Music Library: Blasters, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blind Idiot God, Blonde Redhead, & Blue: _Ash, _Hawaiians, _Mountain, _Oyster Cult, _Rodeo, _Shadows

The Blasters - American Music. Man, I love the Blasters, but this is all I need. They're really not that creative of a band (being Sun Records fetishists and not much else), but they are a lot of fun.

The Blind Boys of Alabama - "Way Down In the Hole." Sounds like Season 1 of The Wire.

Blind Idiot God - s/t. All-instrumental, brilliantly creative avant metal that was on SST back in the 80s. Their healthy interest in dub and 20th century compositional music put them into a completely different place than most metal bands of their time. You can hear some of the early origins of Pelican in this.

Blonde Redhead - Misery Is A Butterfly and 23. Dreamy indie-pop. Used to be a noise-rock band, but they've gone all swirly psychedelic.

Blue Ash - "I'm A Bad Actor." Power pop of unknown origin.

The Blue Hawaiians - "Jockey Full Of Bourbon." Only-ok cover of the Tom Waits song. Hey, that's two Tom Waits covers in this batch.

Blue Mountain - Dog Days and Home Grown. Folksy band from Oxford, MS. I saw them open for Son Volt back in 1996 and they blew Farrar & co. away. Both of these albums are mostly wonderful (both have fluff, too), but I've had a hard time keeping interest in the band since I grew a little bored with the No Depression scene.

Blue Öyster Cult- Blue Öyster Cult, Tyranny and Mutation, Secret Treaties, and The Essential. Jeez, BÖC is the nerdiest of nerdy rock bands of their era. These songs are all about the sci-fi references and gawky double-entrendres. And the music is spastic, with odd, angular structures and soaring choruses. This is the first three albums plus some tracks from a collection that a friend gave me. Strangely enough, 90% of the songs on the first three albums are more essential than the songs on the collection called The Essential.

Blue Rodeo - Just Like A Vacation. A gift from a Canuck friend. Definitely in the No Depression vibe.

The Blue Shadows - Christmas EP, Rockin' EP, On The Floor Of Heaven, and Lucky To Me. A gift from the same Canadian friend. This stuff is more Everlys-ish, and I'm always happy when a track shuffles to the front, but I never want to stretch out and listen to a whole album, either.