artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd This title is not currently available on Amazon album: Then and Now format: 16-Bit Audio for the CD Side; Advanced Resolution 96Khz/24-Bit 5.1 Surround Sound for DVD-A Side label: Silverline release year: 2004 performance: 8 sound: 7 special features: Video “Simple Man” Live Performance; Photo Gallery reviewed by: Jeff Fish Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of those bands that trigger a whole rush of memories simply by being mentioned. Some of things that you think of when you hear the band’s name are great songs, awesome live band, impeccable musicianship and, unfortunately, tragedy. When Lynyrd Skynyrd decided to first come back in 1987 (after the plane crash in 1977), I had mixed feelings about this. After all, Ronnie Van Zant was one of the most identifiable voices and best frontmen in rock ‘n’ roll history. How can you ever replace that? “Replace” is obviously the wrong word – Van Zant was irreplaceable. The question is really how do you front a band like that now? ...

artist: Simple Plan function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); album: Still Not Getting Any... format: DualDisc label: Lava Records release year: 2004 performance: 5 sound 8 reviewed by: Dan MacIntosh When evaluating music, or almost any art for that matter, it’s often necessary to highlight the differences between creations celebrating simplicity and lesser examples that are just plain simplistic. For instance, Neil Young (along with his garage band Crazy Horse) has been releasing simple yet beautifully loud rock ‘n’ roll for years. His basic formula of primitively pounded drums, fat guitar chords and gruff vocals is the kind of straightforward approach that should never be tweaked or changed. But in the case of Simple Plan, you have a nondescript Montreal-based punk-pop band. Their new album Still Not Getting Any … combines non-poetic lyrics with recycled guitar riffs, for something that is unoriginal and ultimately unappealing, if not altogether unmemorable.

artist: Audioslave album: Audioslave format: DualDisc label: Epic/Interscope release year: 2002/2004 performance: 9 sound: 9 reviewed by: Jerry Del Colliano Isn’t it ironic (unlike a black fly in your chardonnay or rain on your wedding day) that the two best rock records on DualDisc are from modern-day super-groups? Who can argue with concept of melding talent at every position around the horn to create a band that can really play? In the case of Audioslave, you get the band from Rage Against the Machine and add vocalist Chris Cornell, formerly the front man of what I consider to be the best, most talented band of the grunge era, Soundgarden. The result in Audioslave is a band that has the edgy, hard rock feel of Rage, complete with a little bit of funk mixed in, paired with the gravitas that Cornell brings to the mix. Gone are the annoying attempts at rap that always soiled my opinion of Rage Against the Machine. In Audioslave are the full-force, rock ...