it that was totally unique to anything else out there at that time. Very cool. Anyway, this probably isn't my favorite Beck album ever, but it's really good. And it's his best selling by a pretty good number of records sold. It's very different top to bottom, big shocker. I think it's well worth listening to. If you haven't ever listened start to finish, try it out. I think you'll like it. If not, don't be afraid to try another Beck work because hey - who knows what style you'll get. Happy Thursday and enjoy!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Devils Haircut
2. Hotwax
3. Lord Only Knows
4. New Pollution, The
5. Derelict
6. Novacane
7. Jack-Ass
8. Where It's At
9. Minus
10. Sissyneck
11. Readymade
12. High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
13. Ramshackle

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Where It's At
2. Devil's Haircut
3. New Pollution

FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars

James Blunt - Back To Bedlam

Thursday has me doing another mood review for you guys. It's a little old school - going all the way back to 2005 and James Blunt. I'm sure you remember being in your car and turning 'You're Beautiful' all the way up as loud as your stereo goes. Yet another track that was on 17 different stations at the same time for a while. Jimmy has an interesting back story. He served in the British Military for six years until 2002. He saw some action in Kosovo and then mostly did funeral procession type stuff until his time was over. He was also a world class skier at some point during his life. This was his first album with only two made so far in a short career. He's got another one due to drop this year at some point, no date listed. This has sold a lot of copies worldwide, which naturally the majority were in the UK at 10x platinum. Only 2x platinum in the US which means pretty much every other measured country likes Mr. Blunt more than we do. But 2x is nothing to shake a stick at, you'll still make some pretty good money. In fact, he claims he's closer with his family after becoming a platinum selling artist, as his father takes care of all his finances and his mother helps him with his properties around Europe. A good wholesome family affair. Musically, I have not heard anything off record number 2, but this one is fine. I don't think it lives up to the hype from the singles, but then again, it's rare an album does. It's worth a listen if you're in that 'mood', but otherwise, it's a skipper-over.

TRACK LISTING:
1. High
2. You're Beautiful
3. Wisemen
4. Goodbye My Lover
5. Tears and Rain
6. Out of My Mind
7. So Long Jimmy
8. Billy
9. Cry
10. No Bravery

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. High
2. Goodbye My Lover
3. You're Beautiful

FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars

Motion City Soundtrack - I Am The Movie

Hey-oh!! Two for two on the B Side today via the Suggestion Box. Shaquanda suggested this one a couple weeks back. Since I'm on my 'punk' style review for the week, I figured why the heck not? Now, I've heard her talk up this band for the last decade plus, so I have extremely high standards for them. I've never heard one MCS track in my life (at least so I think). They've been around since 1997 but 'Movie' was their debut album to drop in 2003. They've gone through more members than Metallica has gone through guitar frontmen, which if you don't know, is a lot. They actually do have a pretty unique style to them. I think a long time ago I went off on Panic! for not being anything new and hating on bands that all sound the same. Right from the gate, they didn't have a total new thing going, but once you listen through it, they do have something that has a different feel. I can't even really put my finger on it. It's almost like an emo band meets Ben Folds? Like a storytelling kind of group that aren't so focused on super long track titles and making music for adoring little girls. The hiatus from formation to release of this is kind of interesting. They self promoted and dropped this record twice, before getting picked up by a major label. Once they did, they finally sold some albums and moved on in their careers. They've now been with two other labels, but still putting out tuneage. I think this has a cool feel to it. One of my soon to be top 3 tracks has as a Goo Goo Dolls type feel to it with some synth added. One funny thing I wanted to share, while looking on Wikipedia to find out some info I ran across this: The Daily Cardinal said that the "album is true to the band’s fast-paced punk roots while remaining firmly anchored in catchy bubblegum pop melodies," demonstrating the band's "maturing style" while "the pop-punchers play it safe and stick to what they know best." That was in response to their 3rd studio recording, but the funny part is that they reference the Daily Cardinal - which is a University of Wisconsin student paper. I know you can put anything on Wiki - but still. If a local paper can get mentioned, why not the B Side? Something to aim for!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Cambridge
2. Shiver
3. Future Freaks Me Out, The
4. Indoor Living
5. My Favorite Accident
6. Perfect Teeth
7. Boombox Generation
8. Don't Call It a Comeback
9. Modern Chemistry
10. Capital H
11. Red Dress
12. Mary Without Sound
13. Autographs & Apologies
14. A-OK

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Capital H
2. My Favorite Accident
3. Shiver

FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars