Category: whatsnew

The Ultimate Hits

Artist: Garth Brooks
Listenability Scale: 99%
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

As I’m starting to get excited about seeing Garth Brooks in concert on November 14th (my review of that concert will probably posted over the weekend of the 17th), I thought I would get a head start by getting Garth’s latest CD, “The Ultimate Hits,” so that I would be familiar with the new songs, and I find myself, again, in a weird spot of reviewing a greatest hits type collection (my last one was of Matchbox Twenty’s “Exile on Mainstream”). For the Matchbox Twenty collection I was duly impressed by their ratio of “new songs” to “greatest hit songs” was at a whopping 35-39% depending on the version you bought, and although Garth’s “The Ultimate Hits” is at a ratio of about 12% (I’m ignoring the two, blank tracks), but with the fact that if you shop fast you can get 34 songs and a DVD filled with over two hours of videos for under $15 bucks. Even then, just for the four songs and DVD of videos, the $15 bucks is well worth the cost of getting redundant copies of songs you already own, and you know what, when you rip them to your iPod, now you’ve got a higher rate of getting some great Garth Brook’s songs blasting through your shuffle play.

In any case, “The Ultimate Hits” spans all of Garth Brook’s career, with the songs that were hits (duh?), and as I took a listen I was amazed as I remembered every lyric, even filling in parts from “live shows” like “God bless Chris LeDoux!”, and remembered how a lot of Garth’s songs brought back tons of memories through a lot of years. And those were just the old songs! I could go through the entire track listing, but why? Pretty much if the song was any kind of radio hit for Garth, well, it’s on the two audio CD’s included with this collection. I was a little more interested in the four new songs, or I suppose I should say three new songs and a bonus track (I still never really understood the bonus track thing, especially with the two “blank” tracks before, and in this case the bonus song is “Leave A Light On”), and I have to say that the DVD is really what sold me on the new songs.

The reason I say that the DVD sold me on the new songs is that, like most CD’s, I listen to them in the background, and as the new songs came around I was sort of like “I guess that’s okay?” and then the next hit song would play, and I would sing along while I was doing things.  Then, as much as I was indifferent to the DVD, I popped it in my player, and I quickly realized that I’ll now have to do a review of it separately (God, that video of “Much Too Young…” brought back some wacky memories), but as I scanned through the videos I eventually got to the video for “More Than a Memory,” and suddenly, like most Garth songs, the song finally hit home. I will say I’m not a huge fan of the duet with Huey Lewis covering “Workin’ For A Livin’, although that might go back to some tortured days in college when one of my nicknames was “Huey Lewis Lips,” but “Midnight Sun” got me right back to knowing Garth can be fun, and how fun would it actually be to see Garth and the boys doing a concert in a bar? But the new, or rather bonus song, that hit me first was “Leave A Light On,” sans video, (and there isn’t one on the DVD), because it seems to touch on how Garth is always able to convey emotions, how a song can build to a crescendo, keeping you with it until the end.

If you are a huge Garth Brook’s fan you probably own 30 of the songs on “The Ultimate Hits,” and you probably have copies, or bootlegs, of some of the videos on the included DVD, but as Garth has always been about his fans, for the price, this two audio disc with some new stuff and a bonus DVD is way worth the price. I now have three new Garth songs I really like in my music library, and fine, I’ll add the Huey Lewis cover (even if I still have Huey’s lips), so I’ll be giving Garth Brook’s “The Ultimate Hits” a 99% on the Entertainment Ave! Listenability Scale. He loses 1% because my ultimate Garth hit is “The Red Strokes.” Sometimes I’m petty like that for a CD review. Hey, at least he also includes the “Dr. Pepper Commercial” song! Ah, screw it, 100%. I realized I still love Garth songs, again, even if my “Ultimate” hits aren’t really on this CD.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Uncivilization

Artist: Biohazard
Listenability Scale: 55%
Released by: Sanctuary Records
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

I’ve gotten a lot of CD’s over the years that I looked at and knew I wouldn’t be a fan, but when I started this “Quick reviews of my CD’s” project, I told myself I had to at least give a listen to all of them. “Uncivilization” from Biohazard was one of those CD’s I dismissed early on, and, well, won’t end up in my mp3 jukebox. Not that they’re bad, they just aren’t my cup of tea.

Pretty much I put Biohazard into the “Yelling Metal” category. Others might call it rap metal, thrash metal, and the like, but for me, it’s a lot of yelling. But you know what, they’ve got a message to say, and although I’m not going to sit and listen and try to dissect their lyrics, their website does a pretty good job of explaining what Biohazard is about, but before you totally dismiss them as and anti-government, angry, hateful, just trying to stir things up type of band, like I did, there are parts of their lyrics that changed my thinking of the band. For example, the song “H.F.F.K.”, for which I only heard “Hate. Fuck. Fight. Kill.” What I missed was the line “We teach our children how to act in this world by living what they see on TV. Murder, rape war, disease, the rules of society.”

