Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Barenaked for the Holidays (Barenaked Ladies)

From the band for which you can't do an Internet search from work, the Barenaked Ladies, comes Barenaked for the Holidays -- a holiday treat with mainly Christmas tunes, but also including the three Hanukkah songs from their Barenaked for Hanukka EP, and "Auld Lang Syne".

I like gifts that show the giver knows me, and this was one of those gifts. I'm a big BnL fan, and these guys do a great, fun, and (surprisingly) respectful turn of holiday classics and new additions. There's even a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" tune for which (I'm ashamed to admit) I kept waiting for some sarcastic turn. It never came. Which is probably OK.

Overall, a great album I'll be listening to well into the new year.

Monday, December 05, 2005

The Legend of Johnny Cash (Johnny Cash)

I'm enjoying The Legend of Johnny Cash.

I'm a big Johnny Cash fan, and if you're not, let us not discuss music together in too much depth. Ever.

Besides classics like "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire", there are
"newer" classics like "The Wanderer" (with U2) and "Hurt" (Cash's cover of Trent Reznor's song).

About the only song of which I'm not real keen is "Highwayman" (which is
weird, since usually any combo of Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson should be a winner).

Oh, and June Carter Cash had a great voice ...