TUESDAY NEW RELEASES: Neil Young’s Psychedelic Pill vs. Toby Keith’s ‘Girls That Drink Beer’
Assassin’s Creed III (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC)
From Amazon: “The American Colonies, 1775. It’s a time of civil unrest and political upheaval in the Americas. As a Native American assassin fights to protect his land and his people, he will ignite the flames of a young nation’s revolution. Assassin’s Creed III takes you back to the American Revolutionary War, but not the one you’ve read about in history books.” Though all other editions come out October 30th, the PC edition arrives November 20th.
Borderlands 2 (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC) – November 13, 2012
Dishonored (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC)
Hitman: Absolution (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC) – November 20, 2012
This one comes out just in time for Black Friday, but why wait to pre-order? From Amazon: “HITMAN: Absolution follows cold-blooded assassin Agent 47as he takes on his most dangerous—and personal—contract to date. Betrayed by those he once trusted and hunted by the police, Agent 47 finds himself caught in the center of a dark conspiracy and propelled through a corrupt and twisted world. Take on the role of Agent 47 and his many extraordinary talents, then ask: what kind of Hitman are you?”
Madden NFL 13 (PS3 / Xbox 360)
Medal of Honor: Warfighter (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC)
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As the year ends, it’s impossible to fully tally how many amazing albums will slip through the cracks unheard. Here are ten of my favorites from the past ten months which would at least have a shot at year-end “Best Of” lists, if only the critics writing those lists actually heard them.
Actually, the song is “I Like Girls That Drink Beer”.
And yes I do.
Neil Young, proving that though Father Time remains an unbeatable foe, he can sometimes be negotiated into a holiday truce.
Quit peddling the Rap and the Hip Hop. It’s crap and you know it. It doesn’t make you seem edgy, it makes you seem like a person with zero taste.
I keep trying your suggestions in music and keep encountering the same tired arrangements without ambition or innovation or originality.
Andrew Bird, no, Iris Dement, no, Gainsbourg no. Whatever imperatives that once fueled an alternative to Top 40 in America seem long since spent. I’ve heard this stuff over and over and over. It’s fine for a coffee house.
I don’t blame the new generation. They’re up against an older generation who used to customize their amps, build their own electric guitars, and basically make up their own guitar tunings. And that’s just for starters. That kind of brash and authoritative artistic eccentricity seems lost in favor of eccentricity of personality and dress.
You are right. Many of these new, hip singer-songwriters are to popular music what the young writers who used to publish their clever short stories–during the seventies and eighties–in the little magazines (before moving up to the New Yorker) were to fiction. Yes, there is often some very real talent on display, and sometimes brief flashes of lyrical or musical originality, but not enough to keep you interested for long. Like the earlier group–who often spawned imitators– they seem to be performing exclusively to other aspiring singer-songwriters.
Folks need to check out Chris Duarte- a phenomenal guitarist/songwriter with a range from blues through psychedelic rock. . and NO mainstream pop crap. Also for those of a surf bent- the Mermen.