COSMICBEN'S RECORD REVIEWS
Update Chronology
So you can prove how infrequently I update this site.
Latest Update: 7/9/06: Richard Nixon's book No More Vietnams.
6/11/06: Kanye West's Late Registration.
5/30/06: Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights.
5/13/06: Elvis Costello's Spike.
5/10/06: Neil Young's Living With War.
5/9/06: Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.
10/02/05: Kanye West's The College Dropout.
9/25/05: New page: Paul McCartney! Featuring reviews of McCartney, Ram, Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings At The Speed Of Sound, Wings Over America, London Town, Back To The Egg, McCartney II, Tug of War, Back In The USSR, Off The Ground, Paul Is Live, Flaming Pie, Run Devil Run, and Driving Rain. Conspicuously missing the crappy 80's albums, because I don't have the patience right now.
9/17/05: The Rolling Stones' Dirty Work.
7/26/05: Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly. Now I never have to listen to it again.
7/22/05: No, you've been neglecting your site for three months. Stupid-head. Bee Gees' 1st.
4/29/05: Another war book. Paxton Davis' A Boy's War.
4/24/05: Paul Westerberg's Eventually.
4/10/05: A cranky book review of Paul Fussell's The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry In Northwest Europe, 1944-1945.
4/9/05: In accordance with my all-or-nothing personality, another new review. Mott The Hoople's All The Young Dudes.
4/8/05: Mott The Hoople's Mott. Thanks for your patience.
1/2/05: A book review of B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley's Stolen Valor: How The Vietnam Generation Was Robbed Of Its Heroes And Its History. Yay, more war!
1/1/05: The beginning of my seventh calendar year doing this site.....I'm hoping to reach 100 reviews any day now. Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell.
12/31/04, right under the wire: Elton John's Honky Chateau. And Stevie Wonder's Someday At Christmas. Happy New Year, everybody!
11/29/04: A Date With The Smithereens.
11/28/04: Another war book, but read my review anyway. Tom Philpott's Glory Denied.
11/22/04: Collective Soul's Disciplined Breakdown. Maybe I should have said Enter The Wu-Tang Clan.
11/21/04: GZA's Words From The Genius. Damn it, I should have just said Close To The Edge.
11/17/04: I finally slogged through Wu-Tang Forever, all for you.
11/16/04: Green Day's Dookie.
11/9/04: Elton John's Empty Sky.
11/7/04: If REM had stopped recording in 1996 (or if Up weren't so damned boring), this would be my first full band page in two years. As it is, I've reviewed Murmur, Reckoning, Fables Of The Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out Of Time, Automatic For The People, Monster, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi.
Later in the evening: Hindu Love Gods (REM side project with Warren Zevon).
10/31/04: I added Bitter Updates to my Friends page. They're really only of interest to me, but maybe they're a comment on the fleeting nature of adult friendships.
10/23/04: Hall & Oates' Abandoned Luncheonette.
9/12/04: Fore! by Huey Lewis And The News. ::taps mike:: Hello...? Anybody? And Buffalo Springfield's Last Time Around.
9/10/04: Sports, by Huey Lewis And The News. At least there are fewer patiences to test every day.
9/9/04: Daryl Hall & John Oates' Big Bam Boom. Also known as "testing my readers' patience."
9/8/04: A book review of Philip Caputo's Vietnam memoir A Rumor of War.
9/6/04: I've become a regular George Whateverhisnamewas. Elton John's Songs From The West Coast. And Daryl Hall & John Oates' H2O.
9/4/04: Waiting out our portion of Hurricane Frances. Elton John's A Single Man and Chartbusters Go Pop!! 16 Legendary Covers. And Daryl Hall & John Oates' Private Eyes.
9/3/04: Paul McCartney's CHOBA B CCCP (Back In The USSR).
8/29/04: Gotta review something. My breakfast at Ivey's Grill. And Voices, by Daryl Hall & John Oates. And Live At The Apollo With David Ruffin & Eddie Kendricks, by Daryl Hall & John Oates (Fiona Apple's inspiration when she's naming her albums?).
