Sunday, April 13, 2014

April Top 40 2014

VAMPY AND THE DEAD STAR BAND

Vampy's memorial service is Wednesday in California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A6a6Uhg2x8c
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2)Girl On Top



Prolific front woman Karen Debiasse of the veteran group Girl On Top has issued two new MP3s that are simply terrific. IN A MOMENT clocks in at 3:05 and could be the backing tracks to a Marilyn Manson or Alice Cooper track. Debiasse’s smooth vocal treads lightly over husband Dave’s elegant guitar lines. Girl On Top has received airplay on Sirius/XM radio’s Chicks & Broads show hosted by legendary vocalist from Ten Wheel Drive, Genya Ravan, and this new music should get action on that satellite station as well.
The guitar solos are muted and fun, a slinky riff underneath with the lead work drifting from speaker to speaker. Raised to Die at 4:46 is the other side of the coin, and perhaps my favorite Girl On Top tune to date. A Pink Floyd-ish tremolo guitar is accompanied by a haunting Debiasse vocal with heartfelt lyrics. Think til tuesday in a pensive moment, a kind of subconscious sequel to Voices Carry … “I close my eyes…but I could see everything…” the music getting more demanding, along with the vocal work. Thought provoking, eerie and both a unique listening experience and somber bit of poetry. As stated, probably the best Girl on Top moment yet, a best moment of many.

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/61021/karen-debiasse-girl-top-releases-new-tracks
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3)Captain America
The Winter Soldier
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/60927/review-captain-america-winter-soldier-adventure-works




http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/the-winter-soldier-first-draft-review




First Captain America review here
http://sabotagetimes.com/author/joe-viglione/#_


http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/captain-america-calling

TJE FIRST AVENGER review
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2011/27042/captain-america-the-first-avenger-movie-review

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4)Rob Fraboni on Visual Radio 4/10/14




http://wakefield.patch.com/groups/access-tv-producer-/p/record-producer-rob-fraboni-on-visual-radio-live-april-10-2014





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5)Kat Quinn  "Kind of Brave"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MdBweQsSKx0

THE DOOR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c4mfYjqIF88




https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/kind-of-brave-ep/id775229878
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6)MELT

 The band Melt - Lindsey Kit on vocals, Dan Inzana on Guitar, Paul Pipitone on bass, and original drummer Ben Thompson (Ben Lyons is on the CD) rocked Club Bohemia downstairs at the Cantab  April 18, 2014.

Melt took the stage at 10:21 pm opening with "Spiral" - something distinctly different after the Boney-M styled dance pop of the previous act, Dan Oulette.  This was pure new wave ave in the new millennium - think The Rolling Stones "Sway" played backwards, solid and powerful with a great audience response.  10:30 PM the band went into "Leopard" - with a Kinks/Paul Revere & The Raiders chord-riff the drums, bass and guitar providing a frontal assault for Kyte's vocals - think Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick meets Susan Boyle.  Concise and smart hard pop with elegant guitar lines even sharper in the cement-floor confines of Club Bohemia.   Kyte holds the notes extra high and long with drummer Ben Thompson pounding away a la David McLean of Boston's legendary Boom Boom band.   At 10:34 came "No Shame" followed by "Quarter To 3" (not the 1961 song by Gary "U.S." Bonds).

    "Supersonic" - track 5 from the band's Armageddon Party CD was more boom boom sounds, and splashy quasi-psychedelic guitar grooving from Dan Inzana.  Some of the foundation sounds borrowed from the Bob Ezrin production of Alice Cooper's Killer lp.  "Supersonic...histrionic...I don't know which way to go."   Maybe a bit of the New York Dolls "Frankenstein" in there to boot.

    "Bradford" followed at 10:46 PM, and the group dedicated it to the Boston scene's fallen solider, Anderson Lyn Mar.  The heartfelt vocal glided perfectly over liquid guitar.   Melt is a perfect name for the music, a great Fender sound that cuts through the hard-hitting rhythm section.

    A lovely cover of Portishead's Glory Box changed the pace at 10:51 PM.  Picture Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show" put in a dreamier state.

GLORY BOX Portishead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF-GvT8Clnk&feature=kp

    "Grind", the eighth song of the evening at 10:55 PM had a sort of Tommy James "I Think We're Alone Now" undercurrent, nuts and bolts no-nonsense rock.  "Babble On" featured a repeating guitar strum line over a bit of jass fusion.   The title track, Armageddon Party" (see video below from another show) was a cosmic assault, a bit more in your face than the CD rendition with "Draggin' closing out the evning at 11:06, a bit of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" but tightly packed in the vacuum container with more Kinks/Paul Revere & Raiders power added to it.  A solid night and a revelation as this is one of Boston's best kept musical secrets.

The group's website notes "
http://meltmusicrocks.com/about-us   

This they achieved at Club Bohemia on a Friday night in April

November 12, 2010 Live at McGann's  
ARMAGEDDON PARTY  opening track of the disc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Bxm7O-Pyg
http://jamaicaplain.patch.com/groups/film-music-books-and-more/p/melt-live-at-club-bohemia--review-of-saturday-april-17-2014 ________________________________________
10)STARS ABOVE



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=580euyszlIQ




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11)PSYCHO MERCHANTS






http://woburn.patch.com/groups/access-tv-producer-/p/psycho-merchants-cd-from-new-york-power-trio


The Pyshco Merchants eponymous CD hits hard with the 3:24 blasts of "Stop Pushin'
http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_photos/artist_3716130?sel_photo_id=16392447&onph...
it's a blend of Joe Walsh meets Black Sabbath - think "Turn to Stone" - a Walsh tune that would fit perfectly within this power trio's non-stop sonic assault.  Drummer/lead vocalist Kevin Hupp has a sound that ranges from Ozzy to Jim Peterik of the group Ides of March.   "Fire" appears to be a biographical tune and would make for a killer CD single with its compelling riff and eerie guitar overlays swirling throughout its four minutes and five seconds.  "Fire" (not the Hendrix tune) musically  mutates into Rubiks Cube with a melody ricocheting in and out of the maze.  Rubkis Cube would make for a nice "bonus" track 12 in instrumental form, it has the groove.

