THE $100,000 PYRAMID (2017)-MY REVIEW

     Well, with his 56 different jobs, ABC somehow got Michael Strahan back to host another batch of episodes of The Pyramid this past summer and fall.   And I think he must have decided to bring all of his athlete besties with him and not so surprisingly the show suffered because of it.  Yeah, it's funny to see one football player totally shit the bed because he's obviously never played the game before but after seeing football player after football player do this I wanted Dick Cavett back in the worst way.  At least they had a few trained players like Kathy Najimy (who was also a contestant in the 1980s) to class up the joint a bit.  And, yes, they didn't fool around with the basic game structure but the producers would be wise to try and have the novices play some practice rounds first.  My rating for this season is a B-.  Try harder!!!

The Smithereens-A Girl Like You

RESPECT

     The Smithereens were always one of my favorites.  Pat DiNizio (1955-2017).

BANG ZOOM.....WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE MOON!

     "The Honeymooners" is still considered one of the all time classic sitcoms despite the fact that it's now over 60 years old and only aired a total of 39 episodes (anything else you ever seen is just sketches cut out of one of many incarnations of Jackie Gleason's variety show).
     However, if millennials watched it today (if at all), they would pick it apart like a frog in junior high biology class.  Above all other major and minor offenses, the times Glesaon's character Ralph Kramden would tell his wife Alice something to the effect of 'one of these days, Alice, POW!, straight to the moon!' after she insulted the poor slob one time too many would seem like some sort of code for spousal abuse.  The truth is the abuse was just pathetically and therefore comically verbal.  Always.  Alice really wore the pants in that family.
     Today, what is passing itself off as the truth is a bit frightening.  And the actual truth is something we now wouldn't be able to recognize if it was staring us in the face.  What stops us from just walking away from it all?  A belief in something bigger than ourselves?  God?  The universe?  Free HBO for a year?
     A recent story I read talked about how when man last walked on the moon, no one cared because we had already done it; no matter how much of a risk and achievement it was every time it happened.
Will that become the case for the latest wave of sexual harassment charges being hung on people in positions of any type of power?  Does Willie the Wino run the risk of losing his newspaper blanket the next time he ogles Barbara Businesswoman as she walks to work one bright autumn morning?
Will this soon become a case of the non-binary unit who cried wolf?
    I fear all charges of wrongdoing soon will all be judged by the same yardstick; regardless of the severity of the sin with everyone being banished forever to someplace far away like the moon.   And when the last one of us is a placed in the rocket with the fuse already being self-lit, who on earth will be left?

POINT OF REFERENCE

     I feel a bit saddened when I see and hear what is going on in our supposed new and improved world with technology at the forefront.  Alexa, can you explain the cost of becoming enslaved to this technology in human terms?
     Today's social media boom may well be on the way of going bust.   This current culture makes the 'ME' decade of the 1980s seem like a trip to Chernobyl with Mother Theresa to help victims of radiation posioning.
     The current society has become so indoctrinated with looking inward that babies are surely born with this 'gift' as a built-in feature.  There are exceptions, of course, but how many people are helping victims of natural disasters partly because they think there is a good chance of getting a 'sick' selfie?
     Academics use 'point of reference' as a way of discussing and evaluating theories that are different than the ones that we normally use.  It is supposed to make people understand that there is more to life than what is currently seen in our limited range of visibility.  The very concept of this theory may be foreign and perhaps useless to people of modern life who reject everything that has come before them as a false way of feeling 'liberated' from the mistakes of the past.
     Is reasoning and using methods of deduction to uncover the severity of any given situation somehow invalid in this world where public opinion takes the place of actual justice?  Has the kangaroo court finally replaced the one we used to consider 'Supreme'?
    All facets of modern society certainly seem easier.  But does that really make them more credible?

"When the truth offends we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid."

COLOR ME IMPRESSED.

