Thanks to only catching a few episodes on TV when it aired -- not to mention the plethora of negative reviews -- I was all set to dislike Season 9 of The X-Files when I sat down to watch it from start to finish.

But I can't. No way.

Season 9 is actually quite good. A few episodes in particular are superb. "Release," for example, the episode in which Agent Doggett learns the truth about his son's death and puts the past behind him. My wife and I were stunned by that episode. It had "Wow Factor" written all over it. Great acting by Robert Patrick. Intriguing story line.

The final episode (titled "The Truth") was only so-so when I watched it on TV. But that was because I hadn't seen the rest of the season (or Seasons 7 and 8 leading up to it) in context. When I watched all of Season 9 back to back, I discovered "The Truth" to be a powerful way to end the series. It was great to have Fox Mulder back, but -- to be honest -- we didn't really consider the show to be about Mulder any more.

Blasphemy? Am I do for a tarring and feathering?

Don't think so. True, The X-Files started out as a show about Mulder and his partner Dana Scully. And the show endeared itself to millions of fans worldwide because of that pairing.

But when David Duchovny (Mulder) left the show at the end of Season 7, just appeared in a handful of episodes in Season 8, and only appeared in the final episode of Season 9, the show changed. But not necessarily for the worse. The other characters stepped up to the plate. Doggett and Monica Reyes were fascinating characters. Each brought depth and strength to the roles.

The X-Files was a show about the unexplained, the paranormal, the out-there-ness of Truth. As such, it was a show that was constantly filled with surprises, twists, turns and even dead-ends.

When people get hung up on keeping the show exactly the same -- with Mulder and Scully in every episode -- they fail to see the point of the series: the unexpected.

If the show would have gone downhill without Mulder, *then* I could see justification for all the bellyaching. But it didn't. The writers and directors rose to the challenge. Season 8 is one of the best of the series, in my opinion. And Season 9 is far from the worst.

One thing we noticed, however: there was a distinct lack of character continuity from episode to episode. Plus, it seems like one or the other of Doggett and Reyes was always hovering on the brink of death -- with the healthy partner watching, praying and hoping for a complete recovery. When the recovery happened, emotions ran high. It seemed like things would change. But, in the very next episode the characters were back to the way they were before the crisis.

In other words, when Reyes almost died in the hospital, Doggett was in tears. He felt deep emotion -- far beyond that felt for a partner in the FBI -- and couldn't wait until she recovered to tell her. But when she recovered, he didn't. Nothing changed.

Those kinds of inconsistencies hampered Season 9. If the writers were true to the characters, changes would have occured from crisis to crisis. They would have siezed the opportunity to get more involved emotionally.

Ditto for the episode in which Scully has to give up William for adoption. In that episode, she's racked with emotion. Yet, in the very next episode, she's composed and emotion-free. Like the adoption never happened. How is that possible? Scully lived for William in virtually every episode. Yet in the very next one after she gives him up for adoption, she doesn't shed a tear and, if memory serves, doesn't even mention him.

As large as those kinds of character consistencies seem, I don't think they completely derail Season 9. The build-up to the end -- combined with a few truly stellar episodes -- make Season 9 well worth having if you're an X-Files fan.

Oh, and let's not forget the bonus material. Two full DVDs of bonus material -- including a wonderful behind-the-scenes peek at the making of "The Truth."

My advice? Don't listen to the naysayers who slam Season 9 and call it the worst. There really isn't a "worst" when it comes to The X-Files. Every season is excellent in its own way.

I just couldn't get into Season 7 of The X-Files.

It's not from lack of trying, though. My wife and I watched each episode faithfully every night (sometimes two episodes per night) until they were all gone

Yet, despite the fact that we're huge X-Files fans, our conclusion is that Episode 7 is lackluster at best. The stories were one-offs (and weak ones at that), the monsters were ho-hum, the action wasn't gripping, and it seemed as if everyone was just walking through his/her part. Sleep walking, that is.

