While we are still, without a lot of success, trying to stay away from the Christmas music scene, some fine musical nuggets are reaching our ears including the new album by The Who.
The Who – Who
With what, hopefully, will be their last record, the Who set the flag in the ground for a grand departure. The record is actually quite good with Daltry not overstepping his diminished vocals by not trying too hard to hit those high notes from days gone by. He is staying in his lane, letting Pete do the heavy lifting and the results are close to vintage Face Dances Who.
Pitbull – Libertad 548
Here, at Rock is the New Roll we have a few guilty pleasures. Along with The Bay City Rollers, The Sweet, and Eddie Murphy’s “Party All The Time,” another one of these is Pitbull. While we will stand on Snoop Dogg’s coffee table and proclaim “Fireball” as our number one party starter of all time, we don’t care how many bitches you have in the living room getting it on, there is always room for another Mr. Worldwide record to make it rain for us.
Hurt Valley – Glacial Pace
A somewhat appropriately monikered record, Hurt Valley’s Glacial Pace is a low-key gently paced pastoral adventure in hi-fi. There is a gentle psychedelic haze around this entire affair. Spark one up while you are listening to this one.
Chad Kostner – Highway 63
A newcomer to our ears, Chad Kostner has a voice that falls somewhere north of Steve Earle and South of Bryan Adams, and we think it’s cool. Born in Chicago and raised in Wisconsin, he has graduated from drinking and party songs to solidly introspective crafted John Prine inspired tunesmithing.
Los Colognes – From The Vault
Better musicos than us have tried and failed to genre identify Los Colognes. There is a definite hippy Laurel Canyon vibe weed-wafting in the air tonight essence going on with these guys, but there is more than meets the ear going on here. The twangy jam-oriented arrangements have a Grateful Dead meets Fleetwood Mac essence about them, and if you are deep into this band it is almost like you are in a secret society that revels in its underground status. Here, we have an abient scented E.P. that is best absorbed in a dark room with Tommy Chong.
There have been a lot of really great songs released in 2019. This year, we will be revealing our top 100 songs five tunes at a time all the way to number one. Here are our picks for 60-56.
Rock Is The New Roll 