       I was looking through some old college yearbooks a few days ago and I uncovered some very interesting achievements.  No, I'm not referring to grades or degrees or any of that paltry stuff.  I'm talking about 'goings on' in and around the Magic City. We have two colleges here but are most definitely not thought of as a college town.  Back in the day (1970-71 , to be exact),  I guess some things could actually considered BETTER.  Things that would actually excite ME if I had actually been alive to witness it.
     The first achievement was to somehow convince a group of talented musicians from Britain called Badfinger to play at one of the colleges' theaters; Petro Hall which holds upwards of 500 people.  These dudes were tight with Beatles, man!  They also wrote what I consider to be just about the best power pop song in the world called 'No Matter What.'  For you younger folks they also wrote the song "Baby Blue" that was featured in the last episode of "Breaking Bad."  They also had some of the worst luck of any band and two members would later commit suicide after many failed comeback attempts.
     The second achievement was getting Mort Sahl to come here for one of his 'commentaries.'  He was one of the most famous political comedians in the country.  But unlike Lenny Bruce, he didn't have a drug habit or try to shock the audience to get a point across. Sitting in on one of these mostly freeform discussions where the audience was allowed to ask questions and express their views must have been amazing.  And to think, it was all done in a civilized manner.  How DID they do it?  Again, for you younger folks, Mort Sahl would most likely be the precursor to someone like Jon Stewart or John Oliver.
    The third and final achievement was to get the one of the leaders of the burgeoning Women's Movement, Gloria Steinem to speak here.  I'm not going to try to even imagine how this all went down but it must have been something special.  As a male, I would probably be afraid of going to an event like this one out of fear of being tarred and feathered or some such thing even though I consider myself to be whatever the exact opposite of whatever a male chauvinist pig would be called.
     I went to college at the same place in the early 1990s.  By then, there was very little campus entertainment beyond a few plays or dances.  And this was BEFORE the internet!  The city had changed.  I believe it had become much more conservative.  I even had a boss at one of my first jobs tell me "this town cares little about culture....unless it's agriculture."  Today the town is changing again.  Will it be for the better?  Will I even be around to experience it?  And will anyone ever be impressed again?

GOODBYE TO AN OLD FRIEND

     Okay, so I never met the man but whenever I heard a Fats Domino song, it always sounded like he was talking to me.  He was a musical innovator in every sense of the word.
     He was also a icon of the civil rights movement whether he knew it or not.  He would regularly play segregated concert halls and theaters (which means he would have to use a separate entrance among other humiliations) but when he would take the stage and start playing, all fears would melt away and you could only hear and see unbridled joy coming directly from him.  Joy can be a weapon of peace and most certainly of harmony.
     Thank you for making me feel this joy, Antoine.  Pass it on to everyone above now.

A POSSIBLY MANGLED BUT MUCH BELOVED QUOTE

"I don't know the game.
 I don't understand it.
 I don't feel like I want to play it.
 I never have."
             -Mark Arm

CAN YOU 'DO IT'?

