Stanley "Tookie" Williams' life in prison has paid a debt to society far greater than his death will. Take action to convince that idiot running California that mercy for Tookie will save more lives than his own.

In the rock world there are producers and there are scumbags. Producers wanted. There are several rock producers who have really made the world a better place: Rick Rubin, Brendan O'Brien and Adam Kasper to name a few current producers. But for every Rick Rubin there's a David Foster. But my beef with Foster, in particular, will be saved for another day, while today we focus on "the man" himself: Bob Rock.

I can forgive Bob for some things, like his work with Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi. I will even admit that with Bob at the helm, Mötley Crüe can make a pretty decent album. HOWEVER, there is this teeny tiny issue with a little band from California called Metallica.

If you listen to the first four Metallica albums (Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All) there is a raw, almost primal, energy that drives each album. The songs are very political, often satirical and always give you the urge to scream METAL UP YOUR ASS! Metallica was a great underground success that became famous without the help of radio or MTV.

If Dave Mustaine wasn't kicked out of the band before Kill and Cliff hadn't been killed before Justice the following would have never occurred. I sure wish I could hop dimensions to see what that world looked like. (And this is not a comment on Kirk or Jason. It just really seems that Cliff had stronger convictions and a louder voice in the band than was ever allowed to Kirk or Jason. Jason was on at least 7 albums, compared with Cliff’s 3, but he always seemed to be treated like he was on the outside looking in.)

Justice pushed the band to such heights of popularity that it was time to reach out to the mainstream. So Bob Rock turned down Bon Jovi and decided to work with Metallica on their new album. I will be the first to admit that the self-titled Metallica (aka the Black Album) is a masterpiece. But there are signs, small but present, that represent a shift of ideals in the band. Everything feels calculated to such a degree of perfection that this studio album, at times, can feel very cold.

I really believe that this is, in part, due to Bob Rock (and of course, Lars and James' unhealthy reliance on his opinions). The Classic Albums dvd of the making of this album does a very nice job of highlighting Bob's role in the production. You can almost see lines being drawn with Bob, Lars and James on one side and Jason and Kirk on the other.

And today, nearly 15 years later, that line is more obvious than ever before. Jason left the band and there are no guitar solos on St. Anger, the most recent studio album. Think about that for a minute. Even if you're not a Metallica fan or even a fan of metal, when you picture a metal band on stage what do you think of? The guitar player. And why? Because the guitar players have kick-ass solos. It's one thing for a band to evolve and change over time - I love the Beatles from beginning to end. But no guitar solos in a Metallica song (and the new songs just go on and on and on and on and nowhere) is like a night without stars.

It has been a decade-long path to St. Anger. The journey is strewn with Hashed and Rehashed. Garage, Inc. was Metallica's only saving grace during the late 90's and I will also give props to S&M as the album that really sparked my initial interest in Metallica, as I was not into metal prior to that. Bob has just changed Metallica's once original sound into the same shit everyone else is doing. Hell, after my first listen of St. Anger I thought they were totally ripping off (poorly) the style of Audioslave.

So, after that long-winded beef I will get to my love of Google.

Search results on Google for "I hate Bob Rock" = 858 results.

Search results on Google for "I love Bob Rock" = 25 results.

I am not alone.

I know this has just seemingly been a rambling about the downfall of Metallica rather than pin-pointing exactly why it is that I detest Bob Rock. It’s hard to explain, you have to see the guy. He comes into everything he does with this attitude of how he can make any piece of crap a success (as if success is only measured in sales). If you are truly interested, check out the Classic Albums DVD (if you know me you can borrow it from me) and I’m sure that Some Kind of Monster features Mr. Prick as well (although I haven’t seen it I’m sure he’s in the documentary).

There is some good news though. With Metallica dead from Bob Rock Disease I’m happy to mention that Megadeth is touring again and offering METAL UP YOUR ASS over two decades after that was first shouted from a stage holding James, Lars, Dave and Cliff.

We’ve taken the bold step into the Star Wars expanded universe by reading through a selection of Star Wars fiction. Our first stop (outside of the movie novelizations) was Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. One big note, this book was written before the release of Empire. This bit of knowledge will help you cope with a few mentions of “feelings” at various points between Luke and Leia.

