Their popularity began to wain, but their writing progressed in its own fashion.   I have no doubt that The Mars Volta’s musicianship is on par with some of the best musicians in the world, but then again so is Phish and Steely Dan and I can’t stand either one of those bands.  Do I hate The Mars Volta though?  Well yes and no.  At times I’m amazed by some of the pulse pounding, nu-metal/prog-rock on their albums (listen to De-Loused in the Camatorium, and Bedlam in Goliath), and at other times their music makes me feel like I’m studying for a mid-term in college last minute, cramming as much of the lesson in as possible, (listen to Frances the Mute).

Noct0urniquet marks the sixth album in the bands catalog, and while it may not be as accessible as their debut De-Loused in the Camatorium, it does build on 2009′s Octahedron with some of the more straight forward rock songs that the band has to offer.  Only one song breaks the seven minute mark, and the album is much more focused than a lot of their prior work.  The album is based off of the children’s nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy, along with the tale of the divine hero Hyacinth in greek mythology.  All of the songs operate within this context, and of course some of them are going to be a little heavy handed over the course of the album, Lapochka, In Absentia, and the opener The Whip Hand fall in this category.  Songs such as Aegis, Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound and the first single, The Malkin Jewel make up for all the attention you need to give the majority of the album.  My two favorite songs on the album are Vedamalady and the title track Noctourniquet, and show how capable the band is of making engaging, dynamic music.  It’s probably the most reserved I’ve ever heard the band,  and I wanted more of that across the course of the album, but we’re really only given a taste of it here and there.  The final song, Zed and Two Naughts is a perfect example of how awesome the album can be, but also how long the album still feels, and how trying The Mars Volta’s work can be at times.

I continue to have a symbiotic relationship with The Mars Volta and all of their work, but I still have this love/hate feeling towards it as well.   To me Noct0urniquet is a more forgiving and subtle album then most of their work, and is their best album since 2008′s Bedlam in Goliath. There are still a lot of dull and extremely long parts to the album, but you can still pick out some great musicianship, and great music amongst the filler.   I’ll say this The Mars Volta is never lacking in ambition, and their new release is definitely a step in the right direction as far as that focused ambition goes.  Unfortunately the album still feels like a chore to get through, and great prog/rock should never feel that way.

Grade: B-

What I have compiled is a rank order of their albums from worst to best.  Now, before I begin I must state that I have come up with certain criteria in coming up with the albums that are to be reviewed and ranked.  The Church has many more albums besides this 16 here.  I have decided not to include albums of instrumental material (Bastard Universe, Jammed, Back With Two Beasts) I did not include albums of previously unreleased material and B-Sides (A Quick Smoke at Spots, Beside Yourself, etc.) or albums that include music that has been remixed and rerecorded. (El Momento Descuidado/Siguiente, Parrallel Universe)  Even though most of these albums include new material, I can’t really consider them albums, and I mean this in the most flattering way I know how.  The Church have always created albums that work together as a cohesive whole.  Even their album of covers, A Box of Birds works in this way.  A lot of people may have never heard of The Church and maybe my two cents will get those people to pick up an album or two, or at least know where to start.

#16 – Sometime Anywhere – 1994

Pretty much a disaster in every way, except for a few standout tracks, this middle-eastern themed album consisted of only two members of The Church.   The album seems to jump all over the place losing sense of itself along the way.  The special release includes 7 other tracks pushing this overblown album to around an hour and forty-five minutes. The ironic thing is this was the first Church album I ever picked up and fell in love with for a time.  That being said you may find something special in this release.  This one is most likely for serious fans only, except I highly recommend downloading the amazing track Two Places at Once immediately.

Standout Songs – Two Places at Once, My Little Problem, The Maven

Grade: C -

#15 - Remote Luxury – 1984

Originally released as two EP’s (Remote Luxury, and Persia), this 1984 release has some great songs on it, but it also has the worst Church song ever (Maybe These Boys).  It’s a very lighthearted mix of songs carrying on in the same style and tradition as past releases, but the album seems more like a collection of b-sides and new tracks thrown together at the last minute.  This one is definitely for hardcore fans only

Standout Songs – A Month of Sundays, Shadow Cabinet

Grade: C

#14 – A Box of Birds – 1999

A Box of Birds is a cover album of artists that have influenced The Church over the years.  It is their attempt to put their own stamp on some great songs.  The album succeeds but never really does anything truly new with the songs.  I would only purchase this one if you are truly a huge fan of The Church.  It does have some great versions of some classics, but other than that there is not much to the album as a whole.