     Can you do it?  Can you separate the artist from his/her art?  There was a recent exchange between Jerry Seinfeld and Stephen Colbert on Colbert's show (actually one of the few bright spots on the program lately)  where Colbert asked Seinfeld who some of his comedy idols were.  When he said he loved Bill Cosby you could hear a pin drop in the Ed Sullivan Theater.  Seinfeld continued by saying the he memorized all of Cosby's classic albums and that he thought he was influenced by Cosby.  Colbert said that he just couldn't listen to Cosby's comedy anymore after all of the sexual abuse allegations came out in the news.  Seinfeld replied by saying something about never really linking the two 'acts' (his comedy and his private behavior) together in his mind.  In my opinion, he was being open and honest; not flippant.
     Do people always link the artist and his/her personal life from their public business model?  Should we?  They say that tragedy plus time equals comedy.  Both Bob Hope and Johnny Carson were comedy icons.  Would it shock you if I said that they were also adultery icons?  Were they just a 'product of their times'?  I often hear verified tales about the era where it was fine to pinch a woman's posterior as they walked past a man's office space.  I understand that some men felt they were giving the woman high praise (or much more in some cases).  I also understand that some women actually took it that way (or much more in some cases).
      In today's highly sensitized society, it seems that both Hope and Carson would be publicly lambasted, be told to go away but yet somehow come back at a time of our choosing and made to do the 'walk of shame' for the rest of their lives; wearing their special version of the 'scarlet letter' for all to see.
     Do I refuse to watch Roman Polanski films because of his allegations of rape forty years ago even if the woman in question has said that she would support him being allowed to enter the U.S. again?  If he was allowed to move back, would he be placed on that list of 'sex offenders' that said Mr. Roman Polanski would be moving into your neighborhood?   How many people would move out of that neighborhood?  How many would like to move but couldn't because of financial limitations or other such 'roadblocks?' 
     I must admit that when watching the classic films 'Rosemary's Baby" or "Chinatown" I do not think 'man oh man, this rapist really knows how to crank out a fine movie!'  I also do not think about how emotionally damaged Polanski may still be after finding out his young wife who was eight months pregnant at the time was brutally murdered by a member of the notorious Manson family almost fifty years ago.   I do look at these films as works of art.  Sometimes I even forget who made them.  Did YOU know he made these movies?  However, I'm pretty sure I would think twice about watching these films if I found out that Polanski was found guilty of genocide.  But even then, I might pause to think 'Gee whiz, Nicholson is one of the greatest actors of the modern era so maybe I'll just sneak a peek at this one.'
     It's not everyday common knowledge but Volkswagen was founded by the German Labour Front which was spearheaded by none other than Adolf Hitler.  Do I hop in a Passat and wonder 'How can I drive a car from a company that was originally funded by Nazi Germany?'  I do not.
    I think it's safe to say that I believe every event or occurrence is a bit different and structurally complicated than the next and that every one of these nasty little things should be handled on a case by case basis and not simply by the court of public opinion even though most of us believes that a person is guilty until proven otherwise and thus disobeying our own system of justice in this country.
     If it is true that Mr. Cosby did actually drug and rape the women who accused him, I would be very angry and sad that a person who provided so much laughter could also be the same person who caused so much pain.  But would it change my belief that his "Noah" skit is one of the most brilliantly constructed comedy bits of all time?  It would not.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE SEVEN

     This year is the 45th Anniversary of some very memorable TV shows including "M*A*S*H", "Maude", "The Waltons",  and the current incarnation of the daytime staple "The Price Is Right."  However, I'm focusing my admiration today for "The Bob Newhart Show."  This was Newhart's 1st sitcom after hosting the critically acclaimed but low rated variety show from 1961 also with the same name that earned him 'an Emmy, a Peabody and a pink slip from NBC' as he likes to tell it.
     This new show would be one of the first sitcoms to show a happily married couple.....without any children.  It would be a risk that would pay off big in large part to the great chemistry between the 'button downed' Newhart and the straight shooting Suzanne Pleshette.  The supporting cast was also crucial to the success as well.  Newhart, who played Dr. Robert Hartley; a psychologist with an emphasis on support groups, shared a floor of an office high rise with the happy-go-lucky bachelor dentist Jerry Robinson, played by Peter Bonerz.  They also shared a sardonic and feisty receptionist, Carol Kester, played by Marcia Wallace.  The other major cast member would be their absent minded neighbor, airline navigator Howard Borden, played by Bill Daily.
     These characters would be around for the entire six year run and of the series.  I was born in 1972 so I mostly found this show in reruns.  I liked the fact that it mostly stayed away from current events and trends an focused on relationships between friends, relatives and patients.  Simple but smart.
     The group sessions were almost like a second show at times.  Between foul tempered and neurotic Elliott Carlin (Jack Riley), bashful and obedient Emile Peterson (John Fiedler),  good self-image deficient Ed Herd (Oliver Clark) and nice, elderly and blunt Mrs. Bakerman (Florida Freibus), one would never know where the prepared topics would go but we all knew it would lead to somewhere with a well intended but hilariously wrong result that would somehow get resolved by the end of the show.  I also think it was one of the first shows to portray mental health patients as real people with everyday problems and not inmates in an asylum.
      The fourth season episode "Over The River And Through The Woods" is my favorite one even though Emily (Pleshette) is barely seen as all the guys bond at Hartley's apartment over Thanksgiving because everyone is alone on this special day.  Cerebral and physical comedy are all on display here as the gang proceeds the get more and more drunk as the day goes on while attempting to watch the holiday football games and try to cook something up for a meal.
     There are too many great moments in 142 episodes to mention so if you're a fan of intelligent and slightly warped humor, go out and purchase the complete series box set.  And, to overuse a phrase, this is 'my prescription for hours and hours of laughter,'  Just don't OD, okay?

