Sorry for the briefness today. As you can imagine, things are pretty hectic with all of out changes. I’m lucky enought to be able to make time to check out a band tonight that I never thought I’d be excited to see. Once again, you were right and I was wrong. Check out some video footage and I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning for Jeff and Carly’s Maximum Music Morning Show.

Starting this Monday morning on Jeff and Carly’s Maximum Music Morning Show we begin The Who By Numbers. We’re giving away a trip a day every weekday morning to fly down to Los Angeles on Jeff and Carly’s Party Plane to see one of the greatest bands in the world. Trust me when I say that The Who continue to perform with an energy that bands half their age could only dream of. The show is going to rock.

My first experience with the Who live was back in 1996 when they embarked upon their Quadrophenia tour. In fact, I saw them twice on the road that time. The first time was in Buffalo with Billy Idol and the pre-evil scumbag Gary Glitter as part of the show. The gig was alright, but their were three guitarists on stage including Pete, who spent most of the time playing acoustic guitar.

The following summer The Who brought Quadrophenia to the Molson Amphitheater for what turned out to be a musically superior gig, thanks to the fact that the band were down a guitarist and Pete was handling all the solos. Without a doubt he remains one of rock’s greatest players, and I’m psyched that we’re giving Jack Nation members a chance to experience the Who live.

Check out some live Who to whet your whistle and then use LIVEWHO as today’s bonus code.

This week we’ve been chatting a lot about the Guns N Roses situation. If you haven’t heard, here’s a brief rundown. Earlier this summer a blogger named Kevin Cogill posted 9 unreleased and allegedly completed songs from Axl Rose’s long gestating “Chinese Democracy”. Within an hour of being posted, the blogger received a phone call from a GnR rep who kindly asked Cogill to take the streaming songs down, which he quickly did.

However, the next day the blogger was visited by the F.B.I who had some questions. Things were then quiet until last week when Cogill was arrested for distributing copywritten material. The guy faces 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

It’s hard to know whose side to take on this one. While the guy’s actions were undoubtedly illegal in the U.S., the potential punishment just doesn’t fit the crime in my mind. All this is serving to do is get Axl Rose some publicity as “Chinese Democracy” seems that much closer to release. In fact, the word on the street is that a deal has already been made that will see Best Buy have exclusive rights to the album.

What’s your take on the situation? Bad publicity or good hype? Criminal or fan? Let me know what you think and then use GNR as today’s bonus code.

It’s not every day that the one and only Brian Wilson releases a new album. His new solo album “That Lucky Old Sun” hits store shelves today and it’s a good one. I had the chance to listen to it a few times over the weekend and I’ve really enjoyed it. Of course, I’m a huge Brian fan, but I feel that I can approach his work without bias and this new cd, a concept album about Southern California, is a great piece of new music from the man behind some of the greatest songs ever.

Check out a piece of Brian talking about his life and the new album. It’s a quintessential Brian interview and features live clips with Brian’s band, some of the best working musicians today. Then use OLDSUN and your bonus code.

This morning Mike Tyler started spinning the brand new ACDC single “Rock and Roll Train” from the upcoming album “Black Ice”, in stores October 20th. It’s 8 years since the band had a new album out and fans have been eagerly anticipating ACDC’s return.

Jeff Brown and I had a chance to hear a few songs from “Black Ice” this week and I doubt any ACDC fan will be disappointed with the album. The guys haven’t reinvented the wheel at all; they’ve done exactly what a fan would want to hear. And we really can’t ask for anything more than that.

Check out “Rock and Roll Train” below, let us know what you think of it, and then use TRAIN as today’s bonus code.

The tragedy of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death nearly 20 years ago is simply that the man was on the cusp of breaking through to huge success. He had clout, he had credibility, and he was only becoming more and more popular. Such as shame that 18 years ago today his life was cut short. He was one of the great ones.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the folks at GMP Diecast as releasing a 1:3 scale replica of SRV’s famous Fender guitar #1. According to the press release “This officially licensed, 1:3-scale Fender guitar replica features a real wood neck contoured to match the real guitar, an accurately contoured die-cast body, moveable pickup selector switch, volume and tone controls, real steel strings, and a moveable tremolo arm. Vivid colors and wood grain details make this replica a must-have for any guitar enthusiast. It comes with a display stand, wall mount, and full-color collector’s box.”

Looks pretty cool to me. For more details on how you can purchase one (there’s only going to be 1000 made) go here. Then check out some classic SRV below and use SRV as today’s bonus code.