Look, if you are a fan of this style of music you’ll probably like “Uncivilization.” There’s a lot of anger in the lyrics, but after reading said lyrics the anger is directed at both those who are messing up lives, as well as maybe it’s time to take responsibility and make a difference in this world. I’m not a fan of this style of music, but their message isn’t bad like I thought it was. For me it’s 20% on the listenability scale, but for fans of this style of music, it’s probably around the 90% range. I’ll average them out for 55%.

That’s it for this quick review. I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Girl Next Door

Artist: Crystal Bernard
Listenability Scale: 54%
Released by: Entertainment One
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Crystal Bernard. Most of you know her most from her role as Helen on the TV show "Wings," but I’ll bet most of you might not know she can sing, and I’m told she directs videos as well. For this little article I guess we’ll leave her acting and directing careers alone and concentrate on her singing/songwriting, and the fact that she has a country CD out called "The Girl Next Door."

As I listened to this CD over and over again, I couldn’t really figure out what I didn’t like about it. The songs weren’t bad, granted the prevailing theme of most of "The Girl Next Door" has to do with getting your heart broken, and I did find myself humming along as the songs became more familiar. Then, one day I was driving in my car after a really rotten day and listening to the CD and it hits me – it’s not the songs, it’s not the fact that most of them conjure up some memories of old girlfriends, but it’s the fact that after "Could Have Been Mine" you get socked with four sad love songs in a row. Let me tell you, if you’ve had a bad day or just got out of a rotten relationship that little stretch of music just makes you want to head to your nearest bar and drown your sorrows in a bottle of whiskey. So, what did I do? I put the CD player on shuffle play and found that the CD isn’t half bad.

As far as country music CD’s go, it’s no groundbreaking effort, but I think it might just be a great start for Crystal. Good songs, easy to listen to (if on shuffle play), but for me there just isn’t that one song that I want to hear over and over again. Two things did surprise me about this CD. One was that she co-wrote nearly half the songs on the CD, and two, she has a great voice, and I think that over time she might be able to leave the TV show for a career in country music, just not yet.

Back to that songwriting thing because right now that’s actually striking a chord. As I listened a couple of times, I was curious as to what I thought were the better tracks on the CD and whether she helped in the writing. Another surprise for me – I liked all of the tracks she got some credit for writing a lot more than just about every other song. From my favorite track, the up-beat "State of Mind" to the sappy (that’s a compliment, believe it or not) "If You Have Love," I’m starting to find my disappointment of the CD in the fact that she had to pull in songs from other folks. Not that they’re bad songs, it’s just that I think hers were better. Really, the only song that strikes me that wasn’t co-penned by Crystal is "You’re Gonna Miss A Whole Lotta Love" credited to Dennis Morgan and Stephen Allen Davis.

So, what do you get for your CD spending dollar if you buy "The Girl Next Door." Well, first off, you get a CD filled with a lot of broken-heart songs, with a pretty equal split of up-tempo vs. slower-sappy songs. Just be sure to hit the "shuffle"/"random" button on your CD player or you better be reaching for the bottle because tracks 3 through 6 will have your head spinning wondering why he/she left you. It’s a tough call, and I really recommend hitting the listening station for the CD and jump around the CD before shelling out the bucks. It’s a good CD, especially the songs Crystal helped write, but in all honesty, I didn’t care for most of the other songs. On the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale I give "The Girl Next Door" from Crystal Bernard a 50%. And if you’re wondering how I got 50% on a CD with 13 songs, well, I didn’t count the cute little intro with a four year old Crystal singing. Alright, fine, it was cute so we’ll bump it up to 54%.

That’s it for this one – I’m The Dude on the Right! L8R!

Rock Spectacle

Artist: Barenaked Ladies
Listenability Scale: 80%
Released by: Reprise Records
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

I can now finally say that I have been at a show that is on a live CD. See, it was my virgin time seeing, or even hearing Barenaked Ladies, and they say “we’re recording this for a live CD.” I’m thinking to myself, “Self, yea right, I’ve heard that so many times and no one ever seems to come out with that ‘live’ CD.” Well, they weren’t lying. I’m checking the Barenaked Ladies newsgroup and see someone post a notice about a new CD, and that it will be a live CD. I’m saying “Cool, I wonder if any of it will be from the show I was at?” Sure enough, some of the songs bring back those memories of my first time – at a BNL show that is.