Standout Songs – The Porpoise Song, The Faith Healer, Cortez the Killer

Grade: C+

#13 – Magician Among the Spirits (…Plus Some) – 1996

MATS was released twice, once in 1996 and a re-release in 1999 that included 3 extra songs that replaced two other songs.  The extra songs on the re-release definitely add to the overall enjoyment of the album.  The album is The Church’s most haunting and bleak to date, and also probably their most orchestral.  This album is definitely for die-hard fans only and you have to be in the right mood to get through the majority of the songs that push 6 minutes and above. What I mean by that is you have to be downright depressed.  It is a niche album, that I’m not going to lie, I definitely spun once or twice while down in the dumps, and it definitely did the trick.

Standout Songs – Welcome, Comedown, Sads

Grade: C+

#12 – Heyday – 1985

The Church followed up 1984’s disappointing Remote Luxury, with their most ambitious work up to that point.  For the first time Horns and other woodwinds were used to give the songs more texture and depth.  This doesn’t make Heyday a great album unfortunately.  There are glimpses of genius at points, but most of the songs fall kind of flat.  This album definitely shows that the band was beginning to change their sound and go for more complex, and at times, much heavier riff based songs than before.  It is an important transitional album and should be appreciated as such.

Standout Songs – Columbus, Tantalized, Disenchanted

Grade: B -

#11 – Gold Afternoon Fix – 1990

Gold Afternoon Fix is both great and quite disappointing at the same time for an album.  After wide success of Starfish this follow up was pushed heavily by the record label, and was also home to a large amount of internal conflict with the band.  Drummer Richard Ploog was reportedly left off numerous tracks and replaced by a drum machine to duplicate his sound.  You can hear the stiffness in the album, and it is much colder than previous releases.  You can also hear some great songs on hear though, that truly stand out in The Church catalog.  The tensions within the band would soon take their toll on future releases.

Standout Songs – Metropolis, Terra Nova Cain, Grind

Grade: B

#10 – The Blurred Crusade – 1982

The Sophomore album from The Church picks up right where their debut left off.  It has the same textures and poppy sound as the first album, but the majority of the songs are not nearly as good.  There are a few great ones, but also a number of mediocre songs and misses as well.  The album starts and ends as strong as any Church album out there, the guts are the weak portion.  Overall though you can really begin to see that The Church has begun setting out to make an album, not just great pop songs thrown together on an album, and there is a big difference between the two.

Standout Songs: Almost With You, When You Were Mine, Don’t Look Back

Grade: B

#9 – Priest = Aura – 1992

The Church begin to truly push the artistic envelope with this release.  This is the first album of theirs that truly plays itself out like a movie, dramatic in every sense.  Songs begin to start pushing the 7-9 minute mark, and are written and recorded with a texture and depth that had not been seen yet up to this point.  The album seems to fall flat, but in hindsight it is almost a necessity that the band begins to work out some themes that will greatly add to their success in future releases.  There are some truly great moments on the album but during its progression there are some brutally tiring moments that make you question the new movement of the band.  Like all Church albums though, this still has some truly stand out tracks.

Standout Songs – Aura, Feel, Film

Grade: B

#8 – Of Skins and Heart – 1981

From the momentum building opener of, For A Moment We’re Strangers, to the powerful outro of Bel-Air, this debut from the Australian rockers does not dissapoint.  It lands somewhere in between an Echo and the Bunneyman album, and some of Midnight Oil’s finer works.  It’s got that springy spongey, 80’s new wave sound.  The hits are there, but the thing that stands out is this album is much more ambitious then most of the works that came out of the 80’s.  You even got a nice little piece of prog new wave thrown in there with the 7 minute long, Is This Where You Live.  You can already what type of band The Church was going to become, but you just can’t quit put your finger on it yet.

Standout Songs: Bel-Air, For a Moment We’re Strangers

Grade: B+

#7. Hologram of Baal – 1998

After serious bouts of experimentation during the bands last works, this album is back to the basics creating ethereal pop songs that tantalize.  There are just some great standout tracks that stand-up on their own in this outing. This 98’ release is much less of a concept album and is really The Church going back to their roots, and also trying to re-invent themselves and modernize their sound at the time.  Baal is a framework for every great Church album to come, and truly ends the drought of a string of some of the weaker Church albums available.

