Good Intro Leads to Good Story

When it comes to really great introductions, Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings comes to mind. In the first installment of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, the film opens up with a lengthy prologue about the story. It explains how the One Ring is a tool of evil created by the Dark Lord Sauron. The Ring gives unnatural power to whomever wears it and it can be used to win wars as the ultimate weapon. It depicts the battle in which Sauron is defeated and when the king, Ilsidur has to opportunity to destroy the ring, he is consumed by its evil and keeps it for his own. The Ring betrays Ilsidur, he is killed, and The Ring is lost for two thousand years. Furthermore, it explains how the Ring wants to return to its master and it would stop at nothing to return to its master.  This extended prologue sets up the events for all three films. It determines how the basic plot of the movies will be a venture to destroy the Ring and the evils that it brings upon its bearer and whomever it comes into contact with.

So far in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there is quite amount of foreshadowing in the first few scenes of the book. One glaring theme is the supernaturalism of what is going on so far. With the witches being not human there is quite a lot of supernatural events going on. Another motif I can see quite a bit of is ambition. Macbeth is going to be faced with an opportunity to gain much in this play. He has already gained a new thaneship and we are only two scenes into the book. I suspect he will be faced with the opportunity to gain more.

Black Crowes Release"Warpaint", First New Studio Album In Seven Years

For brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, its about time, as the Black Crowes released their first studio album since Lions, released in 2001. In the years since Lions, the Crowes have broken up, got back to together, and have changed their lineup and band members. Joining Rich on guitar, newcomer Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars adds a nice blend of southern rock to blend with the Crowes hard-blues. On drums, original drummer Steve Gorman is as solid as he's ever been on the sticks and bassist Sven Pipien provides a solid backbone to the music. Adam MacDougall provides fantastic melodies on keyboards and Chris Robinson's voice has never sounded better. This bunch would produce the Crowes first album in seven years Warpaint The first track of the album Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution sets the tone for the whole album. It clearly has southern rock influences now that Luther Dickinson has joined the band. The next track, Walk Believer Walk is a super bluesy tune that reminded me very much of the John Lennon song Well Well Well. The next song Oh Josephine is a very bluegrass influenced blues song with a soft bass riff and a harmonious chorus that I love. The fourth track Evergreen reminded me greatly of some of the Crowes earlier material with a super hard rock guitar riff. Wee Who See The Deep is the next song, which had a very heavy drum sound that echoed throughout the song. The next song Locust Street is an acoustic bluegrass song with a very nice sound to it and Chris' vocals sounded particularly good. The Crowes tapped into some spaciness with he next track Movin' On Down The Line, which is extremely Pink, Floyd sounding. The next song is probably one of my favorites on the album; Wounded Bird is a super hard rock sounding song that is very Who-ish. The more diverse an artist or band is the better they are, the next sound God's Got It features a full gospel choir and it was written by Rev. Charlie Jackson. There's Gold in Them Hills, the next song is one of the weaker songs on the album, an acoustic ballad but it is still not that bad. The final track is called Whoa Mule, the Black Crowes were the original bad boys of southern hard rock and can certainly say they have influenced the currently kings of southern hard rock, Gov't Mule. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw Warren Haynes, come out and jam with the Crowes when they play this song live. The Black Crowes are a badass hard rock blues band and this long awaited album certainly did not disappoint. I give it 3/5 stars.

You can get Warpaint on iTunes, Amazon, and at your local record store.