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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.)

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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”

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Johnny Cash’s “American VI: Ain’t No Grave” (2010) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010) – MAYBE SO

Johnny Cash's "American VI: Ain't No Grave" (2010)

(February 23, 2010)

Review:

This may be the final posthumous Johnny Cash release and its tracks may be refugees from American V, but this is perhaps his tightest, most thematically cohesive album — these are admittedly not the most impressive songs he has chosen to interpret, and yet Rick Rubin’s arrangement adds substance to these performances, which are among Cash’s finest.

Top Two Tracks:

“Ain’t No Grave” & “Redemption Day”

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Massive Attack’s “Heligoland” – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Massive Attack’s Heligoland (2010) – MAYBE NOT

Massive Attack's "Heligoland" (2010)

Massive Attack's "Heligoland" (2010)

(February 8, 2010)

Review:

Somebody pass me the Rosetta Stone of rock — it turns out that I’m not quite ready for trip hop, although even I can admit there are a couple of bright spots on “Heligoland” that transcend background music.

Top Two Tracks:

“Pray for Rain” & “Saturday Come Slow”

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