his unusual voice offer clear explanation why Pierce had 13 number one hits on the country charts during the 1950s..."" Mojo (Publisher) (9/00, p.112) - ""...This is back when country was country, and Pierce's doleful, tragic honky-tonk tenor took classics to the tops of the charts..."""  (less)

bashes metrosexuals (""Ur So Gay""), flaunts lesbian experimentation (""I Kissed a Girl""), and celebrates spontaneous road trips (""Waking Up in Vegas""). Thanks to a cadre of top-shelf producers, including Desmond Child, Dave Stewart, and Glen Ballard (who also produced Morissette), ONE OF THE BOYS glitters like spun cotton candy, but it's Perry's bold, topical songs and in-your-face attitude that help the album pack a punch.Blender (Magazine) (p.74) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- ""[M]yriad big-name producers keep the new-wave synth hooks hopping..."""  (less)

BOY announced the arrival of four young men from Dublin who would conquer the world in short order. Bono and company were barely out of their teens when they recorded their first album, and their youthful vigor lights up every track here. Full of ambition, driven by a politicized (though not yet explicitly so) sense of purpose, the songs give listeners an idea of what it's like to come of age in a strife-torn country and count on rock and roll as your means of transcendence. Bono's clear, strong voice rings out over the already-anthemic arrangements. Though none of the band members had yet developed much instrumental facility, their commitment and emotion are palpable in the simple-but-perfect parts they play. ""I Will Follow"" was BOY's calling card, unfolding with brashness and a sense of wonder as it chronicles the journey from boyhood to manhood, a trip the band had only just taken recently. BOY stands as an auspicious beginning to a long, successful career.Rolling Stone (3/1/01, p.54) - 4 stars out of 5 - ""...In a way that hadn't been done in popular music since the Who...BOY explored male adolescence...as a state of desperate searching....fashioning dense, dusky atmospheres in which unabashed yearning and insistent conviction collide and intertwine..."" Q (7/95, p.148) - 3 Stars - Good - ""...a culmination of modern ideas amid a sea of confused contemporary directions..."" CMJ (1/5/04, p.8) - Ranked #10 in CMJ's ""Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981"" Melody Maker (6/3/95, p.36) - ""...they've made three great albums, of which BOY, their eulogy to the twilight of innocence is one. It's dated badly, but that doesn't matter...I hear gobstoppers and ghost stories, magic and mischief, the sunnier moments of my childhood..."" Q (Magazine) (p.151) - 4 stars out of 5 -- ""BOY impresses with its adolescent energy, its gauche charm, and sounds like a band already too big for the record they've just made."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 -- ""Heard today, there' still a palpable ardency to U2's debut, an unselfconscious clawing for excellence..."""  (less)

2001. ""Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)"" won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. CD contains 1 bonus track. Emerging sometime in the '80s, Oklahoma boys The Flaming Lips have held steady to a peripheral, but significant location in the indie-rock world, visionaries blessed with a hyper-keen pop sensibility. In 1999, four years removed from the surprise alterna-pop hit ""She Don't Use Jelly,"" the trio fronted by the fetching, impelling whisper of Wayne Coyne hit a remarkably high note, making scores of year-end 'best of' lists with THE SOFT BULLETIN, a mellifluous, masterful slice of Brian Wilson-level pop distorted through a few looking glasses. Following an acclaimed album is always a craggy cliff of anticipation, but if BULLETIN was the Flaming Lips' PET SOUNDS, then the ethereal YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS may be their SMILEY SMILE, a record which skillfully straddles the line between pop and experimentation. YOSHIMI offers lush, enveloping arrangements, forging a soundscape both comfortably predictable and satisfyingly, even dizzyingly, diverse, awash in Todd Rundgren-like grandiosity, yet startlingly simple in structure like the better work of Paul McCartney. Despite having the air of a quasi-concept album, YOSHIMI betrays little pretension, even in the face of the Lips' trademark deceptively complex lyrics. The exceptional YOSHIMI easily cements the Flaming Lips' place in the vanguard of the rock world.Rolling Stone (7/25/02, p.72) - 4 stars out of 5 - ""...Ambitious with burbling electrobeats underpinning sci-fi orchestrations....the trio's love of sound sorcery is gently folded into gorgeous melodies..."" Spin (1/03, p.70) - Ranked #4 on Spin's list of 2002's ""Albums of the Year"" - ""...A concept album about heartsick rock-'em-sock-'em robots that's also a sermon about finding the courage to love in the face of death."" Entertainment Weekly (7/19/02, p.74) - ""...Spectacularly trippy..."" - Rating: B+ Q (12/02, p.66) - Included in Q Magazine's ""50 Best Albums of 2002"" Q (8/02, p.127) - 4 stars out of 5 - ""...Their second masterpiece....It's hard to remember a record so concerned with mortality and yet so heart-burstingly hopeful. It quivers with life..."" Uncut (1/03, p.94) - Ranked #1 in Uncut's ""100 Best Albums of the Year"" Uncut (8/02, p.96) - 5 out of 5 - ""...Astonishing..."" CMJ (12/30/02, p.8) - Ranked #2 on CMJ's ""Top 10 of 2002"" CMJ (7/22/02, p.4) - ""...Impressionistic sonic wonder..."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #36 in Mojo's ""100 Modern Classics"" -- ""They remain at the forefront of rock'n'roll mutation."" Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.72) - Ranked #2 in Mojo's ""Best Albums of 2002"" Mojo (Publisher) (7/0"  (less)