I think the lack of aliens and conspiracy villians really took a toll on The X-Files. Without the overarching threat of either alien invasion or government cover-ups, nothing much really goes on in the lives of Mulder and Scully.

The only hint that something cool *could* happen is when Mulder and Scully got closer emotionally and physically. Their relationship is a truly great one already (one of the best on television), but we wanted to see it taken to the next level. Alas, that was not to be.

We've watched Seasons 1-8 so far and I have to say Season 7 is the weakest of the bunch. Season 8 (see my other review), which receives a lot of grief because of Mulder's absence and Scully's emotionalism (hey, she's pregnant; give her a break!), is far superior to Season 7.

You can read other reviews to get a play-by-play of each episode in Season 7. All I want to do in this review is provide my two cents worth.

My advice: Unless you're a completist who needs to have every season, I'd skip Season 7 and go right into Season 8. You won't miss anything -- except for a lot of uneventful episodes.

Decipher, the CD After Forever released a couple of years ago, blew me away from the first notes. To say that Floor Jansen's voice is outstanding is to understate the matter. She is stunning. And the songwriting on Decipher is equally as captivating, with a few of the songs giving me the chills.

On Exordium, however, Floor doesn't seem to have the same vocal range. She doesn't hit the stratosphere with a few notes like she did on Decipher. Plus her voice seems strained somehow, like she's trying to sing over the music but having a harder time doing so than she did on Decipher.

That's most noticable on one track -- the cover of Iron Maiden's "Evil that Men Do." There, the music is a spot-on copy of the Maiden classic but Floor sounds like a singer in a local bar band rather than the awesome vocalist that she is. To my ears, she just doesn't have the oomph that Bruce Dickinson has -- which is odd because on Decipher Floor's voice had all the range and power needed to pull off the Maiden vocal.

The other cover -- Nicole Kidman's "One Day I'll Fly Away" from Moulin Rouge -- is equally as disappointing. One would think Floor could have bested Nicole, who admittedly isn't a singer at all, but I don't think she does. The track just doesn't sparkle as it should.

Frankly, Exordium as a whole doesn't shine as brightly as Decipher did. I'm not really sure why. Maybe Exordium isn't representative of the CD to come, Invisible Circles (which I don't yet own because it's extremely hard to find in the States). Or maybe I'm not listening to it correctly. I don't know.

The bonus DVD, on the other hand, is interesting. It's a music video for "My Choice," but it's also a behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the music on Exordium. Even though the musicians speak in Dutch, just seeing the members of After Forever laughing, interacting and working on their respective musical tracks is fascinating.

I briefly considered giving Exordium three stars but I couldn't make myself do it. Even on their mediocre days, After Forever is still superior to virtually any other contemporary band one cares to name.

If you're a fan of After Forever from their previous two CDs, you might want to wait until the full album (Invisible Circles) is released in the states to see what the band is up to these days. If you're new to After Forever, I'd strongly recommend starting with Decipher (if you can find it).

After Forever is a stunning band, but I can only marginally recommend Exordium.

Until just recently, all my wife and I had were The X-Files Seasons 1-7 on DVD. We watched 1-6 of these seasons with rapt fascination, enjoying each one it its turn.

Then we watched Season 7 and thought, "Hmmm. Something is different. The episodes are lighter, somewhat goofier, more humorous...but, thankfully, Mulder and Scully seem to be getting closer emotionally."

In other words, even though Season 7 contained a few good episodes, we thought it was the weakest season we had watched to date.

Since I knew David Duchovny's character (Fox Mulder) essentially left the show at the end of Season 7, I didn't have high hopes for Season 8. I read a few Amazon reviews and was expecting Season 8's stories to be just as fluffy, uneven and unsatisfying as those of Season 7. So I held off buying Seasons 8 and 9 until just last week. (I'm a completist and I really *had* to have all 9 seasons, even if they weren't up to par with the first 1-6.)

What a mistake! I shouldn't have waited! Season 8 is amazing!

