The main difference between these discs is that one doesn’t suck nearly as badly as it ought to, while the other does — and then some. In the mondo-suckage category, Bon Jovi’s latest proves nothing other than that the purveyor of some of the most delectable ear candy of the…

Released to counter the popular perception of Woody Guthrie as a blissed-out wastrel whose main contribution to American music was to provide Bruce Springsteen with the acoustic set piece “This Land Is Your Land,” this CD succeeds through both its varied themes and the personal portrait of Guthrie it advances…

Whether it’s the result of a karmic quirk or of nostalgic indulgence on the part of rock fans, there’s no denying that Astbury’s career suddenly and almost inexplicably has more legs than a Catholic girls’ school. A founding member of the Cult, a group whose blend of old-school swagger and…

Leave it to Pumpkinhead Billy Corgan to attempt in just over 73 minutes his own dark twist on what it took English poet John Milton several pounds of parchment to accomplish in Paradise Lost: explaining the ways of God to man. That the delightfully megalomaniacal Corgan doesn’t embarrass himself (at…

A pulsating platter of cock rock with a conscience, Little Steven’s latest is a sometimes glorious study in self-indulgence. From the left-wing political sentiments that the prodigal E Street Band member wears on his now-tie-dyed sleeve to the impassioned, if technically unimpressive, string-bending that stretches many of the tunes well…

Whoever said that the classics never go out of fashion probably wasn’t referring to popular music. In a field where styles date faster than President Clinton on a weekend fundraiser, it’s hardly startling that for most artists, fame is as fleeting as the glow of a nearly spent spliff. What…

“What I’m trying to do is just play music and keep it as fun as possible,” says Boulder’s Ted Thacker. “And if I glean some artistic depth from that, that’s great. But that’s not what I’m aiming for–because I can’t.” Lest you think Thacker’s underselling himself, consider a recent performance…

“At some point, something awful happened to punk-rock music,” opines George Wilson, the bassist/vocalist for TARD. “It became either, like, cheeseball Southern California kiddie rock, or it became dipshit, cock-rock-oriented posturing–tattooed-from-head-to-toe fucking hardcore. But there’s a lot more to it than that.” That’s certainly true in TARD’s case. Wilson, guitarist/vocalist…

Tortoise TNT (Thrill Jockey) The next time a musician tells you that the reason he’s recycling other people’s sounds is that there are no new ideas in the world, hand him this CD. Tortoise, an instrumental sextet made up of Chicago musicians associated with innovative acts such as Eleventh Dream…

Something’s rotten in the music industry, and Ian O’Dougherty, guitarist/vocalist for Denver’s Uphollow, thinks he knows what it is. During performances, he says, most local and national musicians he’s seen lately have spent more time looking down at their hands than at the audience members with whom they’re supposed to…

Bjork Homogenic (Elektra) There’s no shortage of acts that have mingled ancient music with new technology, and although some of the results have been interesting (Dead Can Dance), plenty of others have inspired only yawns (Enigma). None, however, have been as successful as Bjork, who attacks the music on Homogenic…

When the Moog Cookbook was invited to play live on MTV’s Week in Rock program, bandmembers Uli Nomi and Meco Eno, aka Roger Manning and Brian Kehew, didn’t see any drawbacks to accepting, even though it would mark their first-ever concert appearance. But after they donned their mock-futuristic costumes, they…

For an aspiring party band, Denver’s Askimbo has been known to leave the occasional listener in a mood that’s far from festive. At one cafe gig, lead singer/trombonist Howard Bridges II leapt off the stage in order to confront a bouncer who was getting rough with his roommate. And a…

Every musician has a story about gigs from hell, but few of these tales can compare with the one told by Michael Rains, bassist and vocalist for Denver’s 1000 RPM. The band was booked to play a back-to-classes bash at the Colorado School of Mines, where 1000 RPM guitarist/ vocalist…

Oasis Be Here Now (Epic) Many reviewers tackling this disc have complained that it’s too derivative. Well, duh. You’re likelier to get a lie-detector test from John Ramsey than originality from these blokes. But such sniping entirely misses the point of Oasis. The Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, aren’t trying…

During the course of an average set, the Boulder-dwelling white boys in Wojo play more funky music than Wild Cherry did during its entire career. In this regard, they’re little different from peers in seemingly hundreds of lousy Front Range groups. So why do these other acts suck while Wojo…

Just because the music of Scotland’s Del Amitri is tuneful and accessible doesn’t mean that the group’s lead singer, Justin Currie, is shy about expressing himself. He fires off his opinions straight up, with no chaser. Examples? In Currie’s words, the neo-hippie movement that, from a commercial standpoint, is hotter…

With everyone from marginally talented sitcom actresses to scores of hairy-legged Indigo Girls wannabes trumpeting their alternative sexual proclivities to boost their careers, you might expect songstress Catie Curtis to be shouting about her lesbianism from the rooftops. But you’d be wrong. “I just think that it doesn’t feel personally…

Journalists know that most musicians will gush about their latest projects no matter how tepid they may actually be. So it comes as a pleasant surprise when Wil Masisak, one-third of Boulder’s You Bastard, says of the group’s just-issued eponymous debut CD, “I think it’s a series of really bad…

Despite his tender years, singer-songwriter Ben Lee, age eighteen, is no stranger to the interview process; rave reviews and cult stardom have ensured that. But at this point in his career, the young Australian seems more comfortable discussing his hobbies than his music. And what is his favorite time-waster? “I…

“We’re not rock stars,” contends Bill Buffo, drummer for Kindred, a collection of teenage rockers based in Louisville. “We don’t, like, walk around all cocky and stuff like we’re these big musicians, you know?” Vocalist Cody Qualls seconds Buffo’s emotion. He maintains that he’s “a dork” at Fairview, the high…

The Holmes Brothers Promised Land (Rounder) Most of the CD stores that stock material by the New York-based Brothers Holmes–and not nearly enough of them do–place it in the blues section, as if that’s the only kind of music that three African-Americans of a certain age could possibly be making…