Green Day: Awesome as ... usual?

Including the never-before-released track "Cigarettes and Valentines," the live album "Awesome as Fuck" offers little else that is truly "new."

The hippest El Camino I've encountered?

In 2011, The Black Keys released their seventh album. Called "El Camino," the album had an unenviable task: It had to follow its very popular predecessor "Brothers."

"Brothers" is how I got into The Black Keys. A very good friend of mine (the same friend who got me into The White Stripes) bought a copy of the album for me. Knowing my tastes in music as he did, and knowing how I appreciated good sounds and was wanting to expand my knowledge of modern bands, my friend figured "Brothers" was a good place to start. He was right.

Monkees "Instant Replay"

A sneak peak at the Monkees' "Instant Replay" box that I just received today! I'm really looking forward to listening to it later tonight.

Added to the collection: Rolling Stones and R.E.M.

Went out today with a good friend of mine. We hit a few stores that we like and went browsing through music. Went through a lot of new and used vinyl and CDs. Sometimes you find gold in the used sections, and I've been known to drop a good amount of money on items that people have gotten rid of. Never develop a mindset that just because something is used, it's no longer good or isn't worth your time. It's just not true.

My biggest purchases today, however, were new items. I picked up the two-disc remastered rerelease of The Rolling Stones' "Some Girls" and R.E.M.'s newest best-of collection. I'll be spinning them tonight. If I get some inspiration to do any blogging on those, I'll be sure to let you folks know what I think.

Radiohead, "The King of Limbs" and ennui

You see this cover?

Yeah. Pretty cool, isn't it?

Might be the best thing about the whole album.

Let me explain.

Well, if Wishes were Dark Sides ... (Pink Floyd remasters)

When it comes to Pink Floyd albums, "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" are certainly two of the group's most popular works. And with every classic band deciding to remaster their albums, it only made sense for Pink Floyd to do the same. ... I guess. :) And these two albums were among the ones I was most curious about, for getting new details and revelations.

The longevity of both albums comes from the quality of the material, the quality of the performances and the quality of the audio experiences. Both albums have always sounded so clean, so detailed and so densely layered.

Those great qualities, in effect, work against the 2011 remastered editions of the albums.

"SMiLE?" I nearly wept (with happiness)! ;)

Hold on a second.

There we go. That's better.

So, the Beach Boys released "The SMiLE Sessions" on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

The impact? Major. It's selling BIG on Amazon, and doing enough business elsewhere to make an impact throughout the industry. How do I know this? Because "The SMiLE Sessions" has charted in Billboard in its first week. And not in the lower 100s. It's in the top 30. Yeah!

That's right, No. 27! And it's No. 3 on Billboard's "Tastemaker Albums" chart. Woo woo!

Working on new reviews

Howdy, all.

Illness, work and a whole lot of music ... I've been hit by all three lately.

I've got new reviews / discussions in the works. Got something going for the Beach Boys and "The Smile Sessions" (addressing the big box version and the 2 CD version). Also have some stuff in the works for a few of the Pink Floyd remastered reissues (especially "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here"). I've also started something on Brian Wilson's new Disney covers album ("Brian Wilson in the Key of Disney"). Oh, and there's some Radiohead ("Kid A" vs. "King of Limbs") and Monkees stuff (Rhino reissues, the box sets in general and the upcoming "Instant Replay" deluxe set in particular) in the pipeline, too.

Heck, I'm even working on a Beatles entry (in the past couple months, I've purchased the Capitol albums sets). There's plenty of stuff coming!

Rest assured, I have not lost interest or started ignoring the place. I apologize that new activity has been so scarce. But I have a few items that are several paragraphs long each, and I'll start wrapping them up and sharing them ASAP.

How're you all doing? Please feel free to drop a line. Comments are always welcome!

Really ... the year has plenty to "SMiLE" about

The best music news I've gotten since confirmation I was going to see Brian Wilson in Clear Lake, IA, comes in the form of one of the most famous unfinished albums in pop/rock history: "SMiLE." Or, to be more accurate, "The SMiLE Sessions."

The Head and The Heart ... and the ears!

We've all had friends, co-workers and store employees who give us recommendations. Doesn't matter if it's music, movies or appliances, we're sometimes pointed in the direction of something we've never heard of.

It was my good fortune to be pointed in the direction of the band The Head and The Heart. One of the fine gentlemen at my local independent music store has been piecing together my tastes and suggested I give this band a try (he'd noticed my love of The Fleet Foxes and The Beach Boys, so he knew I liked great vocals and cool music arrangements).

I'm always on the lookout for a good musician or group to add to my palette, so I was interested to see what this group had to offer. I bought a copy of the album, headed home, popped it into the player and settled down next to my fiancee for a listen.