P.S.  Did you know that Howard Borden's brother, Gordon is a game warden?  That's right, he's warden Gordon Borden. 
     

R.I.P. TO THE CARMICHAEL SHOW

     The critical success and commercial failure of "The Carmichael Show" is something that probably can and will be discussed for some time but I would rather remember it as a great sitcom that started and ended on its own terms.
     Jerrod Carmichael wanted his show to be exactly the way it was.  The choice to star in a multi camera sitcom wasn't some form of self-parody;  it was deliberate.  The choice to hire the best writers, directors and producers was deliberate.  He intentionally mixed sitcom veterans with relative newcomers to create something truly unique.  The choice to surround himself with acting veterans like Loretta Devine and David Alan Grier and rising stars like Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel Howery was also a great decision as these actors all had something special to bring to the table.
     Carmichael was a devoted fan of Norman Lear's great comedies of the 1970s but where Lear's controversial topics could be a bit over dramatic and sermonized, Jerrod's type of show was able to seamlessly weave a hot button topic into the mix without forgetting how to 'bring the funny.'  His type of humor wasn't ironic, cringe worthy or simply pandering to the right demographic.  And it was frankly refreshing.  This fact alone may have turned off some young millennial viewers who were either offended or confused by the humor.   This also may be why NBC kept airing the show during the summer when typical viewership is at its lowest.  I believe Carmichael was as forgiving as he could be to the network who gave him great creative freedom until they refused to air an episode regarding a shooting at nearby mall the same day an actual shooting happened during a congressional softball practice.  The episode wasn't making light of mass shootings but rather was dealing with how to cope with the aftermath of such an event.
     Most of the actors have already moved on to other projects but Mr. Carmichael, who has only just recently turned 30, will hopefully have more than one joker card up his sleeve.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE SIX

     I've always been attracted to different types of music.  Sometimes it can be difficult to tell because I mostly listen to rock music so you'll just have to trust me.  I tend to feel that labeled genres are just a business creation anyway.
     When I was about 11 years old, the USA Network started airing a program on Fridays and Saturdays called "Night Flight."  For awhile this was the ONLY place I could watch music videos as MTV was not yet available in my area .  However, this show wasn't just about music videos.  They aired old movies like "Reefer Madness" and W.C. Fields classics mixed in with experimental short films and full length concerts.  This was also the first time I realized that there was new music that wasn't being played on my local Top 40 station.  And some if it was actually good.
     One of the first videos that caught my eye was called "Close (To The Edit)" by something called The Art of Noise.  The music (as well as the unique imagery) was unlike anything I'd ever heard up to that point in my short life.  The group made their sounds by sampling voices, musical instruments and and everyday natural and machine made sounds and then 'manipulating' them through a new device called a Fairlight synthesizer.  I've been a huge fan ever since.
     Their second album, 1986's "In Visible Silence" has just been re-released in deluxe edition form.  I'd listened to their first album , 1984's"Who's Afraid of The Art of Noise?" so many times that kids my age covered their ears in fear every time I brought my boom box on the school bus for road trips.
     Since I was used to new music from my favorite artists arriving every year, I thought this group had broken up since it took them two years to make second album.  It was much later that I learned that founding member Trevor Horn had left the rest of the group and there was a bit of mess in that divorce.
     However,  I loved the second album just as much as the first (at least at the time).   They had even decided to cover an old classic in "Peter Gunn" (which was already a live staple for Emerson Lake and Palmer)  and invited guitar legend Duane Eddy to play on it.  This would be the first time I would actually hear one of their songs on my local Top 40 radio station.  And it wouldn't be the last.  Just a few months later they re-worked one of the albums' tracks "Paranoimia", adding some spoken word computer generated magic from Max Headroom (voiced by Matt Frewer).  This version would be their first US Top 40 single.
     This new deluxe edition contains several remixes of their singles and also B-sides and other rarities.  It's only available as an import and I wouldn't hold your breath waiting on a stateside release so if you're an AON fan, get it while you can.
      
