Local CDs
Best Sellers

1. Amma McKen: Alaako Oso
2. One Shot Deal: The Sammie and Jamie EP
3. Michael Soloway: Classical Guitar Wedding Ceremony
4. Michael DelGuidice: Miller Place
5. Illinois Jacquet : Swingin' Live With Illinois Jacquet
6. Godfrey Townsend: Easy Journey To Other Planets
7. Michael Brunnock: So I Do
8. Great Caesar's Ghost: One More Ride
9. S.K. Thoth: Tone Poems Of The Festad
10. Niall Mulligan: Right On Time – Irish Dance Music
11. Year Of The Locust: Ride On
12. Lovango: Harmony Of The Spheres
13. The Lights: Walk On Razors
14. Lisa Erhard: Woman Breathing
15. Mary Lamont: How Lucky
16. Jesse Goldberg: My Name Is Goldberg
17. Dsb (die Schlauberger): Dsb Live
18. Ankh Ra: Higher Consciousness
19. EV Sweet: Daytime, Nighttime, Anytime
20. Sam Taylor: Portrait: The Funky Side Of Sam
List compiled by CDBaby.com from their list of Long Island-area artists. Local retail stores or record website wishing to add to this compendium, write to gtmag@optonline.net.

The Beach Boys
The Warmth Of The Sun
Capitol

Prior to the June 22 Oakland Athletics versus New YorkMets game at Shea Stadium, music was played over the public address system. There was nothing unusual about that, except that the majority of the pre-game music was dedicated to that of the Beach Boys in order to mark the first day of summer. The early arrivers at Shea were clearly enjoying the music, but the surprising thing was that they were listening more intently to such rarely heard tunes as “Kiss Me, Baby” and "Let Him Run Wild” than they were to more familiar fare as “California Girls” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” Longtime Mets beat writer Marty Noble, who is as knowledgeable a pop musicologist as he is a baseball expert, noted this phenomena in his MLB.com Mets blog.
It wouldn’t be summer without a repackaging of Beach Boys material on the part of their old label, Capitol Records. For a change, Capitol has decided to forego the big hits in favor of highlighting album cuts and B-sides of hit singles. “All Summer Long” is the upbeat 1964 track that remains one of the few songs of the rock era to feature a xylophone, and it was utilized as the closing theme to the 1973 classic film, American Graffiti. “Little Honda,” also from 1964, was a tune that truly put the Japanese automaker on the map in this country at a time when it was just hoping to take a small segment of the motorcycle business away from Harley-Davidson.
Few tunesmiths could write about teen infatuation with the clarity of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson. Included here are two of his best tunes to unrequited teen love, “Please Let Me Wonder” and “She’s Not The Little Girl I Once Knew.” And yes, the aforementioned “Kiss Me, Baby” and “Let Him Run Wild” are here as well.
The Warmth Of The Sun is highly recommended for anyone who is eager to dig a bit deeper into the Beach Boys catalog.
– Lloyd Carroll

Neil Sedaka
The Definitive Collection
Razor & Tie

Brighton Beach native Neil Sedaka has been recording for 50 years. From the period of 1959 until the “British Invasion” in 1964, only Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke sold more records for RCA than Neil Sedaka did. Although he was certainly not a teen idol by any means, he wrote and sang songs which pre-teens and high schoolers could relate to such as “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” “Next Door To An Angel,” “Calendar Girl,” “Stairway To Heaven” (not to be confused with the Led Zeppelin rock standard) and “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen.”
Sedaka is one of the few artists to enjoy a second wave of popularity. After being wiped off the charts by The Beatles in 1964, he concentrated on songwriting and composed hits for Peggy Lee (“One More Ride On The Merry-Go-Round”), The Fifth Dimension (“Working On A Groovy Thing’) , Tom Jones (“Young New Mexican Puppeteer”), and The Captain & Tennille (“Love Will Keep Us Together”). The success of “Love Will Keep Us Together ” combined with a friendship with Elton John led to smashes as “Bad Blood,” “The Hungry Years,” and a slower, jazzier, more adult version of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” The timeliest song here is “The Immigrant” in light of the fact that immigration has become the hot-button political issue of the 2008 campaign. It is clear that Sedaka’s sympathies lie with those who uproot themselves in the hopes of finding a better life.
While The Definitive Collection is a worthy 22-cut souvenir of Sedaka’s half-century in showbiz,Razor & tie should have been more honest that many of the tracks are re-recordings and not the original RCA masters.
– Lloyd Carroll

DVD Review:
Black Metal: A Documentary
Bill Zebub Productions

From fanzine editor and aspiring filmmaker Bill Zebub comes the latest of a series of self-produced independent films. Dirtbags and Stereotypes Don't Just Disappear Out Of Thin Air are brutal exercises in politically incorrect humor making South Park look like My Three Sons. As editor of the independent fanzine The Grimoire Of Exalted Deeds, Zebub shows a flair for making light of forbidden topics that has become an art form.
His film, Death Metal: A Documentary, described as having been made "in the death metal attitude … no rock star attitudes, no lies, no exaggerations ... and no narrator," led to the completion of Black Metal: A Documentary. Like its predecessor, Black Metal: A Documentary gives artists of the Norwegian, Swedish, and American black metal scenes the chance to represent themselves without an impersonal voice to dictate for them while revealing the personalities behind the media coverage. Interviews (by Reality Check TV personality Danny D) are with a wide range of bands including Venom, Celtic Frost, King Diamond, Dark Throne, Dark Funeral, and Mortiis.
Visit thegrimoire.com or billzebub.com for information about Zebub's complete filmography including Bad Acid, Dolla Morte, and The Most Offensive Comedy Ever Made.
– Dave Wolff

Circus Diablo
Self-titled
Koch Records


While some may not be familiar with Circus Diablo, the members of this newly formed Alternative Rock band may ring a bell: Billy Morrison (Camp Freddy and The Cult) on vocals, Billy Duff (The Cult) on lead guitar, Brett Scallions (Fuel) on Bass guitar, Ricky Warwick (The Almighty) on rhythm guitar and Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver makes an appearance as a special guest drummer for this album. The familiar British accent of Morrison resounds through Duff's straight-ahead rock chords and creates a sound that is Rock and Roll with a very catchy rhythm. This grouping of Rock rebels has put together an eclectic album with fast paced tracks such as their hit single Loaded, to the slower, more dramatic Dignified.
-Erik Badia