Been listening to a typically odd mixture of thisnthat.

Loose Screw - Pretenders. I found this in Target for $2.99 and figured what the hell. It's a mixed bag, but despite some of the weakest lyrics Ms. Hynde has ever written (she collaborates with guitarist Adam Seymour on nearly every cut), she's in absolutely excellent voice--especially on 'Kinda Nice, I Like It'...more than worth the price.

Above the Wing is Heaven - Rob Lamothe. Very, very cool CD... atmospheric folky stuff that features a really nice cover of Robin Trower's 'Roads to Freedom' and an utterly amazing remake of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' which he turns completely inside out and recreates as a soulful folk song. His originals are also quite good, especially 'Water' and 'I Ride the Waves'...definitely a keeper.

Retrofutura - Hadden Sayers Band. Solid Blues-Rocker. Best cut is 'Paper Moon'.

Roots and Branches - Damon Fowler Group. Didn't like this much until about the third or fourth listen and now I'm hooked. Fowler is a local guy that definitely has skills.

The Mean Eighteen - Monti Amundson. The Banished One sent me a disc a coupla years ago with several Amundson tunes and I liked it much. It's hard to track down his stuff, but worth the effort. The Mean 18 is perfect for road trippin'...great rocknroll/rockabilly/hard Blues from start to finish.

Mojave - Concrete Blonde. The jury is still out, but there's definitely good stuff here among the strangeness: a killer cover of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' and the title cut, a brilliant story-song.

Blame It On Me - Alana Davis. I guess I should fess up and say I really only listen to one song from this CD: 'Murder'. LOVE that tune and especially the way she sings it...don't care much for the rest of the album.

Comps (my own)

Pop Synthabilities 7. 80s stuff; Cars, Split Enz, Planet P, Psych Furs, Modern English, Silencers, Fountainhead, Thomas Dolby, Level 42, etc.

Blues Deluxe 22. I've been test driving this one for a couple of weeks now and I like it as well as anything I've comp'd. I haven't shared this one with any of the usual suspects yet, but I will...promise.

There was other stuff, but I'm old and forget easily. I think.