"Dashboard Jesus" (with a gun in his hand) - a tongue-in-cheek composition from songwriter Hupp and his accomplice, guitarist Rick Tedesco, gives a mountainous blast of wry irony followed by the four minute twenty-seven second ballad, "Magdalena."  It's stylish with overtones the Venutres put into their sci-fi meets C & W work in the 1960's.   "Freedom" - another Hendrix title but not the Hendrix tune (though Jimi's song would fit so nicely into Psycho Merchants repertoire,(

This "Freedom" is more macho-rock with muted guitar sludge over a melodic, repeating chorus/chant.  Anthemic hard-metal with attitude.  "Hit Me" continues the attack while "Round & Round" (not the Ratt tune, nor Chuck Berry's "Around & Around" that the Stones had so much fun with) is a departure from the sound of the rest of the disc, a rhythmic, pulsating exploration of dark karma with a repeating chorus.

The cover of Led Zeppelin's classic, "Thank You," has bassist Frank Gagliardi doing a nice Felix Pappalardi run in a standout track - a thoughtful Zep reprise with the group Mountain's overtones.  Hupp gives very nice Robert Plant inflections while Te4esco admirably cops Jimmy Page's tender and tough guitar picking.

The music of Psycho Merchants is not for the timid.  Industry veterans who turn the amps up to 11 and are clearly having fun while doing so.



CHUCK BERRY  AROUND & AROUND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5gx_b_XCvY&feature=kp

Ratt   ROUND & ROUND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et52K3VOFQ4

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12)Vincent Poag


The title track to Vincent Poag’s For The Girls has a neo-reggae calypso-drenched pop dressing as the platform to the singer’s reflections and perspective on life and love. Mexican horns blend in with the heavy rhythms and vibes, kind of like Elton John’s “Island Girl” taking a visit to Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville.”
While Lou Reed was “Waiting for the Man” Poag responds with a dark, cascading “Waiting for Me” that could easily slip into an Evening of Kurt Weill. Poag blends multiple styles that at first glance seem incongruous to the formula, but somehow it all makes sense and in doing so the stylist comes up with a unique blend.

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/61203/cd-review-vincent-poag-girls


“Forever” is a more traditional, lilting piece with acoustic guitars, strings, piano and subdued percussion while sprinkling some Dylan/Ian Hunter flourishes in the vocals. Opening track, “45 Mile and Hour Girl” is cheeky in its clever – but silly – sincerity. It might have worked better as track three with “For The Girls” opening the disc, but perhaps they can do that for the vinyl in the days of iPad. Does Track selection even matter in the digital realm??? (I say it does.)
The CD album is solid Americana which could get some country crossover on adventurous stations. “Once Upon A Time” would be fascinating in the aforementioned hands of Ian Hunter. Poag reads the essay while limiting the vocal range over sweet violin and piano.
Diana Hope’s vocal on “Wonder” is reminiscent of Fairport Convention with a touch of Sandy Denny or perhaps Judy Collins with Celtic leanings with the formidable Mark Newman accompanying the band. Hope and Newman were also on Poag’s previous cd, Circling Back.
The music on For the Girls touches upon a wide array of genres. It’s an appealing something different offering a change of pace for traditional playlists looking for a little fun to shake things up.

Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.



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Whatever happened to my review of Carole King Songbook?

http://songbook1.wordpress.com/pp/sw/songwriters-fr-1955/gerry-goffin-carole-king-selected-hits/


Burt Bacharach

http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-tribute-to-burt-bacharach-composer-arranger-conductor-mw0000939334

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39) David Meyer THE BEE GEES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2CXYg2NA_g

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40)SABOTAGE   Film Review

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/60829/review-arnold-schwarzenegger-returns-sabotage





The former Governor of California has “buy your tickets now” for the new film Sabotage on his website
Ya gotta love the sheer capitalism of it.  And you’ll be hard pressed to count the bullets and see if there are more fired in Sabotage than in Bruce Willis 2013 new sequel in his Die Hard series,  A Good Day to Die Hard
Director David Ayer is far from  convincing when he says in the Sabotage trailer “I was really intrigued by the idea of Arnold playing a very complex character in a role unlike any he’s done before. Well he certainly isn’t Conan here but Raw Deal, Running Man, Red Heat -  where the plot concerns, as succinctly put by IMDB   “… a cocky Chicago police detective (who) is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country. like, have you heard that one before?  If not, you will now.
http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/sabotage--arnold-schwarzenegger-not-yet-in-the-groove

February/March

Christopher Reeve bio pic, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius Ian Hunter, Steve Hunter, AN OPEN LETTER TO TODD PHILLIPS ON HIS FAILURE AS A DIRECTOR....SEE #40 Joker: Madness of Two, Peter Noone,

  AN OPEN LETTER TO TODD PHILLIPS ON HIS FAILURE AS A DIRECTOR....SEE #40 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27902121/?ref_=tt_mv_close 2    Joe D...