TOM PETTY / Full Moon Fever (1989)

After seven studio albums with The Heartbreakers, Tom made his first 'solo' album (that some of The Heartbreakers actually play on). It wasn't a big departure from what we were used to; it's largely the production that makes it sound different, a change that was no doubt heavily influenced by Jeff Lynne (of ELO fame, and a fellow Wilbury). Lynne's contribution to production lessened the traditional US Rock vibe of the band line-up and instead accentuated keyboards and sugary-ness. At times it even has a distinctly 1960s British pop influence.
It's a little too polished for my tastes these days, but once upon a time I adored it, granting it semi-permanent residence in my CD player for days at a time. Sadly, I never had it on vinyl; I suspect it would've sounded better on the format.

Songs of Note: Runnin' Down a Dream; The Apartment Song

4 valley vampires out of 5

ALAN MOORE + TIM PERKINS / Snakes and Ladders (2003)

With spoken word performances it's natural to give your full attention to the first listen, but there's a different, no less valid appreciation attained from repeated listens; such it is with Snakes and Ladders. When the mind drifts or loses focus, or when words lose their distinctiveness and become hypnotic triggers, there's a semi-unconscious feeling that what's being spoken is deeply poignant, magickal and filled with enduring mystery. Eventually, stand out words, sure to be different for each listener, will inevitably draw you back in, but the musings that were birthed in the interim will hopefully have served their purpose.
Moore never falters, letting up only when it suits. In those instances the music of Tim Perkins takes centre stage whilst never betraying its primary supporting role of providing an aural chalice within which the words reverberate.

Songs of Note: The Gates of Tears; Stars and Garters

5 trout skins out of 5

TOTO / Dune OST (1984)

The soundtrack to Lynch's Dune is as patterned and layered as the film itself: mournful thoughtfulness gives way to epic hero themes that—ironically, considering the setting—have the essence of giant waves crashing on distant shores. The most memorable motif is almost identical to part of Ronald Stein's The Haunted Palace (1963) score, but it works in both settings, so I'm able to forgive the 'coincidence'. The opposing factions and Houses are well-represented through varied use of percussion and there's even a romantic theme or two, should you feel the need for a dreamy accompaniment to the overwhelming heroism.
Track titles are super-spoilery, so, rather than pick what I consider the two best tracks, I'll instead showcase the first two on the album:

Songs of Note: Prologue-Main Title; Guild Report

5 waking dreams out of 5

TESTAMENT / The New Order (1988)

Testament took sizeable creative steps on their second album but lost none of the power that had made their début so damn good. It's a prime example of the kind of heavy, melodic Thrash that was doing the rounds back then. But there was more mediocre Thrash bands in the late 80s than Disney had stereotypes, and while the output from many of them sounded like little more than surplus variations on a theme, Testament had Chuck Billy and that made all the difference. So what if it had an Aerosmith cover? They somehow made it work in their favour.

Songs of Note: Into the Pit; Disciples of the Watch

4 trials by fire out of 5

TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

If ever proof was needed that film/music awards are nothing but public masturbation for the artists and industry, then this is it. It's a 173 min 34 sec soundtrack to a 158 min film and I felt every second of that running time go by.
The film was unnecessary. The score is almost unlistenable. Not because it's ambient or drone, I generally like that kind of thing, but because it's uninspired and monotonous. Upping the volume helps to hide the inherent emptiness, but the tedium is inescapable. Some of the track titles sum up the listening experience perfectly: I Can't Take it Anymore; The Same as the Others; The Sound of Forgetting; and the best one of all, The Seconds Drag.

Songs of Note: You're Here; Great Bird of Prey

1 urge to toss it out the window out of 5

THE ATARIS / So Long, Astoria (2003)

I was pretty obsessed with this album because of a certain someone. How does it fare a decade removed from that time? Not as bad as I imagined. Kris Roe deals in (what he desires to be) philosophically minded emo-rock. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he doesn’t. Thankfully, the missteps here aren’t nearly as damning as they are on the ridiculously pretentious follow-up. It isn’t an eye-roll free experience but there’s some nice sentiments expressed, especially when you have the context for the more schlocky-seeming among them. Between now and then I’ve heard far worse and far better.

Songs of Note: All You Can Ever Learn is What You Already Know; Eight of Nine

2½ Mantras for Mutsuki out of 5

THE OFFSPRING / Conspiracy of One (2000)

I don’t know how the Offspring fandom or society at large feel about this album. That’s for the best as you’re going to get a completely uninfluenced opinion. A chunk of these songs feel surprisingly philosophical without ever falling into pretentiousness, and blunt without being crude or superficial. There’s an overall sense of jauntiness and fun that has been absent from all I've heard from them since. On paper, I wouldn’t think all of this would gel, but it does. It’s only enhanced by the art direction which I find to be spot on and crucial. Alan Forbes, Sean Evans, you rock. 