Standout Songs – Anaesthesia, Buffalo, Louisiana

Grade: B+

#6 – Séance – 1983

Séance definitely has a more ethereal dreamy feel to…I’m guessing this was on purpose.  For a long time this was my favorite Church album because it took me the better part of two years to track a copy down at my local Time Traveler music store in Ohio, and I think it cost something ridiculous like $30.  As I’m listening to this album again some 15 years after I purchased it, I can honestly say it is worth every penny.  It is home to my favorite Church song of all time It’s No Reason, and is tight as any Church album out there.  You’ve got a nice light intro song, and then crash right into speedy power pop triumph, and it doesn’t stop there. The album chugs along and I can honestly say is one of the true unheard gems of early 80’s pop.

Standout Songs: It’s No Reason, Electric,

Grade: B+

#5 – Forget Yourself – 2003

This follow up to the best Church album to date in my opinion continues with The Church’s same dreamy pop formula, except this time they are definitely bringing more of the rock.  Most of the songs on this album are rock riff intensive, but we still find time to bring some of those dreamy lazy mellow songs as well.  Much more whimisical and carnivalesque than 2001’s After Everything Now This, this release started to get critics to once again start taking a look at this Australian band that had been around for two decades now.  Some of the songs in the second half of the album do hit some slow stale points, but overall Forget Yourself is a triumph throughout.

Standout Songs – Maya, Appalatia, See Your Lights

Grade: A -

#4 – Uninvited Like the Clouds – 2006

What begins in one of the tightest poppy albums of The Church’s career we are taken down a slow descent into a distant universe spiraling effortlessly out of control amongst the clouds.  There is never a dull moment on an album that can only be summarized as a journey from start to finish. Beautiful choruses and dreamy chords are abound in this album probably more than in any other album previous to this.  Traces of Pink Floyd can be heard throughout this album with The Church’s own original stamp behind everything they do.  This is definitely the album to pick up if you want to just be taken away for an hour or so.

Standout Songs – Unified Field, She’ll Come Back For You Tomorrow, Easy, Overview

Grade: A

#3 – Untitled #23 – 2009

For me this album is a blend of everything they did right with Forget Yourself and Uninvited Like the Clouds. It has a bunch of great standout tracks but also all of these swirling dream pop songs that just take you away.  It’s amazing to me that this late in the game The Church are still able to create albums with such depth and originality.  Their most recent release is easily one of the strongest in their catalog.

Standout Songs – Pangea, Anchorage, Operetta

Grade: A+

#2 – After Everything Now This – 2001

After Everything Now This is as poignant and beautiful album as you could ever possibly ask for.  It took The Church from being a band that made some strong albums in the 80’s and reinvented them as a band that is as important and fresh today as they were 20 years ago. The album reinvents itself along the way but still keeps you inside the framework of an iluscett dream.  It’s the perfect album to sink into on a rainy day and let the textures envelop you.

Standout Songs: Numbers, After Everything, Song For the Asking

Grade: A+

#1 – Starfish – 1988

We had to wait three long years in between Church albums before the delivered this masterpiece.  Home to probably the only Church song anyone really knows (It’s got frigging bag-pipes people!), Starfish is a poetic tour de force from beginning to end.  The album waxes and wanes gliding along effortlessly from song to song.  At times hauntingly beautiful, at other times down right rocking this is THE Church album to start with, and is essential to any music lovers collection.  Without this album I’m not sure the band would still be around today.

Standout Songs – Under the Milky Way, Antenna, Reptile

Grade: A+

A band like this for me is up to an almost impossible task of topping themselves.  As surprised as I was by Teen Dream, I obviously wanted, and was going to be expecting that much more from Bloom.  Beach House doesn’t disappoint, and they dive even deeper into their sound, and vocalist Victoria Legrand smoothes out her vocals even more to create this expansive dream of an album.  You can feel your self actually drift off during the first two songs of the album, Myth and Wild, and they really do set the tone for everything else to come.

