SODOM - The Final Sign of Evil

Fuckin' rights!!! Sodom decided to revisit their early days on their latest album, The Final Sign Of Evil, which is a re-recording of the band's 1984 EP In The Sign Of Evil along with 8 more tracks that were originally written for what was supposed to be a full album, not just an EP. The full album was never released because their label at the time didn't give them the opportunity to finish it because they didn't like the 4 songs they heard, so they just released it as a 4-song EP. Shame shame shame.

Vocalist/bassist Tom Angelripper even brought back the band's original drummer Chris Dudek (Witchhunter) and guitarist Josef "Peppi" Dominic (Grave Violator) for this CD. The production on the album was done by the band's webmaster, I don't know why. But it sounds like it was recorded on a 4-track with bad gear back in 1984. It's truly raw, but also very effective. I love all the 80's thrash bands with horrible production. It sounds like mud, but that's how thrash was meant to sound, in my opinion. I'm so glad they didn't decide to make them sound modern, like most bands would.

The re-done songs from the original EP hold up very well, and are pretty much like the originals. The new material good stuff with some dirge-like tunes. Angelripper's harsh broken-glass vocals and the cheesy pitching effects are just like he used to use on "Evil" and "Obsessed by Cruelty".

If you're a Sodom fan or love 80's thrash in general, you'll definitely need this. Here's hoping they will also do a re-record of Obsessed by Cruelty.

Tourettes Guy!!!

I don't know if this guy is for real or not, but this is sure some funny (and at the same time, disturbing) stuff. I've heard that he WAS really diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome but he just fakes these videos to make people aware of Tourettes in hopes they will make a donation. This video is a compilation of the "best of", so if you wanna see everything, go to the site: http//www.tourettesguy.com. The site is actually down at the moment, but it should be up again soon.

Another thing I just learned is that he apparently died after being invloved in a bad car accident. He had been out of the hospital for a couple of days staying with a friend when he suffered some medical complications. He just passed away during the night.

Also, I heard that the dudes who run the Tourettesguy site be releasing all the videos along with one last new video in a high quality DVD format in memory of Danny. This DVD will be free to download, but you will also be able to purchase a physical copy. All proceeds from the DVD will go to Danny's family.

Here's a LINK to samples of his raging and swearing in case you wanna stick em in a song or something.

piss on you

I love this video. The Chapelle Show is pure genius.

BLOODCOUNT - Seconds

This is a triple disc set which captures both the quartet and quintet version of Bloodcount. I've finally had time to digest it so I guess I'm ready to review it. Listened to the discs twice, and the stand-out disc for me is the first one, which contains 3 lengthy compositions, SCRAP METAL, YES, DEAR and MR. JOHNSON. Great production, very clean, but yet not too polished. Michael Formanek shines on both discs, and the interplay between Tim and Chris Speed is magic.

The second live disc contains more bluesy groove-oriented compositions, and is actually quite accessible for Tim Berne. I'm a bit disappointed that Marc Ducret is only on the DVD and not the other CD's, but that's no biggie.

The DVD is a little disappointing in my opinion, it's badly shot and it gives me a fucking headache looking if I stare at it too long. It's too shaky in most places and there's way too many annoying close-ups. It's mostly b/w with some color sequences of the band running around Paris. There's a few places where it looks like very short clips of erotic movies were thrown in for good measure. Why, I don't know.I think I'll extract the audio and just listen to the music, which is awesome. Marc Ducret really fuckin' rips it up on this version on EYE CONTACT.

As always, great package design Steve Byram, this time not his usual scribblings and fuckery but a more minimalist Byram. Looks like he's been playing with Adobe Illustrator, gettin' more digital and shit on us.

More good news is that Bloodcount is going to tour with some new material, which means we may see some future Bloodcount releases. let's hope so. For now, we have a nice blast from the past to tide us over until the next Bloodcount meal...

Miles Davis Complete On The Corner

Jesus, there's just a ton of great sets coming out this month. Soon after I found out about the Glenn Gould 80-CD "complete" original jacket collection, I found out that Columbia/Legacy is laying yet another Miles Davis boxset on us, this time, THE COMPLETE ON THE CORNER sessions. Well, I've already read many good things and bad things about it.

