Songs The Lord Taught Us

Time for another installment of, I'm not really surprised that's in your collection post. While this band is credited for furthering the Garage Punk and Psychobilly genre's, it's probably not a shock to see it in my collection of material.

The Cramps were credited with starting the Pyschobilly genre. A genre that's an odd mix of Punk, Garage Rock and Surf Rock blended together. Think a mix of early Surf Rock groups like Dick Dale, The Trashmen, and Link Wray meets early Punk rock. While the sound is relatively simple, in most cases the band used two Guitars and no Bass along with a minimalist drum sound, the band had a rather strong cult following. Formed in the early 70's by Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, the band along with other CBGB's mainstays paved the way for American Punk in the mid 70's. The band had a solid lineup by '76, but only managed to release a few independent singles, before releasing their debut 'Songs The Lord Taught Us' in '80. The band in '78 however did give a landmark free concert to the patients of The California State Mental Hospital in Napa CA. That show was filmed and later released. However here we'll focus on the debut album. For a debut record, 'Songs The Lord Taught Us' is very well done. You can see the years of work leading up to this effort. Songs like "I'm Cramped", "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" and "Fever" are classics on this record. The dual Guitars and minimal drumming give the record a simple yet rounded feel. It's doesn't hurt either that the album was produced by Alex Chilton either. The band would continue on through the late '00's before the untimely death of Lux Interior. The Cramps remain that hidden gem in the movement that was early American Punk. This is also the Deluxe Version of this record with some bonus tracks of The Original Mixes of a few tracks.

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Collective Soul

Taking it back to the 90's again for some more Alt Rock from a band that had major success and still somehow kept it together and are still around today. Forming in the outskirts of Atlanta Georgia, Collective Soul broke into the mainstream in the early part of the 90's. While the band has had success through the years, we'll focus on their second album, the self titled 'Collective Soul'.

The band gained attention with their first hit "Shine". The band was signed to Atlantic Records, who quickly polished up their Demo 'Hints Allegations And Things Left Unsaid'. "Shine" received a ton of Modern Rock and MTV airplay, so much so the band played Woodstock '94. By '95 the band released their self-titled second album, often referred to as 'The Blue Album'. The album would go on to spend 76 weeks on the Billboard 200 Charts and eventually go Triple Platinum. It remains the bands highest selling record to date. The album churned out several singles including "Gel", "December", "The World I Know" and "Smashing Young Man". The band toured in support of the album, even at one point opening for Van Halen. The band tried to ride the success of the album with their follow up 'Disciplined Breakdown' but the album didn't reach the critical success as the previous record. Despite the letdown the band continued on through the 90's and into the new decade writing and releasing new material. The self titled record for me marks the pinnacle of 90's Rock for me. It was radio and MTV friendly while still able to hold it's own with the non single tracks. So bring out the combat boots and flannel jackets and relive your glory days.

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I'm Your Man

Time to go North Of The Border to focus on what is arguably one of the most respected Canucks ever to walk among us. I speak of Leonard Cohen. There's not a lot Cohen hasn't accomplished in eighty years. A noted poet, artist, novelist and singer, Cohen has been releasing works in one form or another since the early 50's. We'll focus on his rather well rounded music career here for the time being.

Cohen may be best known for a song that he recorded in '84 but wasn't made famous until a decade later when Alt Rocker Jeff Buckley covered "Hallelujah". Chances are you've heard either the John Cale version or the late Buckley's version. In either case, Cohen's career received a boost from that track. For the time being we'll focus on Cohen's '88 release 'I'm Your Man'. The album marked a shift in Cohen's musical direction, turning away from a simplistic Folk Rock sound to a more Synth Pop sound. Despite the shift the album features many of Cohen's concert standards. The album opens with in fact a cover track, well sort of. Cohen originally penned the "First We Take Manhattan" for an off again, on again backup singer for his band, Jennifer Warnes. Her version was released two years prior and featured Stevie Ray Vaughn on Guitar. Jennifer of course would go on to have a hit of her own when she teamed up with Joe Cocker for the song, "Up Where We Belong". The track also would later be covered by the likes of College Rockers, R.E.M and given a Metal twist by Female Fronted Synth Metallers, Sirenia. Back to the album though, while the sound is quintessentially 80's at times, very Miami Vice like, which Cohen actually did appear on, still remains a quality record. After all it's Cohen's voice that makes the album. A solid album here and perhaps a good starting point for listeners new to Cohen.

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