Tal Bachman- Tal Bachman
I picked this CD up based soley upon having seen the video for the first single, "She's So High"....I thought it was a very creative song and the video took it in a different direction. I'd never heard of Tal Bachman, but I totally dug the tune, so I took a risk and was well rewarded with a full CD of great "heavy pop", crunchy guitars allied to a snappy rhythym section and slathered in neat melodies. All of this at a time when I was lamenting the state of the music industry, that there were no good bands anymore. Repeated listenings of this CD have done nothing to diminish my love for it....I still think it's one of the best in the last 15 years.
The Brooklyn Side- The Bottle Rockets
This band I found when I was working in St, Louis in 1994...the were playing a club there called Blueberry Hill. Loved the band, but forgot about them until they played Music Midtown here in ATL. The set floored me and I went out and bought this CD, a mix of rockers and Americana inspired ballads. The band's songwriter, Brian Henneman, has a keen eye for details and a wonderful way of expressing them. Characters come to the fore as if you KNOW them and the production is clean and true. Not a bad cut on it.