Kent's Music and Opinions blog

Alter Bridge
Live in Amsterdam
DC3 Music Group
www.alterbridge.com
Review by Kent Manthie
So, first there was a serious, creative and original (non-christian) rock band from Seattle that called themselves Pearl Jam. They got big really fast – in fact, their debut CD, Ten had about six or seven hits on there that you heard on the radio all the time. After this success the copycats came out of the woodwork – first it was Stone(d) Temple Pilots, who were mediocre at best, but Scott Weiland had just enough of that sly baritone to make them sound like a Pearl Jam for the hard-rock, teenager set. OK, then both bands stuck around awhile, making album after album until both bands exhausted themselves, creatively. Then in the first few years of this decade came around such derivatives as Creed, Staind and a band who even stole their name from an Alice in Chains song – Godsmack and so on and so on. Now Pearl Jam hardly even get their new songs played on the radio anymore – just the old “classics”, like “Even Flow”, “Jeremy”, “Black” and from their sophomore effort, VS., “Animal” and “Daughter” – but since Eddie Vedder climbed out of the marketable pigeonhole, Pearl Jam seem like persona non grata. That’s kind of ironic, seeing as they started the whole thing.
Anyway that brings us to this Creed-hybrid, Alter Bridge. I say “hybrid” because Alter Bridge is basically Creed minus Scott Stapp, their singer. Now, singing for them is this guitar player named Myles Kennedy. In case you never knew this, Creed has always had this underbelly of Christianity to them – a perverse, almost subliminal, cult-like Christianity. Simultaneously released with their new CD, Blackbird, is a concert DVD, entitled, Live in Amsterdam.
The death of Creed, I must confess, was news to me. I never knew they broke up and to tell you the truth, couldn’t care less. But now with this new incarnation of Creed, Alter Bridge, watch out – they want to convert you en masse. They don’t shoot dope or get drunk before their shows, but have prayer circles and other weird little jeezuz rituals beforehand. The first release they recorded, One Day Remains was a big hit, press releases say that critics hailed it as a great record, but I wonder which critics’ opinions they were talking about – blurb writers for People magazine or real rock critics for SPIN magazine, New Musical Express or Maximum Rock & Roll (may that mag rest in peace), because any self-respecting music critic that knows what they’re talking about would’ve said that it was derivative and not something that stuck out in one’s memory. Even lyrically it sounds like a bunch of cut & pasted words from a “banal rock band lyric machine” website.
Because of the waning popularity for bands like Creed and their ilk, which, like any other passing fad, eventually comes to an end, their original record label, Wind-Up records dropped them, leaving them to twist in the wind, that is, until they finally were picked up by Major label devils Universal-Republic (an arm of GE). That’s the label that released their latest CD, Blackbird, which, surprisingly, sounds a lot like One Day Remains.
Their new DVD, just out, Live in Amsterdam shows Alter Bridge rocking and rolling. Luckily they weren’t throwing bibles into the crowd or quoting bible verses. Seriously though, guitarists Kennedy and Tremonti nicely complement each other, riffing off each other, making for some intense guitar duets and the other two – the rhythm section of Brian Marshall on drums and Scott Phillips on Bass are a great anchor, especially the booming bass that has a great effect on the band’s overall style in the concert.
The live performance comes off without a hitch. The music rolls along seamlessly, you see a typical milquetoast-band rocking out, with all the attendant moves and grooves. -KM

The Magic Mixture
This is the Magic Mixture
Self-Released
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
Originally issued in 1967
Talk about a blast from the past! The Magic Mixture – and oh what meaning that would’ve had in the lysergic 1960s music and arts scene!- has just three years of tunes re-released on this one CD, entitled This is the Magic Mixture. The first twelve tracks recorded in June of 1968, songs 13 & 14 recorded “late 1967”, with Simon Kirke on drums – the same Simon Kirke that would later show up with Paul Rodgers in both Free and Bad Company and numbers 15-18 recorded “early 1969”, with Cliff “Fifi” Reuter on drums. The main lineup, at least in 1969, consisted of Jack McCulloch on drums, Terry Thomas on guitar, Mel Hacker on bass and Stan Curtis also playing guitar.