    

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE FIVE

     Saturday Night Live.  Those three words can conjure up many sounds and images.  Some strange; some fantastic; some outright pathetic.  Most people who have been fans at any point in time choose to prefer the ones that please them.  Almost like life itself, it seems.  People tend to remember 'the good years' over and over again.  I'm not going to rain on your parade unless your parade happens to be the 2016-17 season.  If so, you may want to move on or you might want to read this anyway.
     Statistics say that ratings for this past year were the best in 23 years.  It's not hard to figure out why.  Yes, there were some good hosts and Dave Chappelle made his long awaited TV return as well.
However, our current President had something (or pretty much everything) to do with this upturn in viewers.
     Alec Baldwin was pretty much a cast member this past year.  Playing the candidate and then President Trump seems to be a thrill for him and he certainly does gets some good digs in at Trump's expense.  However, the political humor can be a bit scattershot at times and even a bit tiring.  Making media figures like Lester Holt and Jake Tapper into major players in sketches can be tricky and sometimes irrelevant to someone who watches these programs as reruns ten years down the road.
    Kate McKinnon was perhaps the major cast member this year.  As Hilary Clinton and Kellyanne Conway, she channeled the anger and madness of this past election cycle.  However, opening the show with Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" twice?  Enough already.
     The other cast members performed respectably but none rose to McKinnon's manic level.  I still don't understand why they let Jay Pharaoh go at the end of last season when he did such great celebrity impressions.  With all of the talk of the lack of cast diversity, this still boggles my mind.
It's very apparent that with the ongoing political correctness entering the comedy world,  the field on which to create laughter keeps getting smaller and smaller.  Sketches done twenty years ago would certainly offend more people today.  Why?  The ability to be laughed at seems to be shrinking.  Just ask the President.  On second thought, please don't.
     The area of dark comedy on the program also keeps getting more and more rare.  Why?  It's hard to say but I think it's more difficult to get the tone just right and therefore gets pushed aside in the course of the show's hurried weekly production schedule.  The filmed "Dead Poet's Society" parody with Fred Armisen was one the best examples of a good dark sketch this past year.
     Because of pressure to keep ratings up, the musical guest lineup keeps getting less and less daring ae well.  Were there any actual rock bands and/or performers over 50 years old last year?  I don't remember one.  The precious 18 to 49 demographic simply wouldn't stand for it.  To use an oft quoted Presidential lament, 'sad.'
     Finally,  the Weekend Update portion of the show seemed to be the most improved part of the show.   Jost and Che have finally found a natural give and take feel to the segment.  Again, however, the political part of the bit threatened to drag things down at times.  Believe or not, there are other things happening in the world.  
      My final words.  Dare to be a little less proud and a tad more silly.  It still can be done.  Melissa McCarthy's take on Sean Spicer was perfect to me.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE FOUR

