Tubes

The Completion Backward Principle
$18.98
I've revisited a lot of "old" (for me, but then again I'm old) stuff - music, movies, whatever - and found that very little is as good as I remembered. "Blazing Saddles," "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever," Vanilla Fudge, you get the idea. But I ordered this disc and have been annoying fellow commuters at traffic lights since then (my car has a subwoofer which makes things even more obnoxious). TCBP just kicks *ss. Tubes purists may say it's too commercial and maybe it is, but this is great music; not a bad track on the album. Very good dynamic range too; you get serious highs and serious lows. Buy this.

Avenir Premium Tube Presta Valve 700c Tube (700x20-25 27x1-1/8)
$4.99
I've been using this brand/style of tube on my road bike for the past 18 months (mostly because it's the only tube readily available at Dick's). I've noticed that some (~20%) of the tubes have 'soft' spots that show up as dips when the tube is even just partially inflated. These tubes tend to last me about a week (~30 miles) before they flat. However, if the tube doesn't have any soft spots I'm able to use them until I hit something that my tires just can't protect any tube against.

The Groove Tube
$19.95
This is one of those movies that you laugh at every time you watch it. Just a brilliant piece of work. Saw it 25 years ago and I still love it. If you have a true sense of humor, you'll enjoy this film.

The Tubes
$6.98
With so many reviews, the history of this album and its status as the best thing the Tubes ever did has probably already been established. Suffice it to say that as a wayward teenager in 1976 the albums that dominated that summer's playlist were Queen's "A Night At The Opera", Tull's "A Passion Play", Bowie's "Changesonebowie", the self-titled "Fleetwood Mac" - and the Tubes' killer debut.

If your portable mp3 player has limited storage and you're looking to just download the highlights, start with the classics "White Punks On Dope", "What Do You Want From Life" and "Up From The Deep". If you're up for downloading half the album, "Boy Crazy" would be a good rocker to grab. Pass on "Space Baby" and "Haloes" unless you're downloading the entire album.

The Tubes' followup, "Young And Rich" was almost as good, but it is shamefully out of print for the moment. No matter how good those first couple albums were, live performance was always the Tubes' strength, so some tracks like "Mondo Bondage" don't come across as well without the supporting visuals. Had this band been signed by a label that understood rock and roll, the Tubes probably would have hit it big much earlier than they did.