Tag Archives: maybe so

Jimi Hendrix’s “Valleys of Neptune” (2010) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Jimi Hendrix’s Valleys of Neptune (2010) – NO, NO, NO

Jimi Hendrix's "Valleys of Neptune" (2010)
Jimi Hendrix’s “Valleys of Neptune” (2010)

(March 9, 2010)

Review:

What do you get when you combine an over-hyped title track, a boring instrumental cover of a Cream classic, three very pedestrian alternate takes of Jimi Hendrix Experience classics, and an assortment of other forgettable tracks?  (Answer:  One whopping cluster-cuss of a posthumous release.)

Top Two Tracks:

Listen to First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997) instead!  (Maybe “Hear My Train A Comin’ ” – or, maybe not.)

Brett Dennen’s “Hope for the Hopeless” (2008) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Brett Dennen’s Hope for the Hopeless (2008) – YES

Brett Dennen's

Brett Dennen's "Hope for the Hopeless" (2008)

Review:

Sounding like the best parts of Jack Johnson and Gavin DeGraw rolled into one – with a Dylan-esque vocal flair here and there – Brett Dennen’s Hope for the Hopeless is the great album of 2008 that I missed; I love Johnson and Jakob Dylan, but this acoustic rock album blows Sleep Through the Static and Seeing Things away! (…a conclusion supported by the fact that the always frustrating Rolling Stone reviewers barely acknowledged this great release with three stars and a lukewarm paragraph of backhanded compliments.)

Top Two Tracks:

“Heaven” & “San Francisco”

STP’s “Stone Temple Pilots” (2010) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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STP’s Stone Temple Pilots (2010) – MAYBE

STP's "Stone Temple Pilots" (2010)

STP's "Stone Temple Pilots" (2010)

(May 25, 2010)

Review:

This time around, Stone Temple Pilots have gone for the obvious with the album title yet have taken a surprising turn toward the realm of power pop; the first half is populated by dumb but fun rockers, being the rare case where the real gems are sprinkled through the second half.

Top Two Tracks:

“Cinnamon” & “First Kiss on Mars”

Guster’s “Easy Wonderful” (2010) – YES, NO, MAYBE SO?

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Guster’s Easy Wonderful (2010) – MAYBE

Easy Wonderful (Guster, 2010)

Easy Wonderful (Guster, 2010)

(October 5, 2010)

Review:

The Easy Wonderful CD design is telling: the disc is a vibrant, organic hand-drawn color wheel (see the cover) with a massive “FBI Anti-Piracy Warning” stamped over it; this design — whether the band approved the warning or not — finds Guster, as always, an engaging band with a knack for beautiful songwriting but with too much feeling forced or underwhelming this time around to truly impress alongside their back catalog (i.e. Keep It Together, anyone?).

Top Two Tracks:

“Jesus & Mary” & “Architects & Engineers”