Blondie's Time Is Once Again At Hand

Blondie, the very first band I ever developed an appreciation for and thus launched me into the passion for music that's spanned four decades, is back. New wave goddess Debbie Harry hasn't lost a single step at age 71 and frankly, there's no justice in the world if she doesn't reach 100. Still the royal presence in her New York-based outfit that blew onto the scene in the '70s, Debbie and original sidekicks guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke have succeeded in giving us a time warp back to those late '70s halcyon days on the heels of a vibrant track taken off of the band's eleventh studio album "Pollinator". This beauty's name is "Long Time" and might I say that's an appropriate handle for the song to bear because it shall be remembered for a long time as the band's great late career stroke of genius. The keyboards you know and love are present and accounted for due to relative newbie Matt Katz-Bohen's fine work. Clem's skin bashing remains a benchmark for others in the genre to learn from. Chris Stein lends good old fashioned strumming to this after hours fete. I can wax eloquent on technical merit all day which means I starve and Ear Buzz reaches an undignified conclusion but, in all seriousness, one Deborah Harry has always been the main attraction in the Blondie circus. The video clearly demonstrates the camera still loves her 40 years on. The cinematographer deserved a big raise for capturing a night on the town where Debbie gets to be a ham to her heart's content. The lyrics captures the complexities of boy girl interaction in a high glam style that only a band like Blondie could pull off without appearing clumsy. What electric poetry stems from the boiling core of lines like "I've been running circles 'round a night that never ends. I've been chasing heartache, in a city and a friend." And with that Blondie has me in its boa constrictor clutches once again. The key difference is I don't want to break free from Blondie. The choral refrain has a soap opera drama to it that makes playing voyeur a real pleasure. "Take me, then lose me, then tell them I'm yours. Are you happy? I'm pleased to report that each note has the power to lead you back to your quite possibly carefree younger days. C'mon!! Roll the windows down and let this monster track lead you through the scorching timeframe of summer 2017. "Long Time" appears poised to enjoy a long stay in the hearts of Blondie faithful and new converts alike.

Green Day's Revolution Pulsates With Energy

The pop punk colossus that is Green Day continues to chug along fiercely. "Revolution Radio", the title track lifted from the current project, contains all the focused firepower you've come to expect from Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool. Theirs is a supercharged voyage that doesn't waste a drop of energy on frivolous navel gazing. They've managed to come a long way since the days of "Dookie" but haven't lost the hunger that put them on the musical map in the first place. As usual there's this certain societal intelligence adorning their latest work. Lines like "We are revolution radio operation no control sound like the utterances of a guy who knows his actual ability to influence change doesn't extend very far. His vocals continue to brazenly cut through the artificial clutter of present day life. Tre Cool finds his electric sweet spot behind the drums. The video shows off how completely in the moment they are. As you recall from gems like the appropriately labeled "American Idiot", appropriate meaning ideal for the Trump era slogging we're being forced to live through, this threesome knows how to propel its messages into fourth gear in short order. Billie gets an astute dig in at our moron saturated social media era which is more and more resembling the backdrop of communication for Lord of the Flies except that, in this not so brave new world, everybody who thinks they have something profound to say holds the conch of attention getting. "Revolution Radio" throws a spotlight on what Green Day does best... fire off salvos of brief yet weighty material that can make you think and chortle simultaneously. What lofty heights haven't this music dynamo missed out on. If Green Day hasn't managed to figure out that they've arrived at this juncture in its career then the parade of respect and adulation must have crept past them without their even bothering to notice. For this reviewer "Revolution Radio" fires one hell of a mighty shot off the port bow.