I was surfing around the ‘Net today and wound up seeing and hearing something I never would have expected to encounter. Radiohead performing an acoustic Neil Young song. Seriously, when you think of Radiohead the last thing I think of these days is acoustic guitars and singalongs. As my pal the Japer said to me the other day after seeing the band perform at the Molson Amphitheatre, those guys ask a lot out of their audience.

That’s why I never thought Radiohead would cover one of Neil’s shortest and sweetest songs, not to mention one of his most accessible, “Tell Me Why”. Kudos to them. Check it out below, let me know what you think, and then use WHY as today’s bonus code.   

So I did something I’d never done before last week. I wound up ordering the Black Sabbath box set “The Rules of Hell” I was looking for. Not on ebay or Amazon. Instead, I decided to forget the packaging and order it off of iTunes. The price was right - $24.99 for 4 albums - ‘Heaven and Hell”, “Mob Rules”, “Dehumanizer”, and “Live Evil”. It also came complete with a digital booklet featuring all the liner notes the cd box contains. And while the set doesn’t come with the bonus disc Best Buy in the U.S. promised, it did have what I’d consider an even better bonus - the three studio songs the Dio line-up of Sabbath recorded for their greatest hits collection from last year.

The thing is, I’ve always been such a collector. Especially when it comes to the box sets. For me to disregard the packaging was a momentous moment. While the completest in me longs for the tangibility of the cd box, the new homeowner in me covets the economics and space the digital version affords me. I feel good about the decision.

Pretty much.

Today’s bonus code is TANGIBLE. Use it for some points and let me know if you’ve moved into the iPod/mp3 revolution, and how you feel about.

My now you’ve realized that I am a music collector. Believe me when I say that my habits have decreased over the years (I can thank the missus for her steady influence). But as I’ve written previously, there are some things that I find irresistible. Like the Grateful Dead - any time a new release pops up on Dead.net I am on it, especially when it offers the promise of a limited time bonus disc offer. I look forward to receiving my latest ones for the Egypt and Winterland 1978 packages at the end of the September.

But there are some bonus that tick me right off, and that seemed designed to aggravate the consumer rather then entice. For instance, the recent Black Sabbath box set “The Rules of Hell” was released with a bonus live disc exclusively available at Best Buy’s in the U.S. That meant I was totally shut out, as were fans all across Canada. My mistake was not grabbing it off ebay right away. Now there’s only one left and it’s supremely overpriced.

Now comes the news that the new Brian Wilson disc “That Lucky Old Sun” will be released with 3 exclusive tracks at Best Buy, and two MORE online at iTunes. That’s a total of 5 extra tunes. What’s a fan to do? I don’t even know if the Best Buy version will make it to Canada. While a lot of people might blame the record label or the artist, from what I understand both Best Buy and iTunes demanded distinct bonus tracks, so I suppose this lies in the hands of corporate America.

Let me tell you - being a collector is hard work.

On that note, use DISC as your bonus code, which will take you through the weekend while I attend Comic Book Camp. Have a good one! 

Do you find that as we get older and the world turns that people’s perspectives on music change as well? That’s my impression, anyway. Especially when it comes to certain bands that caught a lot of flack when they first appeared on the music scene.

Take Duran Duran, for instance. Though they were one of the most popular bands in the world for the first half of the 1980’s, they were pretty much reviled by critics. Maybe it was the New Romantic fashion of the time, maybe it was Simon Le Bon’s admittedly nonsensical lyrics, or maybe people just loved to hate. Either way, by the end of the decade the band weren’t well-regarded by anybody, including their suddenly diminished fan base. And even though they had a solid comeback in 1993 with The Wedding Album, it wasn’t until the original line-up regrouped in the new millennium that critics started giving the band their due. Gone were the bells and whistles on Duran Duran’s reunion tour of small clubs - just a 5 piece rock band that had the chops and the songs. 

While Duran Duran may have been considered pure pop, the truth is the band really rocked. Maybe not hard, but they without question rocked. Just check out the rhythm section on “Rio” for a great example. “Girls On Film” is another. Solid and exciting music, full of hooks. I don’t know how anyone can’t feel excited listening to “Rio” which might be one of the most perfect pop/rock songs every crafted.

Duran Duran - sure, they’re not Zeppelin. But they’ve got better songs than Warrant and Poison combined. Check out “Rio” recorded live in Japan in 2003 below and then use RIO as today’s bonus code.