Bad first. The price. They have it retailed at 140 U.S. dollars on Amazon. Fuck. Double FUCK. Is that necessary??? It's only 6 discs, so when you do the math, it's about 23 bucks a disc? C'mon.......... That's waaaaaaay too much. The next bummer which I read about is that it has the worst liner notes of any Miles Davis Box. The next bummer is that that it contains music already released. So really, there is not a great deal of new material. This collection SHOULD be called The Complete 'On The Corner' and 'Get Up With It' Sessions, because all the songs from that 1974 release are here, too. Even some stuff from Big Fun, is on here here, via the twenty-one minute epic, "Ife."

Nevertheless, I still want to get this set. Great design, by the look of the pictures I've seen already (as with all the Columbia/Legacy Miles boxes). I haven't seen it in stores yet though. I'm gonna wait for the price to drop however, or a good deal on ebay. By the way, this apparently THE LAST deluxe box that they will release, so I'm a little relieved at that. I'm always thinking "What are they gonna put out next??!!!" this is it, from this label anyway. i don't think THE CELLAR DOOR SESSIONS counted as a COLUMBIA/LEGACY release, because there's no number on the set. For example, The JACK JOHNSON set was number 7, ON THE CORNER is number 8. THE CELLAR DOOR SESSIONS was released between those boxes.

Sooooo, I don't have this set yet, but I am looking forward to getting it, at which time I'll try and review it here. I do own the original CD of ON THE CORNER, but I've never owned GET UP WITH IT, nor have I heard that one, so I can guess that I've heard about 30 to 40 % of the material that this set covers. I DO know that ON THE CORNER is considered by many to be the most controversial of his career, many calling it Miles "sell-out" album at the time of its' original release. I hardly think so. This album, in addition to Miles' other albums around the same period, was the blueprint for so-called "funk jazz" that followed it and continues to this day. If you want to hear Miles "sell-out", pick up Doo Bop", one of his worst albums, but still not that bad.

Glenn Gould Complete Original Jacket Collection

Holy Shit, I can't believe this is out. A pretty good description of it can be found here or check the Glenn Gould Foundation site for more information.

The only thing is, I don't see any mention of the CBC radio broadcasts, which is a pretty important part of his career. So, as good as this box looks, I'd like to know if it is truly "complete" or not. It's still a great looking collection at a pretty reasonable price. I wouldn't call myself a Gould fanatic, but this set just looks so yummy, and I'm a sucker for large expensive box sets, so I'll probably end up buying at some point, but I'm gonna wait for awhile for a sale or a price drop. Probably in a few months, you'll be able to find it on ebay for under 150 bucks.

At any rate, this stands as quite a monumental testament to a legendary Canadian artist and I'm sure if you appreciate classical piano at all, this set would provide hours of inspiration.

I already have the 12-CD Original Jacket Collection of his Bach works, so I'm satisfied for now, at least.

PAT METHENY Secret Story Re-issue

I have been anticipating this release for awhile since it was announced on Pat's site a few months back. Even though I own the original, this re-issue is certainly worth getting just for the bonus disc, which contains extra 5 tracks.

This is the first Pat Metheny CD I ever owned, so that's probably one reason why I still tend to like this one so much. I remember the day I walked into a small used shop in PEI and this was playing on the stereo. I was immediately hooked and I asked the guy what it was, he showed the cover to me, and I asked him if it was for sale. I quickly snapped it up after he said YES.

This is NOT really a jazz album, it's more like a soundtrack to a movie, very cinematic and breathtaking. Many people think this is one of Pat's worst albums just because it's too "world" and not jazz. Yes, it does contain some world instruments and a Cambodian choir on the first track, so I guess it's world, but who gives a shit. It's just a great album to me. Yeah, it's kinda gay and cheesy, but I'm one appreciates good cheese and Pat Metheny is definitely top quality cheddar in my book.

I haven't really compared the remaster to the original, but it sounds great to these ears. I remember the original sounding really good, so I can't imagine how it could be better, but I'll have to closely compare them one of these days.