Filter live at the 9:30 Club

In 1993, Richard Patrick (brother of actor Robert Patrick) left the touring group for Nine Inch Nails to form Filter. Their first album was Short Bus (released in 1995) and featured the hit "Hey Man Nice Shot". After that record, Filter contributed great soundtrack songs to Songs in the Key of X: Music From and Inspired By The X-Files, The Crow: City of Angels, and Spawn.

1999 saw the release of Title of Record, which is likely their most successful record. It featured "Take a Picture", "Welcome to the Fold" and "Captain Bligh". The Amalgamut was released in 2002 and it is definitely my favorite. I feel it is truly their most consistent album.

After that album, the band broke up and Richard Patrick joined the DeLeo brothers from Stone Temple Pilots to form the group Army of Anyone. They recorded one album that was released in 2006.

2008 brings a brand new Filter record and tour. The record is called Anthems for the Damned and it is a decent return for the band. It doesn't outplay any of the other records that they have released, but it is good to hear Richard Patrick recording under the Filter banner again.

I had the chance to see the current incarnation of Filter at the 9:30 Club in DC last week. I was very impressed with their performance, even in a half-filled club. They played a nice cross section of their albums, including two of their soundtrack recordings. My favorite tracks of the night were "Hey Man Nice Shot" and "(Can You) Trip Like I Do". Here is the entire setlist:

Welcome To The Fold
American Cliche
Soldiers of Misfortune
Dose
The Take
Where Do We Go From Here?
(Can You) Trip Like I Do (from Spawn)
It's Gonna Kill Me
Jurassitol (from The Crow: City of Angels)
Cancer
Captain Bligh
Skinny
Het Man Nice Shot

Take a Picture

Tally Hall live in Denver

Last Sunday night, I was in Denver and went to go see Tally Hall at a club in Englewood, CO. I recently discovered this band which formed a few years ago at the University of Michigan. Their debut album, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum released last year, is a great Power Pop treat. They have the obvious influences (Beatles, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, ELO), but their music is much deeper than that. There is as much Queen, XTC, Jellyfish, Beck, Beastie Boys and even Harry Belafonte on the album. I was most curious how they would pull off the vocals on their record which at times are very daring. I have to say that I was very impressed.

They come out dressed in white dress shirts, black dress pants and a variety of colored ties. As soon as they came out on stage, they tore into a 10 minute, spot on version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird". It is almost as if they wanted to avoid the inevitable stereotype encore request and they just got it out of the way at the front. Being that it was completely different than their normal material and it was so perfectly executed, it really spoke for how talented this band really is. After they finished that, they started playing the highlights from their new album. Their most popular songs were great ("Good Day", "Banana Man", "Two Wuv") but some of the less recognizable songs really stood out, as well. I particularly liked the very melodic "Greener" and "Welcome to Tally Hall" that was sung by a group of guys that beat the band in a bowling match earlier in the day. Tally Hall - where Rock Star dreams come true. They wrapped up the whole show with an uptempo version of Manfred Mann's "Blinded By the Light". This song was originally written and later performed by Bruce Springsteen, but Tally Hall's version was more M.M. than B.S. Great show. You should check them out if you get the chance.

Here is the setlist:

Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
The Bidding
Greener
Taken for a Ride
Welcome to Tally Hall (featuring the winning bowlers)
Two Wuv
Good Day
Just Apathy
Spring and a Storm
Banana Man
Misery Fell
Ruler of Everything

Turn the Lights Off
Blinded by the Light (Manfred Mann cover)


Here are a couple of videos by the band.

"Good Day"

"Banana Man"

Jordan Zevon - Insides Out

It is a real treat when I am completely surprised by a new album. Jordan Zevon's new album, Insides Out is one of those records. He is the son of the late Warren Zevon and was instrumental in helping his father record music in the late years of his life. In 2002, Warren Zevon was diagnosed with lung cancer and decided that he wanted to spend his final days in the recording studio making one last album. Jordan was the Executive Producer on that record, The Wind. The album was released in 2003 and Warren Zevon died within a week of its release. Before his death Warren told Jordan to follow his dream and use Warren's studio to record his own music. That is where he recorded this record. Jordan also contributed the song "Studebaker" to the Warren Zevon tribute record called Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon. That song also appears on this new record.

This album is amazing, but don't expect it to sound anything like Warren's music. This is a solid power pop record that recalls the music of the Beatles, Cheap Trick, XTC, Elvis Costello and more modern groups like Fountains of Wayne and The Feeling. The production is tight and the vocal harmonies are tighter. Even though this is not an album that can compare in any way to Warren Zevon's catalog of music, it is the clear sign of a strong debut album by a songwriter with great pop sensibilities. I look forward to hearing him mature as a songwriter based on the strength of this record.

You can check out some of Jordan's songs from the new record at his MySpace page.

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - Catnip Dynamite

Besides the Beatles, the biggest musical influence on me over the last 20 years has been Jellyfish. I could explain their impact over two albums in the early '90's, but to keep this blog relevant to now, I will talk about the new release by Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. It is titled Catnip Dynamite and is the follow-up to 2006's Land of Pure Imagination.

Even though I have often described Roger's last effort as "the third Jellyfish album", this one goes even further to carry on the legacy of the mighty 'Fish. Even though I crave a Jellyfish reunion, I am afraid that it would be a mistake and it would taint the memory of what I would consider to be two perfect albums (1990's Bellybutton and 1993's Spilt Milk). I am glad to see that Roger can still churn out tasty pop classics, even though Andy Sturmer doesn't wish to participate.

From the opening chords of "The Quickening", you can tell that Roger was inspired for this record. "Love's Never Half As Good" sounds like it could have come off of Spilt Milk. My favorite tracks are "Down In Front", "The Turnstile at Heaven's Gate", "The Quickening" and the supercharged "Living in End Time". This is an album that won't disappoint any fan of Jellyfish. It isn't the same without Andy's presence, but this is the most inspired I have heard Roger in years.

Unfortunately this album is not currently available in the United States. Similar to his last release and Jason Falkner's latest album I'm OK, You're OK, the album is released only in Japan currently on the Noise McCartney label. I am confused about why these artists are releasing records this way. I understand if they have a Japanese label and no US label, but it seems to me that there are alternate ways of getting music out to people (iTunes, self releases via websites like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, etc.)

A US release is most likely forthcoming, but if you are interested in getting Catnip Dynamite right now, the best import price on it is from CD Japan .

You can listen to short clips of all of the songs from this album at the Not Lame website at this location.

Welcome to the Machine....

This blog has been a long time coming for me. I have been building up over 30 years of musical knowledge and it is time to let it out! I have a few friends that will help add to the blog from a variety of musical backgrounds. Hopefully it will combine into a blog that not only reaches into the best music from our past, but relates to the best of what is currently cool in the music industry. Stay tuned...