Entries from November 2009 ↓

I had no idea these were out but on Amazon I ran across two Devo remasters released a couple of weeks ago: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo and Freedom of Choice.  Both of these include live tracks, the former looks like a more recent convert playing the album in its entirety; the latter has the live EP that I had on vinyl a long long time ago.

Clubdevo also has limited edition package of these two that includes two live DVDs and a vinyl single.  I was amazed to find out you could still buy the flowerpot hats off their website but I’m still too cheap to buy one.

Slayer is one of those bands - like AC/DC - where you have a general sense of what you’re getting when you buy one of their albums.  They’ve got their sound where you immediately know it’s them when you hear it.  When a band has such a distinctive sound that they’re sticking with, the main variable from album to album is the quality of the songs.

With World Painted Blood, Slayer has put together one of the best collection of songs in a long time.  It’s their second album since reuniting with original drummer Dave Lombardo.  Their previous effort, 2006’s Christ Illusion was a step in the right direction, but some of the songs on it didn’t deliver.  World Painted Blood feels like a continuation of the previous release, but with a vast amount of improvement.  Sure the usual things are present - Tom Araya’s ominous vocals and the monster guitar playing of Hanneman and King - but they’ve also come up with a group of memorable songs that rank with their best.

I wouldn’t rank World Painted Blood with my personal Slayer favorites Reign in Blood and South of Heaven, but this will probably end up being one of my favorite releases of 2009.

All in the Family

The Munsters

For whatever reason the versions on Youtube don’t allow embedding.

Jonny Quest

Lost in Space

The Green Hornet

After purchasing an Al Hirt album the other I started thinking about how great his theme from the Green Hornet is and some of the other great theme songs.  I think there are two things that make a television theme great:

- a memorable melody

- it needs to convey the theme of the show, usually in a pretty short time frame

I picked out what I think are the ten best themes that fit this, spread out over two days.  Since it’s my list I’m throwing out shows that use preexisting songs, so that would rule out Rescue Me.  One of the most difficult parts about this is separating the song from the introduction as a whole.  I had considered the Hawaii Five-Oh theme as one of the great one but after listening to it on Youtube it turns out that the song is just okay, but the introduction itself is what’s so memorable.

Perry Mason

This one doesn’t immediately come to mind but I think it’s a solid theme that conveys the seriousness of the show while adding some dramatic tension early on in the episode.

Mission Impossible

Another one that really lets the view know  what sort of show it is.  There’s a sense of urgency as the tune progresses that sets up the show well. Despite the era that the show was produced, I don’t feel that the song is dated at all.

Beverly Hillbillies

It’s the only bluegrass song to ever reach number one, played by the master Earl Scruggs.  I realized I’m biased on this one but it matches the show perfectly.  The theme alone is more interesting than anything that ever happened on the show itself.

The Rockford Files

One of the things I like about the Mission Impossible theme is that it doesn’t sound dated.  However this theme, like the show itself, screams 1970s.  That being said it’s a great song and I love the harmonica break in the middle.

Speed Racer

The theme that was burned into the long term memory of thousands of generation x-ers. An instantly recognizable chorus and a sense of playfulness that matches the show perfectly.