The story is about Leia, who is about to make a series of spectacularly bad decisions. She is, after all, only a woman. Therefore, be ready for dialog you wouldn’t expect out of the normally strong-willed Leia. On her way to a conference, escorted by Luke in his X-Wing, Leia makes her first bad decision: to land her damaged Y-Wing on a supposedly uninhabited jungle planet (she thought it would save time as opposed to trying to make it the extra fifteen feet to the planet she was destined for). Of course the abandoned planet is secretly harboring a project for the Empire. They gather themselves (oh yes, and Artoo and Threepio are there for their ubiquitous comic relief) from the wreckage and come upon the small town the Empire has set up for a mining operation. They steal some clothes and head into a watering hole to perhaps find a way out of this shit hole without being recognized. At this bar they meet a one-dimensional crazy lady who exists for plot exposition only. She agrees to help them get off the planet if they help her find an item called the Kaiburr crystal, a gem that can harness the force to its master’s will. How convenient she’s run into the closest thing to a Jedi Knight left in the ‘verse. They all go to leave when Luke and Leia decide to mud wrestle, drawing unwanted attention and landing themselves in jail. Of course the lackey in charge ends up indirectly informing Vader that he has Skywalker and the Princess. The knowledge of the Kaiburr crystal is also made known to the Empire through a various series of plot devices. Luke and Leia, ingenious creatures that they are, manage to bust out of jail with some new furry friends and meet up with the crazy lady and the droids. They head out into the jungle to find the crystal when they run into an unlikely monster that scatters the group, leaving Luke and Leia on the run from the monster. In an effort to escape, they climb down a vine to a landing within a hole. Miraculously, when the monster follows he overextends himself, sailing past the landing and into the depths of the earth. Of course, in doing so the vine disappears with him. Crazy lady and droids find hole and yell down that there’s no way to find another vine and they’ll have to use a convenient passageway to get out, it’ll only take them three days. This was it for me.

The whole story was just so full of transparent plot devices that when we got to the point where they said it would take less time to use the tunnel out of the hole (three days!) than to piece together a sturdy rope I was fed up. Greg likes Foster’s Trek novelizations, but he did a piss poor job on this novel in my opinion. I can be forgiving of paragraphs like this:

“At the same time, the Princess grew aware of how tightly she was clinging to him. Their proximity engendered a wash of confused emotion. It would be proper to disengage, to move a way a little. Proper, but not nearly so satisfying.”

Like I said, this was before Empire, the whole brother-sister thing was unknown, so I don’t have a problem with all the trouble Foster took to add moments like this between Luke and Leia. I do, however, as noted above, have a problem with his characterization of Leia. It’s not like Leia came across as weak in the first movie so I’m not sure why he has her going all Scarlett. At one point she FAINTS at the MEMORY of her torture by Vader. Yeah, torture’s not a picnic, but I’ve never heard of anyone passing out at the mere thought of it. You would think this could become a liability at some point. Uh oh, here comes Vader, I had better go lay down in case my mind wanders to the time he ordered the needle ball to torture me.

There were some cool parts, like when Luke chops off Vader’s arm (which we now know was already chopped off by Obi Wan so it couldn’t have hurt too much this time). Also, Luke dies. All very good stuff.

Overall, however, I found that between the weak plot devices, old fashioned characterization of women and loose ends (like say, the fate of the powerful and dangerous Kaiburr crystal) this book was a poor way to start off our Star Wars expanded universe journey.

Damn! Owning new Zeppelin feels so good! Ok, so I’m a few years late to the game, but this album is new to me! The disc packaging is simple: a 3-cd foldout with a short note on the inside cover from Jimmy Page. The live footage is from two 1972 concerts held on June 25th and 27th at the LA Forum and Long Beach Arena, respectively. Here’s a brief overview of the performances:

Jimmy Page - the man, the legend. Page has got a reputation for a reason, he’s simply amazing. I can think of dozens of examples of rock bands with one guitar player, the bass player and a drummer. But none of those bands can fill out their songs live the way Jimmy can. Some bands tend to get too comfortable in the studio with their ability to layer guitar tracks. But how many guitar players come on tour with the band? Just the one. And that one is usually then playing an empty-sounding melody line. Not the case with Page’s guitar. Not only does he play the shit out of every song, but it being Jimmy Page and all, you even get the treat of him tickling his strings with a bow during a solo. Jones’ keys also help fill out the overall song, but even when it’s just guitar, bass, drums and vox you still feel the whole of the song.