7/25/04: This is something new for me. I call it Channeling Robert Christgau, and it's either a one-night stand or something I'll (somehow) update every few months when I'm in a snarky mood. Not a parody. Hope you like it.
7/11/04: Paul McCartney's Off The Ground. And Buffalo Springfield Again.
7/9/04: Paul McCartney's McCartney.
7/2/04: Buffalo Springfield's debut.
7/1/04: The Smithereens' Blow Up.
6/29/04: Rod Stewart's When We Were The New Boys. And Diana Ross Presents The Jackson Five.
6/25/04: Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club.
6/16/04: The Smithereens' Green Thoughts. Fitting, eh? And Todd Rundgren's Nearly Human.
6/10/04: A book review of Tim O'Brien's In The Lake Of The Woods.
5/20/04: I've written some surprisingly long book reviews, including Stephen E. Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers, James Bradley's Flags of Our Fathers, Daniel Lang's Casualties of War (seeing a theme here?), and a long-winded but possibly worthwhile review of my college photo album.
4/21/04: Neil Young's Harvest re-reviewed.
4/19/04: Squeeze's Babylon And On. And Play. And Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
4/14/04: Ben Folds Five's debut album re-reviewed.
4/11/04: It's a swingin' summary! A Session With Gary Lewis & The Playboys.
4/10/04: The platter you've been waiting for, hep cats! Gary Lewis & The Playboys' This Diamond Ring.
4/9/04: Outkast's Speakerboxx / The Love Below. I break the four-paragraph review!
3/28/04: The Juliana Hatfield Three's Become What You Are. And The Smithereens' Especially For You.
3/21/04: The Smithereens' 11.
3/20/04: Elton John's Captain Fanstastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy.
3/7/04: Mike + The Mechanics' The Living Years.
3/3/04: Mike + The Mechanics' self-titled debut.
2/16/04: Elton John's Made In England. This is my best review since the classic reviews of '99 and '00. The last time out, there was just bad communication between my editor and I. He pushed me in the wrong direction and convinced me to add strange new fonts and modern phrases that in retrospect looked jarringly out-of-place. This time around, I've gone back to the editor of my classic reviews. He convinced me to reduce the contributions from other critics and get back to the bitterness that made this work in the first place. So now my reviews are pure again. Everything's organic and visceral, just good old-fashioned rock criticism. Me, the keyboard, and nothing else. I'm not sure how I got so far from the old days, when Prindle, Starostin and I would just sit together and write from the heart. But I feel like I've recaptured those days again. You can be sure that when I anthologize my best reviews, this new one will be included with all of the great old ones. I only hope it's as much fun for the fans to read as it was for me to write.
2/15/04: Back again, for the second time! Elton John's The One and Rock Of The Westies.
2/14/04: Back again, for the first time! Elton John's Reg Strikes Back.
1/18/04: Disclaimer's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Wait, that's Elton John. Sorry.
1/17/04: Disclaimer's Bombs By Night, Balloons By Morning.
1/16/04: Disclaimer's The Airbag's :Lipstick Kiss. By complete (but possibly satisfying) coincidence, it gets a better grade than the damn Lemonheads.
1/13/04: Come On Feel The Lemonheads
12/27/03: Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down.
12/26/03: The Commodores' Natural High. And Lionel Richie. Spot the theme!
12/24/03: Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates.
12/13/03: Prince's Sign 'O' The Times.
11/18/03: Graham Nash's Songs For Beginners.
11/16/03: Let It All Hang Out!: 60's Party Hits. And Mike + The Mechanics' Word Of Mouth.
11/15/03: Some good news... As of last night, the wonderful Katie and myself are engaged to be married. I got on one knee and everything, and it's a heck of a ring. We are both happy and excited :). We have three and a half years behind us, and an exciting life ahead of us. Well-wishes and crappy late-period Squeeze and Elton John CD's will be accepted, but mostly I hope you are glad for us.....because I couldn't be happier.
11/12/03: Squeeze's Frank. And Paul Carrack's
Groove Approved. Note to Rich: I
bought both of these albums at full price
(nah, just kidding).
10/28/03: Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant.
10/24/03: The Police's Synchronicity. And Bad Company.
