This is some of the finest music ever recorded, a product of the pairing of musical geniuses. Mostly A C Jobim compositions, brilliantly, tastefully arranged, backing Sinatra, toned down, singing, cooing softly over the bossa nova jazz. Only one complaint-- not enough of it; the album is really short, some bonus tracks from the session, alternate takes, etc. would be appreciated. The mix and the general sound reproduction is nearly perfect, the remastering flawless-- it sounds great! My favorites: I concentrate on you; on this record, the standard is wholly unique with regards to other interpretations by sinatra and others, witha sharp, punchy horn arrangement in the intro. Sinatra and jobim's voices intertwining on girl from Ipamena This is the sinatra record for people who might not care for sinatra; the best introduction to bossa nova.

The ultimate mood record; ultimate bachelor pad soire record, ultimate record to kick back to witha drink, best record to calm nerves in your car on the way to work, to get you in the mood; everything for everyone, bossa nova, easy listening, the nuances of sinatra's voice in a non swinging setting.

Sure to become the treasure of your cd collection.

Great pop record. No more punkish stuff for elastica. Justine is still sexy and so is her voice. The album is consistent in feel and sound; what you hear is what you get, nothing deep or cathartic-what do you expect? Very palatable, synth pop trioish (dadada cover too) foundation with various guitar sounds, noises and samples piled on top. File it with imperial teen and devo.

The Sporting Club plays out the alpha male/other guy dynamic in a really fresh funny way. Its the story of two grown young men of privilege, reunited at the sporting club in Michigan that they played and hunted at as kids. Stanton, the tough guy with the cojones collides with Quinn, the sensitive brooder. They start with pranks on each other and their peers and eventually get to sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Absolutely hilarious. Think Caddyshack meets Fight Club. The writing is superb. Crisp prose, fully fleshed characters and imagery. Mcguane has quite the vocabulary. He's obviously smarter than you, smarter than me but thankfully without self-indulgence. He doesn't write for his own sake or merely for the sake of writing, and the prose clearly has the reader in its sights, or is it sites? At any rate, great book, page turner, tons o' fun.

I first saw the name Lenny Bruce on the sleeve of a book in my father's library. I was ten and all I remember of the incident was the cover shot of Lenny Bruce with those Billy Joel eyes. At any rate, I was reminded of that scene when reading certain passages from Don DeLillo's Underworld last year, illuminating the author's vision of Lenny Bruce on stage toward the end of his life. I'll get to the point soon I promise. But lemme go ahead and preface this with the fact that I'm only 24; Bruce was long since dead before I was born, a year and a day prior to the death of Elvis. But enough about me.

This recording offers the young person a great window from which to surreptitiously view the state of culture and the times of the early 60's. I grew up on Diceman and Bobcat Goldthwait tapes that seemed very much informed by Woody Allen bits, or schtick; don't expect that here. The Lenny Bruce evidenced in this recording has no rules, it follows no guidelines; it is the spritz style of comedy. After listening you will recognize his influence on so many others, Jackie Mason's jews and gentiles routine is a direct lift from Bruce's jewish and goyish spritz. Howard Stern's extremely personal, anything goes, boulliabase style of radio seems heavily influenced by Bruce's nothing sacred style. Bruce discusses himself, for instance his law problems and his jewishness, politics, for instance RFK's preoccupation with the mafia, and comedy itself with no fear. He'll have the crowd eating from his hand and then he'll say something that totally alienates them. He contradicts himself. He invents new syntax. He deals with issues like race and segregation, at a time when those issues really mattered, without being ponderous, heavy handed or preachy. In an age of Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Foxworthy cd's, and Spike Lee filming black comedians whose schtick is still based of the tried and true Def comedy jam formula of "white folk do this, while black folk do that," it's really something else listening to Lenny Bruce. Don't expect to laugh every two seconds, just keep your ears open and learn.

Sonically- On this record the group was dynamic in a way that even Jane's Addiction never was. As far as expression, in terms of loud vs. quiet and heavy vs.light, most of Porno's contemporaries were relying on the played out clean tone to distorted tone, e.g. the verse/chorus thing that Radiohead does in Creep, a technique one can trace back to Metallica's Fade to Black, and done to death on the Foo Fighters second album.

Porno expresses emotion in the music in a totally unique way. The guitar player barely uses distortion; he employs the wah wah peddle to explore and push the limits of heavy and soft within the confines of his amp tone. There's no cut and paste wall of sound Dave Navarro thing going on here. Just a few rythim and lead tracks- meat and bones. Plenty of minors, ninths and sevenths The Bass is phenomenal, heavy finger style along with popping and slapping that is harmonic- not that trebley Hartke/Korn sound that is so prevalent today. Then you have Stephen Perkins' dynamic work on the drums, the kit proper as well as various other units of percussion, and then you have Perry's voice. The production and mixing is flawless.

