So mumchancegaloot and I have a band and it's called Mayhem Lettuce and we've put our stuff online and you can hear it wherever you stream stuff or at our Bandcamp site. You know how to Google. Mayhem Lettuce is very Googleable. Or you can hit up linktr.ee/mayhemlettuce and see all the stuff.

ANYWAYNow that we're a for real big time band with music online and ( Read more... )

I grew up playing video games on my Commodore 64 computer. (Kids, ask your grandparents.) One of my favorite games that I played for hours and hours and hours, over and over and over, was Below The Root. It was a gentle platform/text adventure hybrid in which you played an elfin denizen of Green Sky - a civilization of tree-dwellers with psychic ( Read more... )

THE RE-LISTEN PROJECT: CHAPTER 6 - RUSH

RUSH: Part 4 - Fly By Night

Hello from quarantine. Full disclosure: I meant to listen to the Rush tribute albums and Geddy and Alex’s solo albums but, frankly, who cares? The odds of me being pleasantly surprised by them are basically zero. Here’s what I remember through the haze of decades. Alex’s album, ( Read more... )

THE RE-LISTEN PROJECT: CHAPTER 6 - RUSH

RUSH: Part 3 - In The End (1991 - 2012)

This third installment of the Rush Re-Listen Project will take us through the 90’s and beyond. The guys really slowed down, album-wise, although they evidently toured non-stop. They released 7 live albums/concert DVDs in the 2000’s and only 4 studio albums. That’s ( Read more... )

THE RE-LISTEN PROJECT: CHAPTER 6 - RUSH

RUSH: Part 2 - The Big Money (1980 - 1989)

The recording of Hemispheres and subsequent tour exhausted the band to such a degree that they took a 6 week break from songwriting. When they resumed the music-making, they were a changed band. No more 20 minute prog rock sci-fi epics are to be found in their ( Read more... )

RE-LISTEN PROJECT
Chapter 6: Rush

RUSH: Part 1 - Finding My Way (1974 - 1978)

Rush was one of the first mainstream bands I ever got into. I grew up listening primarily to novelty music via Dr. Demento and it wasn’t until my junior high school years that I began listening to music other people I knew also enjoyed. Rush, Black Sabbath, Guns ‘N ( Read more... )

QUEEN: Part 5 - Show Must Go On

At long last, the way overdue closing chapter of my big Queen Re-Listen Project is here! Sorry everyone. I got busy. ANYWAY! Let’s kick off with the obligatory Definitive and not at all Arbitrary Album Ranking:

Definitive and not at all Arbitrary Album Ranking

1. Sheer Heart Attack
2. Queen II
3. A Night At The Opera
4. Queen
5. News ( Read more... )

QUEEN: Part 4 - Who Wants To Live Forever?
This last batch of albums is sure to be bittersweet. We’re starting with all the Highlander songs I know and love and ending in completely uncharted territory with the album the band recorded after Freddie Mercury died, using vocals he’d laid down earlier. I remember hearing the news that he’d passed as I ( Read more... )

QUEEN: Part 3 - Don’t Stop Me Now

And so we arrive in the 1980’s: the age of pop music, big hair, and general excess. How will our prog rock turned pop rock band fare in the era of moonwalking, neon leg warmers, and drum machines? Read on, true believers!

The Game (1980)    4 new songs    B
It’s 1980 and Queen got a brand new synthesizer for ( Read more... )

LONG OVERDUE DEEP DIVES
QUEEN: Part 2 - Under Pressure

The second half of the ‘70’s contains many of the Queen songs I grew up with and many delightful surprises. They largely ditch the prog rock angle and expand in several other directions all while slowly creeping towards radio-friendly pop music. I really appreciate their diversity but the chinks ( Read more... )