Lazuli continues an amazingly focused and tight album, and is probably my favorite track on here.  The Hours and New Year have that signature Beach House electro/drum punch, and bring the tempo up just a bit during what could be the soundtrack to any John Hughes film. (RIP).  Wishes and On the Sea (another favorite of mine) drop the album back down to a seaside lullaby, as does the closing track, Irene (one of the best closing album tracks I’ve ever heard).  Beach House is keeping it simple here.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.  Just tweak it in some parts.

Is it better than Teen Dream though?  No. I don’t think so, and here is the reason why.  Victoria Legrand has one of the most dynamic female voices I’ve heard in years.  It’s so smooth and dreamy, but also raspy, and almost pleading at times for an audience.  Teen Dream showcased that feeling better than Bloom does, and that’s really the only reason why I think I like it better.  You’re not going to hear something like Norway on this album as far as vocals are concerned.

This is Beach House’s second album with Sub Pop, along with producer Chris Coady.  I cannot even begin to describe how important a producers role is in shaping a bands sound, and sticking with that same producer once you find what works for you.  All you have to do is think George Martin and The Beatles, or Nigel Godrich and Radiohead.  Beach House has found something special in Coady and they’d be smart to stick with him now and in the future.

Now only time will tell if I’ll be listening to songs off Bloom on repeat a year after it’s release, like I did with Zebra, and Norway, off of Teen Dream, but right now the whole album is going to be on repeat in my playlist for some time, and I’m going to be sinking further in to it.  I will say this about Beach House, and this is the most important thing a band can have, you need to listen to them repeatedly, and absorb their work to fully appreciate, and understand it.

Grade:  A-

Jason Segal stars as Tom, an up and coming sous chef in the San Francisco area, and Emily Blunt plays Violet, his out of work, post-doctoral fiance.  Tom’s star is rising, Violet’s is laying low.  That is soon to change though, because Violet is offered a position at the University of Michigan, in the psychology department.  Tom decides to give up everything in order for Violet to take advantage of the opportunity.  It’s only going to be for two years anyway Violet promises…yeah right.

Tom soon realizes two years is going to turn in to five, and most likely five will turn in to a lifetime.  He’s miserable in Michigan, and constantly hears about the success of his best friend Alex, played by Chris Pratt of Parks and Recreation. Alex got the head chef job at a new restaurant that was destined to be Tom’s.  Tom wanted what was best for Violet though, because he loves her, but now that Violet’s star is rising, and Tom’s is quickly descending, he is left to wonder if this is really the life he wants.

There’s a lot of fun to be had along the way as these two people figure out the terms of their new relationship, constantly pushing back their own engagement.  They see family members being born, and family members die, and are constantly kept wondering if they are making the right choices along the way.  Life has a funny way of stabbing you in the back, and not working out the way you like it too.  Luckily we get to laugh along the way in this story, but I almost felt like some of the jokes were a hinderance to the sweetly tragic plot that is unfolding along the way.

This story is actually very realistic, and has happened to many people in their own lives.  They make choices, and give up dreams, and chase dreams for themselves or others in their relationships.  In this film you almost feel forced to laugh at times, as if the audience needs a reprieve from the events at times.  It’s time to laugh in this part, oh ok…now let’s get back to the serious bits again, and it causes the film to feel forced at times.

The length of the film is also a major problem.  It unfolds in three acts, but once you get to the third act you’re burnt out and tired, just like the couple on screen is.  Comedy films should not push the two hour boundary, and this one goes over it.  Segal and Blunt are great on screen as is Alison Brie who plays Blunt’s sister Suzie.  They keep the film entertaining enough at times, but can’t seem to pull off a resounding win.

Grade: B-

Their third album, Neck of the Woods, starts off exactly where their last album, Swoon, left off.  The first song, Skin Graph, sounds like something that was born on the Indianapolis Speedway.  Guitars sound like Indy 500 cars, and the chorus soars into overdrive.  The first single Bloody Mary (Never Endings) is a little more ethereal than their previous work, but has the signature uplifting/heavy chorus of previous efforts, as does Make Believe and Busy Bees, whos guitar riff sounds almost identical to the bass riff from Panic Switch chugging along ferociously. It’s that guitar sound that has defined the best of what The Silversun Pickups do, and Neck of the Woods is constructed on it.