Robert Plant - does anybody remember laughter? Robert is a great front man. His spontaneous audience banter is always amusing (following up the Black Dog lyrics, “A big legged woman ain’t got no soul” you can almost see him shrugging as he adds the disclaimer, “maybe I’m wrong”). It being 1972, Robert’s voice still soars easily over the high notes and is impressive in its range and depth. Plant has the gift of being able to take any sound his cords can make and turn it into something as beautiful as church bells. Even grunting back and forth with Page’s guitar is one of the coolest musical moments I’ve experienced.

John “Bonzo” Bonham - understated elegance. I still insist, despite my lack of rhythm, I am Bonzo reincarnated due to the fact that I was born within twenty-four hours of his death. I see John at those drums and think - hey that’s me and I am awesome! Seriously though, here is a guy who does his job well. Watching him is not exactly like watching Keith Moon. John just sits there and makes it seem like he’s absentmindedly playing the drums when really he’s banging out some of the coolest shit you’ll ever hear. Take Moby Dick, here you’ve got a track that’s over 19 minutes long - and he solos for the majority of the song. Sure I’ve heard some kick ass drum solos, but there is something special about a guy who drops his sticks and just starts beating the shit out of the drums with his bare hands. And it’s not simple either. Sure he makes it sound easy (and look easy, if you’ve ever seen concert footage), but he’s playing some pretty complex stuff that just floors me. John, I wish you had made it buddy.

John Paul Jones - the mighty man. During live shows Jones played bass, mandolin and keys. Christ, he’s not only one of the bass world’s most talented bassists, but he’s got an incredible grasp of the mandolin and piano too. It takes a special kind of person to man the keys at a rock concert. So many bands become overshadowed by the keyboard when trying to fill out their live sound, but not Zeppelin. John Paul finds the perfect balance between necessity and indulgence on the keyboard. He also plays a hauntingly beautiful mandolin at different points. Of course, he does all this when he’s not rocking out on the bass. Have you ever heard a bass like a John Paul Jones bass? No you haven’t. Because there is only one John Paul. At least there is now since the other one kicked off. But my guess is that the late Pope wasn’t one for rock. So that leaves us with The One John Paul and he is ze master.

The album features ten tracks on disc one and four tracks each on discs two and three and reminds me of how much nicer it would’ve been if I were old enough to have seen Zeppelin in person back in their glory days. At least this album (along with the Zeppelin DVD and Song Remains the Same) offers a taste of what could have been.

My first introduction to a Weird Al record took place with a boy in a tent on the living room floor of his father’s house (who was friends with my dad). We had just met that day and my main concern was keeping my little sister out of the tent…uh…so we could listen to Weird Al by ourselves. Sure I had heard Fat and Eat It on MTV, but Off the Deep End was the first actual album I ever listened to. Of course, my sister easily thwarted our efforts to be alone (by complaining to Dad) which eventually led me to look for another Weird Al fan to suck face with. I found one I liked and married him. I’ve now inherited a complete Weird Al album collection, got to see him in concert and now, after nearly thirteen years of Al, I’m the proud co-owner of Weird Al's Ultimate Video Collection. And it rocks.

I don’t have to go on about the talent of Al and his band, their successful career is a monument to that. And besides, these are the videos. These are the icing on the cake of carefully crafted parodies (mmm…cake). Neither of us had seen all of the videos in the collection (Dare to be Stupid comes to mind), but the classics are all there, all the way back to I Love Rocky Road (featuring the ever-talented Tress MacNeille) up to the Saga Begins.

The booklet that came with the disk adds a bit of trivia that you may or may not already know. For example, the janitor and many of the extras in the Smells Like Nirvana video are the same actors from the Smells Like Teen Spirit video. And Dick Van Patten shows up here (he also shows up smiling broadly in the Bedrock Anthem video). Jeopardy originals Art Fleming and Don Pardo are also featured in I Lost on Jeopardy.

I was particularly impressed by the videos for UHF (not the Beverly Hillbillies parody featured in said movie - which is also cool), Christmas at Ground Zero and Headline News (who remembers Michael Fay?). Not only these, but all of Al’s videos are top notch. There will always be visual gags that you miss the first time around, the details are astounding.

The extras are cool; a few clips from the Weird Al show, a small photo gallery and an option for lyrics. There’s also a good performance by Al and Bermuda on Tom Snyder’s old show (The Tomorrow Show). And even though Snyder always seems to come off as a blowhard, I was able to not let this overshadow the awesome performance. The menus have long loops so as to not become repetitive and everything is simply designed, no annoying animations. The neatest feature of the simple layout is your cursor. The cursor is a set of “quote marks” that surround your current selection. “Very cute” “Weird Al”.