Stone Sour Sounds Fresh As Ever Throughout Song #3

All I can say to metal juggernaut Stone Sour is welcome back. Corey Taylor, you endearing devil, how in the hell are you? The vocalist's crystal clear vocals and room to spare forward momentum are on full display in "Song #3" Let the superlative adjectives fly. On top of Taylor's talents we get Christian Martucci's searing guitar work at the bridge which should make the metal community exhale a collective sigh of satisfaction. Then you have to give drummer Roy Mayorga his due. His sticks cover both fast and technically adept ground. The chord shifts are heavenly. "Song #3" takes us along a winding road too compelling to pass up. The melody couldn't be any tighter if you tried. Its tempo provides an ideal backdrop for a fulfilling night of drinking beer and shooting the breeze. Corey is one of those rock souls who possess a combination of humor and articulateness that I find worth crowing about. He's not afraid to laugh at himself. Check out the accompanying video and you'll get some idea how charming he can be. The plot appears to wrap around his being unable to locate a suitable outfit for the video shoot. Can't be any more organic than that. Lyrically Corey's heart's firmly clinging to his sleeve. With no whiff of self-consciousness about him he boldly declares: "I was gone until I finally saw your face. Now Corey can get away from this ill-conceived notion that he's wasted half his life because since apparently adding a sweetheart to the mix he's got a direction in life. Toward the end of the video Corey finally settles on an outfit and joins his associates to rock out. "Song #3" may be Stone Sour's most accessible track since "Through Glass", and that's a really good thing. That may just earn the five of them new fans and do so without alienating its core aficionados. In short "Song #3" earns the right to be #1 on your iPod shuffle.

Foo Fighters Run Wild And The Results Are Singularly Captivating

Not only is Foo Fighter leader Dave Grohl considered the nicest dude in rock he just might be able to add clown prince to that resume. The brand new single "Run" demonstrates how easily the band can go from subdued yet melodic to what has to be the closest they've come to outright heavy metal face melting. If the accompanying video doesn't have you holding your sides trying to contain the rib ache provoking laughter you're holding back on then you need either a girlfriend to loosen you up, an operation to install a funny bone, or a therapist to slap you around. The Foos go bonkers in an old folks home to impressive results. The opening bars don't prepare you for the psychotic eruption which transpires moments later. Pat Smear's guitar playing throws off any sign of restraint which works perfectly. Bassist Nate Mendel's work shines through the further along the drama gets. Taylor Hawkins blows away his peers in the drumming world. He'S lapping up the campy setting, elder beard and all. So now that you're acquainted with how the rhythms are bopping along what can we say about the lyrics Dave is weaving his way through? You get this undiluted urgency from lines like "Before the time runs out there's somewhere to run." Given the average age of the people in the video making hay while the sun shines sounds like a great idea. Dave insists "You can run with me if you wanted to." Hearing the band effortlessly go from one tempo to another in rapid succession reminds us all why Foo Fighters remains on the short list of bands necessary to keep the rock universe spinning around and around. I respect the pride with which Dave dives into his work. I also like the fact YouTube has a clip of his breaking up a fight in the crowd at one of his shows and subsequently kicks said person out. He's very approachable it would appear. So long as he and his bandmates keep lobbing juicy fruit like "Run" over our port bow there's little reason to think Foo Fighters won't command the rock population for years to come. Simply put "Run" builds up a head of steam that doesn't let up until the last note. It's the first praiseworthy jam of summer 2017.

Basement Forges A Delivered Promise To Rock Hard

Hailing from Ipswich, England,Basement packs an impressive wallop in just 2:33 with "Promise Everything". Right from the start these guys lay down some incredible guitar thunder and in tantalizing chord change-ups no less. Whoever brought the contraband Jolt Cola to that side of the pond deserves both a little something extra in the pay envelope. Alex Henery tears into his guitar parts and you know he's completely caught up in his band's magic moment. Likewise drummer James Fisher has the vim of a first grader getting into the swing of recess. The percussive patterns he pounds out have you rooting for his band's future prospects. One of the genres Basement happens to be filed under is punk rock. That makes perfect sense to me because pioneer punk rockers The Ramones got a lot communicated in short spans of time. Not only that but Basement has much of the same tightly wound energy synonymous with the genre. It's impressive how the genre has thrived on its say your peace and get out ethos. Flipping over to the lyric sheet there's naughty mischief afoot. Lead vocalist Andrew Fisher knows the lady of his dreams can win him over with a smile and burn him with her eyes simultaneously. He loves her but she tries to kill him every time, not literally of course but the sting of spurned love hurts just the same. At the loosely constructed bridge Duncan Stewart flexes his ample bass muscle. You might call his efforts somewhat of a palate cleanser, a chance to rest following Alex and co-conspirator Ronan Crix's guitar-based frontal assault on the senses. "Promise Everything" comes as close as possible to an abbreviated workout, sweat included. If the promise was to excite audiences via hard driving technical mastery with a dash of romantic intrigue thrown in then Basement kept it in spades.

