Pressure & Time by Rival Sons

Released:  July 26, 2011
Rating:  72.00

This is Rock 'n' Roll!

Nominated by Classic Rock Magazine as the best New Band and for Best Album.

This is the first major label release for the Southern California quartet - vocalist, guitar, bass and drums.  (They've also self-released an EP and a digital-only album.)  Most call it Blues rock, and I definitely hear the connection (ZZ Top, Aerosmith and Bad Company), but I think it's oversimplified.  I also hear a lot psychedelia.  (One song reminds me of Three Dog Night.)  And even some gospel.

Mayhem by Imelda May

Released:  July 19, 2011
Rating:  76.00

This is the best thing to happen in the US market this summer. 

Imelda May, from Dublin, Ireland, draws inspiration from Billy Holiday and American swing.  The album includes rockabilly, jazz, a little country and even a waltz. (I could have lived without the waltz).  The rockabilly and some of the jazz reminds me a lot of Gwen Stefani with No Doubt, but a lot of it is completely original.

There is so much here to check out.  My favorite is Psycho and this is the official video release.  She also does a fun cover of Soft Cell's Tainted Love and Let Me Out sounds sounds so much like No Doubt that I could picture Gwen Stefani doing it.  For a great example of her jazz arrangements, try Bury My Troubles.

This album joins a 4-way tie for my number 10 album of the year.

Last Summer By Eleanor Friedberger

Released: July 12.2011
Rating:  72.00

June is over.  It wasn't a great month in music for me.  I managed to pick up 5 releases and one of them was a compilation.  July looks even bleaker, musically (although it was a great month personally; I spent a week in Monterey with my wife and daughter.)  In any event, there were a few nice surprises, starting with this.

Eleanor Friedberger is better known as half of the brother/sister duo, The Fiery Furnaces from Oak Park, IL.  This is her first solo release and it's a real joy.  It's less frenetic than Fiery Furnaces, but just as much fun.  (Side note:  I got to see her perform live on August 19 at the Fox Theater in Oakland, where she opened for The Kills.)  I was absolutely blown away by Inn Of The Seventh Ray.  I also really like Heaven.  In fact, there's not a bad cut on the album.

I can't really compare her to anything (other than her own band with her brother.)  If you hear something else, let me know.

Taking Back Sunday by Taking Back Sunday

Released:  June 28, 2011
Rating:  72.00

This is a terrific album.  Although it's their seventh album, it's only the second with the original line-up;  which makes it sort of the sophomore album for the quintet from Amityville New York.  These guys fall under the Alt Rock category, but the sound (if not the band members) reminds me of the better '80s hair metal bands.  Not a lot of a back story here. Just some great music.

My favorite two songs can be heard by clicking on the titles:  Who Are You Anyway? or Money (Let It Go).  I could only find a 93 second streaming example of the latter.

Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs

Released June 28, 2011
Rating 71.11

I'm not sure what it is about this husband-and-wife duo from Montreal.  (He's the front man from Wolf Parade.) This is my second album by them (their third) and there isn't much that blows me away, but I really love the stuff as a package.  The previous album (Face Control) was based on Russian influences fro their tours in Eastern Europe.  This album is influenced by their two-year tour of Asia.  Given that this album (different than the two previous, is devoid of guitars and the percussion comes from a machine, only things I can compare them to is a lot of the cooler '80s stuff (Depeche Mode or the Thompson Twins). 

Try Damage or What About Us?  (FYI, the actual album cover, for reasons not completely clear, is a photo of a nude woman - full frontal.  It's not what I chose to put here, but it what's on the youtube version.)

Rave On, Buddy Holly by Various Artists

Released:  June 28, 2011
Rating:  72.63

19 songs by Buddy Holly, one of the greatest song writers of all time, covered by 19 very different bands.  Think about it:  His entire career lasted from May of 1957 (when That'll Be The Day was released) until he died in an airplane crash with Richie Valens and The Big Bopper on February 3, 1959 - "The Day The Music Died".  In less than two years he wrote and released 40 songs and had 8 top 40 hits.

My only challenge with the album is that so many kept the arrangements so close to the originals.  I mean, when The Black Keys play Dearest, I want to hear The Black Keys, not a Buddy Holly sound-alike.  Notable exceptions include Patti Smith's take on Words of Love (my favorite song on the album), Paul McCartney doing It's So Easy and Lou Reed's rendition of Peggy Sue.  You can stream every song (or the entire album) by clicking soundcloud.