Radiohead - In Rainbows

I really got a bone to pick with pugeye (guy from SF on the meesage board I go to) now. He hated "The Eraser" upon my recommendation and I really disliked this. If anything, it just comes off as a very pleasant album, with none of the innovation usually attributed to them. Most of the chord structures are trite Radiohead, and there is hardly any new ground explored. Really uninspired, mang! I'm still gonna go on praising "The Eraser". Even worse than "Hail to the Thief" which had some pretty good singles and two awesome songs -"Myxomatosis" and "A Bitter Punch-Up At the Wedding". Only good thing about this is that it helps me sleep.

James Brown - Live at the Apollo Parts 1 and 2

This, peeps, however is just transcendental. There is hardly any kind of popular music that puts me on a spiritual plane and this is one of the rare occasions. The Lose Yourself medley is a masterpiece of early funk and has the most irresistable nastiest groove I have ever heard. Pretty cool audience participation as well, which transcends merely singing along, you can join in on the constipated "nggh!"s as well. Part 2 is a soul masterpiece, with electronic-ish mantra of the backup singing in "Prisoner of Love" and the strangely eerie "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" which is also captured so brilliantly by the Residents' cover. THIS IS THE SHIT!

Thelonoius Monk - Alone in San Francisco

His second "solo piano" album. The first thing you notice about this is the lack of a warm sound from the piano, it might as well be a Casio keyboard. The second is he's merely pumping the bassline on his chordal hand. Although the lead lines are interesting, I suppose there's just not a lot going on with the playing to make it all that much interesting. For the record, I really prefer Marcus Roberts' reinterpretations of Monk more than anyting else. This is really just too basic to be genius. Genius? What genius?

Charles Mingus - The Very Best Of

The compositions are very good - with just about the right tension and harmonic balance. Not much on dissonance although the backgrounds can be a little too busy. My first introduction to "soul jazz" although I would say it's a mix of show tunes-style playing, some modal jazz and freebop. I did wish he would solo on the double bass more as the basslines are extremely engaging. So am I becoming a jazzbo? I sure hope not.