Mean Spirits, which is the best song on the album in my opinion, shows the direction that they could be heading towards, as does The Pit.  They both have heavy hard synth riffs that are reminiscent of Muse, who they toured with last year.  Obviously they influenced the band in some way.  Simmer is a song that sneaks up on you.  There are so many bombastic songs on the album, that you almost think of the song as a lengthy throw-away, but upon repeated listens you realize it’s one of the best songs on the album.  That’s how dynamic the album is.  You find a favorite song, but upon repeated listens the songs begin to one-up each other.  Not a bad problem to have if you ask me.

Brian Aubert’s vocals can be harsh sounding at times with his transgender pleading, but there’s something original and compelling about them that drives the bands work and makes this album a success.  The album is lengthy.  11 songs that comprise almost 60 minutes of rocking.  The length hurts some of these songs by dragging them out a bit at times when all you want to do is keep rocking, but it doesn’t take much away from what an impressive effort this is.  When the album does get into the rocking it is on point though, and some of these songs are the best of the bands career.  What’s strange is that some of the other songs could benefit more from an extended outro or chorus like Here We Are (Chancer), which I felt just started to get going near the end of the song.  I’m splitting hairs here though because frankly put, Neck of the Woods is the bands best effort to date.  It’s extremely focused and easily the bands best produced work to date.

I’ve always said it takes at least three full albums to fully understand the growth and direction that a band is taking.  Neck of the Woods is a hybrid of the best that their debut Carnavas and Swoon had to offer.  Neck of the Woods finishes almost stronger than it begins, which is something Swoon did not do.  The final song on the album, Out of Breath, is probably the most well constructed, and interesting track on the album from a production stand-point.  Everything is pumping on full cylinders as they close it out.

I don’t think it shows a great evolution of sound for them, but I don’t really think I was expecting one, or for that matter really wanting one.  The album shows just enough forward thinking, without completely alienating everything that they’ve done prior. Some of the songs do have a more epic vibe and sense of urgency to them, which is something the band only began to scratch the surface with on their prior efforts.  A complete abandonment of sound and form has killed many bands, and The Silversun Pickups have steered clear of that road.

The most important thing I think an album can do is grow upon you with repeated listens.  Neck of the Woods does that.  The Silversun Pickups are a great band, who continue to make great music, and everyone should be tuning in by now.

Grade:  A+

John Cusack steps into the lead role as Poe, not really what I would consider an ideal choice, but that’s what we get and that’s one of the biggest problems with the film.  I love Cuscak, but the problem is that every role he steps into he plays as…John Cusack.  There’s not a lot of depth in his acting, except when he’s sitting comfortable in roles that probably emulate his life more closely (Say Anything, High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank).  He doesn’t have the reach as an actor, to pull off the tortured Poe.  Poe was a product of his own demons, with an insatiable thirst for drugs and alcohol.  You see a side of that in Cusack’s Poe, but the film deals more with Poe’s wit and banter.

The film begins as a series of murders begin occuring in the Baltimore area, emulating the work of Poe.  The police are stumped and enlist the help of the author to find the killer.  One by one people are murdered in the exact way as the characters of The Tell Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, and other works by the author.  Things get even more complex when Poe’s love interest, Emily Hamilton, is kidnapped by the killer, and Poe is forced chronicle the events that unfold every evening for the local paper, if he wants to see her alive again.  What follows is your basic paint by numbers murder mystery, with some confusing plot points and sloppy direction.  Characters enter and exit on a whim, and everything unfolds perfectly as planned.  I’m always confused why everything seems to work out perfectly in films like this.  There’s never a slip up?

The two main problems with The Raven are the direction by James McTeigue (V For Vendetta), and casting John Cusack in the role of Poe.  The film centers around the final days of Poe in which he was found blabbering nonsense, drunk and wearing someone else’s clothes on a park bench.  Cusack could have jumped more into the descent of Poe’s mental health during that time.  A descent into madness.  Instead he’s kind of witty, and like-able, and we don’t really get much of a break down of his character.

I’m sure McTeigue was looking for more of a box office hit then really worrying about the artistic endeavor of the film, but what could have been an interesting character study is instead a run of the mill mystery film.  McTeigue takes liberties with the factual nature of Poe’s life, ignoring some of the more fascinating aspects.  It’s entertaining, and there are some interesting twists and turns along the way, but overall The Raven is nothing new, or special.

Grade: C

#1 – writers Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, Lost) have written the most original horror film script in over 15 years, since the original Scream revitalized the horror genre.

