Left of the Dial

Merry X-mas and Happy Holidays to all. What'd you get??? Seems that was the big question when I was a kid. X-mas would end in a blur of giftwrapping and food and then it was time to call your friends and find out who scored what. X-mas then dies for you from about the time you're 17 or 18 until you have kids of your own.

So Cooper has been through his first one and so far he's unscathed. He got lots of cool stuff (his hippo walker and his little people truck seem to be the favorites for now) and lot's of clothes too (thank god). His Aunt Chris and Uncle Matt got him this really cool velour track suit so he can live up to his Italian heritage.

As for me, I got a gift I'm already really enjoying. Rhino Records "Left of the Dial" compilation of Alternative music from the 80's. It's a great collection of stuff that was put on the map by college radio. Artists range from REM, to The Sugercubes (Bjork) and The Cure among others.

My favorites represented in the collection?

The Jam
The Dead Kennedys
The Replacements
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Black Flag (Henry Rollins)
The Pretenders
The English Beat
The Smithereens
XTC
The Dead Milkman (maybe the funniest band ever)
Concrete Blonde
Violent Femmes
Sonic Youth
They Might Be Giants
Pschedelic Furs
The Pixies
Suicidal Tendencies
The Pogues
The Butthole Surfers

It's truly a great lineup. If you're into 80's nostalgia like I am, you'll love what Rhino has been doing for the last couple of years. Check out their website you'll love it. They also put out a killer punk compilation last year.

My favorite thing that they've done is the re-release of most of Elvis Costello's old albums. Let me start by admitting that Elvis is my favorite all-time artist. The man is amazing. One minute he rocks out, the next he writes a great ballad. He works with the best of his generation from all genres including Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris on his latest album. He produced the Pogues best work (Rum, Sodomy and the Lash), has recently worked with his wife of an Album (Diana Krall) and written music with people like T-Bone Burnett (Cold Mountain soundtrack) and Burt Bacharach among others. He's up for 4 grammy's for his work on 3 different albums (Delivery Man, Cold Mountain and the Delovely Soundtrack).

I've seen him live 3 tmes in the last few year and I must say he puts on a great show too. Unlike many artists he's not afraid of the work he's done in the past, but he doesn't rely on it. He pulls stuff in from his entire 25 year career and his backing band kicks ass.

Anyway, I listened to the entire 4 disc set as we were driving to different relatives houses and it brought back lots of memories. On many of the tracks, my wife and I were trying to guess who the band was but all of it brought us back to a time that we feel is much like what we are living through now.

In the 80's many people were blinded by our presidents charm into thinking things were fine. That blindness still exists as Reagan was celebrated after his death as if he had been this great unifying force. Do people forget that the 80's saw a huge rise in poverty, homelessness, AIDS, Teen pregnancy and crime across the board? I fear that people will also be fooled by our current presidents false charm and down home style. The guy was born to one of the most powerfull families in the country. He went to Philips Andover and Yale, he was a member of the Skull and Bones society. This is not a down home guy, he is a member of the elite yet people forget that.

So this group of music somehow feels very appropriate right about now, and it still sounds great too.