Jake Holmes, a guy who is better known as a jingle specialist is a contributor to music history. With the song "Dazed and Confused" he brought passion and emotions not common in the mainstream. Although his original version is not very well known, almost everyone has heard the epic hit made possible by Led Zeppelin. If you haven't heard his version you should definantely give it a listen. Its got a great folky type sound with acoustic and harmonica blaring. Great thing to put in when your just trying to relax and read book or just mellow by yourself.
After a six year hiatus Creed is preparing a new album and tour. This is a band that progressively got softer and tried to sell records instead of focus on music as they grew. This seems to be the norm for many bands nowadays, at least in my opinion. Their debut album was incredible. Every song on this album was very listenable, as opposed to the 2-3 decent songs on their latter efforts. If you hate this band due to their generic pop like sound, you definantly need to give My Own Prison a listen. Songs like "Pity for a Dime" and "Illusion" are unlike any of the songs they gained popularity for. Hopefully their newest efforts will be like those that they started on. Apparently the whole band liked the heavier sound that they had produced on this album. Unfotunately, Scott Stapp wanted to go softer. With money signs in his eyes he quickly learned that when you try to go with the flow you more often than not end up with nothing. A fine exapmle of this is his terrible solo album. If this new album is half as bad as Weathered I personally give up on this band and will denounce all the praise for which I have gave them over the years. Maybe they will fine a nice in between and make songs like "What If" and "My Sacrifice" on this upcoming album.
Now its time for a lesser known artist. Elliott Smith is a great singer/songwriter. One song I would strongly suggest would have to be "A Fond Farewell". This is a great goodbye song and/or break up song. When you listen to Elliott Smith you can actually feel the emotions in which are instilled into his music. Some of his stuff is quite frankly hit or miss with me. Some I would give him praise for all day, and some I would say don't waste your time on. He also did a tune on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. The song is titled "Miss Misery", and its alright I would say its immaculate but definantley listenable. Check this artist out if your into acoustic stuff . Very mood setting style music, goes good with a glass of wine or a bit of scotch. Not really hard partying rocking out type of music.
