The English Beat were a fabulous outfit out of Birmingham. One of the original ska bands their story is for another day. In a backstabbing tragedy worthy of a Shakespeare play the two singers/band leaders jettisoned the band in the interests of splitting the cash less ways and started an outfit called General Public. General Public went on to limited success and had one great hit titled Tenderness that you might recall. The guitarist and bassist from the Beat regrouped and went on to form the Fine Young Cannibals.

In 1985 the Fine Young Cannibals released their self titled debut album to little fanfare. One of the best break-up albums of all time it is laced with self indulgent misery not to mention a rythym section worthy of Sly and Robbie type acclaim and introduced a lead singer with a unique soulful sound. Before disappearing it provided a small club hit called Johnny Come Home that is not indicative of what the balance of the record contains. I urge you to check out Couldn’t Care More, Funny How Love Is, Blue, and Suspicious Minds. Suspicious Minds is a cover of an Elvis tune that features Jimmy Somerville of the Bronski Beat on background vocals (another story for another day).

The band only released one more true album that being the Raw and the Cooked five years after album one. This disc generated a worldwide #1 hit in She Drives Me Crazy and a hit from the movie Tin Men (worth seeing) called Good Thing. They never toured to any great extent and just faded away from there. They have the distinction of being the only band in history to have a number one hit and not record a follow-up.

Some other trivia not worth mentioning. Roland Gift, the singer, was more interested in acting. He did at least one solid film titled Sammy and Rosie Get Fucked (Laid in North America) that takes place in Brixton during the race riots. Dave Cox and Dave Steele the guitarist and bass player remain obscure. There is a funny episode of VH1 Reuniting the Band where the two backstabbers from the Beat attempt to get the band back together and they can’t even manage to get either of Cox or Steele on camera.

Happy listening.

Let’s explore today the oft misunderstood heavy metal ballad, specifically from the hair metal genre. To completely grasp why the need for such a thing we must backtrack to the beginning of the metal bands and explore their reason to be. Ultimately guys make music for one reason, no not to pursue a disposition to honing their craft and carve their name into the annals of rock history, but rather to meet girls and hopefully get lucky. No one understands this better than Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Through all their excess and abuse he said they finally realized they had a real problem when it occurred to him the roadies were getting more than they were, because he and Joe Perry had lost focus and were more about the drugs, and that was defeating the whole purpose.

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If you are anything like me, you have hundreds of old CD’s lying around that you never listen to anymore. You want to get rid of them, but you know they cost you a great deal of money, so you want something back for them. You have ripped your music into MP3s, but do not have a portable device to listen to them on yet. Well, there is a solution.

I wanted an iPod and I wanted to get rid of my CD’s, but where can you sell your CD’s without a problem? I found a site from Chicago, Illinois which will sell you an iPod, CD’s, DVD’s, and other media. The best part is that they will purchase your used items as well, at a market value that their system constantly calculates. The prices change based on the demand for the item you are selling, and they may not buy them all, but they took close to 200 of my CD’s for just under $250 US. Read more »

I had the great fortune of starting this weekend off seeing one of rocks greatest acts, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band along with supporting Petty’s latest release Highway Companion, one could tell it was going to be a great show!

Let’s set the scene for you. It’s a beautiful September evening on the Amphitheatre lawns. The crowd is buzzing with excitement and is filled to capacity. Petty has obviously made an impact on all generations. I could see fans in their strollers along with their grandparents. When I arrived at the show, the opening act, The Blind Boys of Alabama, were already in the middle of their set. They are a gospel group consisting of four blind 60+ year old male vocalists. For a bunch of old blind men these guys could wail! The audience was really digging their groove and showed them a lot of support. I have to give them credit for their wicked version of Amazing Grace. If you’re into gospel music I highly recommend checking these guys out.

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