Maureen Tucker
While we're on the Velvet Underground, just wanted to mention again that Maureen Tucker has a couple of really nice solo albums, "Life in Exile After Abdication" and "I Spent a Week There One Night."

It's on Emusic, I believe.

Von Sudenfed
Noel, I didn't see this listed, sorry if I missed it… Von Sudenfed is a collaboration between Mark Smith of The Fall and some German DJs whose names I should know - though the name reminds me of sinus medicine, the record is pretty strong, especially if you like The Fall. (Speaking of, I just go the new…

I like "The Gift," and I love how you can turn on speaker or the other off and just hear the music or the story.

Viva la — American Death Ray — Music
Noel: On Emusic I somehow stumbled on this band called Viva la American Death Ray Music, and I liked the name - then I figured out (I think I'm right here) that Viva… is another version or just another name for this Memphis Band called American Death Ray. Not sure what all the…

Oh dear me yes, yes he did.

I generally like AB, but to this day I can hardly listen to "Mysterious Ways." Many years ago I was living in this house with like 4 other guys, we had the upper floors and there was also an apartment downstairs. At some point this young lady moved downstairs, and I think she had the hots for all of us. She was not…

I really liked some of Rattle and Hum, especially the "Angel of Harlem," "Love Rescue Me" and "When Love Comes to Town" stretch. "Angel" is one of my favorite songs ever, and being a Mississippian I'm a huge fan of the B.B. King cameo. "All I Want Is You" is pretty powerful too. I haven't seen the corresponding movie,…

I seriously loved "Everyone" at the end of The Royal Tenenbaums.

U2
On Achtung Baby and especially on Pop, the B-sides (I hope I'm using the term correctly, the songs that were on with the singles) were much better than anything on the album. From Pop, there's some duet with Willie Nelson, the song Holy Joe that is pretty solid, and some instrumental stuff (one called "I'm Not Your…

I wish someone had said "Mission of Rumba."

So is "middle of the road" the serious answer?

Throwing Muses - MOR?
If this is a super-dumb question I have an excuse, but in your piece about Throwing Muses, you say Kristin Hersh has abandoned her old sound for "folk and slicked-up MOR" - what is MOR?

Holy Fucking Shit
It's like Martha Stewart read "A Modest Proposal" and thought, "Yes, yes, that's a wonderful idea!"

My two favorite Syd Barrett songs have animal names, oddly enough, "Rats" and "Octopus." At some point I saw a website that was trying to decipher all the various lyrics for "Octopus."

Tanya Donnelly
I'm hesitant because I don't trust my alphabeticalism skills and I might have completely missed it, but I didn't see Ms. Donnelly listed anywhere. Her solo stuff is pretty solid, especially "Beautysleep." Sorry if she's mentioned and I just missed it.

Ted Leo
Any thoughts on the best Ted Leo album to start out with, for someone who has only heard bits and pieces of songs but thinks he would probably be a fan?

Face the Truth sounds like an almost homemade, DIY affair. When I saw them they played "Baby C'mon," I was hoping they would play "Pencil Rot" because Janet Weiss would kill the drums on that song.

It's very Wes Andersonish, I like it…

Wow, I had never thought of that but quite interesting theory…