This is my favorite kind of post

I started this blog so I could show record sleeves that I admire; now I live to write posts like this one.

Now maybe I'm in no position to call some one a bad writer but I'll do it anyway. Nicholas Bolduc of the Springfield, MA Republican is a bad writer.

The other day I was reading the paper and came across his review of a Tom Petty concert and the writing was so bad that I went online and looked up everything he'd had published in the Republican. He's (I think) an intern at the paper and has written around twelve articles over the past couple years.

So, as I understand it, he's a young guy, maybe still in, or just finished with, college, and the newspaper gave him the chance to write some reviews. Of course they're not gonna be perfect. The things that bother me are the way that he seems to be going through the motions and not thinking about what he wants to say or how he wants to say it. Nevermind the typos (there are plenty), I see those all the time in newspapers. I'm bothered by the factual mistakes and way that Bolduc uses words without knowing what they really mean. And the worst thing is how he re-uses words and phrases in all his reviews.

In the online edition of the Republican people can log-in and leave comments that show up at the bottom of the page and a couple times the paper's music editor has had to apologize for Bolduc's factual errors.

Let's get right to the Tom Petty review:

The band then transitioned to some of their more recent releases from their new album "Hypnotic Eye" by performing "American Dream Plan B" featuring a strong set of face melting guitar riffs that helped prove that rock is definitely not dead.

First, the sentence is so awkwardly structured and just wrong in a couple place. Plus, get used to the phrase "face melting"; you'll see more of it.

The band played "you Get Me High" displaying to the crowd a screeching, ear shattering guitar solo and great lyrics, proving that after decades in the business these guys can still produce great music.

It might not seem like a big deal but this just doesn't make sense. Does doing something for decades make you get worse at it? Ok, it might sound like I'm being petty but read on, you'll see.

To no one's surprise the crowd quickly called them back on stage for an encore. The band performed "You Wreck Me"...The band then kicked off the night with the 70's classic "American Girl" making it a perfect ending to a perfect night.

"To no one's surprise"- get ready for more of that. But the big thing: Bolduc seems to think that to "kick off" something is to end it. It's not just here that he says it. Stay tuned.

A lot has changed in music since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rose to take the Rock world by storm in 1976, some have even cynically stated that "Rock is Dead". But this band debunked that misconception last night by proving that they are still as relevant and talented as ever.

Do you "debunk" a misconception? Probably not. But I'm sure it isn't "cynical" to say "Rock is Dead". Let's move on to a Bon Jovi concert.

Bon Jovi

Appearing before another sold out crowd, Bon Jovi failed to disappoint the 10,000 loyal fans who showed up to pay homage to the legendary rock band.

"Failed to disappoint"- not wrong I guess, but awkward and dumb. The main thing is "pay homage to". That's not right.

Bon Jovi failed to disappoint as he livened the crowd back up with "It's My Life".

"Failed to disappoint" twice in the same review? Yup.

To no one's surprise the crowd called on Bon Jovi for an encore.

"To no one's surprise". This guy is just cutting and pasting his old reviews.

To wrap up the night the band kicked off their performance with arguably their most...

At first I thought Bolduc was gonna do things right but then I saw "kicked off". How does that sound right to him and how does the editor not say, "Hey, Nick, you know..."kick off" means start or begin."

Third Eye Blind

"Can't Get Along" featured a face melting guitar solo...

This song ("Never Let You Go") is so popular that it should be considered a litmus test to prove to someone grew up during the 1990's.

More "face melting". And this song "Never Let You Go"- I've never heard it, but that thing about the litmus test makes no sense and is so awkwardly written- sentences like this are typical of Bolduc's writing.

To wrap up the night Third Eye Blind sang what is arguably their best song ever recorded "Semi-Charmed Life". The song has had a huge impact on American pop culture, being featured in many movies.

So "Semi-Charmed Life" has been on a few soundtracks? The thing about Bolduc's writing is you can tell when he's done a little "research". He'll mention that a certain song was VH1's 35th greatest metal song or something like that. I'm sure in this case there must be something on Wiki about all the movies that "Semi-Charmed Life" is in.

Glen Campbell

He dazzled the audience with his passionate singing and face melting guitar playing.

Glen Campbell was 75 at the time and he died not long after, but country music guitar playing was "face melting"?

Guns N Roses

The only two songs that really garnished a strong response from the audience...

"Garnished"? Maybe he means garnered.

DJ Ashton gave a face melting guitar solo.

The set list certainly contained a lot of cover songs from some of America's most talented artists and bands. For their sixth song of the night they sang "Riff Raff" a 1978 golden oldie by AC/DC. The band also performed "My Generation" by the Who.

I didn't even notice these mistakes; someone pointed them out in the comments section and the editor had to apologize. Neither of the two bands that Bolduc mentioned are American. AC/DC is from Australia and the Who are British.

The encore was well received and it was a good way to kick off the three hour performance...

Aaron Lewis

Longmeadow's favorite son Staind lead singer Aaron Lewis did not fail to entertain the packed crowd.