They do a cover of a Spirit song on here (“Fresh Garbage”), but even if that wasn’t on here I’d still say that they reminded me of Spirit – they have a similar psychedelic-bluesy-pop combination that was all at once a free-spirited jam, a ripped down, guitar, keyboard, bass & drum rock ‘n’ roll set and a pop sensibility in the lyrics and the way they croon and swoon to the putative girls that they hoped would be dancing and screaming and scrambling to get backstage after the gig. Another band that comes to mind, listening to this This is the Magic Mixture is Iron Butterfly – it’s that tinny electronic keyboard that does it married with the psychedelic guitar work.
There’s a story that tells how they did an opening gig for Pink Floyd in the latter’s early days (come to think of it, Syd Barrett’s Floyd wasn’t all that different in style and sound, except the LSD wasn’t as free-flowing) and at the spur of the moment, the Magic Mixture had this bright idea to do their own version of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, with the two guitarists jamming and freaking out off against each other. This version proved so good that when Pink Floyd took to the stage later and happened to do the same song (it was their song!) – the audience seemed to (I don’t know how this was gauged) like The Magic Mixture’s version better, which, of course, was embarrassing for Floyd and after that little gaffe The Mixture were never asked to open up for them again.
That little anecdote is just one microcosm of how groovy these guys were, how crafty and clever they were and spontaneous on their feet.
After the Mixture broke up, Terry and Stan formed a band called Ax, which featured drummer Nicko McBrain, later of Iron Maiden and later, after some internal personnel problems, Terry & Stan formed another band with John Anderson (not Jon Anderson of Yes) on bass and Steve Gadd on drums and called themselves Charlie and they went on to record some eight albums and getting radio airplay in the UK and the States. I don’t know if you remember Charlie, but after some effort, they finally scored a hit with the radio hit – their only one – “It’s Inevitable”, which was a typical 80s rock steady hit. But that’s about where the story ends.
There are three cover songs on this collection: the aforementioned Spirit song, “Fresh Garbage” as well as a Traffic tune, “Pearly Queen” and Ry Cooder’s “My Days Are Numbered”.
It’s very novelty-oriented: a collection of old second tier, acid rock numbers by a band that never quite went away but frayed and went in their own directions, at least Terry and Stan made a continuing go of it, I’m not entirely sure what way Mel and Jack went.
But now, with This is the Magic Mixture, their new compilation of 18 songs, 15 their own, they are primed for a new generation of kids who dig those groovy hippie jams.
Also – and I’m not sure if this was done on purpose to evoke the “vinyl experience” of listening to them way back when on a phonograph instead of the CD of today – you can hear, underneath the music, little scratches and that hiss that makes it unmistakable that you’re listening to a 33 1/3 record album.
A couple songs that stand out and could still be relevant today are “(I’m So) Sad”, “Tomorrow’s Sun” and “Captain Marvel”. But even though Terry Thomas’s guitar playing is really good and rings with the wah-wah pedal and fiery solos and the rhythm section keeps a good beat and the bass & drums work nicely together, it unfortunately, mostly has a dated quality to it. But anytime you want to close your eyes and take a trip back to this wacky decade, throw this CD on and like Mr. Peabody’s wayback machine, you’ll be transported back and the good part is you’ll bypass all the riots, the Vietnam War protests and all the killing that went on -the Kennedys, MLK, Malcolm X, plus myriad other unnamed civil rights workers and so on; you’ll go straight to the isle of the Summer of Love. -KM

Ape
Survival of the Fittest
Barred Records
www.apeband.com
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
Toronto-based metal band, Ape, has just released their first full-length CD, entitled Survival of the Fittest. The band was founded a few years ago by guitarist/vocalist and songwriter Everett Mason and bass player Galen Weir. To complete the circle of this trio, they’ve brought in drummer Carlos Aguilera.
Now, the label “metal” doesn’t have quite the same connotations as it did in the 1980s and the 1990s? Well, let’s just say that your average “mainstream” metal disappeared, not being able to compete with such “serious” bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the former metalheads, Alice in Chains and the intense Soundgarden, whose intricate melodies and unique mixtures and textures of sound was like Teflon if you tried to call it metal – it never stuck – just when you thought you had ‘em tagged, they’d blow yer mind with something really crazy like Superunknown’s “Head Down”, for instance.
