RATING:
5 = Excellent. One of the best songs this year! I'll rave about it and crave for it.
4 = Good stuff. I'll get it on CD and put it on REPEAT.
3 = Average. I'll tape it off the radio and consider buying it on CD.
2 = Tolerable. I'll listen to it on radio and probably will get sick of it in no time.
1 = CRAP. I'll turn the radio off as soon as I hear it. Already on my shitlist.

N E W - R E L E A S E S

PJ Harvey "A Perfect Day Elise"
Rating: 4
PJ Harvey is back with a new single and a new album, Is This Desire?. And what a great single to kick off the album with. The song is a venture into electronica, something many artists have done these past two years. (U2's Pop, Madonna's Ray Of Light) PJ Harvey succeeds and creates a great song with a solid hook, not a rocker just one of the best alternative tracks out recently! Most importantly, PJ Harvey does not sacrifice the emotion she's known for, which can easily be lost in techno production. Instead, she works with electronica to create a dark atmosphere, cold even, yet emotional. Lyrically, she is narrating a story, but it seems the emotions are hers. Great stuff. Unfortunately, its airplay isn't doing too hot. But seeing that crappier songs are getting so much air time, oh whatever.

Econoline Crush "Surefire (Never Enough)"
Rating: 4
The followup to not-a-megahit-but-damn-good-song "Home", Econoline Crush put out their hard rock style out again. The sound is futuristic, trancey and most importantly, catchy. Like PJ Harvey, airplay has been a problem. And why? This is exactly what hard rock radio should be playing: songs that REALLY rock and have great hooks. Although great songs, when your playlists look like "Candlebox's "It's Alright", Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" and Jerry Cantrell's "My Song", damn, you need some rhythm and this is it. Hopefully, they catch on to this one.

Dave Matthews Band "Crush"
Rating: 2
Returning with their 3rd single off of Before The Crowded Streets, a #1 album earlier this year, we have a single that is a lot better than its predecessor, "Stay (Wasting Time)" (indeed wasting time when it's being played every 30 minutes) but not as good as the first, "Don't Drink The Water". We'll look at the good points of the song. There's a likeable melody. "Am I rightside up or upside down?". But it doesn't stay in your mind long. Another good point: what I like about DMB is the production. They have a jazzy feel to their music and it feels good to listen to. Now to diss the song. Their hooks are not solid, the melodies seem lacking and in the end, "Crush" just doesn't cut it as a great song. It's good to fall asleep to though.

Oasis "Acquiesce"
Rating: 2.5
Oasis is releasing an album full of B sides, which usually means, "Here are songs that were too crappy to make it on CD". Fortunately, the new Oasis song doesn't give this impression. It sounds refreshingly different, the production that is. It has a good feel to it. However, I'm not sure how much more I can take from Liam Gallagher's whining and this new song seems to have too much of it. Give the mike to Noel!

Jewel "Hands"
Rating: 3
Jewel is back after a temporary hiatus in music, doing her poetry, which wasn't received too greatly by the public. We know she should stick with the music. The new single from her album Spirit sounds great. It is not sleepy like the album versions of her major smashes, "You Were Meant For Me" and "Foolish Games". It's more like a cross between the album and single versions, with the piano, some more optimistic singing and cool production. It's got a good feel to it and is definitely one of the better songs that are getting some major airplay.

Fuel "Bittersweet"
Rating: 4.5
Now here's a GREAT rock song. Another one not doing too hot on airplay, especially compared to its predecessor, the summer rock smash, "Shimmer", Fuel return with a single that has matched or even topped the quality of single number one. "Bittersweet"'s power comes from every single part of the song. We have great lyrics, a favorite line of mine is "What couldn't be... wouldn't be now". It has a catchy hook which may take a couple of listens to get into but when it does, you've "swallowed the pill" and you'll be addicted to this one.

A - S E C O N D - L O O K

Shawn Mullins "Lullaby"
Rating: 1
After peaking at #25 a couple of weeks back on the Rock 50, a decent showing, "Lullaby" has since fell out as it becomes incredibly overplayed and annoying. There is an obvious hook, "everything's gonna be alright, rock a bye". Catchy at first, sounding great. But for the chorus to carry the weight of the rest of the song. Was Mullins too lazy to add a melody? At least Alanis did it on "Thank U". Well, now that the chorus is used up and tired, now that the whispering verses start to get annoying, now that the video is being played incessantly, now that little teenyboppers are requesting this one every 10 minutes, it's no longer tolerable.

Pearl Jam "In Hiding"
Rating: 5
At first, Pearl Jam's "In Hiding" may be just another rock song. But now that the song has been on my chart for many weeks and is going gold very soon, it's a work of art. Eddie Vedder and his gang are geniuses. Lyrically, Vedder is doing what he does best. "I swallowed my words to keep from lying, I swallowed my face just to keep from biting". And the imagery in his words, "I knelt and emptied the mouth of every plug around". Powerful and sincere. The coolest riffs are in the song as well, especially the ones in the verses. Definitely one of Pearl Jam's best this year, "In Hiding" got a lot of airplay pre release on mainstream rock radio earlier this year and has done the same with its official release.

Dishwalla "Once In A While"
Rating: 3.5
UNDERRATED. And surprising since this song is an awesome rock song that fit in so well with alternative and hard rock radio, definitely a potential crossover smash when it came out, following the overplayed "Counting Blue Cars" back in 1996/7, which was ironically a soft not-so-rocking track. "Once In A While" is though and the results are just disappointing. Their album peaked in the #160's, I believe and pop radio doesn't seem like it wants to play this with its not so great reception at rock radio and record sales.