Artist: Michael JacksonSong: Remember the Time [9:16, 1991]Sounds Like: another great MJ track, very 90’s yet still very original /> Who could ever imagine Eddie Murphy as the Great Pharaoh Ramses? Well, he loves his reflection and Michael remembers the time when he was in love with a special someone who is in denial about it. It’s awesome how he comes out of black dust that turns into a golden blob. He’s always transforming in his videos and in real life features. It’s perhaps one of MJ’s greatest tracks and quite an entertaining music video, if you watch the full length version with Iman, Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson. Ancient Egyptian men do not like slithering multi-talented singer/dancers that make fools of the pharaoh’s by messing around with his wife and other female servants. But whatever Iman did with MJ in that time he’s trying to remind her of, Eddie doesn’t like it. Well, I do remember the time when I was just a kid, saw the video, and heard this cassette for the first time. It was awesome and still is.

–Maryam Khan

Song: Cold Black Mountain/14 MilesArtist: Jackie Greene [4:55, 2006]Sounds: A man possessed/–>

From Greene’s latest CD, “American Myth,” that Phil Lesh described as one of the best produced and mixed albums he has ever heard. Cold Black Mountain is straight up hard rock with just the slightest hint of electric blues. For those lucky enough to hear this band play live, as I did back in March of last year at the Aladdin in Portland, you’ll see Greene move about the stage like a mad scientist adjusting brilliant guitar effects after sweltering guitar duels between himself and lead guitarist Nathan Dale. “Uncle” Bruce Spenser and Jeremy Plog lay down the foundation for the song with Spenser’s superb percussion and Plog’s driving base line. The only complaint I have is that I couldn’t hear for two days after the show. That used to be a good thing.

–Mike Risenhoover

Artist: Sue FabischSong: Mommy, Mommy, Mommy [2:35, 2006]Sounds Like: The mutters of a mother cleaning crayon off of a wall, while changing diapers/–>

Did you ever wonder what your mother really thought of you growing up? Well this song pretty much sums it up in less than three minutes. Apparently mothers wish they were dead rather than living with screaming children making incessant demands. The world of a mother is work, work, work and no help, fathers pretending they are asleep in the living room, and more screaming children. The only safe place for a mother is in her closet, perhaps with a bottle of whiskey, and a phone. So the only way for a mommy to survive her children is to dump them off on her mommy. It’s a vicious cycle and I am glad to say that I am a man without children. Oh Catharsis!

–Jesus Hills

Artist: Commander VenusSong: We’ll always have Paris [4:44, 1997]Sounds like: an angsty, whiny fifteen year old who will some day grow up to be an angsty, whiny folk/emo superstar./–>

Way back in 1997 a fifteen year old Conor O’Berst played electric guitar and screamed and yelled about…well you guessed it, ex-girlfriends. This poor boy never really grew out of his emo ways. But truthfully, he should have stuck with this more aggressive, almost grungy hardcore band. Not that I don’t love Bright Eyes and O’Berst’s new found fondness of folk, but I definitely enjoy the hard rock version of this cry baby’s musical expression.

— Kyle Chidester