5 comments about The Blues Tribute to the Grateful Dead.

1. I love this CD. "Big Boss Man" & "It Hurts Me Too" are incredible. Don't listen to sour reviews that want the same old sounds - these are very good renditions, not a re-hashed same old version as the Dead did



2. I've been a Dead fan for a long time, and also a big fan of traditional blues (which I got introduced to by listening to the Dead's versions). This disk has some high points, especially a very hot version of "Lovelight". Ok, it's not Pigpen, but it's a very respectable version. There are also some fresh takes on original Dead material. The instrumental versions of "Black Peter" and "It Must Have Been the Roses" are especially nice, IMO. Some of the other tunes are less well executed, but heck, even the Dead had some misses.



3. I've followed the Dead since 1968. This cd has nothing of the Dead's spirit in it. Furthermore, as a blues enthusiast and player, I find this really lousy blues music-amateurish in the worst sense.
   For wonderful Dead tribute music: Fire on the Mountain (reggae) and vols. 1 & 2 of Pickin' on the Grateful Dead (bluegrass, of course).
   Mike



4. Thrown together junk with 'artists' you've never heard of.

   Stick with David Gans' productions like his "Stolen Roses" or "Might as Well...the Persuasions sing the Greatful Dead" or "Postcards of the Hanging - Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan".

   This one didn't make it through a whole listen, though. Dustbin fodder.




5. This album is a must have to any collection (especially for Dead fans).I love it!

5 comments about O Come All Ye Faithful: Rock for Choice.

1. I bought this album back when it first came out. It's still an excellent choice. Especially if you want something different than the typical holiday choices.



2. If you can get this CD cheap, buy it for Henry Rollins' take on "The Night Before Christmas." The rest isn't worth a second listen.



3. This is yet another Christmas compilation album. It was assembled to benefit the charity Rock For Choice. Most of the performers here could be loosely defined as "alternative rock". The best track here is Henry Rollins doing a creepy reading of "Twas The Night Before Christmas", which previously appeared on a superior album called A Lump of Coal. Another good one is "I Did It For the Toys" by Dance Hall Crashers. "Christmas Piglet" by the Presidents of the United States isn't that good, but it's so dumb that it makes me smile. The rest of the songs aren't all that memorable.



4. 1. Henry Rollins - "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" *
   2. Dance Hall Crashers - "I Did It for the Toys" *
   3. Sponge - "Christmas Day"
   4. Juliana Hatfield - "Make it Home"
   5. Shudder to Think - "Al Hanisim" *
   6. Wool - "Xmas It's Christmas"
   7. Bush - "Good King Somethingorother"
   8. Luscious Jackson - "Queen of Bliss" *
   9. Mike Watt and the Crew of the Flying Saucer - "The Little Drummer Boys"
   10. The Presidents of the United States of America - "Christmas Piglet"
   11. The Cranes - "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" *
   12. Face to Face - "Blue Christmas" *
   13. Deep Forest and Wes Madiko - "Nemene" *
   
   
   For all the jerks that voted this review not helpful.. remember this: The reason why there is even a list of all the artists and track titles up here on Amazon is ONLY because I was the first one to put up a complete list. So have some respect for the people who do the work around here and don't get paid for it! I put up a star after the songs that are worth listening to, for making things easy for your deciding if it is worth buying. Vote high damnit! Your pal, T.S. Hunter.



5. When I was looking for interesting Christmas albums (RE: non-traditional) this past year I stumbled across this one at the library. And after several spins I've decided that compared to many of the other alt.rock comps, i.e. the 'Very Special Xmas' series, this is pretty decent and wins in the diversity department. It begins with Henry Rollins doing his creepiest spoken word version of "Twas a Night Before Christmas" which should give children a whole new perspective on that famous poem, albeit a scary one. Sounds like he recorded it right after a viewing of Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas."

   Dance Hall Crashers jump from there with a lively "I did it for the Toys" followed by Sponge and Vinnie's unmistakable voice in "Christmas Day" that sounds like it was lifted from their Rotting Piñata debut. Just a really nice tune that one. And there's definitely some _ROCK_ represented here with Wool and plenty of _ALTERNATIVE_ with Mike Watt and Juliana Hatfield among others. The real eclectic takes go to Bush with the bizarre yet semi-rocking "Good King Somethingorother" that sounds like it's echoing up from your bathroom drain. And add Shudder To Think's non-trad "Al Hanisim" to the stranger offerings.

