A-Z CDs - Day 37

312. Mission: Impossible 2 (soundtrack) (last listen: never) - Yet another that didn't make it to Dubai. This one has a lot of hard rockers, beginning with Limp Bizkit's "Take A Look Around" (the "now I know why you wanna hate me" song) and also featuring Metallica, Buckcherry, Rob Zombie, Chris Cornell, and Foo Fighters with Brian May on a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar." And then there's a Tori Amos song and a rock-flamenco instrumental ("Nyah" by Hans Zimmer). Anyway, it's an okay soundtrack.
313. Molly Hatchet - Cut to the Bone (last listen: 2-5 years) - Good southern rock. "Flirtin' with Disaster" is their staple, and you've probably heard "Dreams I'll Never See" on the radio and figured it was the Allman Brothers (since it's a Gregg Allman song). "The Creeper" and "Good Smoke and Whiskey" are also solid. "Loss of Control" sounds more like the New Wave of British Heavy Metal than southern rock (which isn't a bad thing). Molly Hatchet will always have a special place in my heart because their former manager, Paul Korzilius, was married to a woman who had worked at the same airline as my dad in Texas, but then moved up to Chicago to work for another airline. Anyway, our families hung out several times. He had previously managed Cheap Trick as well, and went on to manage Bon Jovi (still does, I think). They used to live in LaGrange with two small dogs (before Bon Jovi got huge -- after which I assume they got larger dogs), and when I was in second or third grade he gave me a Molly Hatchet The Deed Is Done Tour 1983-1984 t-shirt, which I wore to bed for 3 or 4 years. It was a totally badass shirt (check out the album cover, which was on the front of the shirt). He also gave me a Cheap Trick concert t-shirt from a show in Little Rock on September 13, 1979 (I think). Damn, I wish I would have kept those shirts. Even more importantly, Paul (who played college football, at Northwestern, I think) played the NFL Crunch Course video for me, which had a profound effect on my love of football and my appreciation for the all-time greats and bone-jarring hits. Obviously, I now own Crunch Course. You should too.
314. Monster Magnet - God Says No (last listen: never) - Another one that didn't make it to Dubai. This is a typical early 2000s hard rock album, as far as I can tell, which means it's mediocre. They have a song called "Doomsday," but it sounds like they're repeating "it's Tuesday, it's Tuesday" over and over. Such vigor for Tuesday has not been seen since Domino's started Two Times Tuesday. Hoo-hah. "Kiss of the Scorpion" sounds like any Iron Butterfly song.
315. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (last listen: 1-2 years) - This album has a flowing, mystical quality to it. The lyrics kind of take you somewhere else, like some Irish hamlet several hundred years ago (or at least that's what I imagine). The title track, "Sweet Thing," and "The Way Young Lovers Do" are my favorite songs.
316. Van Morrison - Moondance (last listen: 1-2 years) - I had to repurchase this a few years ago because Goni borrowed it back in 2001 and never returned it. Don't think I've forgotten, Michael. What a great album. "And It Stoned Me," the title track, "Caravan," "Into the Mystic," and "Glad Tidings" are my favorites. My favorite memory associated with this album would be from spring break junior year. Both Adam and I didn't go anywhere except back to the LG, so he was over at my house one day and we got stoned to the bejesus belt. When my aunt and her boyfriend arrived, Moondance was BLARING and there were two idiots with shit-eating grins on their faces playing the greatest game of Mario Kart ever. Can I put a poppy on your head?
317. Van Morrison - Best Of (last listen: 5+ years) - I like this one because it has several of his songs from when he was the lead singer of Them ("Gloria," "Here Comes the Night," "Baby Please Don't Go").
318. Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love (last listen: 0-3 months) - Their 1982 debut features ball-busting rock, clearly influenced by British glam (in particular, Sweet, or The Sweet, as some of you Brits call them) and proving what the world would come to know over the next 10 years: these guys (Nikki Sixx, especially) could write hard-rocking songs with pop hooks. "Live Wire" is a great opening track, almost punkish with its driving beat and guitars. I love the line, "I'm hot, young, runnin' free / A little bit better than I used to be." My other favorites on the proper album are the title track, "Take Me to the Top," "Starry Eyes," "Public Enemy #1," and "On With the Show." The CD has extra tracks, as well: three unreleased songs ("Toast of the Town" (a great song), "Tonight" (a Raspberries cover), and "Stick to Your Guns"), a version of "Too Fast For Love" with an alternate intro, and a live version of "Merry-Go-Round."