Ironically, however, the more I listened to Survival of the Fittest, the more I picked up little tidbits of Alice in Chains, not the super-groovy harmonies that Jerry Cantrell and the late, great Layne Staley sang together, but in the music – the guitar, the rhythms and the attitude, except for the junkie-’tude part, although there are some cool harmonies on here too, like on “So Lonely”, for instance.
Other tunes that stand out include “Beyond the Depths of Reality”, something that starts out like a “Korn”-fed song, but then travels beyond, without the angry, bombastic bluster, instead taking off with a frenetic, twin-guitar solo, more akin to early Iron Maiden and early Metallica fused together, at about six minutes long it goes through a few different phases and time changes, showing a real maturity in their song structures.
The next tune, “So Lonely” is the closest they come to doing a (goddamned) “power-ballad” – except for the really cool guitar riffs that rip through the whole thing. But in reality, it’s not a ballad at all, but a cathartic, angst-ridding song that reflects one who is somewhat sad at the end of a relationship gone sour. But my favorite tune on Survival… is “Irate Primate” a real jam of a tune, that starts out with a quick kick-ass drum intro, then a drum & bass jam for a few seconds that eventually cues the guitar to come in and next thing you know the whole thing takes off and you can’t stop listening, can’t stop tapping your toes or bobbing your head up & down. It too has an Iron Maiden guitar sound-alike to it in some parts, but in others it’s more Yngwie-ish and the bass is just awesome – a bumpin’, thumpin’ funkified rumbling. This instrumental jam is the one tune that will make skeptics jump the fence to the “ooh” side.
All in all, as I said, the music jumps between sounding a little like Alice in Chains and Iron Maiden, musically. Vocalistically, to coin a word, they don’t sound like anyone in particular, only their own attitude and style come through. You definitely won’t get it mixed up with some other band. But the vocals are not the crowning achievement of Survival of the Fittest, it’s the way the music metamorphosizes into an ever-higher-reaching idealistic dreamscape.
The best thing about Ape is that they too can’t – or won’t – fit into a “metal” box, even though it is definitely hard rock all the way – no synths or samples or experimentality on here, but the virtuosity of the guitar and the bass speak volumes ahead of the former. - KM

Tippycanoe and the Paddlemen
Parasols and Pekingese
Late Bloomers Works
http://www.tippycanoe.net
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
Michele Kappel, aka Tippycanoe and her band, the Paddlemen, have just come out with their latest CD – Parasols and Pekingese a countrified CD full of a Bay Area (they’re from Oakland) brand of country – not a pathetic warbling full of xenophobic lyrics about how America is such a perfect place or full of sycophantic political, right-wing jerk-offs, but more pop-filled sensibilities, upbeat narratives, the kind of laid back country you’ve heard from Neil Young’s forays into that genre over the years.
With a beautiful voice, Tippycanoe just takes over the whole band, although the musicians play great stuff as well. But her sweet, angelic voice can harmonize, solo and wail and playfully fill up the pages.
Parasols and Pekingese is a CD that has a definite Bay Area connection – and I don’t just mean because they’re from Oakland. The music evokes the myriad styles and sounds that were juxtaposed in San Francisco back in the 60s – like the jug band that morphed into the Grateful Dead, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks that came out of Hicks’s Charlatans (not the UK popsters from the 1990s). Then there was Doug Sahm, Moby Grape and the unmistakable bluesy-boozy voice of Janis Joplin. All these characters, plus the one and only Jefferson Airplane were a part of a big clique of unique, mind-bending, mores-changing bands that did more than just play great music. They turned kids who were bored to death by the banality of the television of the era (we’re still waiting for that mess to change…) the crap that radio stations tried to force-feed down their throats (The Archies, Nancy Sinatra, The Dave Clark Five, etc) all went westward to tune in, turn on and drop out like former Harvard Psychology Professor Timothy Leary and his Harvard partner Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass told them to do – LSD was the driving force in changing attitudes, opening up hitherto unknown parts of consciousness and helping to delve into subconscious fears, ideas, needs, wants and more. Too bad it was outlawed in California on August 12, 1966 and from then on had to be bootlegged and eventually, as a result, the good, laboratory stuff was banished to the farthest corners of the CIA’s warehouses.
