for June 22, 2005


The Altrok Listener 4
Cool Tunes To Cock Your Ear To
by Bill Stella

Springsteen, Bruce - All The Way Home Among my adolescent formative musical experiences, Bruce made high school and rock and roll not completely suck. So I'm personally indebted. Yes, I'm one of those who've never lost my love of Springsteen. However, unlike so many my age who believe that rock stopped being really good after his heyday, I don't worship the guy, and neither am I a Bruuuuuce yelling idiot. But this is the good shit, all tracks. "All The Way Home" sounds like a song Bruce could have composed after stopping in at the Tradewinds in Sea Bright in the late nineties to play a four-song encore with Steve Earle. (It's not just fantasy; I was at the show. My one major WHTG connection is that I won the tickets to see Steve from their weekend morning unplugged show.) Bruce clearly had that Steve Earle sound in mind (well, one of them) when he recorded this track, and I wouldn't be surprised if it came to him after a having good time playing on stage with his friend. If Steve wound up covering it down the road, that'd be too cool.
 
Cake - Sheep Go To Heaven "Sheep go to heaven / Goats go to hell", indeed. Released October 1998, this track well-illustrates "Things Altrok is Good for, #286: Introducing Songs I Missed Before My Listening Habits Changed For The Better" ...and I began streaming internet radio.
 

 

©2005 Bill Stella