Lyrically-

For a dude so in touch with his feminine side Perry Farrel has a stifling grasp of the youngish white male's psyche. You've got the misanthropic rage of Packin' 25. A young man's look at the (Alanis Morissette) irony of age and money in Cursed Male. The evolved (or emalsculated- take your pick) man's view of pretty young women in Cursed Female. Nihilism meets Pyromania in the band's self-titled track--or is it their theme song? And then my personal fav- Orgasm, which inserts the listener into the driver's seat about to give a girl her first orgasm-- she's ready buddy, she knows you're the one; are you up to the challenge?

This is a really swell record. I bought it when it came out and have listened to it on and off ever since. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, the group wasn't able to recapture the brilliance of its first studio outing; the second record is largely an uneven affair with a different lineup; for my money its more of a Perry solo record.

Clocking in at around 45 minutes, Porno's 1st is just about perfect.

Lyrically uneven. Not an example of the greatest musicianship. However-

A truly great record. A seemless collection of dynamic, beautiful pop music. A record one can savour from beginning to end. Flawless, crystal clear production that doesn't sacrifice warmth or feeling. Its an emotional, moody record expressed in infectious verse-chorus-verse- what else can you ask for in a pop record anyway?

Great tunes, sometimes personal and thoughtful, sometimes absurd, with a depth that manifests with multiple listenings. Buy it.

Cropper's Cabin suggests "Cut Rate Caldwell" And "Fire Sale Faulkner," writes Robert Polito in his Thompson bio Savage Art. Unfortunately he is right.... I found Cropper's Cabin derivative and generally misconcieved-- cardboard cutout characters and cliches. At any rate, I still enjoyed the book but I would definitely describe myself as a Thompson fanatic, and even his worst stuff is still fun and readable. If you are familiar with Thompson, you know that his work is pretty much hit or miss. Cropper's Cabin....well-- its a miss. too bad

Running Dog is essentially a witty and sarodnic spy/intrigue/romance. DeLillo in a bar room brawl with Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Charles Willeford and Larry Flynt. It's like punk rock DeLillo. Filled with porn, sex, violence, apathy, lecherous men and empowered women and DeLillo's Hitler fixation, manifested here less incidentaly than in White Noise. For my money its the least indulgent and most readable and fun novel of DeLillo's ouevre. All Of Chuck Palahniuk's work is a sort of cross between Running Dog and Vonnegut's Sirens Of Titan and Cat's Cradle. If you like Palahniuk, then Running Dog will offer you a great bridge to step up to DeLillo. For those who were turned off to DeLillo after yawning through Underworld and its hype, then Running Dog will be a revelation. If you don't agree with Penguin Books and have a hard time considering White Noise to be one of the greatest books of the 20th Century, up there with Ulysses, The Big Sleep and Madame Bovary, (Don't worry-neither do I) take it from me- You'll love Running Dog. I won't bother giving you a plot summary because do you really need me to reiterate what the publisher and Amazon says above? Alrighty then. Running Dog's a lot of fun!

The Thomas Crown Affair is basically yet another new edition of the classic caper flick, in the tradition of Mel Gibson's Payback, The Big Hit, and the seminal Point Break. Don't Worry-its not a shameless. TCF '99 has a decidedly modern look and sound and manages contemporary twists on the old robbery with romance thing. Those familiar with the TCF '68 might be either upset or relieved that the producers of the film don't ressurect the mod pop style and attitude of the Mcqueen/Dunaway original. At any rate, the '99 version is quite entertaining, and the suspense mounts smoothly but predictably. Brosnan looks the part and comes off as a fairly likeable billionaire daredevil, which might be harder than it sounds. Rene Russo is a personal favorite of mine, and she looks gorgeous and turns in a believable performance as as a kind of sexy, high class insurance claims rep. Its great to see her in a good role in the wake Pushing Tin and the last Lethal Weapon. I have to give two thumbs up to whoever is responsible for the wardrobe in TCF 99. It is absolutely fantastic! Brosnan's suits make the rest of us dream of a time where we wouldn't be forced to by off the rack. And incidentaly, for a couple of old farts Russo and Brosnan really steam it up between the sheets! Don't Miss TCF '99....

This extraordinairy piece of fiction stands as one of Thompson's best. The novel poses the timeless question: what makes a man? The central guy is a re-write man on a newspaper staff and surprise surprise an alcoholic. Murder runs rampant in the Nothing Man but with special twists. One of Thompson's great first person narratives, a character whose MO is based on an internal "two-way pull," and misanthropic rage. Don't miss the Nothing Man!