The Entertainment Monitor covers the entire country, but so far only two Valley bands have made the grade. The Meat Puppets were awarded a measly “D” for references to amphetamines, but dig the special editor’s note about No Joke: “Many of the songs do not tell concrete stories and many…

Imperial Drag Imperial Drag (Work/Sony) Yet another Jellyfish offshoot, Imperial Drag sounds like it was shipwrecked on a desert island starting in 1970, and the only things that washed ashore for the next five years were cheesy K-Tel albums. This self-titled debut offers a skewered view of Led Zeppelin and…

TV characters who became American institutions in the ’70s had a nasty habit of growing stale as they “grew up.” Hot Lips Houlihan morphed into the Susan B. Anthony of the Korean DMZ, while everyone’s favorite bigot Archie Bunker devolved into a politically correct bartender so bland the show’s writers…

First, rhythm and blues begat “rock ‘n’ roll,” a term that still has cachet in a few crumbling, former Soviet republics. Then came all of rock ‘n’ roll’s bastard offspring–folk rock, acid rock, hard rock, progressive rock, country rock, punk rock–everywhere a rock, rock. But if rock became too vague…

Best Alternative Rock Beat Angels They may look and play like it, but the Beat Angels aren’t really under the illusion that it’s still 1979. They just don’t think rock ‘n’ roll has gotten any better since then. “The way we look at it, there’s this certain spirit that was…

Steve Earle I Feel Alright (E-Squared/Warner Bros.) Not many people who’ve been to hell and back are this eager to show slides of their trip. But if Steve Earle’s grinning from ear to ear these days, after kicking drugs and getting out of the slammer, the knowledge that he’s delivered…

Gin Blossoms Congratulations I’m Sorry (A&M) Being local heroes in the national spotlight carries its share of burdens, as the mixed-blessings title of Gin Blossoms’ second major-label release clearly references. No matter what the GBs do now to advance their career, somebody back home is going to be pissed. A…

“Going down into town tonight/To drink our fill and start a fight.” So goes a line from “Helen Reddy,” the “hear me roar” opening track from the Piersons’ tempestuous debut CD, Humbucker, scheduled to hit shops Tuesday. Maybe it’s the put-up-or-shut-up seriousness of finally being encoded in digital oxide, but…

Here’s a mentally stimulating game–think of any song written in the last 45 years, then imagine Tom Jones singing it. No matter what your level of creativity, it should be tough to picture Jones botching a tune–any tune. In the last 30-plus years, theWelsh Wonder has recorded everything from “My…

The Refreshments Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy (Mercury) There’s nothing like success to bring out the muttering bastards. Instead of celebrating this ubiquitous Tempe bar band’s major-label debut on Mercury, outspoken members and fans of less-fortunate local acts have taken to branding the three-year-old quartet’s sudden success as grossly undeserved…

Various artists From Dusk Till Dawn (Epic) Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s stab at a vampire thriller turned out to be a wobbly stake in the heart, but the setting of its gore-fest finale–a cavernous, border-town bordello called the “Titty Twister” that’s infested with the undead–made a good excuse for a killer…

It’s January 29, but no one here’s calling it “Super Monday.” All last week, Tempe had been under siege as blimps of every shape and sponsor circled overhead like buzzards, and beer-guzzlin’ NFL enthusiasts of every shape and temperament took over the streets below. Throngs of out-of-town Dallas Cowboys fans…

AC/DC Ballbreaker (AC/DC) AC/DC albums are about as interchangeable as Heinz Ketchup bottles on your grocer’s shelf, but you’d notice a quality-control problem right away if Heinz started making its condiment with the smelliest, most bruised tomatoes instock. And AC/DC screecher Brian Johnson has become onebad, battered tomato who’s been…

Think the rock pantheon’s already overcrowded with mad musical geniuses, do you? Well, make way for England’s Joe Meek–the late, great Sixties record producer who merits an entire mental ward all for himself. Because he was highly eccentric and specialized in over-the-top production techniques, Meek is typically compared to his…

Mr. Mirainga Mr. Mirainga (Way Cool Records) Mamba-punk? Samba-core? That’s how the PR folks at Way Cool describe their label’s latest artistic acquisition. Considering that the mamba is a poisonous tree snake from Africa, it’s safe to assume they meant “mambo.” But that doesn’t really make sense, either, given that…

The Smithereens Attack of the Smithereens (Capitol) The same day Capitol issued its much-ballyhooed first installment of The Beatles Anthology, it also put out a cache of rare, unreleased Smithereens recordings. But unlike Anthology, which has the Beatles paying tribute to rock pioneers with covers of Chuck Berry, and the…

… And Who Could Forget About These Great Hits? (The Ten Best Albums of 1995) 1. P.J. Harvey To Bring You My Love (Island) Britain’s Gen-X version of Patti Smith gets gruff and bluesy on her latest set of psyche-aerobics. It’s not exactly easy listening–first-person songs about drowning one’s children…

Tony Bennett Here’s to the Ladies (Columbia) Tony Bennett’s unlikely ascent from has-been to hipster continues to be one of the coolest, if most puzzling, success stories in pop. Somehow, Bennett has gone from one of mom and dad’s favorite artists to a fave with the kids, without appreciably altering…

When the holiday hordes descend from the suburbs to swarm the gallerias every year on the day after Thanksgiving, many a dutiful consumer snaps up at least one of the Yuletide albums that magically appeared on the shelves overnight like presents under a tree. But few probably wonder how the…

Australia’s teeny grunge sensation Silverchair is the biggest (and youngest) band to conquer down under and beyond since the Easybeats had Friday on their minds way back in 1967. Silverchair’s debut, Frogstomp, entered the Australian charts at No.1–a first in Aussie rock. And, like this country’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,…

Melissa Etheridge Your Little Secret (Island) What’s almost better than a box of sugar cereal with a prize at the bottom? Melissa Etheridge’s new disc, with cute and clever liner notes that double as an interactive puzzle! Anyone who buys Your Little Secret might as well take full and immediate…

In case you missed all six hours of The Beatles Anthology and its accompanying hoopla (what are you, living in a Turkish prison?), just accept this premise: The Beatles are still the yardstick by which all pop music is measured. Whenever some shlub of a group scores a breakthrough hit,…