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Reviews Written By: A2INX8B6VXUVW6

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	Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned
	"What I learned."	2008-09-18
This is a graphic novel written and drawn by Judd Winick. Judd was a cast member of The Real World: San Francisco on MTV. This book is about his friendship with fellow cast member Pedro Zamora. If you watched the show, you know that Pedro was an HIV-positive homosexual who died of AIDS not long after the show was filmed. Judd and Pedro became very good friends during the filming of the show and remained close until Pedro's death. This is a very touching story that deservedly won several awards.
	Bad Haircut
	"All the little children, can you see them?"	2008-09-16
This was Tom Perrotta's first book. It is a collection of short stories. The stories are all about (and told by) a character named Buddy, who seems to be based on Perrotta himself. There are ten stories about Buddy, each occuring in a different year of his life, the first being in 1979 and the last being in 1989. The stories are funny and enjoyable, but not quite as good as his later work. If you liked his other books, you'll probably enjoy this one.
	Buy This Box or We'll Shoot This Dog: The Best of the National Lampoon Radio Hour
	"Set your imagination for the year 2000!"	2008-07-11
The National Lampoon Radio Hour was a radio comedy show that ran from late 1973 to late 1974. It originally was an hour long, but was soon cut to half an hour when they started to run low on material (while still being titled The National Lampoon Radio Hour). Here we have over three hours of highlights from the show. This is very funny stuff. In a way, the show was a precursor to Saturday Night Live, using many of the performers and writers that later worked on that show. Buy this box.
	Elvis Presley - Platinum - Life in Music
	"When I was a child, I was a dreamer. I read comic books."	2008-06-25
This four disc set was released for the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. It features 100 tracks covering the King's entire career. 77 of the 100 tracks were previously unreleased. But almost all of Presley's best known songs are included, albeit usually in an alternate version. So the famous songs are here to satisfy casual fans, but they are different versions to satisfy hardcore fans who already have everything Elvis recorded. Aside from the hits, there is a very good selection of the best of his other songs. Highly recommended for any Elvis fan.
	Elvis Presley - Today, Tomorrow & Forever
	"He's winding up his leg and here he goes with "Heartbreak Motel"!"	2008-06-17
This is a four CD collection of previously unreleased Elvis tracks. The songs themselves have all been released by Elvis before, but these are different versions of those songs. The idea was to have unreleased tracks from all of Elvis Presley's recording sessions, but that wasn't always possible, particularly with the 1950s recordings. The highlight of the '50s recordings is a complete Elvis concert from 1956, which was broadcast on the radio. There are alternate takes from nearly all of Presley's '60s and '70s recording sessions. Unfortuntely, at some of his soundtrack recording sessions, there weren't any good songs recorded. So, we have alternate takes of bad songs like "My Desert Serenade" and "The Love Machine". But most of the songs are good anyway. The alternate takes sometimes aren't that much different from the master takes, but they will be of interest to hardcore Elvis fans. Actually, hardcore Elvis fans are probably the only ones who really need to get this collection.
	Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box
	"We sing about beauty and we sing about truth."	2008-06-06
This is a pretty cool seven CD box set that covers hit songs of the 1970s. It features songs from many different styles of music; including pop, rock, country, folk, R&B, disco, novelty and others. A few of the songs are preceded by brief excerpts from news reports or press conferences. I know that some people didn't like this aspect of the collection, but it didn't bother me, because the sound bites usually relate to the following song in an amusing way. There are many great songs here, and there are also many not-so-great songs ("Feelings", anyone?). A lot of these songs are quite frankly on the "cheesy" side, but in a way that is part of their appeal. This collection does a fantastic job of covering the good, the bad and the ugly of 1970s popular music.
	Sam Cooke - The SAR Records Story - 2 Pack Box Set W/Booklet
	"That sounded nice."	2008-05-19
This 2 CD set collects highlights from the SAR Records vault. This record label was co-owned by Sam Cooke. In addition to being the owner, Sam also wrote and produced many of the records. Disc One features gospel songs and Disc Two features secular material. Some of the songs are preceded by bits of studio dialogue where Sam explains to the performers how he wants them to sing. Most of the songs are quite good, although not as good as Sam's own versions of the same songs, when they exist. This is a very nice collection, but some Sam Cooke fans may be disappointed that there are only a few songs performed by Cooke himself.
