I was never too big on their first big hit, Popular but they got me hook, line and sinker with The Weight Is A Gift a couple years ago. Can't wait for their new album in 2008. I hate I've also missed them live the last couple of times they were through here (NC). Maybe next year.

Cool to see the Gore Gore Girls mentioned here. I wasn't in attendance but they just opened a show for Southern Culture on the Skids in Carrboro, NC over the weekend.

Funny you should say that as he made a very similar observation that garnered a lot of press either this year or last. It may be true to a degree but I don't believe it's true across the board. The worst offenders are those discs that claimed to be "remastered" but all that's been done is cranking up the original volume a notch or two in the studio while no actual remastering has even taken place. Otherwise the sound quality of CDs themselves has come a long since their infancy when many were nothing more than cheaply done recordings of the original vinyl just to get them on the market. Nowadays compact discs a lot come closer to capturing the sound of the original recordings than ever before. That was one of the reasons Neil Young has held up his long awaited box set for so very long, the limitations of modern sound technology. That he has it prepared for release in the new year (maybe) is a good sign that even Neil has found a sound he's happy with.

I love the last few albums. That's the funny thing, there's no usually no shortage of Dylan fans on "classic rock" oriented boards like this but some aren't even aware that he's still recording. I've been a Dylan fan since the mid-70s but never got into him bigtime until The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 and Time Out of Mind.

Just the Royal Albert Hall portion from 1970. I'm still just as mesmerized (if not more so) by Bonzo's solo during Moby Dick as I was the first time I saw it when I purchased the DVD back in 2003.

Just curious. If you're listening to something you can't find on YouTube, what'd you do?

They were inescapable in my household growing up whether it be the TV show or one of my older brothers' playing their albums. One of my favorite bands of all time? No, not really but I do have an appreciation for them. Then again, I also have a deep appreciation for The Banana Splits. One of the truly amazing things to me is the legacy The Monkees left and the impact they had on music, all totally unforeseen at the time. Then there's Michael Nesmith being credited with being one of the pioneers of country rock during the post-Monkees era of his career. With his Elephant Parts television special he's also been credited with being one of the pioneers of the visual arts medium when applied to music. Pretty amazing accomplishments for the guy known as The Monkee that always wore a toboggan (the knit cap, not the sled). From his Dr. Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce special first shown in 1987 here's a clip he did with Jimmy Buffett for Buffett's song La Vie Dansante. Some of the special effects may seem kind of silly now but believe you me they were considered "cutting edge" back then: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TLvaszLmes4

Found these onsale while I was out Christmas shopping today, both at a very reasonable price (Buffett-$6.99, Zep-$11.34).

I saw it this afternoon at Best Buy of all place so my guess is, it isn't all that hard to find. You can always special order or purchase online if nothing else.

In 2004 R.E.M. skipped NC for the first time in their entire touring history so they could take part in the Vote for Change Tour so it meant hitting the road to catch a couple of shows. The first was at the Ryman, the second at Gwinnett Arena outside of Atlanta. The Ryman was the superior of the two mainly because of the intimacy of that venue. I even picked up a rare Hatch print at the show that night.

Believe it not, I haven't dug into it yet but I'll let you know what I think once I do. I actually bought it as a Christmas gift for someone else then changed my mind.

Cool. I see where Chris Barron is going to be doing a solo acoustic show here (NC) soon.

I have only owned The Song Remains the Same on vinyl so the new remastered edition will be my first time purchasing it on CD. As for the movie, I saw it at the late show at one of the local theatres back in the early 80s but have never owned it in any format except for a still unwatched DVD I purchased a few years ago. I have the Deluxe Collector's edition on my ever expanding Christmas wishlist.

I'm a pretty big fan that came onboard around the time their first live album, All The World's A Stage was released. To this day it not only rank's as one of Rush's best live albums but one of the best live albums, period. I've remained a fan throughout the years with a few periods of disinterest, the first when they started to delve more into synths in the 80s. I also lost interest a few other times over the years but always came back to them. Recent highlights have included the very excellent Different Stages disc as well as the R30 CD/DVD that show Rush to still be one of the very best live bands out there. Unfortunately, what I've heard of their last couple of studio albums (which admittedly isn't much) hasn't compelled me to seek them out.

I was never a huge fan of punk rock or New Wave (at least the variety that got the most attention on MTV in the early 80s) but I am a big fan of postpunk/postmodern or whatever you want to call it, the music that followed punk in the late 70s and early 80s. R.E.M. U2 The Cure 10,000 Maniacs The Replacements Let's Active The db's The Connells The Blasters Guadalcanal Diary The Alarm World Party The Church Innocence Mission Indigo Girls Drivin' n' Cryin' Pylon Lone Justice Beat Farmers Cruzados Long Ryders Jason & the Scorchers

Black Sabbath is not only one of the very first bands I ever heard back in the early to mid-70s but they are also among the first artists I ever owned an album by. In this case, it was Paranoid. To this day they are still one of my favorite bands and I still listen to their music just as frequently as I always have. They are definitely one of the cornerstones of rock n' roll and will continue to influence other artists for eons to come.

Night one of the filming of the live Tres Chicas DVD in Raleigh.

The Police w/ Fiction Plane Thursday, November 15th Bobcats Arena Charlotte, NC You can view a slideshow of the performance here

More purchases since there is a limitation on the amount of images you can post:

Vinyl