Vice Versa: Bisexuality And The Eroticism

Have you been a bad boy or girl this year? Worried that Santa's going to bring you a bag of coal? Maybe he'll bring you some dookie instead. Green Day's patented pop-punk is as timeless as any classic Christmas carol. These all-new holiday versions prove it. Instead of fast licks of guitar solos, you will be getting the jingle of bells and horns. From now on, you'll be singing about the Green Days of Christmas…

John Mayall has been playing blues literally for my entire lifetime and at 64 years old proves that he's still among the best. On this CD, Mayall displays the many blues attitudes of which he is capable. Lately, many of his songs decry urban decay and violence. He continues here in that vein with the hard-driving Dead City and the old Eddie Harris R&B song, How Can You Live Like That. Stone Cold Deal is a shuffle driven by saxophone, organ and drums. Its infectuous rhythm will have you dancing and its incisive lyrics will have you thinking. My other favorites are the title cut on which Mayall's prowess on the piano is showcased, One In A Million which is a rocking paean to his beloved mother, and I Don't Mind, a song in the rollicking piano-driven Southern style for which Mayall is justly famous. There isn't anything I really dislike on the album though It Ain't Safe and Some Other Day seem out of place and Trenches, though lyrically gripping, is musically weak. If you are a blues fan, you are sure to like Blues For the Lost Days, another strong effort from master bluesman John Mayall.

Have you heard The News? The sweet pop/rock/soul sound of San Francisco's Huey Lewis & The News has sadly gone silent in recent years, thanks to its one-of-a-kind frontman's battle with Ménière's disease, which causes intermittent hearing loss. But a surprise new reissue campaign courtesy of Universal Music Group's Japanese division promises the most comprehensive look at the band's blockbuster catalogue of the '80s and early '90s.

Flynn's Place is another excellent collection of piledriving, good-time blues and boogie from Little Mike & the Tornadoes, featuring a fine selection of originals and smoking solos.