Excited, I find the CD, head home, and this time I find myself a little bit more familiar with the style of the band, but my disappointment comes as I realize that five (I stand corrected (thanks Cindy!): four are from BoaPS, four are from Gordon, three from Maybe You Should Drive) of the eleven tracks are from their previous CD, “Born on a Pirate Ship,” and although they add a little bit more to the songs, personally I was looking forward to more of their older material. I was also looking forward to little more of that spontaneity that a Barenaked Ladies show seems to portray, the things like the set of Chicago (the group) songs like when they played in Chi-town, or the Prince cover, or, well, I think you get the point.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the CD, probably a little more than “Born on a Pirate Ship,” mostly for the fact that it does exude some of that energy from a live show and has some of my favorite songs from BoaPS, but being the new fan, and the cheap fan, that I am, (my BNL CD collection now ranks at two – BoaPS and Rock Spectacle) I was hoping for more than five (alright, four) songs I already knew.

The CD does throw in some of the local flavor of a show in the story of the lady and the Briar Street Theatre from the Chicago show and Uncle Elwin from the Montreal show. I will say that, for a brand new fan, the CD does a great job at spanning the musical variety of Barenaked Ladies. From the bouncy feel of “Hello City” to the great voice of Steven Page during “Break Your Heart” and one of my new favorites “What a Good Boy,” someone new can get a real feel for the band. I guess my problem is I became a fan at the time of the recording and not before or after. But, I do finally get a CD with “If I Had $1,000,000” and the next time I’m at a show I’ll be able to sing with everyone else, although I don’t think I’ll bring any macaroni and cheese.

I guess sometimes there are royalty problems in putting covers on a live CD, and maybe that’s the reason for leaving those off, but I think it does hurt “Rock Spectacle’s” chance at showing someone who has never been to a Barenaked Ladies show the real feel of a concert – which is what I think a live CD should really do. The recording is crisp, the voices are mixed well, and all in all the CD ends up in my higher rotation line-up, but, well, I guess just but.

Oh yea, “Rock Spectacle” is also interactive. Yep, pop the baby in your double-speed CD-ROM player and you get their version of BNL TV and KBNL – “Weird Music for Weird People.” I will say this, it does give the viewer a little inside into the twisted nature of the band, and I’ve been following the “Abs of Lard” segment for way too long. It’s cute, and fans will probably get a kick out of seeing it, but, and this is strictly a personal feeling, I think they should have done one of two things with the interactive part: 1) Scrap it all together and put more music from the shows on the CD. 2) Scrap the BNLTV and KBNL – save it for the next one, but add more live video from the shows. And that is my opinion on that.

All in all, on the listenability scale, the only song I can live without is “These Apples” so in those terms the CD rates a 91%. But, being a live CD, I think it misses a notch in doing it’s job, so we’ll knock some percentage points off and give it an 80% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale.

That’s it for this one, I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!

No Substance

Artist: Bad Religion
Listenability Scale: 65%
Released by: Atlantic Records
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Punk has always had a way of sending a message in two minutes, and Bad Religion has always been pretty good at it. I don’t know if hard core fans will like “No Substance,” but for me punk has always been about driving guitars and catchy tunes, and “No Substance” gives that. Sure, you’ve got your fill of angst and political messages, hell, with songs like “Shades of Truth,” “The Biggest Killer in American History,” “Raise Your Voice,” and “Victims of the Revolution,” what could you expect, but as much as about a message, what would punk be without the guitar riffs, and Bad Religion does that on “No Substance.”

I’m not a big fan of punk, and actually prefer it when it’s non-political, but this one wasn’t as bad as I feared. I’ll give it a 65% on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale.

That’s it for this quick review! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Would you buy a reusable, plastic Starbucks cup?

I try to be environmentally friendly sometimes. I mean I don’t go crazy, and don’t really think recycling helps us all that much thanks to when Penn & Teller had a show called “Bullshit” and did an analysis of recycling, but I still have my green bin on garbage day and will keep my underwear until they fall apart. Okay, the latter part might be just because I’m a guy, but I’m also a guy that likes a Starbucks’ coffee, and I’m also a guy that thinks as much as Starbucks touts the “environmentally” friendly line, I also know they are a business, and a business has got to always find new sources of revenue. On their latest front is this promotion where you can give them a dollar and they will give you a plastic cup for your coffee instead of the paper one they normally give you. The magic thing about this cup is that you can reuse it, they will give you ten cents off of a cup of coffee if you come in with it, and they will even clean it for you. Here’s the thing, I want to know who actually ends up using this cup over the necessary ten times in which to make your investment worthwhile, especially when sure, it looks like a sturdy enough plastic cup, but will it survive ten, normal days of travel, as opposed to a sturdy, travel coffee mug that you can probably use for years unless you accidentally put it on top of your car and drive off with it rolling down the street behind you. And fine, you can say that if you use it just five times that you are helping reduce landfill waste somewhere, but really, is it worth the trouble especially as you are carrying this plastic cup with you all day, trying not to break it?

