As an aging Gen-Xer who as of late has become something of a pop culture curmudgeon — “Stop remaking our movies and songs and get your own, hipstersnappers! And stay off my lawn or I’ll Wang Chung your butt!” — I wa slightly fearful when my editor hipped me to “Tim Tebow’s Fire,” ’80′s singer John Parr’s Tebow-specific update of his own Number 1 hit “St. Elmo’s Fire.”

(Cultural note for those under 35 — St. Elmo’s Fire was a movie starring a bunch of then-young actors dubbed The Brat Pack, including Charlie Sheen’s brother, Ashton Kutcher’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Meredith Grey’s dead stepmother from Grey’s Anatomy and Chris Traeger from Parks and Recreation. It was about the difficulty of being middle-class, gorgeous Georgetown graduates in a Reagan-era world that just didn’t give breaks to people like them. Snerk.)

Apparently Parr, whose other big hit was the inspirationally smutty “Naughty Naughty” (Sample lyrics: “Naughty naughty, cute and horny, t-t-t-tease me”) was inspired by Tebow’s convictions and the way he plays them out on the field and off. So he adapted “St. Elmo’s Fire,” whose original version was inspired by Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who traveled the world in his wheelchair to bring attention to spinal cord injuries. He swapped out some of the lyrics for more appropriate Tebow-esque phrases, using “All I need is my Broncos team” rather than “All I need is a pair of wheels.”
Read the full story

We are not these guys. All the time, anyway.

Even before PBPulse.com and its comment pages, we critics here at the Palm Beach Post got critiques – from you. And for the most part, we’re grateful. We want to know when you think we’re not being fair, or that we’re being mean (because sometimes we are. Sometimes deservedly. Sometimes not.)

Your opinion means a lot to us, and we are doing this job for you, to keep you informed and to let you know about things you should either enjoy or avoid.

But…

You knew there was a “but.”

Reviews are opinions. We have them. So do you. “This is a good meal,” or “This is good service” or “This is a sucky concert” are opinions based on our own standards and the facts of those standards. Maybe they aren’t your standards. But it doesn’t mean we’re lying, or stupid, or being paid to hate something (and just who would be paying us to hate something anyway?)

Just because a reporter is not a super fan, or does not always love everything, doesn’t mean that the reporter is biased, paid off or corrupt. Just because a reporter does not agree with you does not mean that they’re wrong. It just means they don’t agree with you, and if you’re a big fan of, say, a restaurant or a pop diva…you’re biased, too. (And the recent suggestion that the reviews on Yelp are never biased is just wrong. You can tell when they’re written by friends and family. Which makes you a great and supportive friend, but a bad source for someone else who just wants a good meal. And that doesn’t help anyone.)
Read the full story

I confess that I didn’t immediately open Michael, Michael Jackson’s posthumously released final album, because I was afraid it was a ghoulish, slapdash collection of unfinished, vocally enhanced tracks tossed out just in time to rake in the holiday cash.

And if that were true, the last musical statement that blessedly brilliant, incredibly controversial giant would ever make, would be blown. And that would be tragic.

Ultimately, Michael is a good, but not great, effort that’s dated and uneven in its worst moments, and sentimentally deft and sweet in its best.

Read the full story

Jimi Hendrix died too young for him to have the opportunity to “sell out” or for his music to grow old and tired. You have to wonder as to what may have been if he lived past 27. You can’t rank any of Hendrix’s studio LPs with anything but the highest possible regard. They are groundbreaking beyond anything before or since, and laid the foundation for anyone who picked up an electric guitar thereafter.

Valleys of Neptune is a collection of unreleased tracks and alternate versions. The title track is something that has been longed for by Hendrix fans and music purists. The song is fine in itself, but the genius of the release is the production. The sound is incredible for recordings that are 40-45 years old. It’s intimate and in your face.
Read the full story

On Nov. 2, Sanctuary UK re-released two “lost” Black Sabbath albums from 1986 and ’87. I say lost because Tony Iommi was the only original member of Black Sabbath on either album, and they didn’t exactly sell like gangbusters, especially when you take into account that anything that had Black Sabbath in the name would sell on name alone.

