How much bad music existed in the ‘60s, the ‘70s, the ‘80s?  I spend a lot of time these days bitching about how we have so little good stuff to go on these days but how much good stuff did we really have to go with back in those days?  Once I got to thinking about it, I realized that we didn’t have much.  Oh sure, those times were OUR times and so the extra music that we did latch onto were likely more palatable to many of us.  But I’ve been realizing that there was a ton of plain old bad music going on back in those days. 

Fast forward to today, I’ve been micro-concentrating on music much like I used to back in the ‘70s (the ‘60s, to me, were awash in everything).  I had my magazine favourites that catered to the kind of music that I preferred and I perused them for a hint of anything that I’d like.  Record stores were also a fine resource, a reality not lost on any of you.  Find one that you liked, ask the help the right questions, and then suddenly you were inundated with suggestions that would eventually yield a classic favourite in time.

The problem with today is that the resources are too vast, too scattered, too buried.  But I’m finding that there are fair amounts of great music out there.  I bring all of this up to lead into the introduction of today’s review of the debut album release (which follows a score of single and EP releases) by an NYC band named The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  This band embodies the grandeur of the music that we so fervently sought out back ‘in the year.’  Their freshness and grittiness brings to mind the discovery of the grand beauty of The Ramones’ first album and how it resonated in a sea of noise. 

I’m afraid that that kind of greatness might be lost in this wash of music that we currently experience.  Yes, it’s great to have so much availability but there was one nice thing about the expense of vinyl reproduction that kept outgoing music at a manageable level, it limited the music that spun past your ears making it much more a good bet that you might run across it at some point (radio, word of mouth, magazine).  Now, a great band LIKE The Pains of Being Pure at Heart run the risk of being ignored more than being discovered by music fans everywhere.

I’d like to bend the intent of this site a bit to start concentrating more on that kind of discovery.  I hope that you’ll take the time to read the review, and then listen to the album tracks that the review leads to.  Of course, the band won’t be for everyone.  But I’d like to share the band with many of TAP’s readers just to give them a chance to make up their own mind.

We’ll see you again on Friday with a few more reviews (Derek Trucks/The Soul of John Black) .

For the long promised Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! list (#37), I will be posting a letter each post until exhausted (there were only 17 21 25 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 emails).  Some were only a few titles, some only one.  But there were more than a few that were massive and a few extended, well-detailed lists.  I’ll post them as I received them.  For today's post, it's a short list with commentary.

Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love
There is a lot to say about this record and none of it can be said without hyperbole. Kate Bush's career served as the spring board for a generation of highly acclaimed female musician who rose to prominence in the 90's.  The Hounds of Love (and it's related b-sides) is the best example of what Kate Bush was all about.  It is not her best album but it the record that best represents her.  Side one is chocked full of her most "pop" songs to date and side two is collectively known as "The Ninth Wave" which is much like Dark Side of the Moon or side two of Abbey Road in that it is a collected suite of songs of varying styles and tempos that are all connected.

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds & Faith
This is bleak stuff but in a good way.  These two records are still the best expressions feelings futility and ennui that I have heard. Each album has a song or two that has been elivated to "greatest hits" status but they aren't why I recomend these albums.  On the Seventeen Seconds, A Forest is the gem and on Faith the title track sums it all up.  Back in the mid 80s these two records were combined by Sire Records in the US on one CD as Happily Ever After.  Warning:  Prolonged exposure to the Cure's Happily Ever After will probably result in a long bout of clinical deparession or possibly even suicide. 

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Pyschocandy
The descritpion of the Jesus and Mary Chain's sound on this album is best put in the words form the liner notes "chainsaws in a wind tunnel".  Even though heavy on distorted guitar this record never comes across as anything remotely close to Metal or Punk.  The combination of distortion, psychedelic mood and surf guitar melodies was truly unique when this came out and you can hear the infulence in all the "shoegazer" bands of the late 80's and early 90's.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Speaking of "shoegazer"...Loveless is the benchmark of the genre.  It sounds alot like noise but there are great melodies and pop hooks in there that make this a great record.  This record takes the ol' Phil Spectre "Wall of Sound" idea to new extremes and is totally original in it's execution.  Reportedly this album took most of a year to record and bankrupted Creation records and broke up the the band (and personal relationship of Kevin Shields and Belinda Buthcer.  That is one extreme committment to your art.