Anyway, back to Tippycanoe and the Paddlemen – her brand of music is not a retrograde, back-to-the-60s rehash of what’s come before, but more of a continuation of something that was lost – seemingly forever – after about 1968-69, when the whole “peace love and flower-power stuff died out and nihilism took over along with heroin traded for LSD and pot. The Vietnam War was seemingly never-ending and Nixon was a nightmare who couldn’t be trusted and after the whole Johnson fiasco, Nixon nailed the coffin shut on people trusting the government or thinking of it as the answer to anything and not the cause of the problems. OK, so NASA sent men to the moon – yea – but what about quelling the unrest in the streets of Watts or Detroit or Chicago or Harlem, and beyond? While the spacemen were walking on the moon, rioters, looters and straight-up gang-bangers, heroin pushers, junkies so sick they had to burglarize your house for a fix and more bad news was going on down here on planet earth.
Then suddenly, Watergate blew the whole government to bits, as far as any kind of trust between the governed and the government, which led to Ford, which led to a decade of cocaine and booze and a devil-may-care attitude, politics be damned. In fact, why the hell bother when all politicians were corrupt, uncaring, bribe taking criminals? So, the kids just went to the discos, snorted all the coke they could and danced the nights away to the most banal of music. There were plenty of musical exceptions – David Bowie, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd and other respectable bands and artists. But for the most part the 70s was one big sell out to the man. So what, exactly did the 60s accomplish except for the sexual revolution and looser inhibitions, but then again, what did that ultimately cost? In the 80s sex came to equal death, with the advent of AIDS. Not to continue a history of the music and its relationship to the times and ideals.
But nowadays there is another musical revolution going on – many juxtapositions and hybrids of styles and genres. In the past decade music has turned into a real democratic institution – with the advent of the internet and the ubiquity of home studios and computerized music-making capability one can sit in one’s bedroom and make a really great record, a la Owen or Lou Barlow, etc.
But back to Tippycanoe: she and her Paddlemen have taken that DIY spirit and brought back the simple, hopeful, pleasant, pie-in-the-sky hopefulness that abounded in the early to mid 60s. With Parasols and Pekingese, they showcase their adeptness at writing comfortable, mellowed out songs and release them on their own they’ve married today’s technology with the wandering, free-spiritedness that pre-dated the psychedelic “Summer of Love” acid tests.
Cheers to them and bravo to Tippycanoe and The Paddlemen for shining a light on the country-blues-rock that they want to play and can without any interference from some heartless record honcho in Hollywood. -KM

The Shake-Ups
Breathing the Flood
Self-released 2008
http://www.theshakeups.net
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
The latest CD from power-pop mavens, The Shake-Ups, Breathing the Flood, is the fifth or sixth album from these hipsters from the heartland of the US – Indiana and it is true that some of the best bands are those that come from the strangest, most unlikeliest places a band could hail from – think Husker Du or The Replacements (or even Prince) – all from Minneapolis, MN or Sebadoh/Dino Jr, from Lowell, Massachusetts. You may not get into Breathing the Flood at first listen, but chances are that in the hours and days that follow, the memory of it will stick in your head until you realize that you just can’t get this or that tune out of your head. Something about it keeps on ringing in your ear like tinnitus. Is it Emo in drag? No, I wouldn’t say that at all, but it is somewhat derivative; I hear a little bit of Magnetic Fields in there, some shined up Cocteau Twins and the like.
To accentuate the positive, though, The Shake-Ups do have a keen sense of melody and the know how to stick barbed hooks into their music that stay in you long after the disc is over – especially the ethereal parts.
For example, on the song “Wishful Sinking” there is a groovy Doors-style (Fender/Rhodes?), pre-synthesizer electric keyboard, with that unmistakable whirligig sound, the high-pitched, carnival-esque and catchy as hell sound that drowns out much of the rest of the tuneage on the cut, but damn it’s nice to hear that style of keyboarding in new music.
On other cuts they bust out pianos, organs, synths, pre-programmed to make the apropos accompaniment to the particular song, which makes it probably the grooviest tune on Breathing the Flood. Another surprise groovy tune is the final cut – the title track, a seven minute tune that starts out with a pillow-soft, kitty-cat anthem that in that guise is only about four minutes or so long, then if you have the patience to wait through a minute of dead air you get a bonus: a trippy, synth-heavy, droning, meditative ambience that is the perfect way to wind this power-pop trip down. At the very end of it is a sample of a unintelligible, gruff male voice that mumbles something and then that is the end.
