**** Despite my rather substantial knowledge of them and their work, I often have a bit of a difficult time writing about The Beatles. On the one hand, they’re one of the greatest bands of all time with a rich catalog of great songs boasting a startling variety and development over the course of their…
**** Though The Beatles would go on to revolutionize the music industry with their later albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver, their debut LP is made up of much simpler Pop songs almost half of which are covers. Though many may prefer the diversity of their later work, I find Please Please Me‘s simplicity to be…
**** When I think about ’80s Rap, my mind first turns to Public Enemy and N.W.A. Both groups have classics to their name and landmark releases within the decade, yet neither helmed an album as diverse, well-rounded, and timeless as Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys, which came a full two years before It…
***1/2 Of all of KISS’s albums, none had more squandered potential than Hotter Than Hell. While later albums like Dressed to Kill and Rock and Roll Over were marred by mediocre songs, Hotter Than Hell contains one of the greatest collections KISS ever released. Many of these songs including the title track, “Parasite,” “Let Me…
Though I listened through a number of full Beatles albums this week, the artist that truly stole my heart was Curtis Mayfield, who I’ve been re-discovering through My Morning Jacket guitarist Jim James’ 2010 playlist of his favorite songs from the underrated soul man. With two solo tracks (and another as a part of The…
**** The first CD I ever picked out in a store, Music From and Inspired by Spider-Man doesn’t seem like it would be the greatest introductory piece into the world of music, until you realize that underneath the comic book exterior is a highly enjoyable glimpse into the Alt-Rock musical landscape of the early ’00s.…
***1/2 I’ve never been a fan of John Wayne and I know that Clint Eastwood has been reduced to little more than a raving lunatic in his old age, but I must admit that I’ve become quite a fan of Westerns. A lot of that can be attributed to some of my favorite video games like…
**** Delving deeper into the heart than any of their works prior or sense, Pixar created a magnum opus of over a decade in the making with Toy Story 3, a masterpiece so grand that not only can it likely never be topped, it’d be damn near impossible for it to even be attempted. In…
*** I can understand why people hated this movie. The plot’s premise is nonsensical at best, Nicolas Cage’s performance is hilarious almost to the point of being tongue-in-cheek, and the rather anti-climatic ending understandably didn’t leave the best taste in many viewers’ mouths. I’ll further admit that the reasons I thoroughly enjoy National Treasure probably have…
*** When I watched the original Toy Story, I was struck by how fresh it felt. The movie is short, yet refined and covers a lot of ground in its running time. While its sequel (which was released to great fanfare four years later) is still a good movie, it doesn’t retain the same sense…
The Soundtrack Online 