Howl

by

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Edit

I knew when I heard the advance cd, people would be a bit upset regarding the departure of the previous two albums' anthems of addrenalin - I was taken back as well, but kinda pleased to see the expansion. I mean, BRMC are talented enough to not rely on the same formulas. To be honest, I shouldn't be rating this album so quickly, but for all the people that think it's sorta terrible, I needed to write a review to counter their motion. This band is great. They still have that Love & Rockets/Jesus & Mary Chain factor working for them - it is just something you will have to sit with instead of instantly saying - I love it...although track 5 is one of their best songs to date.

EXTENDED REVIEW:

Howl is an excellent album that partitions their catalog in two. The best generic description I can come with is Johnny Cash vs. Love & Rockets. The lyrics are brilliant, regarding love, religion and self as the focal points. The music, not a total departure from the previous two, but stripped down to more of an acoustic kickback to contemporary artists like later Dylan. I don't think BRMC was going for any particular sound, nor gave a care about keeping a fan who loved the last two albums. This was about keeping it real in a round about way - and what they are into, NOT what the fans expected them to do, which I totally respect. I don't mind people saying this record is not what they are into, but to say it is terrible means you have no clue to what music is. No offense, but I guess take some.

This is not LEGALLY even a Compact Disc! The BBC reports (Nov 4, 2005) that Philips, who defines standards for CDs, is very clear that copy protected "music delivery systems do not count as Compact Discs and cannot use the CD logo." In 2002, Klaus Petri (Philips rep) told Financial Times Deutschland that "those are silver discs with music data that resemble CDs, but aren't".

Apparently this record label is a subsidiary of Sony because Tim Foreman, the bass player of Switchfoot, posted a work around for this disc's style of copy protection (also on Switchfoot's disc under duress) on the Sony music forum. Naturally Sony deleted it. Unfortunately, even with this workaround, the copy protection still gets installed on your computer.

DO NOT ALLOW YOUR COMPUTER TO AUTORUN WHEN YOU PLAY THIS DISC. Also, if you use a username that does not have administrator privileges on your computer the rootkit on the disc may not be able to be installed. But your best bet is NOT to use this disc (or ANY copyprotected SONY disc) on your computer.

This rootkit is the same type of software hackers illegally install on your computer for nefarious purposes and is illegal in some states and a number of nations. It will run on your computer using up CPU power even if the disc is not playing. There is no uninstall provided. You are not warned that it will be installed. (Maybe you are in newer releases, I hear the EULA for the software has been changed online just in the last week. But if your computer is never online you only have the old EULA to read.) It is poorly written code and incompatible with some software, causing freezeups and bluescreens. And if you try to remove it with a spyware tool your computer will all of a sudden not be able to 'find' your CD drive and it will be unusable. For the full story, check out http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html.

If you are online this rootkit connects you to connected.sonymusic.com and www.sonymusic.com and tells them an id number, apparently identifying the album. So Sony then knows your IP address and what disc you are listening to. This rootkit also hides any files beginning with $SYS$, so if a hacker wants to install software on your computer he can begin the files this way and Sony's software will hide them so you don't find them!

If you use Sony's zip "fix" it reveals the rootkit files, but the 3.4 megabyte "patch" actually updates the rootkit and reinfects your system!

According to one consumer, when he called Sony Tech Support at 212-833-7305 he was transferred to a "very rude" individual who said that he "wasn't even supposed to be talking to me". When the consumer said he "didn't appreciate this unauthorized and apparently illegal modification of my system", he said, "So sue us." So...

In California, if Sony damages your computer, please outline the damage (include the linked article) and file a complaint with the US Department of Justice (http://www.usdoj.gov/), and your state's attorney general (CA: http://caag.state.ca.us/). They are a little more on top of things than most states...

Too bad Sony wants to scare off the very people who are NOT stealing their music online!

SONY

System's Ours! Not Yours!