The Fleet Foxes have been awarded album of the year from the best music magazine in the world Mojo Magazine. Are they another Arctic Monkeys or actually good? 
With five part vocal harmonies, this band echoes their folk influences on their sleeves. They’ve done their homework and are actually able to pull off the harmonies without sounding like a boy band. Influences The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills & Nash, Simon & Garfunkel, The Zombies, and more than anything else Steeleye Span. In fact, the first thing that comes to mind on the first track “Red Squirrel/Sun Rises” is “Are these guys the offspring from Steeleye Span?” It also sounds like a mishmash of Crosby Stills & Nash or Simon & Garfunkel.
This album has a lot of references to family members. Robin Pecknold (the songwriter/singer/guitarist) had recently lost his grandfather while recording this album. Surprisingly, these guys are from Seattle even though they sound like they’re from Woodstock or the South. Every family member is mentioned on most of these songs including the grandpa on one or two, mother, sister, and father. Most of all the brother is mentioned as in telling him to be good, staying at his house and missing flights.
I first saw Leon Redbone on a SNL 70’s rerun doing a tune called “Harvest Moon”. After hearing his voice, I knew I had heard it somewhere and that place was a cover of “Frosty The Snowman”. I had to check out some of his work and it was wonderful if you like his sort of style. Albums On the Track and Double Time showcased his unique style and blend of jazz, folk and blues standards.
By Far the Best and Most Comprehensive DVD in the lot. You get the whole spiel on thrash metal history. Starting and giving props to Metallica and even more importantly bassist Cliff Burton (R.I.P.). Interviews with Anthrax and Kirk Hammett (of Metallica) describe him as a quiet shadowy figure. Kirk said he would always practice guitar, so much so that Kirk would have to join him (Note: Cliff wasn’t even the guitarist!!!) It goes on to show the other 3 major thrash bands of the time Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth. Then the documentary dives into another level of thrash metal bands under them with bands such as Death Angel, Kreator, and Overkill. And the extra features go by region and feature even more bands. A personal favorite of mine is the Canadian band Annihilator. I found out guitarist Jeff Young was asked to join Megadeth. All in all, this documentary is like a visual Heavy Metal Thrash magazine and gives you insight into the fact that Metallica wasn’t the only Heavy Metal Thrash band.
This is another documentary, but only available at Best Buy as a 4-disc set (3 DVDs and 1 CD). This is the only documentary of Tom Petty worth checking out. The first two dvds are detail Tom Petty and The HeartBreakers start in Gainesville, Florida to present. You get insight as to what happened to Tom Petty and his band at the time (now called Mudcrutch) when he arrived in Hollywood. The inner turmoil with his drummer and eventual dismissal. The cons would be the later part of the 90’s are skimmed over quickly. The She’s The One soundtrack and albums Echo, The Last DJ and Highway Companion are skimmed over as footnotes and instead the last half is filled with a lot more filler as a result. The 3rd DVD is a crystal clear view of Tom Petty in concert. The best you can find as of this time and includes most of his hits. Although it leaves out the song “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and “Yer So Bad”, it makes up with special guests Stevie Nicks and a stunning rendition of “Southern Accents”. The CD is mainly of unreleased songs such as “Honey Bee” with Dave Navarro on SNL and a cover of Hank Williams “Lost Highway”. Overall, one of the best buys this year ($14.99 at bestbuy.com), no pun intended.
Jimmy Cliff was one of the most influential artists from Jamaica. He was the pulse of the great soundtrack The Harder They Come. However, he never made it big because his label Island Records chose to focus on Bob Marley instead. Forging ahead, Jimmy released a series of hits even influencing artists like Bob Dylan, Joe Strummer, Sting and UB40. Desmond Dekker even took Cliff’s own “You Can Get It If You Really Want” to the charts in England.
James Intveld is one of the lead musicians in Country / Rockabilly. He’s got the voice that would put Elvis to shame and the looks to match. With 3 albums under his belt and an innumerable set of uncredited work, Intveld has got plenty of tunes to fill up his 4 hour set on Saturday (December 27, 2008).