     This next musical recommendation is somewhat bizarre coming from someone like me.  But to understand its significance and beauty to me, I might have to provide a bit of backstory here.  In 1992,  I suffered what I would kindly refer to as a nervous breakdown.  I can't say I didn't see it coming but it would still rate as a bit of a shocker.  However, my mental state started to effect my physical well-being and things were generally not going as planned for me.
     A few months later, I was in a record store in Bozeman, MT (don't bother looking for the place;  it's long gone) and was thumbing through the titles and suddenly I heard music that literally was speaking to me.  It was sonically appealing and the lyrics were very striking to say the least.  It was as if every song was a chapter in a book and every chapter sparked my interest exponentially.  Finally,  my very shy self tip toed up to an employee and asked what the heck this album was.  The employee said "This is the first CD by a new band called Dream Theater.  Never heard of 'em but we're supposed to play it."  And with that ringing endorsement I walked over and picked up a copy to purchase and then slowly put it back down when I saw the $18.98 price tag.  This was a lot of money for a college student to pay for anything (including most modes of transportation) and so I left feeling disappointed that I might not hear that music again because it certainly was not the type of genre that any of my local radio stations would play at that time.  On my way out of town,  I decided to stop at a pawn shop to ogle musical instruments I also couldn't afford.  When I was there,  I noticed they sold used CDs and the very first one I saw was this exact CD which was titled "Images And Words."  I jumped at the $6.00 price tag and bought it.  Twenty-five years later I'm still amazed by it.  But since then I've learned a few things.  First,  this was not the 'first' CD by Dream Theater.  However, it was the 'first' CD with their current vocalist James LaBrie.  Second,  this album was a loosely conceptual story about a friend of the band who was losing his battle with a horrible disease and the lyrics were very blunt but also very hopeful.  The vocal samples were cool too.  Third, being a amateur pianist, I was floored by the amazing keyboard playing and lyrics of Kevin Moore (who left the band after their 3rd release 'Awake' in 1994).
     To this day,  I only own their first three albums.  I have owned others at times but could never 'get into them.'  And, yes, I know this is not exactly an underrated album as it has gone Gold by the RIAA.  But what I do know is every time I listen to it,  my mind opens up to endless hope and possibilities.  Is that alright with you?

FAMOUS LAST WORDS?

I plan on continuing the blog as long as I'm spiritually, physically and mentally able.  These three areas can cause problems in my writing style which can lead to long periods of time during posts but, rest assured, I'm always thinking about this space somewhere on the side of the road on the information superhighway.
Until next time.....

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE THREE.

     Okay, so I'm switching things up a bit in honor of April Fool's Day.  Instead of underrated music I'm shifting my focus to a group of TV specials and books from the mid-1980s.  Martin Mull has never really found his niche as an entertainer and I think this is because he really doesn't care if he is multi talented as an actor, painter and musician.  He's just one of those people that are great in 'measured doses.'  Yes, 'Fernwood 2-Night' and just about everything else he has done are now cult classics and one of these 'classics' is a trilogy of TV specials he did for HBO with the title "The History Of White People In America."  All of these specials where directed by Harry Shearer and all three starred Mary Kay Place and Fred Willard as your typical married American suburban WASP couple.  Some of these specials also starred greats like George Wendt,  Michael McKean and Jack Riley.  Mull usually plays himself as the interviewer and questions these people about politics, religion, culture etc.  There also is some hokey drama played out that surely is a parody of the PBS cinema verite series of the 1970s, "The Loud Family."
     These specials are done in the 'mockumentary' form although these feel a bit more scripted (by Mull and friends) than the usual Christopher Guest variety.  Two books on the subject were also printed and I seem to recall Mull having a strange fascination with the white man's love of Sans-A-Belt slacks (one of the first makers of slacks with the elastic waistband).  With just about anything Mull does, there is a very dry wit that some people might just not get but I loved these specials as a teen ( and still do).
     All three specials are available on the treasured VHS format at yard sales and church book swap benefits.  I think Mull would heartily approve.

R.I.P. TO (OUR YEARLY SUBSCRIPTON OF) ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

     My Father and I were really excited about this new magazine called Entertainment Weekly that was launching in early 1990.  My old man had a subscription (is this now an obsolete term?) to Sports Illustrated that advertised this new mag and we both thought it sounded fantastic.  Well, now it's 2017 and the fascination is definitely over.  When it started, I thought the reviews of TV, Film, Music and Books were very insightful and the in-depth articles about behind-the-scenes information about artists and various looks at how these forms of art are made were wonderful.  The editors (I'm guessing) also made a somewhat controversial decision to publish an end-of-the year issue with not only the "Best Of" articles but also had several pages devoted to the people in front of and behind the scenes in all entertainment fields who had succumbed to the (then) death sentence of AIDS during the previous year.
     My college years, which lasted from 1990 to 1995,  would have been so more much more boring without these issues arriving in the mailbox every week or so.  The writers turned me on to TV, music, film and books that I had no idea even existed.
     Over the years, the writers changed and the articles become shorter while the pictures and increasingly worthless "Best Of" lists become even larger, eventually edging out real entertainment news content in favor of a more exploitative 'who's maybe doing this movie' or even 'who's sleeping with what' types of stories that I'm guessing the kids today go ga-ga about.
     Of course, online sources of true entertainment news are so numerous now that I just won't count them for you (It's 3267).  So, yes, after 27 years, your Father and I believe it's time that you leave the nest and start being read (or looked at) by other people.  You'll thank us later.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE TWO