Muse Doesn't Dig Deep Enough To Impress

Muse often incorporates annihilation and distrust of political leaders in its music. During "Dig Down" vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Christopher Wolstenhome and drummer Dominic Howard return to those topics but their usual bouncing off the ceiling cosmic energy proves itself to be greatly lacking. You get a lot of fuzzy keyboards and inoffensive drumming but not enough intensity to make me say that the song belongs in the same breath as true classics as "Knights of Cydonia or "Hysteria". I shudder to say that this sounds like something the band phoned in and in so doing opted to rest on its laurels after a decade of fairly consistent quality work. I confess Muse is one of the only bands walking the face of the Earth that could get away with coasting a bit but still you like to think a Muse song generally poses an invitation to be the voyeur for an unabashed production number that explores the outer limits of what can be done to broaden the parameters of rock artistry. "Dig Down" shuffles on through like it knows what message it's trying to convey and is willing to take its time getting to the point. Essentially Muse tries to rally us troop members in the name of not allowing the darkness to overpower the light even after hope and love have disintegrated into funereal ash. Vocally Matt maintains his strong yet sinister take on the world he sees around him. However nestled deep in the lyric sheet there is an insistence on trying to find a way to stay strong that proves Matthew hasn't surrendered to impending doom. Especially touching are these words in verse one. "We must find a way. Face the firing squad. Against all the odds you will find a way." Matt's the kind of friend I want hanging around me during my darkest moments. He's both a realist and a guarded optimist. He has his doubts about whether humanity as a collective will pull through but he doesn't rain on anyone's potential parade either. I hate to say this but Matt's teased up synths don't really add a whole lot to the potential heft "Dig Down" could've had if he had allowed them to spread their wings just a bit. With other Muse tracks I usually get treated to some defining adjective that allows me to see up close and personal what the band's mindset might have been. For instance "Hysteria" might be referred to as panic stricken. "Stockholm Syndrome" suggests a person broken into a million pieces who's trying desperately to atone for previous sins. As for "Knights of Cydonia" that shouts gunslinger in an outer space frontier. Pretty huge declarations compared to "Dig Down" which comes off like the neighbor who doesn't want to overstay his welcome. Some idle pleasantries and then it's back to the old homestead. For "Dig Down" Muse brought plenty of prog rock grit but didn't bring along a large enough shovel.

Paramore Comes Off Smelling Like a Rose For Its Latest

If you take nothing else away from Paramore's new effort "Rose-Colored Boy", let that something be that vocalist Hayley Williams isn't going to smile if she doesn't want to. Hard to see how she could avoid the terminal cutes with a beat drenched in the keenest rays of sunshine, quite possibly Paramore's lightest confection to date. Hayley killed off what was left of the optimist in her. After all we can't wear rose-colored glasses all the time. Not with the evil circling the world from Manchester to Paris. Anyhow the overall mood doesn't hesitate to be beguiling which makes Hayley the consummate killjoy. Zac Faro kicks up quite the cloud of dust on drums. That lends some much appreciated spark to the tune, some gumption that Hayley already had in spades but its nice to hear other band members like Zac hold up their end of the load. Hayley is so tired of people going on about the world that they'd like to see rather than the unflinching reality of the world before them. Taylor York tosses in some warmth on guitar, again running counter to Hayley's message of accepting what is instead of humoring the fantasy ideal. Pace wise this proceeds at a likable trot, the better to enjoy the ins and outs of a track that won't leave you depressed for weeks on end. Hayley has been a vocalist heavy on spunk since the days of the "Riot" LP. Time has been truly good to her despite the usual band lineup shifts and other assorted pieces pf sturm und drang that follow most rock groups around like a dark lingering shadow. Hayley has been the constant and, for rock lovers everywhere, that's highly great news. She has shown herself to be one of the women on the short list of best femme rock vocalists of the still fairly new 21st century. This for all the world sounds like prime tune temptation best enjoyed sunning on Lake Travis during a gorgeous sunny afternoon. Beach balls anyone? Hayley goes on about raging wars and breaking hearts set to an aesthetic that's far removed from grim world events. Hayley wants to be left to engage in her pity party a bit longer and who are we to stop her. The girl knows what she wants and knows how to speak up about it. "Rose-Colored Boy" lives up to its name offering up sweet smelling melody and enough room to smell the roses hidden in the title. Bonus points for making reality sound so polished like a newly cut diamond. The polish is infectious and will linger in your brain for weeks after listening. This rose is a welcome addition to the current rock landscape.