The Scariest Videos (for your Halloween Saturday)

I remember seeing this for the first time and never wanting to go to the dentist again. And for a decade, I
 didn't.




Tool's videos most always bend reality to extremes....let's have some roofing nails for lunch.



Aphex Twin is purely twisted..on the cusp of evil....I can just fear that hellish halitosis from here. And thats not all...  Rubber Johnny is another video that Aphex Twin did with video artist Chris Cunningham...and it is quite simply the creepiest, spooky thing I've ever seen on the web.




Well, enjoy your Halloween ghouls and fools...I'm off to check the apples for razor blades!

The Scariest Album Covers Ever

I can't sleep, my feet are corpse cold and I'm forcing myself to blog about something Halloween-centric.Yet its been hard to get into the spirit of this candy coated holiday. We haven't been invited to an adult costume parties because most of the adults are "doing it for the kids" these days. I wouldn't mind bobbing for apples in a big tub of Jagermeister and yawning at all of the Kate Gosselin and Dead Michael Jackson costumes while I'm at it. But as we get older it seems that we put our kids in in the Halloween spotlight.....sooooo....    I am slightly peeved that my son's school does not "celebrate" Halloween. They are having an event called "The Fall Festival" in all of the early childhood classes...While the older kids do get to celebrate with costumes and monitored revelry, the toddlers do not. Could it be that in the opinion of the administration that 3 and 4 year olds should not be reminded of anything that might scare them in any way? (ie seeing their classmates dressed up as elmos, spidermen, princesses and octomoms? I don't get it? There will be some songs sung and a celebration of the change of season, but not one candy corn on the premises.  I think it would be ok to gently scare the little ones if it was done with laughter and not pure fear. Daddy looks pretty scary the morning after bobbing for Jager apples and that might have to be good enough for me this year.

So I did a list last year of the top scariest songs and this year I'm going with album covers this year...without further explanation, I present the Scariest Album Covers Ever.

 Danzig-Danzig

A classic and simple graphic of a shadowy horned skull still sends chills. It also keeps many tattoo artists in business.

Black Sabbath-Born Again

Devil Babies are so cute! When you burp them, little flames get coughed out. Their diapers are always full of human remains and poop that looks like hellflame ash, so be careful..those little nuggets are like shit cinders. Hot!Hot! Hot! I couldn't find one lousy lullaby on this album though,which left me with one cranky little Beelzubaby.

High On Fire-Surrounded By Thieves

A horde of red eyed, netherworldly viking demons charging through fire with axe and spear...right at you. The start of a really bad day. Demons need a hearty breakfast or they get all bunged up and start apocalypses.

The Beatles-Sgt. Peppers

Nostalgia brings up scary memories of me being 8 or 9 and already knowing about the abundance of alleged death symbolism on this album cover. I remember seeing the floating hand hovering over Paul's head and getting freaked so bad that I would run past the stereo system in the room if I was alone in the house. That creshendo of epic strings at the end of A Day In the Life didn't help either.

Lynyrd Skynyrd-Street Survivors(original cover)

The image of the band lined up on a street that is engulfed in flames was an eerie foreshadowing of what was to come with the plane crash that ended the lives of Ronnie, Steve and Cassie. This posthumous release in 1977 also contained the song "That Smell" which touted the dangers of self destruction as a warning. Yet it was impossible for the band to prepare itself for what happened. The look in Steve Gaines' eyes  (center) as his head is wrapped in fire is enough to scare the daylights out of anyone. The cover was of course, redone before its release , with the omission of flames and the band shrouded in black.

This is the fucking scariest album cover of all time. I'm shrieking with a slight lisp right now, but still scared shitless. Its so campy, so tongue in cheek, right Glamboat? I'm scared for you, scared you'll be doing shopping mall gigs and holiday variety shows chock full of the dregs on the d-list  from where you came.

Alrighty then girls and ghouls! Send me your own personal choices and be sure to include the graphic if you can!

Happy Hollow Weenies everyone!