	Otis Redding - Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding
	"My turn!"	2008-05-16
This is a four CD collection covering the career of Otis Redding. The first three discs feature the best of his studio recordings, in mono. The fourth disc includes the best version of every song that Otis recorded live, in stereo. This is subtitled "The Definitive Otis Redding" and it lives up to that title. If you are an Otis fan, you will love it.
	The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
	"Add some music to your day."	2008-05-06
This box set covers the first thirty years of the Beach Boys. Of course, much more space is devoted to the group's early glory days than to the uneven later years. The first four discs cover the high points of the band's career, featuring their most popular songs with a few rarities thrown into the mix. Disc 5 is all rarities, with backing tracks without vocals and such, which will appeal to serious Beach Boys fans but may be of little interest to the casual listener. As a big fan of the Beach Boys, I liked all of it.
	Chess Blues
	"Tonight we'll have a ball."	2008-04-23
This is a collection of 101 blues recordings from the Chess Records vault. It features many of the best known blues singers, as well as some performers that history has forgotten. Most of Chess Records' biggest hit blues records are included, but there are also many obscurities here. In fact, almost half the tracks are rarities. But the obscurities are almost as good as the well known recordings. Everything here is good, with most of the tracks being better than good. If you want to learn about the blues, this is the perfect place to start.
	Elvis Presley - From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential 60's Masters
	"Sing to me."	2008-04-04
This five CD collection features all of Elvis Presley's "essential 60's masters". This does not include soundtrack recordings, gospel songs or live performances. Elvis' 1960s recordings sometimes don't get much respect, mostly because many of the soundtrack songs were pretty bad. But the non-soundtrack songs were of a much higher quality. Nearly all the songs in this collection are very good. A few unreleased recordings (mostly alternate takes) are thrown in to appeal to collectors. This is a great collection that reevaluates Elvis Presley's '60s recordings.
	Elvis Presley - Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters
	"Living on songs"	2008-03-23
This five CD box set covers Elvis Presley's 1970s recordings. The discs are broken up into different categories. The first two discs cover the a-sides and b-sides of his singles, including UK singles that were not released in the US. The third and fourth discs include studio recordings that were not released as singles. The last disc features live recordings, not including live recordings that were released as singles. Several of these recordings had not been previously released, although some of the songs had been released in different versions. This is an excellent overview of Elvis Presley's best 1970s recordings.
	Schulz
	"Good Old Charles Schulz"	2008-03-23
There has been a lot of criticism of this book by members of Charles Schulz's family. I don't want to get into that, because I didn't know the man. Take this book as one man's interpretation of a man's life. I found it to be quite interesting. I especially liked how strips that paralleled events from Schulz's life were used to illustrate the story. I don't know if this is the "definitive" biography of Charles "Sparky" Schulz, but it will do for now.
	Doo Wop Box, Various Artists - Doo Wop Box
	"Deh doom, ba-ba doom, ba-ba doom, ba-ba doe doe"	2008-03-12
Like the cover says, this box features "101 Vocal Group Gems From The Golden Age of Rock 'N' Roll". My dictionary defines doo wop as "a vocal style of rock and roll characterized by the a cappella singing of nonsense syllables in rhythmical support of the melody". That's as good a definition as any, but there isn't really a consensus as to what songs qualify as "doo wop". The first disc includes early groups like the Orioles, the Drifters and the Platters that aren't usually considered doo wop, but were big influences on the doo wop groups. Regardless of what is or isn't doo wop, these are terrific vocal group recordings. Most of them were hits, but there are also many obscure gems included. This box is a "must get" for fans of the vocal group sound.
	Bob Dylan - Biograph [Slipcase]
	"Everybody's gonna jump for joy."	2008-03-03
This is an excellent three CD retrospective of Bob Dylan's career (up to 1981). It features most of his most popular material, with enough rarities to make it interesting for die hard fans who already have all his albums. Enough talk, just get it, already.
	Willie & Leon - One for the Road
	"Won't you make the music easy and sad?"	2008-03-02
This 1979 album is a collaboration between Willie Nelson and Leon Russell. It was originally released as a double album, with the two records being quite different from each other. The first record featured Willie and Leon singing and playing mostly country & western songs, accompanied by the members of Willie's band. This is very enjoyable music, with Willie and Leon obviously having a lot of fun playing these oldies. "Heartbreak Hotel" was released as a single and became a #1 Country hit. The second record featured Willie singing mostly pop standards, accompanied only by Leon's keyboard playing. Quite a different feel from the first half of the album. Willie is great at singing this type of material and Leon provides tasteful, understated accompaniment. This is very good, especially their outstanding take on Frank Sinatra's "One For My Baby". Taken together, the two halves of the album equal one fine CD.
