Recent Musical Additions

I've recently splurged on a ton of new music for a variety of reasons.

Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up
It's taking me a little while to warm up to this album, which has a more smooth jazz feel to it than some of the band's past work. I think my feelings for this album are similar to those I had about U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." When I first got the U2 release, I was cool to it, but now I realize that I enjoy it quite a bit. Familiarity with Stand Up will probably improve my reaction.

Audioslave - Out of Exile
I don't have it in hand yet, but I have heard it online two or three times. The sound doesn't seem as edgy as the first release but there are some songs that I definitely like on it.

Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged
The fourth digital album that I've purchased, this time with credits from the Pepsi/iTunes promotion. I've always liked grunge-era Unplugged recordings (particularly Nirvana's) and this one doesn't buck the trend. This is already one of my favorite Alice in Chains albums if not one of my favorite albums overall. My only complaint is that they didn't perform "Man in the Box."

Brad - Welcome to Discovery Park
Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam is in a band "on the side" called Brad. A friend of mine gave me a mix containing a song called "The Day Brings" off one of their albums and I thought it was great. After listening to some samples on iTunes and discovering that I could get the CD "used" on Amazon.com for $0.69 + shiping, I decided to splurge. The result is a nice mellow CD. Vocalist Shawn Smith has a great, distinctive voice.