In essence, though, it’s very hard to judge Breathing the Flood because of it’s ever-changing moods (apologies to Paul Weller & Mick Talbot). For the most part, though it’s a shimmering escapist set of melodies that, luckily, evade the chasm of Emo. Also, “power-pop” is not a very good label to stick on it either, as that evokes images of spoiled white rich kids from Southern California whose dads know people that know people that get them those undeserved record contracts and then, even though it’s been officially illegal for years, the payola that is served up to myriad radio stations in markets that matter get ‘em on the radio and then the pretend popularity spawned from that eventually gets “blow-back” that sends their stuff to Nowheresville, Iowa or Steersandqueers, Texas and other great heights of America, until voila – they become hits. What a way to go, huh? Sure beats working for a living and it sure beats having to wrack your brains to come up with original, fresh and unique styles that don’t need the stupid radio machinery to gather up a cult-following, but catch on via word-of-mouth, college radio airplay and constant touring all over the country in little but cool clubs from The Whiskey or Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA to the Continental Club in Austin, TX to First Avenue in Minneapolis and the Metro in Chicago to name a few awesome little clubs. Let’s see what these cats can pull off at one of those aforementioned clubs or any other of thousands like them in a live setting – that’s the ultimate test of how great a band is – whether they can do what they do in the studio as well as on stage, with no engineers and producers to polish things up. Good luck and good night…KM

Sir Splendid
Diamond Dreams
Self-Released CD
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
San Diego, even though it’s a sleepy Navy and retiree city – like a really big small town, if that makes sense (it does if you’ve ever been here) has actually spawned quite a number of popular bands that have made it to the “big time” – you might have heard of Blink-182, Reeve Oliver, Pinback, Thingy, Heavy Vegetable and Switchfoot, just to name a few.
The latest pop-rock band to emerge from this Florida of the West Coast is Sir Splendid, who’ve just released their newest CD, Diamond Dreams,a guitar-heavy, angst-filled vocal-ridden, but not nihilistic or dirge playing band; the music is a pleasant mix of Marcus B. on guitars, sometimes jangly, sometimes full-on British-sounding singing, courtesy of lead singer, Davey Dave. The band is filled out by Paul C. on drums and Schinelli on bass. These four, one-named cats stick to the typical Southern California sound, but without the cloying Blink-182 smarminess.
A couple memorable songs on their new CD, Diamond Dreams are “The Water”, which is slowed down a bit from the others, but has this instantly memorable hook that is in it from the get-go. It’s a jazzy guitar lick that underpins a sleepy, catchy and (un)fortunately a radio-ready tune that could easily mesmerize the masses. Also memorable is the following tune, “Black Fire”, a trippy ditty with a little jalapeno kick to it.
All in all, Sir Splendid is the kind of band that you’d have a blast seeing at one of the very few clubs in San Diego (yeah, this is a lame city): The Casbah, Canes or 4th & B.
Keep an ear open on indie-music stations and if you see them coming to your area anytime soon, go check ‘em out. -KM

Mod Amish
No Use For Sunshine
Punch Ass Productions
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
Got Mod? – San Diego’s Mod Amish does and their modern-rock isn’t gimmicky nor do they fit into a box labeled “Emo” “Power-pop” or “Punk manqué”, they just do their own thing and make no apologies for it.
Their latest, self-released (for Punch Ass Productions -is that a label or what?) CD – No Use For Sunshine is a full-length, 10-song CD. The entire CD clocks in around 45 minutes at most and so is not too long, none of that self-indulgent experimentality that serves as running gags or in-jokes.
As examples, tunes like “Disgrace”, a plaintive wail of a lament of lost loves and innocence. The closing song, “The Vatican Song” is a song that has many catchy hooks, great guitar riffs and solos; the tune starts out with high velocity guitar riffs and the vocals recall the late, great Bon Scott at his peak. I’m not sure exactly why they’re singing about The Vatican, I mean, unless you’re unleashing a tirade against the one institution that hides and abets child molesting priests-especially pederast priests in the US – gawd, that’s enough to make any Catholic puke and throw their plastic crucifix down the toilet, unless they’ve grown a brain and did it already!