Season 8's episodes are darker, more intense, and better written than any I've seen in a long time. Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick), whom my wife and I were all set to dislike with a passion -- because he took the place of Fox Mulder, one of TV's most all-time enjoyable characters -- surprised the heck out of us.

Robert Patrick is an excellent actor, and his character has shown a lot of depth, emotion and change over the course of the 15 episodes of Season 8 we've watched so far.

We tend to measure a show's Creativity Quotient by how often our jaws drop and we say, "Wow." Season 8 of The X-Files caused us to do that a lot. So many times we wouldn't go to bed until 11:30 or later because we had to watch episode after episode to find out what happens next.

We did that tonight, in fact. We just watched the episodes where Mulder comes back from the dead ("Deadalive") and the one following ("Three Words"). We were blown away -- totally swept away by the emotion Scully felt for Mulder, completely caught up in the unfolding story lines.

That's how the entire Season 8 has been for us, actually. Each episode took us by surprise. We haven't been let down by a single episode in this season! Really. Of all the seasons of The X-Files we watched, Season 8 surprised us the most. It just flat-out surprised us.

If Robert Patrick had not been such a great actor, and if the stories had not been so gripping, the loss of Fox Mulder would have sent The X-Files into a tailspin. But it's impossible not to like Agent Doggett. The character showed that he's a man of ethics, loyalty and determination. In his own way, Doggett is just as driven to find "the truth" as Mulder is.

The bottom line? Season 8 didn't spiral downward. And it certainly isn't as weak as other reviewers have lead you to believe. Instead, the writers and directors and actors in Season 8 reached deep and made the show about STORY rather than CHARACTER. The solid stories have carried the day. And then some.

If you haven't yet purchased Season 8 of The X-Files because you've read some negative reviews, please reconsider. If you don't think The X-Files could be any good without Mulder, please think again.

I'd rate Season 8 of The X-Files right up there with my favorite seasons, which are probably Seasons 3-5. Season 8 offers incredible stories, powerful emotions, and a new character (John Doggett) that you'll respect and, eventually, grow to like (and admire) quite a bit.

I highly recommend Season 8 of The X-Files.

I'm a huge fan of The Republic of Tea. Their products are the best I've ever found.

I even own the other books written by Ron Rubin and Stuart Avery Gold, the "Minster of Tea" and the "Minister of Travel," respectively, for The Republic of Tea. Success at Life, Dragon Spirit and Tea Chings are all inspiring, interesting books.

But there's something about Tiger Heart, Tiger Mind that struck me the wrong way.

For one thing, it's merely a reprise of the previous books. If you like the Positive Mental Attitude (the "your altitude is determined by your attitude") approach to life, there aren't many books better. Rubin and Gold are the best at combining the pithy tenets of Zen with messages from other legendary pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps books such as Think and Grow Rich.

Yet, I think the message of this book can be boiled down into five simple steps:

Step One: Have lots of money

Step Two: Buy a successful company

Step Three: Make millions with said company

Step Four: Travel to the world's most exotic locales

Step Five: Write books about how to have a positive outlook on life

I came to this conclusion when I read the book jacket bio on Ron Rubin. It says, "Ron Rubin bought and took charge of The Republic of Tea..."

Well, gee, Ron. If I had the wherewithal to "buy and take charge" of a company, I'd do so. But I don't. And neither does 90% of the people who'd buy this book.

What I'd like to see Rubin and Gold do next time is write a practical, nuts and bolts book about how to achieve do-able goals.

This book, like Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People only works if you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or everyone you meet and work with has also read the book and is willing to play by its rules.

I enjoy a good platitude as much as the next guy. But even I -- the hopeless romantic and positive thinker that I am -- know that it takes more than a winning attitude to succeed. It takes hard work, lucky breaks and, quite often, a truckload of money.

If I ever stumble upon said truckload, I'll be sure to write a whimsical book about what I do with it.

And I, like Rubin and Gold, will likely chuckle all the way to the bank.

My wife and I were fortunate enough to have spent a weekend with Jon during the creation of what was to be The Glorious Burden. At the time (January 2003), there were no vocals, and not all of the songs were written. In fact, Jon recorded all the tracks himself. Even adding synth percussion on some of them.

