Whoops. It's the legendary Friday the 13th today. Yeah, I don't believe that stuff either but still...be careful. I trust nothing.

I received a 50/50 set of emails on my commentary of the AC/DC decision to allow their newest album to be sold only at Wal-Mart exclusively. I had stated that it makes me pissy. It just so out of the mainstream to do something like this that it bothers me. Back in my younger years, I ONLY had a small town shop to depend on (Art's Record Shop for those that know my little 'ol town. You know who you are. Now, write!!). I can imagine just how I might have felt if this fell into play back then. I have received a few emails that say that everyone deserves the right to do as they please and I agree, everyone does. But as a fan and having grown up in the years before internet, a decision like this would have been devastating. So don't get mad at me. This is only an opinion and some of you side with me on this. And some do not. But it's what I love about individuality.

On to another thought...

I have searched for a lot of music over the last few days on the internet. Back in my earlier days, we depended on magazines and word of mouth to find an artist or album that we liked. I'm now treating the internet like those magazines (Trouser Press, Creem, RS, Crawdaddy!), just with a helluva lot more pages to flip through. I'm going to be presenting some of these finds to you over time. hopefully you can puck up some good music that way. Times are a changin' and I'm going to quit griping and mold things to my way of music hunting.

Now, I promised that we would look at Bruce Springsteen and his "peak" albums. But the real problem is that, while I received a lot of U2 emails (over 200), I received very few Springsteen emails (only 17 18). I don't know what to think about that so I won't. But as I roll out other bands, we're going to note which capture fancy enough to devote some time to writing email about. Also, someone asked that I zero in on what "peak" means. Does it mean which was your favourite or does it mean "...despite my favourite, I can see a certain album as having been a creative peak, whether I liked it or not." I think that we'll sit with which do you think was the band's best album. On the Springsteen request, Darkness on the Edge of Town won with 8 selections. EVERYONE agreed that the BIG three were Born to Run, Darkness..., and The River. I had two say that The Ghost of Tom Joad was the creative peak, and two state that Tunnel of Love was his peak. We had 3 for Born to Run, one for Magic, and one for The Rising. I received one vote for Nebraska. In contrast - and as expected - the Van Halen (see below) discussion is through the roof in 12 hours of post, which will last through the weekend.

We're now going to go with Van Halen. Just write and tell me what album was Van Halen's best, and for bonus points, which Van Halen era worked best (Roth or Hagar). This should be fun.

And yes, news was that slow...

We have two reviews for you today. The first is one by myself of the earlier released Narcotica by Invisigoth, a progressive rock album that hits the spot. Also, James Hrivnak returns with a review of The Best of Radiohead for Radiohead. More coming...

We'll see you on Monday. Don't forget that Father's Day is on Sunday!!

To access the previous site and catch up, click here.

Chairlift is a 3 person band from NYC that is starting to stir up some notice. They have a single out called "Evident Utensil" that is a damn fine pop song that might get your attention. After running across their name and checking out their MySpace page, I thought that...well, maybe you folks might want to hear some of this band. The band's name is Chairlift and I hope that you'll enjoy them. Feel free to send email and let me know.

This is a feature that I'd like to do more of in the hopes that we can bring you a band or two that you might enjoy. Y'know, give you the jump before others hear of them.

We have a few reissued 'best of' albums on the lists for today. These include collections for The Yardbirds and for Peter, Paul, and Mary. The Yardbirds set is called Greatest Hits, Volume 1: 1964-1966, while the Peter, Paul and Mary set is called The Best of Peter, Paul & Mary: Ten Years Together. Other Greatest Hits expected are The Best of Michael Franks: A Backward Glance, and The Best of Brandy. All of these are expected on July 29. These packages have been previously released.

Rhino have a few reissues that are coming on August 5. They include Rickie Lee Jones by Rickie Lee Jones. The other is Fandango by ZZ Top. Finally, Mud Slide Slim and and the Blue Horizon by James Taylor. More details as these become available.

Rounder plans a CD and LP version of The Green Sparrow from Mike Gordon, scheduled for August 5.