   All and all there's a little something for anyone who fed on mid-90's alt.rock with many b+ class bands represented including a wacky number by The Presidents of the United States (remember them?) and John Lennon's all-gothed-up, saccharine "Happy Christmas (War is over)" by Alison Shaw and the Cranes. Sadly it doesn't appear this CD is sold *new* any more... Although, it does appear one could find this CD used. Again, not a bad pick-up if you're looking for something different in the way of Christmas tunes.

4 comments about Transitions.

1. Westbound train are a talented Ska group out of Boston. They are tight musicians who boast a strong horn section and a great lead singer. His voice is reminiscent of Sam Cooke's, and yes i realize what a big compliment that is and would not issue it lightly. If you enjoy reggae/ska this record is a must.



2. You can't go wrong with this one. Every track is good. The lead vocal is great, the rock steady beat is fine, and the back up is tight.



3. So I saw these guys as the opener for Dave Wakeling's English Beat when they rolled through the Cat's Cradle last year. Now, as a father of three kids it costs my wife and I ten bucks and hour just to walk out the door, so we usually blow off the warm-up, but the song on their myspace was decent and I like the ska, rock steady sounds. They come out and look like the Bowery Boys from the old 40's movies- newsboy hats, pork pies and such and were nervous as heck. They won the crowd over after their first song and it was a great set. They were on the 3rd date of the tour and had already sold out their CDs, so I picked this one up on Amazon. It is a great record. The problem with most ska acts is the songs start to all sound the same, but these guys mixed it up plenty. Nice horns, solid vocals, some decent song writing-it's a winner. This is good ska and rocksteady, it's not punked up like the Bosstones, it's old school like Studio One, Clancy Eccles, and the vintage bluebeat years. Buy it.
   PS come back soon guys and we'll pay the sitter whatever it takes!



4. Wow. I've been waiting for this album for a while now, and I was not disappointed. Boston's soulful ska/reggae band delivers an amazing performance. Musically, it is much fuller sounding than their previous albums, with a tight rhythm section and awesome background. You can definitely see their growth as musicians in the higher complexity and skill of the horn players and more experimentation on the keyboards. Using his amazing, soulful voice, frontman Obi Fernandez gets deeper with his spiritual insightful and probing lyrics. This is an all around amazing album-buy it. Heck, buy it new and support some awesome guys that play amazing music.

No comments about Sublime: The Ultimate Bundle.

5 comments about Twenty-Eight Teeth.

1. I've listened to lots of ska over the years and I would rate "My Town" as one of my top 10 ska songs of all time. It's as catchy a ska tune as they come...ranks right up there with the classics from the English Beat and with more modern stuff like Rancid.



2. i love the music that is being played but i cant stand the singers voice, its annoying, go listen to some ska with good singers in it



3. I really enjoyed this cd. being a trombone player I enjoyed the simple horn riffs, and its light enough for my liking unlike most hybrid ska/punk outfits. I like the vocals a lot although the lyrics are somewhat weak, and they don't overuse chord changes like most bands of this genre seem to. My friends that are in to 3rd wave ska seem to think this is a horrible cd, but this finds its way into my car's CD player all the time. The only reason this CD doesnt get a 5 is because "I'm the Man" (Track 5) is absolutely horrible and I skip over it every time I play the CD. I would definitely reccomend Twenty-Eight Teeth to people who aren't really into this style of music but are bored with their taste and want to try something new.



4. i must say, TWENTY EIGHT TEETH is the first thing which pops in to my head when the word SKA is mentioned. i bought this CD only because i loved Buck-o-Nine's laid back, home town oriented track "my town." i was greatly surprised to find that many of the songs which followed were if not as good, better than my town. how could i not mention the punk anthem "Steve was dead", the fast catchy ska tune to "what happened to my radio" which sounds like your quick ska tune, but then explodes in your face to the fast drum beats and rocking guitars of punk rock!!! AWESOME CD! check it out, ignore all the NEGATIVE REVIEWS!!



5. Well, just recently i bought a few cds from amazon and 28 teeth was one of them. At first i was really hyped up about this cd because of the good things i heard about it but once i popped it into the cd player i was dissapointed. I couldn't even listen to the whole cd the first time i tried because it lost me after the first 5 songs. I expected better ska than this, the horn section is not that impressive and the vocals are just terrible. I must admit that on a select few songs the horn section is OK at best but nothing compared to Mustard Plug or the Mad Caddies. What i would do with the $$$ your about to spend on this cd would be to buy a Mad Caddies cd..... now that is a good band! .....