As we sat in The Dungeon, Jon played the selection of songs he had composed to date -- for The Glorious Burden as well as a snippet or two from the forthcoming Demons and Wizards collaboration with Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian.

Yet, for all the simplicity of the arrangements, we were spellbound the entire weekend. Especially when we visited the Civil War Museum and saw first-hand the riveting -- and often emotional -- source material from which Jon drew. Plus, we couldn't help but feel overwhelmed as we watched the DVD of Gettysburg (in high-watt surround sound no less!) with Jon and Wendi until about 3:00 in the morning one night. It was a magical, emotional, unforgettable weekend.

Yet it got even better. Over the ensuing month or so, Jon would excitedly call me up from time to time to play the latest licks he had just written.

Even though the songs were still in an embryonic form, and I was hearing them through a phone line, they were still exciting. Even more exciting, however, was hearing Jon's passion. Man, this guy was on fire for the project! He was driven. Consumed.

Which would come in handy when long-time (and some would say quintessential) vocalist Matt Barlow parted ways with Jon mid-way through the project. (I don't fault Matt, though. He left for honorable reasons.)

Admittedly, I didn't care much for The Reckoning, the 4-track EP that preceeded The Glorious Burden. The songs just didn't reveal the totality of Jon's passion. And I couldn't get past the vocals of Tim "Ripper" Owens, which seemed to walk the fine line between superb and metal parody.

The Glorius Burden, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. Gettysburg, alone, is worth the price. There are parts of that trilogy of songs that give me the chills.

I have a vast CD collection, some 2,000 strong by now. But I must admit that Gettysburg ranks right up there with some of my all-time favorite prog rock epics. The arrangements are nothing short of electrifying -- especially the intro to "The Devil to Pay" and the driving beat at the beginning of "High Water Mark." The use of orchestration as a counterpoint to the riffs and Civil War themes is wonderful.

The music is better than anything Iced Earth has ever done. You can definitely tell it's Iced Earth (the guitar tone and a few of the chord progressions give it away), but a new-found maturity of writing and arranging is clearly evident. This is stunning stuff, folks! Even the cover art for The Glorious Burden -- a weak link on The Reckoning -- is stellar. The attention to detail on the cover only foreshadows Jon's attention to historic detail inside.

I still can't give thumbs up to Ripper's vocals, however, especially when he talk/sings/groans through some of the quieter (and, presumably, more poignant) parts. It sounds like a contestant on American Idol trying to be Bruce Dickinson.

This is a small thing, however, when compared to the big picture that is The Glorious Bruden.

Another favorite: The strains of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" combined with a driving riff, the sound of cannons going off and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (which begins around 5:35 into track one of Gettysburg) is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It's a magical. That's all I can say about it. It's magical.

Disc 1 of this 2-CD set contains some rousing and interesting music (despite Ripper's vocals) but -- to me -- it's Disc 2 -- the Gettysburg trilogy -- that makes The Glorious Burden the masterpiece that it is. Jon could retire now and do so with the pride of knowing he made a sizable contribution to the annals of music.

I can't wait to see Iced Earth when Jon makes a stop in Grand Rapids on June 7th!

I didn't buy Rush In Rio when it first came out. A few bands had already tapped that Brazilian vibe I didn't think Rush's foray would be anything special.

I was right.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Rush fan. I own everything they've ever released. Twice over, in fact. (I couldn't pass up the Remasters when their catalog was re-issued.) I have wonderful memories of Rush in concert. For example, I saw them perform 2112 live in its entirety back in 1976 and '77. I saw them 2-3 times on their Hemispheres tour, alone. I've seen them a dozen times since then, each time thinking, "Man, something is really missing here."

Maybe its youth -- theirs and mine.

Or maybe they -- despite being world class musicians -- haven't had a visit from the Muse in many years.

