Album Off The Shelf #1 - Marty Casey & Lovehammers - Marty Casey & Lovehammers

As I mentioned in my first post, my wife and I own over 850 cds (but who's counting!).  When you own that many, you don't always listen to the older ones all that often, and sometimes it's interesting to go back and see what you've got "on the shelf."  For this post, I asked my wife to go and pick something older or less common off the shelf, and she came back with the self titled album from Marty Casey & Lovehammers.  In the future to do another post like this, I may pick another album at random, or I may pick something that I've been thinking about that deserves another listen.  I won't review these albums, but will provide some thoughts on why I bought the album, and what I like or don't like about it. 

As for Marty Casey & Lovehammers, this album came out in 2006  after Marty Casey was runner-up on the TV show Rock Star INXS.  On the show, the remaining members of the band INXS were looking for a singer to replace the deceased Michael Hutchence.  It was an interesting show that was sort of a rock version of American Idol.  Marty Casey came in second on the show, but he stood out to me, and I thought he deserved to win.  He had some great performances (including The Killers' "Mr. Brightside") and on one episode, he performed an original song, "Trees." 

The song "Trees" was included on the Marty Casey & Lovehammers album, and this alone motivated me to buy the album.  It's embedded below, but I'm warning you now, its really catchy! The lyrics are a little bit silly, but I'll be surprised if you aren't humming or singing it for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the rest of Marty Casey & Lovehammers is not streaming through Lala, but the link at least gives you the option to buy the mp3s. 

The rest of the album is also pretty good.  If I had to categorize it, I would say it fits in quite well with mainstream modern rock of the early 2000's.  While it is nothing truly amazing, it is a well polished album, and I'm surprised it didn't catch on a little more.  Especially with the lead singer having appeared on a prime time TV reality show.  A few of my other favorites from the album are "Casualty" and "Rain On The Brain."  If you listen to those songs and enjoy them, then you would probably enjoy this album.

Also, if you are interested, it looks like Lovehammers (Casey is still part of the band) have a new album, Heavy Crown. 

Trees (Album Version) - Marty ...

Weezer - Raditude

So here it is, my first review post on this blog. I'll be talking about Raditude, the newest album from the band Weezer, but before I get too deep into this review, I wanted to share a little bit of information how I'll be handling reviews for this blog. First and foremost, I do not claim to be a professional critic of any sort. My reviews are just another way to share what I think about the topic in question, and in the end, whether I like it or not. For each review, I'll be sharing some thoughts about the subject and then provide a rating out of 5 stars. (Hey, the blog is called "Five Star Favorites.") If relevant, I’ll also provide the album stream from Lala at the end of the post. As always, whether you agree or disagree with my reviews, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Okay, back to Raditude: Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what to think of this release. Generally speaking, I like Weezer quite a bit. I really liked their first album, Weezer (Blue Album), and I loved Pinkerton. I've also seen them live 3 times and will be seeing them again next week (review to follow). In their more recent work, there have been some ups and downs, but I would say that I generally have enjoyed everything they put out. I think Raditude fits in the second category with the later albums. It has some ups and downs, but overall, I enjoy it. It’s a bit of a change for the band as there are cameos (Lil' Wayne) and guest songwriters (Tyson Ritter of All American Rejects), and I think you can really hear their different influences. Actually, because of that, my biggest critique is that Raditude doesn’t always necessarily sound like Weezer. A song like “Can’t Stop Partying,” is good and really catchy, but if I heard it on the radio, I don’t that I would have thought "Oh! A new Weezer song!" While this isn’t always a bad thing, it does leave me slightly disappointed since I do still miss the early Weezer sound.

Overall, I find myself enjoying Raditude and listening to it more than I thought I would at first, but it also leaves me wanting more. I’ll give it 3 out of 5 stars, and hope they come back with something closer to Pinkerton next time!

Raditude - Weezer