#2 – You’ve kind of seen horror films like this, but not exactly like this.  The film is a mash-up of classic horror films and pays homage to some of the great ones, (Evil Dead, Hellraiser, Friday The 13th) without being overtly in your face about it.

#3 – The film is hilarious, but at times you’re afraid to laugh at it.  I felt immoral at times while trying to withhold a chuckle, and began questioning my stance on the film.  This is something I don’t think I’ve ever done with a horror film.

#4 – It’s scary, violent, and there’s nudity.  I don’t need to explain this.  It’s still a horror film and I want to be scared and see naked girls get murdered.  Call me sadistic.

#5 – After watching the film it took me some time to think about how good the acting actually is.  You have actors who are playing cliches of characters from pretty much every horror film you’ve seen before, but they also have to adapt into those roles from who they are at the beginning of the film.  This may not make sense now as you read this, but you’ll understand what I mean afterwards.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth as Curt (Thor) and a cast of four other ‘teenagers’, Dana, Jules, Marty and Holden, who set off to spend a lovely weekend at a cabin in the woods that Chris’s cousin owns.  The group is everything you would expect to see in a horror film; The Jock, The Cheerleader, The Stoner, The Smart One, The Virgin.  At first glance you kind of roll your eyes and say, ‘Great. Another one of these movies’, and Goddard and Whedon do that for a reason.  They want you to think that.

As the group of teens head to the woods we learn about a group of technicians that is watching them.  Sitterson and Hadley work in a bunker somewhere, and are watching their every move, planning for their arrival at the cabin.  We don’t know why or what for, but it seems to be important and part of something larger.  We will obviously learn about it all later.  The kids arrive at the cabin that looks exactly like the one from Evil Dead.  This cabin looks so inviting guys! Wooo hooo!  They are all ready for some drunken and disorderly behavior, but things soon start to get a little strange in the cabin.  They find a cellar that has a lot of different artifacts, and each one seems to be calling their name for some reason.

While this is all going on we go back and forth to the the technicians in their little hole.  They work for a company just like anyone does.  People come and go from their control room and share common banter that you would see in any work place setting.  They just happen to be betting on the lives of these five teens and planning their ultimate demise.  But again, what for?  The play between these workers and the teenagers is the true genius of the film, and is really where you have to start questioning what you are watching on the screen and how you are interpreting it.  It plays a lot like Eli Roth’s Hostel, meets Michael Haneke’s Funny Games.  If you know anything about either one of those films you know they are extremely violent, and also very hard to watch, along with asking many moral questions about violence, media, and the value of life.  Cabin in the Woods doesn’t attempt to be as profound as Funny Games, and that’s why it works were I think the other failed.

Cabin in the Woods takes the basic formula of almost all horror films and flips it upside down on its head, pulls it apart, and attempts to re-arrange it again from a different perspective. We know what is going to happen to all these kids, but the film tries to explain why it is happening to them.  The answer is quite original, and completely entertaining.  Will it completely re-invent a dead genre?…I doubt it, but it is an extremely fresh take on that genre, and Whedon and Goddard should be heralded for having the balls to write a script that takes such chances, and basically says ‘Fuck you. We’re going to do what we want to.”

Grade: A

Blunderbuss marks White’s first ‘solo’ album, and most likely his main focus for his own creations, after announcing the demise of The White Stripes last year.   You can hear Nashville’s influence all over this record, especially in wild west saloon anthems like Weep Themselves to Sleep, and Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy. Then he comes back with songs like I’m Shakin, which could have been pulled straight from T. Rex’s classic album Electric Warrior (which is being re-released in a deluxe edition this week FYI).

Blunderbuss has echoes of The White Stripes obviously, but you hear all these fantastic snippets from other bands throughout the years as well, such as T. Rex, and even Jerry Lee Lewis on Trash Tongue Talker. If Blunderbuss isn’t Whites best effort to date, it’s easily his best piano work, and piano driven album yet.  You can find it all over songs like Hypocritcal Kiss (among the best of White’s tremendous catalog), and On and On and On. The first single, Love Interruption (which White performed on SNL) is a hook laden acoustic sing along, that sets the tone for the entire album.