	Elvis Presley - Takin Tahoe Tonight
	"What am I singing?"	2008-02-29
This is a mono soundboard recording of Elvis Presley's 3AM(!) concert on May 13, 1973. It is a fairly typical Elvis concert of the time period. Elvis is in good voice, but seems disinterested at times. The songs are ones that he performed over and over again, with the exception of an unrehearsed version of "Faded Love". Probably Elvis' best performance of the night was "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which turned out so well that Elvis sang it again from the "Sail on, silver girl" part. There are two bonus songs from the midnight concert from the same night, the best of which is a fine performance of the not-often-sang "I'm Leaving". This rather unexceptional concert CD will really be of interest only to serious Elvis fans.
	Madonna - Erotica [Edited]
	"My name is Dieter. I'll be your reviewer tonight."	2008-02-24
This was Madonna's fifth studio album. It was released simulatenously with her book Sex and suffered some fallout from the negative reaction to the book. Erotica is a concept album about sexuality and relationships, although only a few of the songs are directly about the sex act itself. Most of the songs have a dance beat, usually with a hip hop or jazz flavor. In the US, four singles were released from the album: "Erotica" reached #3 on the charts, "Deeper and Deeper" peaked at #7, "Bad Girl" struggled to #36 and "Rain" peaked at #14. The songs on this album are quite good, with the exception of the wretched "Did You Do It?", which is not really performed by Madonna and isn't included on this version of the album anyway. An underrated Madonna album.
	Various Artists - Songs of the West
	"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear."	2008-02-22
This is a collection of cowboy music. Not REAL cowboy music, but rather the commercialized version that first became popular in the 1930s with the advent of "singing cowboy" movies. The four CDs in this set are divided by themes. Disc One is "Cowboy Classics". These are some of the best known western songs. Disc Two is "Silver Screen Cowboys". These are songs sung by western stars. Disc Three is "Gene Autry & Roy Rogers". These are songs by the two most popular singing cowboys. Gene and Roy also appear on all the other discs. Disc Four is "Movie & Television Themes". These are the theme songs from westerns, some of which are instrumentals. This is a really fun collection, especially for fans of old time westerns.
	Various Artists - The Music Behind the Magic
	"I'm afraid I've been thinking."	2008-02-17
This box set features the music that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman wrote for three Disney animated films, plus copious bonus tracks. First, there is The Little Mermaid, which features many demos in addition to the regular soundtrack. Second is Beauty and the Beast, again with the addition of several demos. Lastly, there is Aladdin. Tragically, Howard Ashman died before this film was completed, so Tim Rice was brought in to help Menken finish the songs. Many Ashman/Menken demos of songs that did not make it into the movie are included. These songs were not dropped because of lack of quality, but rather because the storyline of the movie changed. For example, "Proud of Your Boy" is a great song that Aladdin would have sung to his mother, but it couldn't be used because the mother character was cut from the movie. This collection serves as a wonderful tribute to the late great Howard Ashman.
	The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966
	"Why is everybody always pickin' on me?"	2008-02-15
This book contains all the Peanuts comic strips from 1965 and 1966. The most significant events from this time period were Snoopy's first imaginary battles with The Red Baron and the first appearance of Peppermint Patty. Charles Schulz was so good for so long, it's hard to choose a "peak" period of the strip, but the strips here are definitely great. Highly recommended.
	Nancy Sinatra - Nancy
	"Quiet thoughts come floating down."	2008-02-10
This was Nancy Sinatra's last album for Reprise Records. Her career had taken a downturn at this point; it had been over a year since her last hit (which did turn out to be her LAST hit). One is tempted to say that the end of her working relationship with Lee Hazlewood caused her downfall, but the last two singles Hazlewood produced for her weren't hits, either. This album was produced by Billy Strange, who was probably best known for doing the arrangements of the songs for Elvis Presley's Comeback Special. The album has an eclectic mix of song styles; with country, rock, pop and blues. Yes, Nancy Sinatra sings the blues with "Big Boss Man", and actually does a credible job. There were two singles released from the album; "God Knows I Love You" and "Here We Go Again". Both songs barely cracked the bottom of the Hot 100, although they both were good songs, with the former being a great song. The album overall is very good with a handful of original songs and some well chosen covers of recent songs (plus the not-so-recent songs "My Dad" and "My Mother's Eyes", recorded as tributes to her parents). The CD adds four bonus tracks, which were all non-LP singles. I particularly like "Home", which is a touching song about lonely soldiers in Vietnam.