Love and Rockets - Express  
Former members of pioneering Goth band Bauhaus go psychedelic and cover a soul classic to boot.  Their cover of Ball of Confusion on the US release of Express was a huge hit in clubs catering to the college radio crowds in the mid 80's.   Side one goes from from a soft saxaphone intro into a hard driving punk mood and then puts you into a song that compares transcendental meditation to a journey by train (complete with the sounds of a chugging locomotive which become the opening guitar riff).  The song All in My Mind is on here twice, once as an up-beat accoustic based ditty and again dramatically slowed down with a substituted minor chord to provide exactly the opposite feeling.  I know this has been done before (Think the Beatles' Revolution) but it is used to great dramatic effect on Express.

The Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
I never knew the history of the recording sessions for this album until I got the Trinity Revisited cd/dvd earleir this year but now that I know how this record came about it make me appreciate the original that much more.  This is a great collection of original songs so insprired choices for cover songs all performed pretty much the same way but to great affect.  Margo Timmins has a voice perfect for singing just above a whisper and it works perfectly on the songs on this album.  Also, after Oliver Stone used the Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane in his movie Natural Born Killers I can never quite see Woody Harelson and Juliette Lewis in the same way again.

I could go on and on adding albums to this list but I'll leave it at this.  

We're going to keep the Best Album of ALL Time up for a long while as we continually update it. But I'll say this: The Beatles took the lead with not only The White Album but also the fact that they have been selected with two albums. Like The Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die! run, which does not show signs of stopping (I'm still getting emails, which I have no problem with and encourage - Send Them In), I'm hoping that this new thing stays strong. Send in your selection (one only, please) for the album that is the ruler of all.

If you have missed the last As The Disc Spins (updated), check it out here.

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

Busta Rhymes fans will be able to score a copy of his next album, Back on my BS, from Motown Records, scheduled for March 17 in edited and PA versions.

Mesa Blue Moon will release In Concert From Israel by Dudu Fisher on March 17.  The label will use the same date to also release Wet Fist by Show is the Rainbow.

Eagle Rock Entertainment has an Ian Gillan album on the schedule for March 31 called One Eye to Morroco.

Universal Records will release a ‘best of’ package for Shooter Jennings called BAD MAGICK – The Best of Shooter Jennings and The .357s.  It is scheduled for March 24.

Vagrant Records has an album on the schedules for The Hold Steady called A Positive Rage.  It is planned for April 7.

Rounder Records will issue another The Tragically Hip album on April 7.  The album will be called We Are the Same.  As a reminder, Rounder will release Inland Territory by Vienna Teng, same April 7 date.

Tompkin Square will release a Folk title called Long Lost Tapes 1970 by artist, Peter Walker.  This compilation is planned for March 31.

Please note that the street date for the upcoming LP Rhino Records re-releases of Black Sabbath titles (Dehumanizer, Heaven and Hell, Live Evil (2LP), Mob Rules) have changed.  Originally planned for February 24, they will now be made available on March 17..

African Pop is in the heart of this new album by Amadou & Mariam called Welcome to Mali.  The album is scheduled for release on March 24 by Nonesuch Records.

Roadrunner Records continues their Remaster Series with a remastered and expanded reissue of Every Thing You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (2000) by GlassJAw.  This release will add “Modern Love Story (Youth of Today),” and a demo of “Convectuoso,” both previously unreleased.  This is scheduled for March 24 in both 2LP and CD.

Also from Roadrunner Records’ Remaster Series is a previously announced reissue of Slow, Deep and Hard by Type O Negative.  It will add a previously unreleased bonus track of “Hey Pete (Pete’s Ego Trip Version).”

Reprise Records will release Crack the Skye by Mastodon on March 24.  A special Edition of the CD will include a DVD with The Making of Crack the Skye.  The title is also planned for release as an LP, standard and Deluxe.  The CD is planned in both PA and edited versions.

Normally, I don’t get all giddy and excited about a single album, but this self-titled debut release by the interestingly named The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has got my music interest greatly piqued.  I’m having a tendency to pair this with some great albums that originated from NYC bands in the past, particularly the raucous and energetic Rock of the late ‘70s.  And this album just does it all over again for me.  It makes me remember why I love Rock n Roll in the first place.  Yes, I’m that excited about this album AND this band.  I can’t wait to see them live!

Eliane Elias has quite a unique history behind her. With the release of her lastest album, Bossa Nova Stories, she unleashes a Bossa Nova tribute to the songs of her youth. And ours.