The two-hour acoustic show featured several tracks from his debut solo album "Town Line". The album is Aaron Lewis's debut solo album which was released in March of last year.

After the song Lewis gave his last good bye to his New England brethren and the show ended around 10pm.

A reader wrote:
Brethren? Really? Do you mean as in "brothers"...or is Aaron Lewis now a member of a religious sect?

Another reader wrote:
This guy is a hack.

It might seem like I'm being petty but it really bugs me that this guy is turning in these shitty articles filled with the worst clichés of music journalism. And it bothers me that the music editor never bothered to correct any of this. I could show a lot more examples of sloppy writing and reporting but I think you get the idea.

Aimee Mann "Charmer"

Two years ago Aimee Mann put out "Charmer" and like all her other records (other than "Bachelor #2", I guess) it got no attention and sunk like a stone. It's too bad, because she makes amazing music, and most of her songs- not just the singles- would sound great on the radio.

Where I used to live there was a radio station that would play "Save Me" and "Humpty Dumpty" and the place that I worked had the music pumped in from a music service and they played "Freeway", but that's it. So many great songs have come and gone and most people will never hear them.

Her albums "Lost In Space" and "The Forgotten Arm" had great songs but a lot of them were ballads or they were up-tempo but dreary (in a good way, I think) so I can see why they didn't get airplay. But "Smilers" and especially "Charmer" have a lot of fun pop songs on them.

I don't own "Charmers" (or even a CD player) but over the past year when I was in the kitchen or cleaning the house I'd go to Youtube on the IPad or my phone and plug it into the speakers and play songs; my favorites are "Gumby", "Disappeared", "Crazytown", and "Living A Lie". (All four video clips look the same- somebody filmed their turntable with the clear orange vinyl version of the "Charmer" album playing.) These songs belong in heavy-rotation on the radio (plus in the morning on MTV and VH1 (the early morning is just about the only time they play videos anymore).

But, anyway, if you're at the record store and you're looking for something to listen to, try "Charmer". If they don't have it there get another Aimee Mann album (they're all good, even the old ones from the early to mid-1990s). Or, if you wanna test things out first, go to Youtube and listen to "Gumby". If you like that song you'll like the whole "Charmer" album.

"The Real Ramona"

Here's a cool poster promoting Throwing Muses's 1991 record "The Real Ramona". I love the artwork for that album and all the posters that I've seen for it are beautiful.

Throwing Muses "Anthology" and "Purgatory/Paradise"

I've never seen these two releases in a store but I'd like to buy both of them, if the price is right. As for "P/P", I heard a lot of the tracks as demos and liked them a lot and I heard some of the new versions on Youtube and they're good too. I especially like "Cherry Candy", "Dripping Trees", and "Triangle Quantico". Plus it's cool what they did with the album version of "Speedbath". I love the original, but the new version is kind of like a remix edit. My favorite track, and I love both the old and the new versions, is "Clark's Nutcracker"; it's probably the best song of the album. If you get a chance listen to it on Youtube.

Early Throwing Muses band photos

Here are some old TM promo and magazine photos including one with The Pixies.

The Breeders "Last Splash LSXX"

Last year, 4AD put out "LSXX". It contained the "Last Splash" album, a live show, the EP B-sides for all the "Splash" singles, plus the EP that came out after "Pod", "Safari". "Safari" has four tracks, including an early version of "Do You Love Me Now?", and it's the last Breeders recording to feature Tanya Donelly and the first with Kelly Deal playing. I think that since they included "Safari" they might as well have put "Pod" in there too. "Pod" is a great record, full of songs that hold up very well, especially compared to other albums that came out in 1990. It has a couple shitty songs (like "Metal Man") but it doesn't sound dated. But, more importantly, "Pod" is a better album than "Last Splash", which has "Divine Hammer" and the big hit "Cannonball". "Splash" is uneven; it's hard to listen to the whole thing all the way through.

Here's what I would've put together instead:

"New Year"
"Cannonball"
"Divine Hammer"
"Do You Love Me Now?"
"I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You"
"Flipside"
"I Just Wanna Get Along"
"Hag"
"Shocker In Gloomtown"
"Drivin' On 9" (the best song on the album and one of my favorites of the 1990s)

The Breeders didn't make another album until 2002's "Title TK", but I really liked the album that Kim Deal put out as The Amps, "Pacer". "Pacer" had some great songs but the production and recording was shitty. I read a quote from Steve Albini, who worked with Deal on other records but not this one, and he was talking about what a hard time Deal had trying to make "Pacer" and get the sound right, and he said something like, "She spent $100,000 making a record that sounds like it was made for $50".

Anyway, the one time I saw "LSXX" in a store was last summer at Newbury Comics and it was around $35. If I ever buy it it'll have to be used and under $15. Like "Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly", I've got the songs, I'm just interested in the packaging. From what I've seen online it looks like the stuff inside is pretty good.


By the way, one of those pictures- the one that looks like a small notebook- I don't know if that's an actual release or something homemade. I took the sleeve from my cassette and covered a Whitman Sampler mini-box of chocolates. It looks cool and there's a picture of it somewhere on this blog.