So guitarist Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay, claiming the immensely popular tune Vida La Vida copies his instrumental If I Could Fly. You can listen to both songs one after another in this handy clip:

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The full title of the fourth Sam Phillips album is Omnipop (It’s Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop) that evokes daffiness, absurdity, and obscure pop culture references. While that may sound like fun, Omnipop is all over the place. I consider it a serious misfire, especially coming off the relative success of Martinis And Bikinis. Returning to the Beatles analogy, Martinis = Revolver and Omnipop = Magical Mystery Tour.

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The third Sam Phillips album is an amazing tour de force with one clear influence: The Beatles - although mostly John and George with Paul focusing on inventive bass lines. However, Sam’s lyrics are better than most Beatles’ songs, with a clearer world view advocating love and honesty with one’s self over the materialist, soul-corroding trappings of modern society.

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Cruel Inventions finds Sam exploring an experimental, adventurous sound combined with focused, direct lyrics. Besides “love and loss” Sam delves into socially conscious subject matter with abstract, evocative imagery. It’s a progression from the previous Indescribable Wow.

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Sam Phillips - or “the artist formerly known as Leslie Phillips” - recorded as a Christian music artist until recording The Turning with the producer T-Bone Burnett. In 1988 she left Christian music behind, signed with Virgin, and adopted the moniker “Sam Phillips.”

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Synopsis

Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) complains to psychiatrist Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine) about her unsatisfying sex life. At a museum she runs into an mysterious man who sets a murder in motion, of which prostitute Liz (Nancy Allen) is the sole witness.

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So… Axl Rose has been working on the next Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy, for the past 14 years, spending around $13 million in the process. Yeah, that’s longer than it took Lord Of The Rings to get made. That alone piques my interest in the album, as a possible eclectic musical misfire / masterpiece like The Beach Boys’ Smile.

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Another EP with one killer track, two so-so ones, and a polite misfire. That’s still pretty darned good as far as I’m concerned. The best track is Birthday with an eighties groove featuring a perfect contrast between the robotic drums of the verse and pulsing guitars of the chorus. It’s hook city, from the “tick tock” intro to the vocal melody, reminding me of Coldplay, Wilson Phillips, Dido simultaneously.

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The Good

As an EP with only five tracks there is little filler. Polite Dance Song benefits immensely from live drums and a sarcastic, near parody vibe, and manages to squeeze in a chromatic piano run similar to Paul McCartney’s Maybe, I’m Amazed. Man combines funk with baroque instruments effortlessly with a killer chorus.

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I’m a long admitted sucker for spacey-pop and women’s vocals, and my new personal sugar high is The Bird And The Bee. I was embarrassingly pulled in from left field via a Mac-themed viral video set to the aggressively hooky electro-pop masterpiece Again & Again, and it was soon game over after some short sample listens through iTunes.

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