This is the only Offspring album I’ve ever been able to enjoy from front to back. It’s been the only one in my collection for quite a while, as a result.

Songs of Note: Want You Bad; Conspiracy of One (accompanying artwork)

3 (Not So) Secret Desires For Suicide Girls out of 5

TAKING BACK SUNDAY / Louder Now (2006)

Look at that shameless promotion for the lead single. Right there on the cover. I’d be upset if it wasn’t one of the best songs they’ve ever done. Once upon a time, Taking Back Sunday banked on the violent intersection of two vocalists. When utilized correctly this emulated the breakneck back and forth of the superego and id, should they have the honor of performing in the Large Hadron Collider. The rest of the time it was simply a cacophonous mess. Here, the scale tips pleasantly in favor of the former.

A chewy balance of caustic and thoughtful emo-rock funneled through the above gimmick is all you will find here. That’s more than enough for me.

Songs of Note: MakeDamnSure; My Blue Heaven

3 Benevolent Animals of Prey out of 5

S.J. TUCKER / Witchy Ways: An October Mix-tape (2013)

Just in time for Xmas, it's an October Mix-tape. It was actually released in time for Hallowe'en, but I'm slow like that. Oh, well. It's a collection of songs from Miss Tucker's back catalogue (and two new songs) chosen by the artist herself. She has a beautiful and strong voice, able to channel the oral tradition of storytelling into complementary music that ranges from whimsical to enchanting.
Witchy Ways celebrates the Wiccian/Pagan side of Samhain, not the commercial and church-friendly version that's used to 'educate' the kids.

Songs of Note: Kashkash; Firebird's Child

4 hymns in the glade out of 5

JARBOE | TELECOGNAC ‎/ Over (2000)

Telecognac (Chris Rosenau and Jon Mueller) took a single Jarboe track and made a lazy release from it. It's classed as an album, but has just three tracks totalling 35 mins. They chopped most of Jarboe's vocals into small, unintelligible chunks and then dropped them into a toolbox of experimental awkwardness that relies heavily on juxtaposition and percussion to fill out the running time.
It only gels into something engaging about fifty percent of the time. The other fifty percent is mostly cold, listless and irritating.

Songs of Note: Over 1; Over 2

2 gold idols out of 5

TIM HECKER / Virgins (2013)

I've had Virgins on repeat for days and each time the experience has been different. The most magical was while lying in bed after a night of no sleep. The sounds of the waking world through the open window seemed to be coming from far enough away that they took on a kind of rhythmic, musical ambience. That reservoir of early morning audio formed a symbiotic relationship with the ebb and flow of the spatial environment created by the album. I'm positive the woodwind and piano were Heckler's but the barking dogs in the distance… real or disc?
Listening during waking hours casts a different kind of spell. Some songs sound taller, more open; some more ambitious; and some make me think it's what being inside a storm cloud formation would sound like. Take from that what you will.

Songs of Note: You need all of it to get the full experience.

5 fugue states out of 5

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS / Southern Accents (1985)

I don't expect I'll ever meet anyone who claims it's Petty's best work, but I don't think it deserves to be overlooked as much as it is. It used the traditional Petty / Heartbreakers sound as a base and added some experimentalism to it. It's not in your face, and it doesn't change the band's sound too much, but it's there and it speaks for itself. There are strings, a horn section, keyboards and even some sitar.
It's not an album that will grab you by the lapels on first listen, so give it some time before you decide if you like it or hate it. Expect some filler but nothing that offends the ears with blandness.

Songs of Note: Don't Come Around Here No More; Southern Accents

3½ rebellious dogs out of 5

TYPE O NEGATIVE / Life is Killing Me (2003)

Happy gloom that conjures mood and atmosphere in the familiar Type O Neg way. Peter Steele knew that you don't need to sacrifice melody in order to add distortion, and while the guitar sound hasn't changed — it still conjures images of an angry wasp on morphine, carrying a tiny shiv — it's broken up occasionally with lighter moments. The humour is still there, too.
It's an album that takes time to fully appreciate. If I'd rated it when it came out, I'd have scored it lower, but it has characteristics that improve with age, like barrelled whisky. It would've benefited from being shorter, but happily there's none of the usual filler between tracks to drag the overall experience down - the trip to Mockingbird Lane doesn't count, because it's great.

Songs of Note: I Don't Wanna Be Me; Angry Inch

3½ celebratory mourns out of 5

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS / Greatest Hits (2003)

Like it says in the post title, this is a Best of...  It's a good introduction to Tom's work and a great way for the fans who found him through the success of Into The Great Wide Open (1991) to develop an appreciation of his early years. He's been producing consistently good work since 1976.
For existing fans there's two new tracks. One is a cover of Thunderclap Newman's Something in the Air, and the other… The other is the one I'd pick as being the best damn Petty track I've ever heard. I've linked both below (even though there are better tracks than Something in the Air on the album).

