"Old Sock" by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is a musical legend, but he's not a legend that's been long held in high regard by this guy right here. For some reason I felt drawn to listen to this album. Many people, while respecting Mr. Clapton's contribution to the world of music over the past five decades, seem to think that the old man has lost his way and no longer has any music to express.

Personally speaking, his solo material, though the most voluminous, is the least interesting to me. Per this man's opinion, Clapton works best when he's the guitarist who's working with other musicians that bruise his ego which forces him to let loose the staggering player he keeps hidden, but let's move on to his latest, "Old Sock." The cover struck me upon first sight. It's frankly a bit horrible. The old man and his greying beard along with a terrible, terrible vacation hat.

"Seesaw" by Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa

Here is the latest review of Joe Bonamassa's  work that has been covered here. (About three other albums have been missed in the interim as this man never, ever stops working for more than about 47 seconds at a time. He's like the James Franco of the music industry.) This would be the "sophomore" effort with this on again off again collaborator, Beth Hart.

Their first album left me, I don't want to say cold, but wanting. It was a bit hard to divine precisely what they were doing and why they were doing it together. Perhaps my listening was not as thorough as it could have been, but this review is now about "Don't Explain."

As silly as this is to say, Joe Bonamassa is one of my favorite modern guitar heroes. Yes, he's been around for about a dozen years now and has released more music in that time than anyone, save Buckethead, but that guy doesn't count in any normal way, and we've lost the plot.

"Welcome To Oblivion" by How To Destroy Angels

Sometimes it is time to take a chance. Picking out music recently and this showed up. "Welcome To Oblivion" by How To Destroy Angels.

Destroying Angels?! How inanely brutal must this record be? Even Morbid Angel and Slayer didn't talk about killing angels...maybe Cannibal Corpse.

It actually turns out that this album is not very brutal. In fact it's not even remotely brutal. It's not heavy and it's electronic music. Well, being a good sport, it was still given a go.

It would turn out that this is a side project of Trent Reznor's. Well, as NIN has always been like nails on a chalkboard to me, how bad could this be right?

"Ready To Die" by Iggy and the Stooges

This is basically my first listen to Iggy and the Stooges. Of course over the years the pop tunes by Iggy Pop have clogged my earways over the airwaves, and they were never very good at all.

It's very easy to forget that the man who gave us "Lust For Life" was once one of the scariest musicians in America. One look at his chest and the scars are evident, as they're real and self-inflicted on stage.

Nowadays, I'd think that most people under the age of thirty would think of Iggy like Riley did Ice Cube in the first Gangstalicious episode of the Boondocks ("That dude who does family movies? He was a gangsta rapper?").

One more pop-culture reference, Iggy Pop is a musical legend, but if I'd met him 2 weeks ago, I'd have to divert from that fact. Our meeting would be very much like Mitch Hedberg meeting Peter Frampton. Iggy Pop, do you like toast too?