Don't know. All I know for sure is this triple-CD live album is the worst of the live albums they've produced over the decades. The sound is atrocious. Muddier than the Mississippi Delta. Geddy sounds like he's singing from inside of a box buried underground. And Alex's guitar has all the allure of a street corner panhandler.

Very few live albums can live up to Rush's first one, All The World's a Stage. (KISS Alive being one.) But Rush in Rio doesn't even come close. It's not even in the same league, doesn't even sound like it's from the same three musicians.

The only recommendation I can provide regarding Rush in Rio is that I recommend you save your money.

Whenever I try to tell people about Green Acres, I come up short for suitable words. I tell them it's a mind-bender. I tell them it offers the most twisted logic known to man. Non sequiturs run rampant. One liners and sight gags abound. It practically induces a headache whenever I watch it.

Yet, I'm going to order Season One of this fascinating show today.

Why? Two reasons: (1) It -- like Lost in Space (another absolutely classic and essential DVD set I'll order today) -- is a slice of my childhood. I was five when Green Acres debuted. I remember watching it in the late '60s and early '70s, mostly in reruns. I loved it. I've waited for its release literally for decades; and, (2) It's a monstrously creative show, with a flamboyant style that puts to shame the tepid sitcoms of today.

I haven't yet seen a single episode of this DVD set. But I rated it 5 stars out of sheer gratitude to whomever had the guts to release it. I can't wait!

I knew Jon during the formation of the songs that will appear on the forthcoming album The Glorious Burden. In fact, my wife and I were privileged to listen to Jon demo them for us in "The Dungeon" in January of this year (2003) when they were still merely tracks of Jon playing all the instruments himself. We sat in rapt fascination as he discussed his passion for this country and his remarkable patriotism. He'd play various tracks for us -- some of them barely skeletons of what they undoubtedly will be -- and tell us what moved him to pen them.

I especially remember "Valley Forge," which he played at incredible volume. The riff seemed to be exactly that: a good, old-fashioned riff. The kind I used to air guitar to in the '70s.

Keep in mind, none of these tracks featured vocals. They were musical compositions only.

With one exception: "Hollow Man," which he played for us in his SUV on the way to the Civil War museum in Indianapolis. It was in a different form from what appears on The Reckoning, recorded (if I remember correctly) around the time of Horror Show, but it was close to what now appears on the CD single version.

Over the ensuing weeks, well into February, Jon would occasionally call to tell us about his latest musical ideas, and even play the embryonic tracks so we could hear them over the phone. I was blown away by his attention to detail and need for historical accuracy -- from dates of key battles, to names of people involved, to picking the right cover artist (and even positions of the people) for the album. The epic-length track "Gettysburg," especially promises to be a sonic -- as well as historically precise -- onslaught.

Needless to say, we were excited about The Glorious Burden and couldn't wait for its release.

Then a few things happened -- in our lives and in Jon's. The most noteworthy in Jon's: the departure of long-time vocalist Matt Barlowe and the entrance of former Judas Priest singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. In our life: we lost our jobs due to downsizing and were forced to start our own advertising agency. It was a difficult time for all concerned.

Over the next few months, our friendship with Jon more or less evaporated and we lost track of what was going on...until we heard that The Glorious Burden would finally be released in October, then postponed until January. In the meantime, SPV (Iced Earth's new record label out of Germany) saw fit to release this four-track CD single.

Jon is taking a huge career risk with these songs. They're very much centered in American history -- a subject that probably won't play well in other parts of the world. So that means he has to make a killing here in America to achieve sales figures good enough to justify the expense of recording such an epic.

Will it work? I'm not so sure. By January, 2004, when The Glorious Burden is released, America will be long since past 9/11 and darn sick of being entrenched in Iraq. President Bush's approval rating fluctuates wildly, but mostly in a downward trend. So Jon's fiercely pro-American, ultra-conservative songs may not strike the chord they would have had this album been released, say, a year ago. The groundswell of anti-war sentiments (world-wide) may be this album's undoing.

It's a pity, too. I think Jon Schaffer has a legitimate point to make. Sadly, I don't think The Reckoning or The Glorious Burden will make it for him.