Songs of Note: Something in the Air; Mary Jane's Last Dance

5 Southern flights out of 5

TYPE O NEGATIVE / World Coming Down (1999)

Type O Neg are dark, we all know that, but there's always a lighter, mocking tone lurking in the background. They embraced Goth culture and all its trappings while simultaneously poking fun at its morose bastard absurdity. The knowing wink to self-parody is still evident (e.g. Creepy Green Light) but it's been lessened, and in its place the depression has flourished like a funeral lily.
Lyrically, its primary focus is death and the emotional agony that surrounds it like flies around shit. It's a mournful experience that's nevertheless an engaging one, but only if you're in the right mood. If you're not, it'll be a miserable crawl through distorted riffs and slow painful melodies imbued with sorrowful synergy.

Songs of Note: Everyone I Love is Dead; Everything Dies

3½ cremated moths out of 5

TYLER, THE CREATOR / Wolf [2013]

Odd Future leader, Tyler, The Creator releases his third solo album, 2013's Wolf that continues his knack for being belligerently offensive.
Musically, Wolf is a huge step up from his previous albums.  Before, he had a dirty, fuzzy jazz sound that didn't quite work and sounded nothing but sloppy.  He's refined it now and while it still sounds distorted and dirty, it pieces together quite nicely.  It was the lyrics that had me going back multiple times before I rated the album.  Tyler's delivery isn't particularly great and his lyrics are bluntly offensive but never really seems to make a point or have a motive, unlike someone like Eminem who appears to be coming from somewhere when he spits out vulgarities.

3 mouthful of s'mores out of 5

Songs Of Note: Domo 23; Trashwang [feat. Na'kel, Jasper, Lucas, L-Boy, Taco, Left Brain & Lee Spielman]

FRANK TURNER / Tape Deck Heart [2013]

After a 3 years of sold out concert halls and massive festivals, it wouldn't be right for English folk-rocker Frank Turner to keep singing about struggling to make rent and riding the bus on 2013's major label debut Tape Deck Heart.

Instead he opts for a broken heart record about self-evaluation, change, ageing and staying sincere to the love of music.  Like fellow folk-rocker Billy Bragg, Turner's vocals and songwriting flourish with passion, anger and loneliness while keeping positively grounded in honest reality.  Adding in some mandolin, honky-tonk piano and multiple overdubs makes for a more polished record far from the acoustic folk of his early days but never once does you feel as if he's doing it to sell records.  Turner once again proves he's an artist that is really hard to dislike.

4 odes to punk rock out of 5

Songs Of Note: Losing Days; Four Simple Words

MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD / Quixotic [2003]

After years of appearing as a guest vocalist for Massive Attack, Primus, Tricky & Gorillaz, singer Martina Topley-Bird released her first solo album, Quixotic.  

A nice mix of trip-hop, rockand electronica gives off a Garbage sort of vibe, only with a little bit more of soul and blues sprinkled into the mix.  As wonderful as Topley-Bird's sultry voice is, her music plays it a little bit too safe to really be nothing more than a paint-by-numbers PJ Harvey clone released 5 or 6 years too late.  With folks like Josh Homme, Mark Lanegan, Tricky & score composer David Arnold lending their talents to the album I expected a bit more creativity.  It's decent music but nothing you haven't heard before done with more ingenuity.

3 Intros turned to Outros out of 5

Songs Of Note: Need One; Stevie's (Day Of A Gun)

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE / The 20/20 Experience [2013]

Neo-soul artist turned actor Justin Timberlake returns to his music career, after a 7 year hiatus, with the first of two 2013 releases, The 20/20 Experience.  

More confident with his music, Timberlake opts for an experimental journey into textures, a wide variety of vamps, abrupt rhythm & key changes sprawled over lengthy spaced-out songs unsuitable for the short attention span of the radio.  With all but one song well over 5 minutes in length, the 10 songs album clocks in at 70 minutes, which might lose a lot of listeners after the weakness of the first two songs.  However it's worth it from track 3 and onwards, as Timberlake charismatically smothers it with his sly, seductive cool cat attitude.  

4 songs you can see out of 5

Songs Of Note: Don't Hold The Wall; Let The Groove Get In

TOMAHAWK / Oddfellows [2013]

On 2013's Oddfellows, alternative hard rock supergroup Tomahawk drop the Native American elements of their previous records and seem more like a proper band rather than the jam-act they sounded like before. Known mostly for outlandish noise-rock, vocalist Mike Patton scales down the weirdness here and composes "normal" sounding rock songs that could almost be a continuation of his days in Faith No More. Of course the elements of Helmet & Jesus Lizard members are apparent but Patton's strong vocal presence is at the foreground here.  The density of their sound is sometimes a bit much for such "simple" sounding songs and occasionally hurts the enjoyment of the record.  Still there's some real gems here for longtime fans of the band that won't disappoint.  

3 rubs the wrong way out of 5

Songs Of Note: I Can Almost See Them; Typhoon