Seventh Star was actually supposed to be a Tony Iommi solo effort until record company pressure decided to put it out under the Sabbath name. Iommi took plenty of grief for the move. To add insult to injury, the album was labeled Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi, which to this day remains one of the most ridiculously boneheaded decisions in rock history. This led to much mocking in the music press.

Eternal Idol was released a year later. The recording and production of that album, along with its numerous contributors made for great soap opera material as musicians, vocalists, and venues were in flux as the album got closer to its release.
Read the full story

Artist: Iron Maiden

Album: The Final Frontier (Sony Legacy)

Our spin: No, this is not Iron Maiden’s final album as the title may indicate. It’s simply a continuation of the sci-fi interests of main lyricist and bassist Steve Harris. The band puts together a string of epic songs with master musicianship and the powerful voice of Bruce Dickinson.

The Final Frontier is Maiden’s 15th studio album and reminds us how great these guys are together. Except for a couple of misguided releases in the mid ’90s, the band has been a model of consistency. Their songs more resemble arrangements as they continue to use all of the weapons in their arsenal; three guitarists and a stampeding rhythm section. Bruce Dickinson sounds great as he’s ratcheted down the more operatic style he exhibited in the ’80s.
Read the full story

The Randy Rogers Band:

The Randy Rogers Band is proof that a band can have a successful career without ever charting a Top 40 country song. The band began touring ten years ago, first in Texas, and now nationally, earning new fans at every stop.

The band released its latest project, Burning the Day, on Tuesday, and frontman Randy Rogers called to talk about it. The album is a warm mix of traditional country, broken-hearted love ballads and toe-tapping tunes that will make you want to get in your car, crank up the volume and drive — away from street lights, traffic congestion and city noise, until all you see is green.

The Post: Where are you today?
RR: The bus is moving down the road and we’re heading to College Station. We had a birthday party and a CD release party yesterday in Austin. Yesterday was my 32nd birthday.
Read the full story

Here are some recently released classical music discs by local performers. Discs are available at Amazon.com or CD Baby unless otherwise noted:

Ever Changing: Chamber Music Palm Beach

Featuring Surinach: Ritmo Jondo; Bax: Oboe Quintet; McAlister: Agreste; Roussel: Trio in F, Op. 40; de Wailly: Aubade; Martinu: Trio (H. 300).

(Klavier Music)

This is the sixth recording by the musicians of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, which just wrapped its 19th season of summer concerts. Like its predecessors it offers mostly rare but worthy pieces, a couple of which are real discoveries that belong in the regular repertoire.

Read the full story

The artist: MGMT

The album: Congratulations (Columbia)

The spin: When a band gets famous and members feel they can’t “handle it,” they often make one of two kinds of followup records.

One is the “price of fame” album, in which They sing and play and songs about how everything has changed and who can we trust and please pass the drugs so I can numb myself. “In Utero” was a really good one. “De La Soul is Dead” and “The Marshall Mathers LP” are others. Pulp’s “This is Hardcore” is a personal favorite. Bow Wow actually named an album “The Price of Fame,” which gave everyone a good laugh.

The other is the “contract breaker,” an album that goes so consciously against label expectations based on previous work that the record company elects to let the artists go from their contract, which is probably the intention. It is essentially a dare. Those familiar with 1990s indie rock remember that when avant-blues rockers Royal Trux signed to Virgin, the band delivered a straight-forward album in 1995 called “Thank You,” then followed it with “Sweet Sixteen,” a well-neigh unlistenable record with a profoundly befouled toilet on the cover. Genius!
Read the full story

The artist: Usher

The album: Raymond v. Raymond (LaFace)

The spin: Just as Usher is releasing his sixth album, America has become fascinated with the train-wreck quality of celebrity divorces. It’s fortuitous timing, because there may be no one more qualified to comment on celebrity marital woes than the R&B lothario slowly creeping into his 30s.

The success of his biggest album (2004’s “Confessions”) in part stemmed from the pulled-from-the-headlines quality of some of his biggest songs, which revolved around him cheating on TLC singer Chilli. In the years since, Usher has begun to see the downside of giving the world a bird’s eye view to his personal life.
Read the full story