U2: The Unforgettable Fire Remastered and Expanded

In the flying under the radar department....This remastered and expanded release has come out as of yesterday and it is worth every penny. For those who pinpoint that Joshua Tree thing as the ground zero for this Irish foursome : Wrong 'em boyo! THIS ALBUM was U2's breakthrough album...Pride(In The Name Of Love) anyone? And it was their first with producer Brian Eno...

The Unforgettable Fire is the perfect autumn album, upon listening to songs like Wire, A Sort of Homecoming and the title track, I picture myself in a firestorm of falling leaves piecing together fractured thoughts from a hard week and I can see my breath as I walk a crooked line to a pub at dusk: This would be that soundtrack. Recorded in a castle at the height of Bono's mulletude, it is the perfect mix of ample Eno ambient and the layered,atmospheric rock of a band who in 1984, was on the cusp of superstardom. This album prepared the world for the juggernaut to come, and gave Bono's ego that boost it surely needed. Here are the specs from the band's website.... go for the DELUXE RELEASE...it has great B-sides like Three Sunrises and Love Comes Tumbling and live versions of Bad and The Unforgettable Fire!

U2's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, has been remastered and will be released by Mercury Records on 26th October.

This special edition marks 25 years since the album's original release in October 1984. Recorded at Slane Castle, Ireland, The Unforgettable Fire was the first U2 album to be produced by Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, and spawned two top 10 UK singles - 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' and 'The Unforgettable Fire'.

Special formats of The Unforgettable Fire will also feature bonus audio material, including two previously unheard tracks from the Slane Castle sessions: 'Yoshino Blossom', and 'Disappearing Act' (a track which the band recently completed), and a DVD including music videos, a documentary and unreleased live footage from the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986.

The Unforgettable Fire has been remastered from the original audio tapes, with direction from The Edge and the album will be available in four formats:

* Limited Edition Box Set: containing 2 CDs (remastered album and bonus audio CD), a DVD with live footage, documentary and videos, a 56 page hardback book with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois, Bert Van de Kamp and Niall Stokes, and 5 photographic prints

* Deluxe Edition: containing 2 CDs, the remastered album, and the bonus audio CD which features B-sides and previously unreleased material, a 36 page booklet with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp

* CD format: featuring the remastered album

* 12" vinyl format: 16 page booklet with liner notes by Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp

The Unforgettable Fire track listing is as follows: A Sort of Homecoming, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Wire, The Unforgettable Fire, Promenade, 4th Of July, Bad, Indian Summer Sky, Elvis Presley and America, MLK.

New Fang by Them Crooked Vultures

New Fang  by  crookedvultures

Several days ago, my eccentric neighbor Mr. V. knocked on our door. It was just about dusk, and he was holding a bird watcher's guide. He seemed over excited about something, a bit sweaty and out of sorts. He told me that there was a flock of 30 or so VULTURES chilling in a large tree draping over a nearby yard. I've never seen a vulture east of Albuquerque, so he had piqued my interest.

I put on my jacket, grabbed the little one and followed Mr. V. in his frenzied state into the early dark...and there....40 feet up a huge Oak tree were the shadowy forms of many large birds. I watched them as they would circle, return and repeat..with only the sound of rustling branches accompanying them as they would land.. There was a hulking mass of bird on almost every high branch,We watched for several minutes in stunned silence and then headed back home. In the morning they were long gone. What were they doing here, on a suburban Philadelphia street far from any mountain, desert or dead animal? Watching...waiting...was it a sign? Eat or be eaten. Hunt or be hunted. Listen..do not hear?

We shall see.

Thom Yorke + Flea= WTF

A couple of weeks back, I blogged about my wife running into Thom Yorke at an LA eatery. We both thought Thom would rather be sipping tea incognito and brooding at a nameless cafe down the street from his English manor than be anywhere near the fundamental fakery of LA...turns out he was working on doing some live shows based on his 2006 album The Eraser....with his longtime producer Nigel Godrich and Flea(everyone scratch their head in unison) on bass.

Here is a vid from the show they did at the Echoplex...Smoke Machines! Open Shirts! 80s dance moves! As far as I can tell, Thom is tapping into a new audience full of guys who collect beats for a living..those shiny people who wear sunglasses and glossy blazers at the uberclubs, and mumble in digital code...... I say as long as he keeps us guessing, he's A-OK with me.