For one thing, even though I can remember Jon's passion for the subject matter, I'm not really hearing it come through on The Reckoning. In fact, all I hear are strains of Horror Show-era riffs and compositions, especially the quiet break that follows the rapid-fire riffing in the middle of "The Reckoning (Don't Tread On Me)." I also hear "Ripper" screaming, hitting some great high notes, but using his voice in a sophomoric -- almost a metal parody -- sort of way.

For another thing, the cover of The Reckoning is already gaining widespread criticism for its obvious Iron Maiden (circa "The Trooper" era) rip-off. It's Eddie wearing a Revolutionary War uniform. I'm surprised Steve Harris or Derek Riggs haven't initiated a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

Finally, the songs don't break any new ground. Musically, they're typical Iced Earth. And after this long of a wait between albums, we expected a great deal more. Lyrically, they're rather heavy-handed and, as I wrote earlier, staunchly pro-American (witness "When the Eagle Cries"). There's nothing wrong with being pro-American. However, these songs will only appeal to people who already share Jon's patriotic bent.

In other words, The Reckoning and the forthcoming album The Glorious Burden aren't likely to win any new converts. In fact, they're likely to turn away as many fans as they win -- perhaps more.

I know Jon likes to say that he IS Iced Earth, but this album is so incredibly close to his own heart that the songs might have gone over better as a Jon Schaffer solo album than an Iced Earth album. (Although there probably wouldn't be much difference between the two.)

The bottom line: The Glorious Burden will probably make or break Iced Earth's career. The album will either propel Iced Earth into true world-wide fame and fortune, thereby providing Jon with the platform he seeks to spread his passionate views of American's place in the world, or it'll be the group's swansong.

Either way, these songs show us clearly that Jon Schaffer boldly sports a "no guts, no glory" attitude that soldiers at Valley Forge (or the Battle of Gettysburg) would be proud of.

And there's probably no higher compliment that could be paid to a musical patriot like Jon Schaffer than that.

God bless him.

I've seen Maiden in concert a half dozen times. I own everything they've released in about three or four different formats/versions. Remastered and non-remastered. Vinyl and CD.

Not to mention DVD.

So I bought Dance of Death with great expectations -- especially I had just seen Maiden blow away a sold-out audience in Detroit a month prior to its release.

Sadly, Dance of Death is only marginally better than Brave New World. And maybe not even better. Maybe just about as good.

What disappointed me about Dance of Death was its dearth of originality. Many of the songs reminded me of songs from Brave New World. (I dare any fan to deny that.) Or, worse, Virtual XI and X Factor. There's still a lot of repetition of verses going on, bad habits from the Blaze Bayley days, I'm afraid.

What saves this album, in my opinion (surely not its cheesy cover art -- where's Derek Riggs when you need him?), is the fact that it is, after all, Iron Maiden. And the classic line-up (plus one!) of Iron Maiden at that.

Nobody writes music like Iron Maiden. Nobody sounds like Bruce Dickinson. Nobody plays bass like Steve Harris. Nobody showboats like Janick Gers. Nobody has the speed and melody of Dave Murray or Adrian Smith. Even when they seem to parody themselves, Iron Maiden is still light years beyond most bands today.

And maybe that's why I've been harder on Dance of Death than I probably should have been. This is Iron Maiden, for Pete's sake! I've heard what they're capable of. They blow the roof off concert venues when they tour. And their back catalog of music still electrifies me some 15-20 years on.

That said, I must confess that "Wildest Dreams" was a blast to see performed live. And "Paschendale" is a fascinating epic of a song. "No More Lies" suffers from Brave New Worldism, sounding too much like an outtake from the previous album. But "Monstesegur" rocks and "Gates of Tomorrow" features a cool intro riff.

Every track has something of value in it. It's just that, taken as a whole, Dance of Death doesn't surprise and delight like it could have.

Still...

This is Iron Maiden. So you have to buy it, anyway. It's required. Eddie says so.