Green Day and U2: A Military to Save Not Kill

Check out the latest video by Green Day and U2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU

"U.S. IRAQ TROOPS REDEPLOYED TO NEW ORLEANS"

Albeit a somewhat unrealistic account of the full scale military intervention in New Orleans to save Katrina victims, the point made is quite clear – what if the might US Army was home instead of being mired in Iraq?  Could they have been able to help the Katrina victims then?  Good food for thought.

 

Sophomore Music

It’s Autumn again and the end of the year – what the hell happened to 2006, or 2005 or 2004 for that matter.  This years flying by is way not cool – or as the kiddies nowadays say – hella bad.  But I digress…

Both The Killers and Evanescence both released their long awaited follow-up albums to their respective breakout debuts ‘Hot Fuss’ and ‘Fallen’ these past couple of days.  Like any slightly obsessive-compulsive over-marketed worker/consumer/peon, I dutifully went and downloaded the albums today.

I don’t normally follow music but The Killers and Evanescence just happened to my 2 favourite bands of the past 2-4 years matched probably only by…hmm – Green Day’s American Idiot and She Want’s Revenge.  The Killer’s ‘Mr Brightside’ is the ringtone on my phone for crying out loud and I’ve probably listened to Evanescence’s ‘My Immortal’ like a thousand times.  (I think that’s lot but I guess that doesn’t hold up to one of my buddies that listened to American Idiot for 18 hours straight on the drive up to the Northern BC and can tell how long he’s run by figuring out which song on the album he’s listened to.)

Okay – so net net on the new releases – eh no.  Let’s start with Evanescence ‘The Open Door’ – this was an album that took 4 years to release…and sounds like the b-sides from ‘Fallen’.  It kinda sounds more a band trying to sound like Evanescence instead of Evanescence being Evanescence – the songs originality and genuiness in the sound.  Amy Lee’s vocal’s also seem a little off and over powered by the vocals – is this  mixing issue?

The Killers – well they’ve definitely gone in another direction – I’ll reserve judgement here – but there’s nothing on either album that really jumps out and grabs you on first listen but I hold out slightly more hope for the The Killer’s album.

It’s funny – but when I first moved down to San Francisco my first playlist on my ipaq was something like:

• Maroon 5 – She will be loved
• Franz Ferdinand – Take me out
• Snow Patrol – Run
• Keane – Somewhere only we know
• Avril Lavigne – So much for my happy ending
• Nelly Furtado – Try
• The Killers – Someone Once Told me
• Evanescence – My Immortal
• Justin Timberlake – Cry me a River
• <some random Chinese stuff>

Fast forward 2 years and all of Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Keane, Nelly Furtado, Evanescence and Justin Timberlake have all release new albums and songs…none of them have really taken to me yet.  (I hate the Nelly Furtado drrty album – where did that come from?)

Here’s hoping Maroon 5, whenever they release their next album can break the dry spell.

Or here’s to finding the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol of 2006/07.