9/27/03: More Winwood! I know my readers. Junction Seven.
9/26/03: I haven't been dead, just teaching high school. Steve Winwood's Refugees Of The Heart and Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel Of Love.
6/23/03: Paul McCartney & Wings' Venus And Mars.
6/2/03: Frank Zappa's We're Only In It For The Money.
6/1/03: A very special review of Mariah Carey's debut. And a decently special review of The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin. And a review of The Allman Brothers Band's Eat A Peach that's so special it rides the short bus.
5/31/03: Sloan's One Chord To Another (with apologies to Chris Willie Williams).
5/30/03: The La's. (The best review of "There She Goes" still comes from Brian Burks).
5/29/03: Steve Winwood's Back In The High Life.
5/27/03: Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story.
5/26/03: Hootie & The Blowfish's Cracked Rear View. And Elton John's The Big Picture. I know, Chris Willie Williams' two favorite albums on the same day! Whoda thunk? Plus, I added a review of The Monkees' Missing Links, Volume Two.
5/19/03: The Posies' Success.
5/17/03: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. Dedicated to Katie (it's her favorite album).
5/16/03: John Coltrane's Ascension.
5/1/03: Back! Elton John's The Road To El Dorado.
4/9/03: Steve Winwood's Roll With It.
4/7/03: The Beach Boys' Carl & The Passions "So Tough".
3/27/03: On a roll, eh? Eh? Soul Asylum's And The Horse They Rode In On and Candy From A Stranger. And Counting Crows' August And Everything After. PS Katie came to see me the last two weekends in a row. Each weekend was the best one of my life: relaxing, happy, loving, funny, comfortable, exciting, vegetarian. Again, nothing she doesn't know but I figured a few other people should too. Thanks, kid.
3/26/03: The Church's Gold Afternoon Fix. And Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley. PS Katie is still the best girlfriend in the whole world. I haven't written about that in forever, but it's true and it's about time she saw it again on this website. 2 3/4 years and I still feel giddy when she shows up at my door.
3/25/03: Pearl Jam's Vitalogy.
3/12/03: Pearl Jam's Ten and Vs.
3/10/03: The Beach Boys' Stars & Stripes.
3/9/03: A triumphant return, but I do that every month. Temple Of The Dog. What the hell, Mellencamp's Dance Naked too. And Collective Soul's Hints, Allegations, And Things Left Unsaid.
2/8/03: Bruce Springsteen's Lucky Town.
1/15/03: The Vines' Highly Evolved.
1/14/03: Oasis' (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. Plus Neil Young's Broken Arrow. And Richard Thompson's Mirror Blue.
1/13/03: The Rod Stewart Album. And
ELO's A New World Record. And
(!!) Oasis' Be Here Now.
PS R.I.P. Maurice Gibb, a fellow Miamian who had a hand in writing some fantastic
pop songs.
1/5/03: If you want to invoke some fuzzy math, this is my fifth year doing
the site (late 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, early 2003). Bruce Springsteen's
Human Touch.
PS R.I.P. Joe Strummer, one of the greats.
12/9/02: Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers' Falling Into Place. Does anybody know if Viola sang the lead on "All My Only Dreams" from the That Thing You Do soundtrack? Please e-mail me if you know. Also, I Get Wet by Andrew W.K.
12/8/02: It's not the end of the world, but it is another update! John Mellencamp's Uh-Huh.
12/7/02: Elton John's Friends Soundtrack and Madman Across The Water.
11/25/02: Elton John's Victim of Love.
11/1/02: The Travelling Wilburys' Vol. 1.
10/29/02: The Yes Album and Fragile.
10/22/02: John Cougar Mellencamp's American Fool.
9/14/02: A new one-time feature! CosmicBen's Bitter Libs. Featuring Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Alice In Chains' Dirt, and Paula Cole's This Fire.
8/26/02: Neil Young's Tonight's The Night. And Bruce Springsteen's The Rising.
8/5/02: Steve Knowlton & The Knowl-tones' III. They get their own page because I'm not sure whether they'd go under S or K. Not kidding.
8/4/02 The Boss's The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle.
