It Came From The MP3 Vault – Volume 1

When you’re growing up, one of the choices that you make about the life ahead seems trivial: Are you a Music person or a Sports person? Few people seem to straddle that fine line between the two and exist in both worlds – one generally knows a lot about one or the other, and maybe enough to get by in a small-talk-by-the-water-cooler fashion on the second. Since I don’t know what end of a baseball to pick up, you can guess what category I fall under.

Yes, I’ve always had a passion for music, but not a damn bit of talent for playing it. So I like to listen to as much as possible – as many bands, across the spectrum, that I can get my greedy hands on. But there’s so much that I can barely fit it on my MP3 player anymore. And I’ve got a 30gb drive, so do the math on that…

In an effort to weed out the good from the bad and clear some space, I’m trying to crank through some of these albums. I’ll share my quick takes on these albums as I go through them, so that you might share in my pleasant surprises while avoiding the crap.

Here’s the first batch:

Operator – Soulcrusher – Do you remember when Chris Cornell wasn’t eating crepes at his new home in France (I Mean, FRANCE? Really?), or playing in the crappy supergroup that turned him into a pussified version of a rock star? There was that little band called that blew the doors off the joint? Yeah?
Well, the title track off of Soulcrusher came out shortly after Audioslave broke up, and I had this brief glimmer of hope that Cornell’s inner badass had resurfaced in some new project. The vocals could easily have been vintage Soundgarden, but the DJ would tell us otherwise. Operator, hmmm? I got the album in hopes that the rest of the songs could live up to the hype. It did.
Verdict: Rockin’ out mit der Schnitzel out (Keeper).

Citizen Cope – Every Waking Moment – Okay, I was looking for the album with the radio single “Bullet and a Target” on it. This isn’t the one - I just figured they were on their freshman effort. I can’t vouch for what the other disc sounds like, but I couldn’t even make it through this one. Slow and bland, not much holding it together.
Verdict: Stinks like bad cheese.

Lyle Lovett And His Large Band – It’s Not Big It’s Large – This one was for my girlfriend originally. Never cared one way or another about the man – just knew he was an odd looking bird with tall plumage. But giving this a listen – a mixed bag of up-tempo big band sounds and some slow churners - the man does have style. I may just be a convert after all.
Verdict: Oh, it’s large (Keeper).

Papa Roach – The Paramour Sessions – Liked these guys when they first came out, but their first efforts seemed a little disjointed. Lost track of what they were doing, just assuming they were defunct. But heard “Forever” from this disc on the radio, and I was surprised at their growth. I’m sure some would say the noise level has been too toned down, and now they whine about love and loss too much. But it’s nowhere near the degradation that Staind saw between releases, not do they suffer from any kind of emo-whining. Overall, a solid rock disc.
Verdict: Devil horns up high (Keeper).

This was fun - I think you'll be seeing these more often...