It’s a complex thing to constantly re-invent yourself over the course of 15 years, but White is a chameleon.  He’s not only a great musician and song-writer, he’s also a great producer as well.  He’s able to take new musical direction in everything he does, and that’s what keeps him relevant and interesting today, and what is probably going to keep him interesting for decades to come.  I’m a big fan of pretty much everything that White does.  While I prefer The Dead Weather, and continue to grow nostalgic for The White Stripes, I still appreciate what White is doing on his first solo effort.  It will be interesting if White begins to grow with a catalog of solo effort, and continues on the road of re-invention.

Grade: B+

Here is what commences over the course of the next 90+ minutes, through dialogue given by pretty much any character.

“Remember when…”, “Uh remember when…” “Hey guys remember that time…”  ”My god we are so old…”  ”I guess things don’t turn out the way you plan all the time…” “Uh dudes remember when…” “I’m the Stiff-mesiter…”.  Rinse, wash, repeat.

The film spends the majority of its time rehashing the past, and giving us excuses to why all of the characters have grown up boring, lame, or have not lived up to their potential.  Guess what?  That’s life.  It sucks.  If I wanted to be depressed I would have just stayed at home and lamented about my own life for an hour and a half.

Jim and Michelle are now married with a two year old.  Chris Ostriecher grew up to be a sports announcer and a huge dbag that was on a Dancing With the Stars like TV show.  Stifler grew up to do nothing but live with his mother.  Finch supposedly traveled the world and lived with pygmies, and Kevin grew up to be the most whipped and lame of them, all as he sits at home and watches Real House Wives and What Not to Wear with his wife every weeknight.

The whole gang hangs out and gets in to the usual absurd trouble ,while waiting for their reunion to finally take place. (The actual reunion at their high school is the only saving grace of the film)  They realize they are so much different than they were back in high school, but maybe still a little bit the same.  Awwww shucks…you don’t say!  The worst part about American Reunion is that it’s not the least bit funny.  It’s focused more on throwing as many characters from the previous films on to the screen, and attempting to put together some half-ass plot along the way.  Pick up a book and save 10 bucks and almost two hours of your life.

This is a film that shouldn’t have been made.  Reunion films, and sequels of this nature are extremely hard to pull off, and Reunion doesn’t even begin to come close.

Grade: D

OLP began to fade from the limelight, and another band, Coldplay, became one of the biggest bands in the world along with Radiohead, and Foo Fighters. It seemed their shot was gone.   Healthy in Paranoid Times was released in an attempt to regain the creative spark of Spiritual Machines. There are hints of that there, but once again as an album it came up short.  I was pretty sure I had heard the last of Our Lady Peace, especially after lead singer Rain Maida released a solo album and attempted to embark on a solo career it seems.

I forgot all about them when Burn Burn was released in 2009.  The album is probably their most stripped back and straight forward rock album since their debut, Naveed. They toured extensively behind the album, and  I got to see them in a half empty house at The Vic here in Chicago.  I also got to see them a few months later at a club about 1/4 the size of that in Wrigley, The Cubby Bear.  This I thought was the demise of one of my favorite bands of the past decade.  One thing stuck out in my mind  about them as I stood in a crowd of near no-one…they still rocked.  They played that Cubby Bear show with the same intensity that they probably played stadiums with, and they probably enjoyed it even more.  A loss in popularity gave them a chance to start again essentially, and get back to the place where they first started making music.  Burn Burn is a fantastic attempt at that.  Their new album Curve, is perfecting that.

Curve is 10 songs with no filler in between.  It sits somewhere between their first two albums Naveed and Clumsy.  Songs like Fire In the Henhouse, As Fast As You Can, and the first single Heavyweight could stand up to the hardest of rockers in OLP’s catalog.  The album still showcases OLP’s epic flourishes for songs as well like, Find Our Way (my personal favorite), and Rabbits.  Curve is easily their most well put together album since Spiritual Machines and really shows that Our Lady Peace is able to branch out in some new directions, while still diving in to their earlier work and taking the raw, aggressive style of some of those great songs like Superman’s Dead, Naveed, and Julia, just to name a few.

Our Lady Peace used to be one of my favorite bands, and then I kind of fell away from them for a bit.  With the release of their last two albums I’m starting to come back to them, and hopefully fans begin to start coming back to them as well.  They are currently playing a series of very small club dates across the US, and I have the luck of getting to see them at a super small venue here in Chicago, Subterranean.  If you can catch em they are a must see, and if you’ve ever been a fan, Curve is a must listen.

Grade: B+