Who should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame?

My thoughts on who's been left out of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Actually I just realized I left off Cheap Trick in that post. How could I have missed them?

The weakness of music audiobooks

I read a ton, but I also listen to lots of music, podcasts and audiobooks. I just finished a very good audio version of "The Rolling Stones' 'Exile on Main Street' (33 1/3 Series)."

A critical look at The Rolling Stones' finest albumLearned a lot of background about an album I'd have for years but never really dived deep on. I'll certainly listen to "Exile" with new appreciation and insight.

But guess what was sorely lacking in this audiobook? Yep, the music. And that's a regularity with music-related audiobooks I've listened to over the years, including a jazz history and a bio of Phil Spector.

I understand the high price of obtaining rights to the music is oppressive. But when I listen to music-related audiobooks, I'm constantly hitting pause and referring to songs in question. Thankfully, I have an XM Inno portable MP3 player that eases that process. But it's still a pain to listen to the book in isolation. I thought for sure when I was listening to an audiobook version of the Ken Burns' PBS "Jazz" series, that he'd have conquered that rights issue, given the fact there was a whole line of CDs released in conjunction with the series. Wrong.

I guess I just need to learn my lesson and keep my consumption of music books to print versions.

But is anyone aware of any audiobooks that have nice integration of music?

Not warming to new Rancid

Bought the deluxe edition of the new Rancid CD "Let the Dominoes Fall" on Tuesday, the day it came out. I'm a big fan from way back.

The deluxe set has lots of cool stuff: the new CD, a second CD containing acoustic versions of 12 of the new songs, a DVD documentary of the making of the album, three posters and four guitar picks. OK, I'm a recovering drummer, but the guitar picks (each with a headshot of the four band members) is a nice touch. Reminds me of something Cheap Trick might have done.

But after a half-dozen spins of the CD, it's not taking. Either my ears have softened or there's a lack of edge. No one will ever accuse Rancid of being polished, but there's a softened sound that's evident throughout, even on the songs that have some crunch. I haven't had time to dive into the acoustic stuff or the DVD, so will update this as soon as I have an opinion on those.

Bottom line: After six years since the last Rancid disc, I was hoping for more.

UPDATE (June 12, 2009): OK, I've listened multiple times to the CD, the alternate CD with acoustic versions and the DVD and I remain underwhelmed. Even an appearance by Booker T. Washington (Booker T and the MGs) didn't move me. And I'm a geek for Southern Soul. Same with the appearance by Matt Hensley from Flogging Molly.

The 37-minute DVD from filmmaker Rachel Tejada is informative, adding insight into the band's history, passions, influences and details on their gear, with an overriding theme on making the new album. But it's stripped to a distorted black-and-white that is so annoying it interferes with the message. Bad = perceived art over clarity and message.

Bottom line No. 2: I'll revisit these discs again but not to the same degree of their previous CDs, all of which are among my favorites. A poor Rancid album is better than most other music these days.