8/3/02: Ben team, back again! Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town. And the That Thing You Do soundtrack. And Prince's Symbol Album. And Sugar's File Under: Easy Listening.
7/15/02: How's ten new reviews for ya? INXS.
6/30/02: Because you've all missed me... The Band's Music From Big Pink. Plus, a belated but enthusiastic Happy Birthday! to Rich Bunnell, and a heartfelt farewell to godlike Who bassist John Entwistle.
6/9/02:Because you've all missed me... The Monkees' Justus and The Beach Boys' Christmas Album.
4/24/02: Sudden unemployment = productivity, I guess. Fountains Of Wayne's Utopia Parkway.
4/23/02: ZZ Top's Afterburner. And George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.
4/21/02: John Cougar Mellencamp's Scarecrow.
4/17/02: Prince's Chaos And Disorder. Omigosh, I like it more than the White Album! Plus, Nirvana's Unplugged In New York.
4/1/02: Finally, the White Album.
3/29/02: Fleetwood Mac's Rumours!
3/26/02: Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True.
3/25/02: You know I don't want to do my linguistics homework if I'm reviewing albums... Weezer's Pinkerton.
3/18/02: Sting's The Dream Of The Blue Turtles.
3/17/02: Nobody noticed my green underwear today :(. Tom Waits' Closing Time.
3/16/02: Like some disappointing sequel to Willy Wonka (you know it'll happen sometime): Crowded House. And The Ramones!
3/11/02: Like seeing smoke coming out of the Wonka factory after so many years... More Of The Monkees.
1/27/01: Everclear's Songs For An American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How To Smile.
1/26/02: Taking pot-shots at Frank Zappa's You Are What You Is. But I love The Stone Roses. Badfinger's Ass kinda smells. Heh heh. Wait, that sucked.
1/9/01: Inspired by Rich Bunnell's wacky idea, I'm reviewing a band's second album directly after their first. Somebody stop me! Sugar's Beaster.
1/7/01: You better believe it's a new review. Sugar's Copper Blue, with hearty thanks and slight apologies to my friend Chris Willie Williams.
12/4/01: David Bowie's yadda yadda Ziggy Stardust yadda yadda yadda.
12/2/01: George Harrison's Cloud Nine. For Marco Ursi, who now probably has three weeks to review something before I do again.
11/28/01: What If The Beatles Never Broke Up?: A Whimsical Journey Through The Past.
11/15/01: (Evening) The Posies' Amazing Disgrace.
(Wayy early morning) Crosby and Nash's Another Stoney Evening. Does that mean it rocks?
11/7/01: Beach Boys' Party!
10/31/01: Billy Joel's River of Dreams.
10/23/01: Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.
10/16/01: A parody of Pitchforkmedia.com.
10/1/01: The Posies' Dear 23, along with a short note on the band.
9/26/01: Another journal entry, getting more anticlimactic each time.
9/25/01: (Way later in the day) This here long, surprisingly humorless and directionless journal entry. There, I've lowered your expectations, which is good, because I'd hate to put myself on the line over anything.
I finally write a review, and it's a rap album. I really have my finger on the pulse on the web reviewing community. RZA as Bobby Digital: Digital Bullet.
9/14/01: As the Monkees would say, anybody who uses this tragedy as an excuse to hurt anybody in any way is a disgrace to America. The flag is not a shield for ignorant sociopaths to hide behind; I can't believe some of the stuff I've been reading lately.
8/25/01: Getting crowded here! My picks for Springsteen's Greatest Hits. Or you can just read yesterday's journal entry again.
8/24/01: A journal entry.
8/19/01: The Monkees' Headquarters. I bought it for full price and I ain't bitter.
8/12/01: Two for ya': ZZ Top's Eliminator, and The Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones L.T.D.
8/8/01: Sorry about the wait (again). Radiohead's Pablo Honey. When was the last time I reviewed an album you cared about?
7/25/01: A feature: 90 Minutes of Oldies.
7/17/01: My family got a new cat today! Awesome. A little orange guy that's really cute. To celebrate, I reviewed The Birds, The Bees, & The Monkees.
7/15/01: Back again. The Posies' Frosting On The Beater.