IN CASABLANCA - It’s the Nazis vs. the nutsies when the brotherly trio foils Axis criminal activity at a hotel swirling in intrigue and whirling with nonstop nonsense. ROOM SERVICE - Lucille Ball and Ann Miller co-star with the boys in a riotous romp about a cash-strapped theatrical troupe trying to nail down a backer for their new Broadway venture. AT THE CIRCUS - Big-top bedlam results in this 3-ring comedy caper in which Groucho sings the praises of Lydia the Tattooed Lady and Eve Arden slinks around the walls and ceiling as a shady acrobat.  (less)

the Zombies had left their Merseybeat sound far behind by the late '60s, pursuing instead a moodier, more sophisticated sound. ""Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914),"" a grimly haunting accordion-led WWI narrative would have been unimaginable on an earlier Zombies record, and the simmering, ominous classic ""Time of the Season"" is as far from ""She's Not There"" as ""Strawberry Fields Forever"" is from ""She Loves You."" Still, the peerless pop craftsmanship of keyboardist Rod Argent and bassist Chris White (the group's principal songwriters) makes for plenty of richly melodic gems, as realized by Colin Blunstone's breathy, angelic voice. The delicately beautiful ""A Rose for Emily"" and the sunny, optimistic ""This Will Be Our Year"" can melt even the coldest of hearts. The 2004 reissue's bonus cuts (equally as entrancing as the initial tracks) and top-notch remastering further secure ODESSEY & ORACLE's status as an absolute must-own.Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.114) - Ranked #80 in Rolling Stone's ""500 Greatest Albums Of All Time"" - ""...Its baroque psychedelic arrangements continue to exert a powerful influence..."" Rolling Stone (2/1/69, p.28) - ""...a very high level of musicianship and creativity....they have handled the problems of added orchestration and elaborate production quite well [here]...one of England's very best rock bands."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 -- ""[T]he album has become an evergreen thanks to its Beach Boys-styled voices, its very English strain of melancholy and bassist Chris White's idiosyncratic writing..."""  (less)

out in public for everyone to see. Combining the over-the-top theatrics and pop-savvy instincts of Kiss and Alice Cooper with the gutter-boy sass of the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols, the Crue forged a new brand of stripped-down, radio-friendly hard rock that came to define the ""pop-metal"" (or ""hair-metal"") genre. RED, WHITE & CRUE collects the band's greatest moments in grand style, including the lean, razor-sharp guitar and vocal hooks of the breakthrough hit ""Looks That Kill"" and the shout-along chorus of '80s testosterone anthem ""Girls, Girls, Girls."" The 2005 double-disc set also addresses the Crue's later personnel-change years (excluding any misfires), and presents three songs (""If I Die Tomorrow,"" ""Sick Love Song,"" and a cover of the Stones' ""Street Fighting Man"") by the reunited classic lineup of Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, and Tommy Lee. With its gleeful decadence and high swagger quotient, RED, WHITE & CRUE is a testament to the enduring appeal of hard living and rock & roll.Rolling Stone (No. 967, p.80) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - ""Don't even suggest that the world was not desperately awaiting a Motley Crue reunion. Because it was, and they knew it..."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.128) - 4 stars out of 5 - ""The good stuff '80s stuff's on CD1....Raise that index finger and pinkie; you know you want to."""  (less)