This is a total must-have for any Weird Al fan.

I have to admit that I was not initially thrilled with Sting’s 2003 album, Sacred Love. Sting had strayed further into the pop world of electronic music and I was a’sceerd. It wasn’t until watching Inside The Songs of Sacred Love that I began to see the goodness of the album, Sacred Love.

This DVD features Sting and his band of musicians rehearsing for their then upcoming tour and adapting the album’s music for the stage. The performances feature Dominick Miller (as always) on guitar. His subtlety is often overlooked, being in Sting’s shadow and all, but his talent is constantly at the forefront of this DVD. Jason Rebello is on keys. He’s been with Sting since the death of his previous keyboardist, the great Kenny Kirkland. Jason is cool and his quirky sense of humor and his immense talent are showcased nicely. And then there is Kipper. He’s the weird guy on the synth. (No Manu Katche on drums) I’m completely put off by the synth percussion and sometimes bass. Why the hell does every pop song need to be underscored by a back beat? I was not at all thrilled by Kipper, he reminds me too much of Kato Kalen (has anyone seen him anyway?). I suppose that’s not his fault. And by the end of the disc he was growing on me so I suppose that was a good thing if it doesn’t look like we’re going to see the end of him anytime soon. Lastly, Sting has Joy. Joy Rose was chosen by Sing to tour as his backup singer as she had sung on the album. And can she ever sing. All I can say is WOW. She just floored me with her voice. My hope is that Sting features her more in his next studio release. They sing so beautifully together. A few other musicians were also on hand for the DVD. Rhani Krija served up light percussion and the impeccable Chris Botti was featured on trumpet.

Two separate performing areas are shown: a rehearsal house and an intimate hall where they first tested their songs before a small audience. The show goes back and forth between the different venues and is edited pretty seamlessly. The live performances of the songs from the album gave me a new appreciation of where Sting is taking his music. It’s certainly not my cup of tea overall (especially the lack of a drummer), but I can appreciate something even this poppy when I see what Sting is trying to accomplish.

For the Police fan in you there is a groovy version of Walking on the Moon and a beautiful rendition of Roxanne with only Jason on Piano. Mary J. Blige shows up for her duet and offers up an even better version than what you’ll find on the album.

Overall these performances offer an intimate look at the evolution of music from studio to stage. If you are a Sting fan, and even more so if you didn’t very much enjoy your first few listens of Sacred Love, you will get a lot out of this DVD. If nothing else, you may better understand some of the changes in Sting’s musical style over the last six or seven years. Oh yeah and if you’re looking for crazy Sting bass action, you won’t find it here.

This DVD highlights RATM’s final performance prior to their breakup. This show was exactly what I would expect from a live concert: powerful, raw energy. Watching the performance, however, is a reminder of how every media outlet has become oversaturated with images competing for our attention. The footage features many harsh cuts spliced together. This adds to the general excitement of the performance, but after a few seconds I was nearly dizzy and had a hard time watching. Sure it’s hip to edit nearly everything on television this way, but I gotta say, I was almost wishing for the days when the worst footage was due to the ignorant camera operator who focused on the guitar player during the ONE bass solo.

Zack’s performance is riveting. His lyrics flow as he thrashes about the stage rapping his heart out. He knows how to excite the audience and succeeds throughout the concert. Tom, as always, can do some of the coolest shit with feedback and manages to nail it every time. I was in awe and loved watching him rock out. Timmy’s work on the bass was incredible (even if the camera operator was rarely focused on those flying fingers). And of course, Brad’s drumming was relentless. Everything you heard on the albums is choppily on display on this DVD, very cool to see “live” (not exactly live when we’re five years out from the actual liveness, ah well).

The DVD also contains excellent footage from the 2000 Democratic National Convention as well as a few stand-alone videos. This concert is also available in CD format, but I do not yet have a copy. Rick Rubin produces the CD and if I’m not mistaken you can see him at a couple of points in various places on the DVD (looks like him on stage at the DNC show). I could be wrong though. In any case, it’s too bad Rubin didn’t get his hands on Rage a few years earlier as I wasn’t terribly thrilled with Brendan O’Brien’s production* But alas, that is for another review.

If you are a fan of Rage and have not experienced them live (or “live” on DVD), you’ll be in for a riotous treat.

*That is to say nothing against O’Brien, he’s one of my favorite producers out there today. I just don’t think he was right for Rage.