7/6/01: I enjoyed that "updating" thing, so I'm gonna try it again! Ernie Isley's High Wire. Woo.
7/5/01: Brian Wilson. And Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil. I should really space these reviews out better.
6/26/01: Mariah Carey's Daydream. No pictures, sorry. I'm also sorry about the links -- I'm having webpage troubles, but I hope you dig through the pages to find the right reviews.
6/24/01: Has it really been that long? Weezer 2001.
6/14/01: Has it really been that long? Soul Asylum's Let Your Dim Light Shine.
6/6/01: The Weavers' Together Again. And a new page on singles. It's 3:37 p.m. and I'm sitting in my room, listening to the Bee Gee's greatest hits on an old record player. I really need to get out of the house.
6/5/01: Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends.
6/4/01: A hastily-written meditation on comic books. And Chuck Berry's Golden Hits.
5/30/01: Elvis Costello's This Year's Model. I might have actually gone "controversial" with this one -- I'll try anything at least once. And I will post your comments, you know... Someone write me!
5/25/01: GZA's Liquid Swords. Somebody? Anybody?
5/23/01: Back again again! U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. And an innocuous journal entry.
5/21/01: Back again! Weezer (the blue one).
4/30/01: No, Rich, it's not a mirage! Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, given the wonderful 3 1/2-star rating that manages to avoid offending anybody in any possible way. More: Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On.
4/26/01: Added some profundities to my review of Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale.
4/25/01: He returns! Stephen Stills' Manassas. Thanks for sticking around. I finally have a week off, and I will add some good stuff to this page.
3/27/01: If you love mediocre "classic" albums by seventies ensemble-type "black radio" bands that everybody's heard of and nobody really cares about, well, this is your month! Uh, except for the Beach Boys. They were white. War's Why Can't We Be Friends?. And in case you were getting tired of the theme, Soul Asylum's Grave Dancer's Union.
3/26/01: Earth, Wind, and Fire's All 'n' All. Rich, quitcher groaning.
3/19/01: Journal entry on parties and Katie.
3/12/01: He's aliiiive!! The Beach Boys' Summer In Paradise.
2/11/01: The Guess Who's Wheatfield Soul.
2/10/01: As promised, or mentioned, or whatever, The New Radicals' Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. Plus, Joni Mitchell's Blue.
1/29/01: Funkadelic's Maggot Brain.
1/23/01: The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta.
1/18/01: Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
1/17/01: Where have all the good albums gone? Wings Wild Life.
1/16/01: I hate nice clothes. Plus, RZA As Bobby Digital In Stereo.
1/15/01: An appreciation of Friends
1/8/01: Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz.
1/7/01: Journal entry about Katie.
12/12/00: Guster's Lost And Gone Forever.
12/8/00 See, I promised. Songs In The Key Of Springfield!
12/7/00: Sleater-Kinney's All Hands On The Bad One. Sorry, Rich -- I'll review something good soon.
12/6/00: Finally, I tackle my second rap album: Wu-Tang Clan's Enter The Wu-Tang.
12/3/00: I finally tackle rap music. GZA's Beneath The Surface.
11/30/00: ZZ Top's El Loco.
11/25/00: Prince's Lovesexy.
11/20/00: The Music Man. Yes, the musical! What's it to you?
11/4/00: Neil Young's Harvest. And Carole King's Tapestry. Soft-rock heaven!
11/2/00: CCR's Willy & The Poorboys. It's such a cute little review. And! Boston. Groovy, dude.
10/23/00: CSNY's Looking Forward. Dedicated to Martin Teller, who'd damn well better enjoy this review.
10/2/00: Bruce Springsteen's The River. Stop me before I review something else!!
10/1/00: Prince's Around The World In A Day.
9/27/00: The Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience. Not nearly as pretentious as the title makes it seem.
9/22/00: Nick Karn will like my review of Back In Black, but Mark Prindle won't. And I'm not sure about George Starostin...
9/15/00: Funkadelic's Let's Take It To The Stage.
9/12/00: Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift To You. The first time I've broken new web-reviewing ground? Could be. Well, besides that damn Hootie single.