     I hoped the one viewer who read my last post enjoys this one just as well.  In this post,  I'm talking about overlooked albums and this one is a bit of a head scratcher.  In 1997 Marcy Playground had one the most played (er, overplayed) songs of the year that wasn't about The Titanic.  "Sex And Candy"  was a laid back and mostly acoustic ode to underage women that caught fire on radio.  What was interesting is that the self titled album that spawned the monster was originally released through the EMI main label but just weeks after its release the label went tits up and most of the releases on the label were 'set free.'  However,  the label re-released the album on the Capitol imprint and kept promoting the song and came out a winner.  The bands' 2nd release for the label is a different story.
     In 1999, the band released "Shapeshifter" and not without a bit of controversy.  The cover art by Mark Ryden was also selected to be the cover art on the then upcoming release by Butthole Surfers.  There was a bit of bitching between the two camps but MP won out and the painting went on their release.....which was totally ignored by everyone everywhere.  Why?  Maybe it was the "Sex And Candy" burnout or the fact that it was a totally different and superior album.  Leader John Wozniak wasn't too pleased with the outside production on the 1st release and most of the songs were in the same laid back vein.  So for "Shapeshifter" Wozniak took control of the production and amped up everything.  The songs themselves sound raw and direct.  They have an almost demo-like sound to them that is very alive.  "It's Saturday" ,which was the 1st single, set the tone with the tongue-in-cheek lyrics about a STD caused by a 'girl with New Jersey hair.'  "All The Lights Went Out" is a beautiful and feedback laden love ballad.  "Wave Motion Gun" is a bizarre but great anti-drug tune supposedly based on Wozniak's former addiction issues.  "Rebel Sodville" pays homage to some of the louder Neil Young and Crazy Horse workouts.  My favorite song "Pigeon Farm" is so gleefully weird that I've probably played it a few thousand times.  Whereas the self-titled effort was good but uneven, every tune on this record is a winner.
     Sadly, this album is out-of-print but easily found on this 'series of tubes.'  If you like loud guitars and truly original lyrics, buy this one.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE ONE

     Okay, so I promised I would start this intermittent blog post about albums that are, in my treasured opinion, severely underrated.  I've decided to start with a relatively new effort that did not even get an US release.  This would be Guy Garvey's debut solo album "Courting The Squall" from 2015.  Mr.  Garvey is the lead singer of the British band Elbow whose entire catalogue has been available in the states and have become somewhat of a cult favorite here in the States but are a big deal across the pond.  In fact, their last album went to #1 in the UK(#83 in the US) and "Courting The Squall" reached UK#3.  Garvey's voice is a bit reminiscent of Peter Gabriel although he doesn't have quite the range.
     His solo debut is a departure from the mostly hushed tones of recent Elbow releases and has more of a electronic bent with a minimalist production style.  The songs have more of a kick and a groove than a typical Elbow song which is a compliment.  "Angela's Eyes" starts things off with a wild beat and Garvey proclaiming he's been 'looking for the truth since God was a boy' and some bizarre keyboard sounds.  The title track sounds more like an Elbow tune but more experimental musically and lyrically.
     You can buy this album for a very reasonable rate as an import and you really should, especially if you are an Elbow fan or even if you'd just like to spin something new to dance to that isn't your run of the mill EDM. 

THE FUTURE.

     I haven't talked about my almost incestuous love of music lately so starting soon I will be writing an occasional column called "My Two Shits Worth!" where I talk ad nauseam about an album or other things that I believe to be severely underrated.  I hope you'll enjoy it.