12 Songs (Neil Diamond)

I'm listening to Neil Diamond's new album, 12 Songs.

I've listened to Diamond since I was young, and play a bunch of songs on guitar (there was an unfortunately ostracisizing moment where I played a medley of Jonathan Livingston Seagull songs in a grades school talent show).

But I'd kind of fallen away from him.

There was the cover to 12 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, where he was wearing white pajamas, and sitting on a pink couch.

And then there was the day before he turned 40 or 50, he announced he was taking himself and his family deep into the desert, so he didn't have to hear the media all over the world announce his birthday. Nobody cared. (In retrospect, it was probably a smart marketing move, because nobody did care -- until he made the announcement; then he was back (for the day) on the radar.)

So, when 12 Songs came out, and was produced by Rick Rubin, I guess I was hoping for something like what came out of Rick Rubin's reminding the world that Johnny Cash mattered in 2002's American Recordings.

But, this is a little different. This is trying to make schlock matter.

It kind of works.

There are some good tracks, but I've got a bad taste in my mouth from "Hell Yeah" -- what could have been a new anthem for individualism is just self-serving and ... flat.

I'll give the album more time, but I'm a bit disappointed, overall. I'll probably pull "Hell Yeah" from my library, and see if I enjoy the album better.

And, yes, I went from the Punisher Movie Soundtrack to Neil Diamond.

That's how I roll, Dawg.

The Punisher (Soundtrack)

I like sound tracks and musical scores.

I'm a comic book fanboy.

I've been wanting to listen to more visceral music.

I'm listening to The Punisher Soundtrack.

I'm a Nickleback fan, and "Slow Motion" scratches an itch. It, along with "Still Running" (Chevelle), "Time for People" (Atomship), and "In Time" (Mark Collie) are my favorites on the album.

I'm not so much of a fan of verbal bludgeonings from Drowning Pool's "Step Up"; Hatebreeds' "Bound To Violence"; and DamagePlan's "Ashes" kind of falls apart when guest vocalist Jerry Cantrell stops singing.

Label Wind-Up Records seems to be doing something right on the soundtrack (and especially comic book soundtrack) fronts, with The Punisher, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and Walk the Line (will someone please make a graphic novel of Johnny Cash's life?).

And in the interest of full disclosure, I have not yet seen The Punisher movie.

I still have a very bad taste in my mouth from the Dolph Lundgren version ...

Nirvana

I'm hearing a lot of Nirvana lately.

Not intentionally, but for the last month or so, if I listen to the radio in my truck or while running, I seem to get 2-3 Nirvana songs thrown at me.

I was a Nirvana fan, then Kurt Cobain did his fans, his loved ones, and himself a disservice by bailing on a life he thought was too tough -- or he was too messed up at the moment to realize it wasn't all that bad.

So I went away for a while, then came back. There's some good stuff there.

Other than "Rape Me." That's a stupid-ass song.