Fine, I’ll get off of my rant as you can probably guess I won’t be adding to Starbucks’ bottom line with the purchase of their plastic cup, but I plight: Would you buy a reusable, plastic Starbucks cup?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

 

Should “The X Factor” Bring Back Britney Spears?

I’m a fan of “The X Factor.” I’m not sure why, but probably because I end up being a fan of most music shows, and fine, I’m a fan of Simon Cowell.  Oddly “The X Factor” hasn’t been able to catch hold here in the States, being topped by “The Voice” it seems this fall, and lots of people will blame the mentors, with Britney Spears seeming to get some of the blame this time, but I’m blaming a lot of it on the editing of the show itself, and way, way, way too much on the “Let’s visit with our contestant’s lives” montages.

The stories the past few days mostly, though, have to do with rumors that Britney is out, mostly because Simon didn’t find her wacky enough to bring in the ratings, that and the fact that behind the scenes she was really quite a pill to work with. I don’t know if I’m buying any of that, but I do have to say that it was the “mostly reserved” Britney that we were treated to, although she does have some of the best facial expressions out there for TV. As a mentor she wasn’t bad, heck, her contestant nearly won, but she lacked some of the confrontational fire I think people were hoping for.

Me, I’ve always been a fan of Paula Abdul, and I know, that reality show ship has sailed for her, but in terms of TV wacky, she was some of the best. I can’t say I’ll miss Britney if she does get the boot, but I will miss her scrunching face as she didn’t think an act was up to par.

And so I plight: Should “The X Factor” bring back Britney Spears?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Have You Ever Been to “Second Life?”

The other day I noticed an advertisement on my website for the site “Second Life.” Sure, the question might be “Why did I even notice a banner ad on a website?”, but I did. The thing is that it brought back memories of when I had a presence on Second Life. Okay, first, what is Second Life? I guess the easiest way to explain it is that it is a virtual world where you create a character that “lives” in this world. You can meet people, sell things, buy property, and just kind of “live” in your own little world. The thing is that it’s graphical, meaning your character looks like a person and your house can look like a house and you can gather in the local bar and “talk” to people. Back a few years I was DudeOnTheRight Mannonen, or something like that in the “world.” I owned a pretty big parcel of land that I was looking to transform into a virtual “Entertainment Ave!,” complete with a Movie Theater where you could sit and watch episodes of “Stu and The Dude Reviewing the Movies for You!.” It was kind of cool, but a lot of work to add as a sister location for Entertainment Ave!, and for the most part I didn’t have the time to maintain it.

Eventually I sold my land and closed my account, but the banner ad did make me remember nights of sitting in front of my computer, safe from the scariness of the real world, building a “life” that was different. Neat, but time consuming, and always making me wonder why I just didn’t go out to a bar and meet some real people.

The ad did trigger some memories, and so I plight: Have you ever been to “Second Life?”

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Did You Break Any of Your New Year’s Resolutions Yet?

I’m not big on New Year’s Resolution anymore, now I have goals. Okay, that’s pretty much the same thing, but it sounds better when you don’t reach a goal rather than break a resolution, I think, because once you break that resolution you can throw it away and just give up, whereas if you have a goal you just get back to continue reaching that goal, unless, of course, you made a goal like “I won’t smoke another cigarette in 2013,” then you smoke a cigarette, in which case that goal is shot.

My 2013 goals are similar to my 2012 goals, things like losing weight, saving money, exercising, and reading more, and since it’s only the first couple of days of 2013 I’m still pretty good with my 2013 goals. Sure, if I had lost all of the weight I wanted to lose, saved all of the money I wanted to, and set up that exercise plan I wouldn’t have the same goals this year, but alas, it’s a new year and the same goals, so I guess my main goal should be to actually finish my goals of 2013.  With that, and since maybe you made resolutions instead of goals, my daily plight is: Did you break any of your New Year’s resolutions yet?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Did You Get Drunk on New Year’s Eve?

It’s going to be an early night for me this New Year’s Eve, and not because I’m drunk. Yes there was a glass or two of champagne, but mostly it will be because of getting up at 4 AM this morning, and my wife having to work. I probably could have taken a nap, but missing the ball drop isn’t the worst thing about falling asleep early, it’s missing the Chicago party coverage with Janet Davies and Marc Giangreco on ABC 7 Chicago. It’s so much fun poking fun at the people in the crowds and, even knowing how hard they are working, how dorky the coverage is. Oh well, we DVR’d it so there will be some TV viewing in the morning, and although not hung over, I’m sure I’ll feel like I slept like crap mostly because of our dog, Milo. I’m guessing the first morning of 2013 will start like the last morning of 2012, with Milo waking us up wanting his breakfast.

And with that this first plight of the New Year is simply: Did you get drunk on New Year’s Eve?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!