avant-garde composers, GOODBYE 20TH CENTURY. And while to use the phrase ""stylistic departure"" is unbefitting of a band with such catholic tastes and influences, the straightforward pop element that marks 2006's RATHER RIPPED, the band's 14th proper studio album, is so pronounced and, to a certain extent, jarring, it's difficult not to focus in on it. From the Thin Lizzy-like twin-guitar interlude on ""Incinerate"" to the gentle lullaby melody of ""Do You Believe in the Rapture"" (arguably the loveliest song Sonic Youth has produced since ""Diamond Sea"") to Kim Gordon's newfound pop croon on the opener, ""Reena,"" and ""Turquoise Boy,"" the band hasn't made a record with this many fun, enjoyable tunes in years. Of course, accessible is a relative word when discussing Sonic Youth, and by no means has the band lost its edge. Even at its most poppy, Sonic Youth still twist and gnarl any rock troupe they encounter. But on RATHER RIPPED, the band that essentially created noise rock have once again placed the rock front and center.Rolling Stone (p.67) - 4 stars out of 5 -- ""[A]n excellent record, one of the strongest to emerge from Sonic Youth's amazing late period. Thurston Moore dominates....The guitars ring out with a sense of emotional urgency..."" Rolling Stone (p.102) - Ranked #3 in Rolling Stone's ""The Top 50 Albums Of 2006"" -- ""[A] light, simple, terse, almost-pop album."" Spin (p.59) - Ranked #22 in Spin's ""The 40 Best Albums of 2006"" -- ""[T]heir 20th release extends the most comfortable hot streak in rock history, locating a few more nooks in a self-invented sound that no one else inhabits."" Q (p.118) - 3 stars out of 5 -- ""[T]heir most mature album to date, with songs taking centre stage and guitar squall used more selectively."" Alternative Press (p.218) - ""RATHER RIPPED is the sound of a band no longer setting their distortion pedals on stun, and, as a result, the best songs are as low-key as a small town on Sunday morning."" Magnet (p.111) - ""RATHER RIPPED turns out to be filled with delicate, pretty songs devoid of squall and doused in mellow melody."" The Wire (p.63) - ""While it seems improbably that Sonic Youth have fully mellowed, RATHER RIPPED finds them at home with some old fashioned rock verities."" Kerrang (Magazine) (p.64) - ""[A] clean collection of smart guitar songs that are low on the trademark-feedback tsunamis of old but high on skewed pop melodies of a Fugazi bent..."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- ""RATHER RIPPED is a concise collection of melodious, and pretty straightforward songs: light of touch, compact in construction, sweet on the ear."""  (less)

Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jack Douglas, Marti Frederiksen. The Japanese import edition includes a bonus track (""Jaded""). With HONKIN' ON BOBO, Aerosmith takes a break from radio-ready fare to record an album that pays tribute to the blues influences that have always been close at hand for the group. Further enhancing the sound of this project is the presence of storied pianist Johnnie Johnson (on two tracks) and Jack Douglas, the producer for many of Aerosmith's classic 1970s albums. The result is the typical 'Smith sass and shimmy, with a contemporary sensibility applied to nuggets plucked from the songbooks of Willie Dixon (the sleazy strut ""I'm Ready""), Sonny Boy Williamson (a rollicking ""Eyesight to the Blind""), and Little Walter (the Howlin' Wolf-flavored ""Temperature""). Throughout the record, Joe Perry and fellow fret-bender Brad Whitford play with a dirty, fuzz-guitar tone, perfectly complemented by Steven Tyler's equally rough-and-rowdy forays on the harmonica. As a result, these Boston natives do a stellar job with fiery renditions of Big Joe Williams's ""Baby, Please Don't Go"" and Mississippi Fred McDowell's ""You Gotta Move,"" proving that they can still rock hard while playing the blues.Rolling Stone (4/15/04, p.150) - 4 stars out of 5 - ""There is a tightness to this mania; BOBO is a celebratory attack on the [blues] canon..."" Rolling Stone (p.141) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - ""[T]he Boston legends tear through classic cuts..."" Q (p.94) - 3 stars out of 5 - ""[They've] gone back to their roots with a set of blues and early R&B covers that has these fiftysomethings sounding almost as fresh as on their '73 debut."" Mojo (Publisher) (p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - ""Claustrophobic yet utterly captivating, singer Jamie Stewart shares his demons with us in a series of stunning, cathartic hits."""  (less)

