And now a word about censorship

The new Green Day album, ironically titled " 21st Century Breakdown" will not be appearing at your friendly neighborhood Walmart store any time soon. That Walmart would suggest to a recording artist that they require them to edit the content of their art in order for it to be acceptable in their soulless mega-monster stores, which profit off the backs of slave labor in developing countries, is beyond absurd. My bigger point, however, is that we shouldn't be looking for this album at Walmart anyway. Walmart can continue on, as they always have, selling crap to the masses but I'm happy that they are leaving music in the hands of the people who know what they're doing. Buy your Green Day albums at indie record stores. Album sales for "21st Century Breakdown" surpassed 200,000 in the first few days of hitting the stores without the help of Walmart.  Yeah, we don't need your greedy paws all over our music. Thanks, Green Day. Rock on.

Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits

Honestly? I don't have a deep catalogue on Patsy. I adore her, sure, but I find myself going back to the same tunes, the ones I know the words to, over and over. Fortunately, on Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits, there is a song for damn near every occasion involving the opposite or the same sex, whichever the case may be. Patsy's focus is mostly on the tunes of the Cheatin' and Hurtin' variety, a modern day therapist would most certainly call her a victim but it just feels so good to throw Patsy on the turntable when someone's done you wrong. Crazy is  my number one on this LP, a classic of classics, ditto for Sweet Dreams, I Fall to Pieces, Strange, She's Got You, Why Can't He Be You?, Leavin' on Your Mind, and You're Stronger Than Me. The coolest thing about Patsy though, is that there's always an "I Will Survive" quality to her voice, no matter how sad the song, she inspires you to get back on the horse and ride off into the sunset in search of the next heartbreaker.

SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS

On the back of this album, a guy called "Vinyl Demon" (and I'm pretty sure we'll be meeting in  a dark alley someday) says "Jalacey Hawkins is not an ordinary man and this is not an ordinary record. Play it and be damned". Screamin' Jay Hawkins was colorful, to say the least, he had a sort of a Vincent Price esthetic onstage, emerging from coffins, wearing capes and turbans and carrying a skull named Henry. He also had a flare for pyrotechnics, which got him into a lot of trouble and he dabbled in voodoo, obviously. Showmanship aside though, Hawkins was dazzling and if you haven't spent a little time with "I Put A Spell On You", I suggest you do so immediately because there's nothing on earth quite like it. It defies description.  The Rock and Roll Hall of fame lists it as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. In his later career, Hawkins became something of a cult figure, appearing in the Jim Jarmusch film "Mystery Train" and touring with Nick Cave and the clash. Hawkins died in 2000 leaving behind 75 offspring(!). The rest of the album pales in comparison to the first cut but I adore Little Demon and You Made Me Love You and Hawkin's version of I Love Paris is as good as it gets.

Ry Cooder- GET RHYTHM (1987)

Ry Cooder is a manic virtuoso of sorts. I've suspected that he has that genius aptitude for music that drives some musicians over to the dark side but Ry's worked tirelessly exploring a gazillion genre's of almost forgotten music and performed his unique brand of CPR on them, a Midas touch to say the very least. He got me listening to The Pahinui Brothers and Ali Farka Toure and The musicians of the Buena Vista Social club would have faded off into nothing had Ry not stepped in and made them a force to be reckoned with, not to mention he restored the dignity to the mostly aging members that they surely deserve. Anyhoo, before all that, Ry put out some pretty righteous records and my fave of them all is GET RHYTHM. This is a sexy, fun, drive to nowhere kind of CD that I reserve for those days when I'm feeling particularly kick-ass. Right out of the Gate, Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm is  HOT and one can't help but admire Ry's unique guitar stylings. Elvis's All Shook Up is a different song in Ry's hands. Chuck Berry's  13 Question Method is funky sexy. My Five star pick on this record in Across The Borderline, performed with Harry Dean Stanton- who was eighty at the time (and he's still eighty, go figure, I suspect a pact with the devil)  This one will pull at your heart strings and make you long for a witness relocation program that takes you to the undiscovered West, if there were still an undiscovered West, that is. Check it out, it's a helluva record.

JOHN PRINE- Bruised Orange

This, John Prine's fifth record, produced by the late Steve Goodman, was given to me by a guy who claimed to have stolen a box of them off the back of an idling truck. He didn't know who John Prine was and thought I might. Hell yes, I know. John Prine wrote what I consider to be one of the best songs ever written "Hello In There." A song that will literally rip your heart out and show it to you, still beating. Bruised Orange though, song for song, is my favorite album. Fish and Whistle, If You Don't Want My Love, and Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow), respectively #1,#3, and #5 are lyrically the kind of songs that make you weak in the knees and have you dialing ex-boyfriends in the wee hours (been there, done that, don't do it). But seriously, This album is jam-packed with moments, riffs, and the deeply poetic stuff we've come to expect from the iconic singer-songwriter Prine has become since he stopped delivering mail in Chicago. Oh, and I'd be amiss if I didn't mention "Crooked Piece Of Time"  just when you thought it was okay to leave the house. This album is easy to find on Vinyl for a few bucks so try not to steal it or even borrow it cause you'll never give it back.

Cowboy Junkies- The Trinity Sessions

The Junkies recently went back to the Trinity Church in Toronto to re-record those 12 oh-so beautiful songs originally recorded twenty years ago. The original Band Members: the sexy, hushed chanteuse Margot Timmins and her song-writing brother , Michael, her other brother, Peter, on drums and Alan Anton on Bass, were joined by some artists who were shaped by the original; Natalie Merchant, Ryan Adams, and Vic Chestnut. I think it should be in stores today.  Back to the original though, naturally, this is a seminal album, the selection of tunes: Hank William's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (my own personal favorite version of the song), Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" and "Blue Moon Revisited" (holy Shit, it's gorgeous), combined with the acoustics in that cool old church in 1987 (and THANK CHRIST, they didn't tear it down, oops sorry, Christ does live there, doesn't he?). The whole thing took fourteen hours to record. I  suppose that would account for the organic feel of  this record, nothing here feels forced or staged. The album was snapped up by RCA and sold a million copies and it lives on and on and on, as it should.

Jethro Tull, Aqualung

 The song Aqualung, as a 70's rock anthem, is right up there with Stairway To Heaven. Although Ian Anderson denies that this album is a concept album, one wonders. There seems to be a distinct message running through it, a liberal anti-church and state rant, and side one seems to be about six distinctly different characters. I'm a flute lover and Ian Anderson on stage doing his thing is a pretty cool thing to behold. Some of the songs on this record are heavily layered. complex, deeply messaged and all the rest a girl like me looks for in anthem rock. Others, Cheap Day Return, Wond'ring Aloud, Mother Goose, are more acoustic. The album artwork, a painting of the Aqualung character is something that you don't forget, definitely a cover for the ages. This was the first album recorded at Island Studios in London. Ironically Led Zeppelin's fourth album was being recorded simultaneously in a different, smaller studio. Although it's difficult to describe the listening experience one encounters while this record is playing, I can say with great confidence that there is nothing else on earth like Aqualung. Dropping acid while listening is optional.