Mirage Rock by Band of Horses

With the release of their new album Band of Horses is making a strong attempt at moving to next step of success. Acclaim and praise is not new for this band, previous albums have met with strong critical reviews and songs such as The Funeral and No One's Gonna Love You are of that group of songs that more people know than think they do, attribution to the band is still less.

Mirage Rock is a deeper record with nods to seventies rock, The Byrds, and for those looking for the most perfect comparison a review of nineties Jayhawks would be a good place to start.

The opening track Knock, Knock is a song destined to be popular, following that How to Live stronger still. The first true hit of the album is Slow Cruel Hands of Time. With sweet guitar, perfect harmonies and a haunting lyric everything good and yet everything limited in this album becomes apparent. I have to say that if I close my eyes and someone told me this was a track from Smile of Town Hall by The Jayhawks, albums I am not as familiar with as I should be, I would accept that information. The Jayhawks are a wonderful band, one of my favorites, and have a niche fanbase that is as dedicated as one can find. They were never a commercial success. It would appear Band of Horses must know in this day of teeny pop and rap music that their audience is limited.

A Little Biblical, Everything's Gonna Be Undone, and especially Heartbreak on the 101 are killer tracks that will be on many playlists from those in the know. This is a band I would go see and a band that will continue to develop their fan base with albums like this.

Perhaps Band of Horses is an indictment on popular music, unless a band such as this puts their songs on Grey's Anatomy, the chances of a major breakthrough are limited. Perhaps that is a good thing for fans of a band such as this.

This is a very good album

A Different Kind of Truth by Van Halen

Van Halen is one of those landmark bands. Divided into the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar era's. With a bit of a soap opera slant over the last twenty years with Eddie's divorce, Eddie losing his teeth, Eddie's alcoholism, the infamous Gary Cherrone period, the Sammy fueds, firing Micheal Anthony to place Wolfgang in the band, Van Halen has been known for about anything but music.

While it is true that the six albums Van Halen released through 1984 did not have a great deal of range it is also true that these albums had some fantastic songs, even if they all could have appeared on one longplay album and saved us all much time.

Still when reviewung my high school years the songs of Van Halen are front and center. Deservedly so.

The release of A Diffent Kind of Truth was a bit of a surprise. Rumors have been the diet of the Van Halen crowd for years so when this album appeared just a month after the announcemtn of it we all felt a bit surprised.

After listening to the album however we have a differnt feeling. It is not deja vu. It is boredom. Now I think a fair question to ask is does the music miss the mark by that much or do I. I am not a teenager anymore. A 45 year old man cannot review music in the same way as a teenager can. I find the same thing with new Jayhawks, and new Bruce that I do with new Van Halen. Music cannot have the same impact when your 45 as does music that you have heard for the last thirty years and has become part of your DNA.

This album is just not that good. I wish it was. What I do not know is could anything grab me like Van Halen I and II. The first single Tattoo is solid. When we are told it contains remenants of riffs from the seventies we are not surprised. On the song Big River I hear some shredding from Eddie that certainly sounds familiar. Maybe it is hearing David Lee make references to Facebook, it just does not click. All I know is if I never hear this album or any songs on it again in my life I will not care. I will however be listening to And The Cradle Will Rock when I am sixty however.

Mockingbird Time by The Jayhawks

I love the Jayhawks. A band that never quite broke huge on the commercial scene they were very influential on a great number of bands. Albums such as Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass are still high on the playlists of many fans, myself included.

In 2003 the album Rainy Day Music was released. With only one of the original two singers present the album was cohesive and strong, still my favorite Jayhawks album.

Recently an anthology was released and its success caused the band to renew their efforts and record a new album of material called Mockingbird Time. I was very excited about this and had looked forward to this fall release all summer. After having listened to the album several times in the last week I have to say that this is one reunion that need not have happened, perhaps a tour but the new music is weak. I am not sure why, the harmonies are still there and I am sure they try. Still it is easily apparent they had little to say. Hide your Colors has been the first single and while acceptable, nothing to hate for sure, it is nothing to remember either. That is probably the nicest one can say about this. You do not hate it but you do not remember it. You have no knowledge of it after you hear it.

This was a huge disappointment.