South DaCola Flashback
l3wis 
October 2008
South DaCola music club w/ Helmet
I credit HELMET and this album Meantime for putting Metallica on the backburner.
Review by A. Stutheit
At the time this album was released (1992), this type of music was called “alternative metal,” but this album (“Meantime”), and this band (Helmet) were, for all intensive purposes, the start of the genre that we know today as nu-metal. Its heavy riffs, stop-start rhythms, and soft-hard song structures were the motivating force behind many `90’s hard rock bands. Thus, Helmet should definitely be considered one of the most influential and important rock bands of the 1990’s. Even super-influential bands like Korn, Pantera and Tool have cited Helmet as an influence.
Musically, it’s clearly evident that frontman Page Hamilton listened to a lot of Black Sabbath while making this record. “Meantime” is full of sludgy riffs and even some Ozzy-esque vocals (which are especially apparent on the song “Unsung”).
Songs like “Ironhead,” “Give It,” “He Feels Bad,” and “You Borrowed” best illustrate Helmet’s famous stop-start rhythms (and “Ironhead” even has fast, almost galloping guitars), and “Unsung” and “Turned Out” have the aforementioned sludgy riffs, which lurch and almost bob. Elsewhere,”In the Meantime” has a heavy, grooving main riff, “Better” and “Role Model” should quench your cravings for a heavy song (“Better” has some heavy yells, and “Role Model” has heavy, churning riffs), and “F.B.L.A. II” has a guitar solo and some everything-but-the-kitchen sink drumming.
For whatever reason, this album has aged very well (better than most nu-metal records). This may be because Helmet were such an original band, or maybe because Page isn’t constantly yelling about “nookies” and hatred. Or maybe it’s because “Meantime” has a few guitar solos, and guitar solos are foreign to almost all other nu-metal bands. But, whatever the reason, Helmet are not normally grouped with nu-metal bands, so they are one of the few bands whose albums sales didn’t plummet when nu-metal collapsed. Thus, it’s OK if your friends know you listen to Helmet–they won’t laugh at you.
In conclusion, this is where nu-metal began, so if you hate nu-metal, you should hate these guys; but everybody who enjoys nu or alternative metal, and those who are fans of Korn, Deftones, Tool, etc. should definitely check out “Meantime.” And even if you don’t listen to Helmet, you should definitely give them props for essentially being a modern day Black Sabbath and creating a whole genre–even though that genre would die off about a decade later.
South DaCola music club w/ LL Cool J
I believe Walking with a Panther came out in 1988? It was the first rap album I ever bought. I still like it to this day. I saw LL in Atlanta about 5 years ago and he did about four tracks off the album including, There Jingling Baby. If you like old skool rap with a mix of R & B this is a great album.
Review by Robert Johnson
Though a big commercial success upon it’s release (it hit the Top Ten and sold Platinum), WALKING WITH A PANTHER is largely considered to be a disappointment by many of LL’s biggest fans. True, it is not in the same league as RADIO or BIGGER AND DEFFER in terms of consistency and cohesiveness, but PANTHER is actually quite good on it’s own terms.
LL’s emotional range as a performer remains as impressive as ever. He can run the gauntlet from explosively bold (“Nitro”) to smoothly seductive (“You’re My Heart”) to deliriously horny (“Jingling Baby”) and back again. The best track is easily the sophisticated jazz-rap tour de force “Going Back To Cali” (#31 Pop, #12 R&B), which had been previously released on the LESS THAN ZERO soundtrack. This surprising maturity is also found in the deep lyrics to “Jealous” (which is one of the more sparsely-produced tracks here) and the disturbing “Fast Peg” (which starts out like a typical ode to lust but comes to a chilling end).
The album’s biggest hit was the boasting “I’m That Type Of Guy” (#15 Pop, #7 R&B, #1 Rap), but the disc’s best macho anthem is actually the tight and very funny “Clap Your Hands.” Unfortunately, LL’s humor mostly falls flat elsewhere, with the dull “Big Ole Butt” and “1-900 LL Cool J” (both of which have no hooks or wit) being the prime offenders. Even worse are the crop of “I Need Love”-rip-offs. “You’re My Heart” succeeds due to LL’s intense performance, but “One Shot At Love” and “Two Different Worlds” are almost laughably lame.
The biggest problem with PANTHER is that it does not have enough quality material to justify it’s long 76 minute runtime and many of the strong tracks get bogged down by filler. However, PANTHER has more than enough strong moments to make it a good release. Interestingly enough, the B-side to the “Going Back To Cali” single (the terrific “Jack The Ripper”) wasn’t included here, even though it’s actually much better than half the songs that did make the cut.