	Disco Box
	"We're bumpin' booties, havin' us a ball, y'all."	2008-02-08
This is an awesome collection of 80 disco songs. Most of the best known disco songs are included (with the exception of anything by the Bee Gees), but the collection also includes a few lesser known (but very good) songs. It's tempting to call this the "definitive" disco collection, but of course something of this nature is bound to miss a few things. So I will just say that this is a great collection that disco fans will enjoy.
	Willie Nelson - Stardust
	"The melody haunts my reverie."	2008-02-05
This was Willie Nelson's first album of pop standards. It features Willie's touring band, plus organist/producer Booker T. Jones. The songs are performed in an appealing country-jazz style. Willie proves to be a fine interpreter of this type of material. This is a really terrific album. This CD adds two bonus tracks, "Scarlet Ribbons" and "I Can See Clearly Now". Both songs are great, but they were left off of the album because they aren't really pop standards.
	The Rolling Stones, Rolling Stones - Out Of Our Heads (UK)
	"I'm really, really sharp!"	2008-02-03
This was the Rolling Stones' third UK album. A different version of the album was released as the group's fourth US album. This UK version features eight covers of R&B and R&R songs, plus four Stones originals. This is really great stuff. It should be noted that while the CD is labeled "Stereo", it is actually in mono.
	Buck Owens and His Buckaroos - In Japan! [Bonus Tracks]
	"Domo Arigato!"	2008-02-02
This was the second live album by Buck Owens, released just two albums after his first live album. It was recorded in Tokyo on February 6, 1967. The first live album featured several medleys of his songs; this album features no medleys, just complete songs. About half of the tunes here are new ones that Buck hadn't recorded before. Buck is the star here, of course, but each of the Buckaroos gets a solo spotlight, either singing a song or playing an instrumental. The instrumentals go over big with the Japanese crowd, by the way. This is a really entertaining concert that will appeal to Buck Owens fans.
	The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964
	"Let's cuddle up with in security blanket."	2008-01-31
This edition of The Complete Peanuts covers the years 1963 and 1964. Probably the most significant event during this time period was the introduction of "5", along with his sisters "3" and "4". 5 may not be well remembered, but he is still a pretty interesting character. These are classic comic strips from one of the masters of the medium. Great stuff, highly recommended.
	The Beach Boys - Carl And The Passions: So Tough/Holland
	"I still remember."	2008-01-31
This "two-fer" features two Beach Boys albums from 1972/1973. This was the period during which Bruce Johnston had quit the group and was replaced by two South African musicians named Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin. Carl and the Passions - So Tough is an underrated album, probably because it doesn't sound that much like the Beach Boys. But taken on their own merits, the songs are pretty good, particularly "Mercella". Holland is much more popular with Beach Boys fans, which is understandable, because it is a better album. It starts with "Sail On, Sailor", which is probably the best song the group recorded in the '70s. The rest of the songs are very good, although the poem read during "California Saga" is somewhat pretentious. The album came with a 7 inch EP called "Mt. Vernon and Fairway". This is a fairy tale about a prince with a magical transistor radio. It's pretty weird and I still don't quite know what to make of it. One pretty good album + one very good album = a CD worth buying.
	Buck Owens - Tender Loving Care
	"They're playing country music."	2008-01-23
This Buck Owens album was originally released on August 7, 1967. It features tracks recorded between May, 1965 and November, 1966. It features 3 #1 hits, those being "Your Tender Loving Care", "Only You" and "Sam's Place". Those are great songs, and the rest of the songs on the album are good, too. Another typically solid Buck Owens album.
	The Everly Brothers - Heartaches & Harmonies [Box]
	"Get the Everly Brothers to team up on one here."	2008-01-21
This is a four CD overview of the Everly Brothers career. It starts with a recording from the Everly Family radio show in 1951 and ends with a song from 1990. The brothers are arguably the most important duo in the history of rock and roll, and were if fact among the initial inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were extremely successful between 1957 and 1962. After that, they only occasionally had a hit song, although they were still putting out some good records. Anyway, this is a good collection of many of their best songs, from their hit years and their non-hit years, which should appeal to their fans.