Actually, “The Vatican Song” is probably the most rocking tune on No Use For Sunshine. That’s not to say the rest are easy listening snoozers, far from it. Other tunes, like “September”, “Involving a Hearse” and “The One I Want” are all harmonious songs with lots of heart and soul put into it.
Mod Amish don’t present with any particular “new” sound, they’re not playing with noises or mixing together juxtapositions of different genres, it’s all just straight ahead rock and roll but not dated and not derivative either, they do have a remarkable knack for writing clever tunes, catchy music and wry lyrics. Mod Amish are there own best friends but – watch out, guys, you could end up being your worst enemies too – Stay true to your roots and don’t try any trickery and keep away from funny-looking dudes with funny-looking goatees and devilish intentions who want you to go disco or remix your stuff, that isn’t you and make no mistake, your true fans will see right through it! New hangers-on after “pop goes the weasel” fluff will inevitably be fair weather friends who have no idea what the real Mod Amish is (was?) all about. Think: Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum, REM, etc.
Keep that in mind when you get visits from well-dressed mooks
who promise you the moon in the future and remember, I’m impressed by this CD and wish that more bands would take the time to be creative and innovative and put the personal in the public sphere. Never let anyone tell you what to do, especially when it comes to the kind of style you have. Just keep remembering that songs like “The Vatican Song” and “Disgrace” are templates that you should consider working from – but don’t just re-hash the same old thing. What I mean is that the energy, wit and creative spark should all come together to keep up a constant change but also keep that one spark of genius, virtuosity, for lack of a better term going and don’t let the idea that getting on the radio is the end-all-be-all. Remember – those radio hits usually mean nothing and “hits” don’t stay “hits” forever, eventually, without the talent and ideas to back it up, those guys will fade into the woodwork sooner or later – and don’t make your public wait too long for a follow-up; remember: out of sight = out of mind. -KM

Joan of Arc Presents:
Don’t Mind Control
Polyvinyl Records
Reviewed by Kent Manthie
Extra, Extra: Just out! A new CD featuring current and sometime and former members of the Joan of Arc gang, Don’t Mind Control; bands with JOA alumni including Euphone, Disappears, Birdshow, Ghosts & Vodka, Pillars & Tongues, The Zoo Wheel, Vacations, The Cairo Gang and more as well as artists we all know and love like Owen (Mike Kinsella), his bro, Tim Kinsella, Cale Parks and Jeremy Boyle.
Don’t Mind Control, then, is obviously not a new Joan of Arc album but rather a compilation of songs by other bands and artists affiliated with JOA. It’s great to hear another new tune by Owen, who, by the way, recently came out with his latest solo CD, New Leaves, which is an awesome work of musical bliss. Cale Parks too, recently came out with Sparklace about a year ago, which is typical Cale Parks – heavy keyboards & synths, mellow, spacey grooves that put one in a Zen sort of mood.
The disc starts off with a real rockin’ tune by Disappears called “Guider”, a swirling, mind bender of a starter. The next tune is a very catchy number by Litesalive called “Uwar”. Owen’s contribution, the previously unreleased (as they all are), is “No More, No Where”. Euphone has one of the best tracks on here, with their song, “Friend in Common” and another tune to mention is Ghosts & Vodka’s “Gameshow Buzzer”, another very catchy tune.
The idea for Don’t Mind Control came from JOA’s front man and main songwriter, Tim Kinsella. Reading about this project on the website www.baeble.com, Tim is quoted as saying “I wanted an opportunity to step aside and let everyone do their own thing in a way that people who know Joan of Arc but not these members’ other bands would be able to access the songs in one place”. That is just what this CD does: it introduces relatively new fans of Joan of Arc to the myriad side projects and bands that the revolving door policy of Joan of Arc has let blossom over the past 15 years.
So, it’s not a new Joan of Arc album, but it does highlight the other projects that once and current members are up to, which is not at all far away from JOA’s signature style. The album both at the same time give one a perspective of where the disparate parts of JOA come from and give the listener a panoply of new music that are on this one disc – the only way you’re going to hear these bands other than buying each one’s own CDs, which gives the music fan an opportunity to either love it and go get more of any one they like best or not. - KM