I Have No Regrets for the Life I Lack

Album: The Better Life
Artist: 3 Doors Down
Release Year: 2000

Not as much to say about this one. Not because it's bad, but just because it isn't very unique. It's another mainstream rock album, lost in the sea of so many other clones. So it's hard to chisel any particular album out of the mess around it; so difficult to scour it for marks of identity. But I shall try.

One thing about 3 Doors Down is that their music carries a very slick, polished feel, so the songs are smooth and they go down easy because of it. Of course, the songs are still difficult to discern from one another, but that's okay if they're of decent quality-- which most of these are. There's also this laid-back, mildly irreverent atmosphere that I really like, so that's an extra point.

The songs that stick out to me are either really good or really bad. Starting with the bad, there's "Smack," which tries so ridiculously hard to sound "badass" (which an alternative group usually cannot pull off) that it makes me laugh every time I hear it. "Down Poison" has no melody, so that's another turd. But the lively, defiant duo of "Life of My Own" and Better Life" are pretty good. The chorus of "I'll follow my own way/ and I'll live on to another damn day" from "Life of My Own" is actually memorable and evokes a bit of real feeling, so of course it's one of the stronger tracks. I won't say much about "Kryptonite," because everyone already knows it. Suffice it to say that few songs from 2000 wrap up a summer night of cruising and having a good time better than that one does.

Still, though, I don't listen to this album very often. Why should I? Nothing about this one screams, "Listen to ME, as opposed to ALL your other albums!" So it mainly collects dust, but I doubt the band cares. i already bought the disc, after all.

Overall Rating: 6/10
Best Songs:
Kryptonite
Life of My Own



Album: Let It Bleed
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Release Year: 1969

Before I picked up this album, I was quite a doubting Thomas in the Stones department. An hour later, I was still a doubting Thomas (and still am, but not as much). But I had a bit of hope, because I could tell on first listen that this album is insanely good.

I haven't heard close to all of the Stones' recorded output, but I still get the feeling this is one of the most diverse albums they put out. But what's surprising is, even with all that diversity, the album is so coherent and flows so naturally from one song to the next. It's a complete mural of different moods: some yearning, some raunchy, some dark, some hopeful. This is one of those records that crosses that great threshold, leaving the "group of songs" domain and entering the "experience" territory.

So I guess I'll still have to rant about the individual songs, then, since each is excellent in its own right. The album opens with the famous "Gimme Shelter," a haunting, portentous rock 'n' roll tune with some great backing vocals by Merry Clayton. When she sings the "Heeey! MURDER!" verse, and her voice cracks, that is a moment of pure rock 'n' roll passion. Forget Elvis or Led Zeppelin- that moment is real. And it gives me chills every time. That's not easy to do.

Then there's a cover of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," which is pretty but not the best on here. Then they re-make their old number "Honky Tonk Women" in a more down-home format with "Country Honk." Fun song there, too, but I perfer the original. "Live with Me" is another one of the band's trashier numbers, asking a girl to fill her "place between the sheets." It brims with energy and has hilarious lyrics. This flows into the gentler "Let It Bleed," which still retains that hint of danger from tracks one and four. It's laid-back and sexual, yet that undercurrent is ever-present...

Until it's released on "Midnight Rambler!" This song is the msot unique of the album, beginning with an ominous saxophone riff and venemous lines from Mick Jagger, who tells us of the murderer who "don't give no hoot or no warning." He delivers the lines so well that it sounds like he could be the Rambler himself! Then there's a jam section, during which the tension builds and builds and builds, before Jagger returns and belts out the last verse with even more fury than before, screaming, "I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby, AND IT HURTS!" Epic.

"You've Got the Silver is, in my opinion, superior to "Love in Vain," and "Monkey Man" is another wild rocker with a classic piano intro and a nearly insane feel to it. The album closes with the famous "universalist" anthem "You Can't Always Get What You Want." To be honest, the Stones don't resonate with me very often, but here I'll gladly make an exception. I can say I really feel the fellowship and goodwill with which Jagger sings this song, and it's also very strong melodically. You'll be singing it all day.

So there are only great songs on here, and they're so great together that they made me go out and get another Stones album, when previously I wouldn't touch them. That alone is worth something. But it's also one of the greatest rock and roll albums ever, because it takes those great melodies and wraps them together with all the passion, cynicism, lust, hedonism, and brotherhood that makes rock music what it is. And how could you resist a cover like that?

Overall Rating: 10/10

Best Songs:
Gimme Shelter
Let It Bleed
Midnight Rambler
Monkey Man
You Can't Always Get What You Want