Ah the mighty Propellerheads . When I thought about doing this review I figured this album would definately be a 5/5. The album that brought "Spybreak!" and "Take California" has to be a 5. While the Propellerheads certianly helped bring big beat into the main stream, their debut (and pretty much only album) I discovered, is not quite as brilliant all the way through. Some of the songs could have used a bit more musical development and they feel a little cut and paste.

This sign hangs on a gate of a house I used to drive past on the way to drop my daughter off at school. It's puzzling on many levels:

• The backwards question mark
• The emphasis on THE
• Mixed capitalization

What is the message here? While taking the photo of the sign, the owner came out and kinda snuck up on me and asked me what I was doing. I gesticulated at the sign then the camera and smiled, so he nodded and went away. He seemed like the sort of man who could spell "Beware of the dog", or least copy it accurately from his neighbors gate. It leads me to my current view that this sign was made by the dog who lives there, and is in fact the smartest dog in existence.

My first encounter with The Cramps was in the late 1980's when I attempted to go to a Johannesburg night club that used the same name. After some research (non-Internet based, this is in the days before Google), I discovered that The Cramps were the band of choice for the sophisticated goth and/or alternative intellectual. You can read all about these psychobilly rockers here.