As they get older, this band keeps getting looser and louder.  Released as a digital single, Caravan serves as a preview of their upcoming album and is a great example of late era Rush.  Cohesive melodies, loud guitars, nice showcases for each band member but especially a now 58 year old Neil Peart kicking holy ass on the drums.  Recommended.

His new EP came out a month or so ago and it is well worth your time.  Only three tracks, but all surprisingly good.  Track 2, The Toadlickers, in particular is quite a piece of work.  I will admit that the album had to grow on me because I was hoping for a more electronic feel, but after a few listens it will not leave my brain.  This is organic, rootsy music.  Amerikana is the name of the collection, the first of three to be released this year.  You can find it here.

Six rounds and counting this year, so I’m off to a good start.  The Adams irons are working out well, and I have filled out my bag with older new clubs.  If you don’t mind buying last year’s model, golf is really not that expensive.  My driver and 3 wood were on clearance.  My wedges were on Overstock.com.  My hybrids came from eBay.  My putter was an inexpensive Wilson.  All told I have spent less money than I got for selling my older stuff, so it’s worked out well.  A club fitting will be next and then at least one lesson before the summer ends.  I’m still enjoying it, even though it means getting up on either side of 6 AM on weekends to play and get home before the kids take their naps.  So far, it’s working out really well.

It’s been over a year since my last golf post.  Sadly, I have not accomplished much since.  C has joined our family and that has taken up most of my time.  Between preparing for him and taking care of both kids upon his arrival the bulk of my time is spoken for these days.  The last month or so has seen my schedule open up a bit and I am itching to get back to it.

I finally sold the Pings.  I lost interest in refurbishing them and just became disenchanted with them in general.  I did buy a boxed Wilson set but returned it without playing it.  I’ve been searching for some good clubs to learn on and today I picked up some original Adams Idea irons for $100, which felt like a good deal.  I have two weeks to decide which is a nice impetus to get to the range a lot in the ensuing days.  More to come…

…for music at least.  New releases from Steve Hackett, Rush, Jeff Beck, and Thomas Dolby all found me at once.  This week starts a series where I will review them track by track because they are all worthy of such attention.  Stay tuned.

My fancy dancy firewire audio interface crapped out on me recently.  This coincided with my 11 year old nephew picking up the bass guitar and wanting to record for the first time.  What to do…

In the bottom of my closet lay the answer:  my old Tascam 424 MKIII which had been gathering dust for about 5 years.  My brother had found another 4 track at a garage sale for around $20 recently so in this way the stars had aligned themselves and put us on course to the post office with our analog magnetic tapes in hand.  Snail mail and cassettes.  In 2010.  Whodathunkit.

So far it’s worked out nicely.  This old workhorse is maxed out by my drum kit.  All six channels are filled with percussive delights, all going to one track.  There is a lot of prep work involved because whatever I put down is there for good, no going back and fixing anything unless I want to replay the whole tune.  This is a really fun way to work and very much more enjoyable than screwing around with my computer.  Turn it on, music goes in, turn it off.

The setup is simple.  Track one is the backing track, usually a recording of a song we are trying to learn.  Track 2 is me.  Track 3 is the boy.  Track 4 is my brother.  I put down the backing and myself and mail it off to Tejas.

No doubt one of these days they’ll mail one back.

This has been KISS week around here for some reason.  I guess I’m in a mood.

Number one on the list happens to be the new Wal-mart exclusive by the above, Sonic Boom.  It’s not bad.  Another three disc set ala the Journey box from last year.  The new album is decent, the album of rerecordings seems unnecessary but also par for the course, and the DVD will probably be watched once and never spoken of again.  Tommy Thayer sounds a lot like Ace Frehley on guitar and Eric Singer could be Peter Criss on vocals, but his drumming has always been a bit too good for this band.  Peter is sloppy as hell and that’s a good thing.  You can hear the early days of rock in his playing and that is something I enjoy.  Singer is a great drummer but to my ears has just never quite gelled with the attitude of the band.  He’s more Eric Carr than Peter Criss, and that’s fine, but it just makes me miss Peter.  Which is the case with the whole album.  Hearing KISS with Thayer and Singer doing their Space Ace and Catman impressions made me seek out the real deal, which leads me to number two…

Frehley recently released a solo album, Anomaly, and it shits on Sonic Boom from great height.  You either like his vocals or you don’t, and I do, but even without that small detail it’s a fantastic rock album.  And it sounds like a damn rock album, which is rare these days.  It’s bigger than life and will kick you in the face.  I love it.

Last on the KISS side is Criss’s 2007 album, One for All, which I keep wanting to call All for One, making Google’s job that much harder.  It’s an interesting record.  For one, it sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bedroom and maybe it was.  It’s a very quiet, intimate collection of tunes.  I’d say 80% of the album is worth a listen, with the main problems being some strange harmonies and flat vocals on some tunes.  I like it though.  Clearly, it’s a personal record made for his own enjoyment.  I respect that.  It really fits well with the mid-70s singer/songwriter albums.  It has that very laid back feel.  The last 60 seconds of the album is a jam between Peter and Ace.  It’s a great way to go out, but, yes, way too short.

On loan from a friend is Paramore’s new one, Brand New Eyes.  I like it, but it is VERY slick.  To the point that the personality of the band is almost smothered.  It’s a shame because it’s good, but could be so much better without the strange American Idol sheen that makes everything sound the same these days.

Speaking of which, that’s something that hit me on a roadtrip this weekend.  I have stopped listening to songs just as songs these days and find myself focusing on small details in the production…  the vocal reverb, the way the snare sounds, etc.  It’s one way to stay interested when you hear the same 15 songs over and over on classic rock stations.  The interesting thing is that every song from earlier eras, maybe up to the mid-80s sounds completely different.  Not the tunes themselves but the way they were recorded.  There was no one recipe that equalled “hit” back then and it really shows.  All the songs sound great but they have their own unique sonic personality.

Sadly that is something lost on modern country and pop radio.