2 comments about 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Madness.

1. Any fan of Madness who opted to buy their individual albums remastered knows how frustrating it was that either the band or label decided to leave off key singles as bonus tracks. Just to irritate us further they included them as videos within the enhanced portion of the rematers but not the songs themselves. The Specials remastered albums were handled the same way.
   
   This compilation in and of itself is not very comprehensive but is eseential for buyers of the individual remasters in order to have the songs that were not included, such as House of Fun, The Sun And The Rain and Wings of a Dove (A Celebratory Song). If you haven't purchased any of their studio albums remastered yet then I recommend that you pick up The Lot and be done with it. But if you're in the same boat I'm in this is the cheapest way to get the missing songs in a remastered form.
   
   If pressed I'm sure the band or some fan boy would say the usual, "the albums were meant to be released this way...", yadda, yadda, yadda, but the bottom line is that it was lame the way they handled it. Thanks for the videos, but sheesh, what's the point if the songs aren't included as bonus tracks!?! The bottom line is that its just another way to force fans to buy another album that they shouldn't need in the first place.
   
   I hope this helps others avoid the same fate I'm in.



2. This CD is not a complete collection of Hits. Prefer the "Complete Madness". This is a great compilation.

3 comments about New Authentic.

1. Check it out - it is old school, with a little big band, a little jazz - it's amazingly classy, with great tunes. A MUST! One of the top10 in my 200something ska-cd collection!



2. Well, to be quite honest, I haven't heard this album....or any of their CD's.... But i've heard them live! The Robustos are really awesome and their singer has a really beautiful voice. A great match for this band would be Issac Green and the Skalars.

   Furthermore, since I haven't heard the album, i can't really judge 'it' that well...hence, the 3 stars. But as far as actually hearing them live, they deserve the full 5!




3. This is a totally essential album for any self-respecting ska fan, or for anyone with the ability to hear . I haven't taken this cd outta my cd player since I bought it 3 weeks ago. After you buy it, go check out the Robustos live, they are way too awesome.

4 comments about Hopelessly Devoted to You, Vol. 3.

1. this music is good as a fast paced background when painting- no other time, tho...



2. This is easily one of the best punk comps I've ever bought. The songs on here excepting one or two are solid gold. Well worth four dollars, to say the least.. it's one of those CD's it is hard to get tired of...



3. This is the best punk comp I've bought. Like any comp, there's a bunch of ..., but on this one there's just as much good stuff as there is not good stuff. There's about two songs from each band and in most cases, if one song is good, both of them are. The good ones are by Mustard Plug, Selby Tigers, Falling Sickness, Digger, The Queers, The Weakerthans, and, of course, Samiam. There's a few other good ones, but those are my favorites right now. If nothing else, buy this comp for the fact that Samiam and the Weakerthans are on here and that it's only four bucks. -Randy



4. it was a good cd, not the best, but it was ok, for 3.98, it was worth it, go ahead and buy this one.

5 comments about God Bless Satan.

1. If you dont have this, theres something wrong with you. Its very horn orientated ska-(maybe even mariachi) stuff



2. A lot of ska fans don't like this band but I love ska and I love Mephiskapheles. Mephiskapheles has a sound that is both unique and amazing. The lyrics don't make sense sometimes but the way the vocalist sings them makes it sound really good. Songs like Doomsday and Saba are incredible. Some of the best songs I've heard are on this disc.



3. This is perhaps the most evil album ever created!!!! And we all know that evil = greatness!!!!



4. There are very few ska CDs with which I go back to over and over and over. This is the best damn ska CD, period. All of the songs are original and unique in their own way. They mix punk, carribean, jazz, ska, etc. The horn players are all amazing, some of the best the ska scene has to offer. The guitarist, drummer, and bassist are all equally as good. If your not sure if you want to try this band because they are "satanic", dont be fooled. The satanism is a gimmick, to attract people (and I daresay it worked!). I am a christian, and if this band was truly satanic I would not give them a listen ever again...but theyre not! So do yourself a favor, and buy this CD. G.B.S. is by the far the best the ska scene has to offer.



5. I'm actually not really a ska fan. At all. But--this album kicks the kan to kalamazoo. "Saba" and, yes, that fabled "Bumblebee Tuna," make for some pretty swanky driving tunes. I particularly enjoy playing them around people with sticks up there unmentionables, because it's good therapy for them.

1 comments about Golden State of Mind.

1. This sound is so original you may need a few spins to see how good this album really is.