drums, percussion, background vocals); Nikki Sixx (synthesizer, 4 & 8-string bass, background vocals). Includes interviews conducted by Alan K. Stout. Digitally remastered by Chris Solem (1999, Future Disc). CD contains 6 bonus tracks. CD comes in Jpn LP Sleeve. After a lengthy tour in support of the breakthrough SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, Motley Crue almost called it quits. In December of 1984, singer Vince Neil was involved in a D.W.I. car crash that killed his friend Razzle (drummer for the promising Hanoi Rocks) and injured two passengers. The other Crue members drowned their sorrows in drink and drugs but somehow managed to write and record 1985's highly anticipated third album, THEATRE OF PAIN. Whereas SHOUT was a heavy metal album, THEATRE returned to the glam stylings of the debut TOO FAST FOR LOVE but was musically more experimental. THEATRE may not have been as strong as SHOUT, but the album proved another platinum-plus smash, spawning two immensely popular MTV videos-a rollicking cover of The Brownsville Station's ""Smoking in the Boys Room"" and the tender, piano-based ballad ""Home Sweet Home."" THEATRE solidified Motley Crue's standing as one of the world's top metal bands. While the album contains more filler than usual, tracks such as ""City Boy Blues,"" ""Louder Than Hell,"" and ""Raise Your Hands to Rock"" are up to par with earlier Crue anthems."  (less)

(bass); Richard Roseborough, Tarp Tarrant (drums). Engineers include: Jim Dickinson, John Fry, Richard Roseborough. Recorded at Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by Rick Clark. Big Stars's third album, THIRD (also known as SISTER LOVERS) was recorded in 1974 but not released until 1978 and was never widely available. Two bonus tracks have been added. Digitally remastered Japanese edition features an LP-style sleeve. CD comes in Jpn LP Sleeve. After Big Star released RADIO CITY, they fell apart, leaving Alex Chilton to record in 1975 what was later released as THIRD (AKA SISTER LOVERS). The album is strikingly different from everything Chilton has done before or since. With pained outpourings such as the haunting ""Holocaust,"" it holds its own against rock's greatest monuments to existential angst, from TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT to BRYTER LATER. It also ranks alongside the Beach Boys' SMILE as perhaps the only ""classic"" album with no set sequence. Chilton never bothered to sequence it because, upon its completion, no label wanted to release it. It finally came out four years later, and since then, while it has appeared on several labels, no two have used the same track order.Rolling Stone (3/19/92, p.87) - 5 Stars - Classic - ""...Chilton's untidy masterpiece...baroque, guitar-driven pop...one of the most idiosyncratic, deeply felt and fully realized albums in the pop idiom..."" Q (5/8/92, p.90) - 4 Stars - Excellent - ""...Never did depression bordering on psychosis sound so compelling in popular music..."" Village Voice (3/2/93, p.5) - Ranked #4 in the Village Voice's list of the 10 Best Reissues Of 1992. Mojo (Publisher) (3/01/04, p.55) - Included in Mojo's The 67 Lost Albums You Must Own! - ""SISTER LOVERS was desolate, nocturnal, frosty, but translated Chilton's frustrations into sublime music."" NME (Magazine) (8/12/00, p.28) - Ranked #1 in The NME ""Top 30 Heartbreak Albums"" - ""...Their final album...highly melodic, Beatles-derived music...adding a desperate sadness..."" NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #90 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.' NME (Magazine) (9/18/93, p.19) - Ranked #39 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of The '70s.'"  (less)

who becomes a sensation, then loses everything when his two-timing wife walks out – and takes Al’s beloved little boy with her. Along the way, Jolson belts out It All Depends on You, Sittin’ on Top of the World and Sonny Boy, the tearjerker that became the star’s signature song. Audiences ate it up. “Until the arrival in 1939 of Gone with the Wind, the most financially successful sound picture in Hollywood’s history was The Singing Fool” (The Hollywood Musical).  (less)