There’s nothing wrong with consistency in music. Sometimes more of the same is a very good thing. But a signature sound can become monotonous, and that’s the problem plaguing Limbeck’s Let Me Come Home. It’s an album full of standard issue alt-country, not bad just bland. Anybody that remembers the band Convoy—which basically became Louis XIV when three of its members decided another musical avenue was more lucrative—knows what to expect from Limbeck. It would seem they took all the right steps to grab part of the No Depression demographic. They employ a wide array of classic Americana instrumentation, including accordion, harmonica, Rhodes, and mandolin. They got the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris to co-produce the record with Ed Ackerson. The packaging even looks nice. Unfortunately, the songs just don’t hold up when compared to other bands doing similar things, like The Sadies, Old 97s, or Centro-Matic. The lyrical messages are less than profound, summed up in observations like, “People Don’t Change,” from the song of the same name, and “TV is a waste of your time/ It’s only good for wrecking your mind” (“Television”). “Names For Dogs” strips things down to just acoustic guitars and a few voices and “Watchin’ The Moon Rise Over Town” works in some Faces-style barroom rock influence, but that doesn’t prevent the record from ultimately blending together in forgettable fashion.

As always, the Thanksgiving holiday is not only a time for food, booze and friends but also an occasion for reflection, nostalgia and sentimentality. As it turns out, Ray Davies, the singer-songwriter who best embodies those qualities, has composed a new song paying tribute to the seasonal celebration. Davies is not an American at all but a British-born musician (perhaps the most quintessentially British songwriter of all time). Fans of Davies and his band The Kinks have been waiting a long time for the celebrated songwriter’s first official solo album. Reports have it that Davies’ record, Other People’s Lives, will finally be out early in the new year. In the meantime, Ray has released an EP containing his personal paean to our annual holiday celebration that also benefits New Orleans music education programs. While writing material for his new album, Davies spent long periods of time in the Big Easy doing character studies and writing observational lyrics of his visit (as evidenced by his song “The Tourist,” heard on an a recently released import-only EP of the same name). In doing so, Davies hoped to come to a better understanding of our country and culture. “I toured America a week after the so called 9/11 and realized how little we had in common,” Davies told Q Magazine in September. “It was like visiting a dying relative you never knew that well.” Davies’ efforts to get to know us better earned him a gun shot wound in the leg (received while pursuing a mugger in New Orleans’ French Quarter) but the old chap didn’t hold a grudge. Instead, he’s written a moving and tuneful anthem for our late-November tradition. Like Davies’ best work, “Thanksgiving Day” presents a wonderful combination of melody and melancholia. Davies sings of husbands who long for their now passed wives to return for the holiday, of lonely people desperate to get back home in time for the family supper and of those who have lost the spirit but still hold onto the warm memories of Thanksgivings’ past. The EP presents two versions of the song, the first focusing on Davies’ lead vocal, the second, an alternate mix with a gospel chorus chanting the song’s chorus at the top of the song. The three other tracks on the mini-album have all been previously released (if infrequently heard). “Yours Truly Confused N10” is a bouncy, horn-driven tune (imagine “Come Dancing” in overdrive) set to Davies cockney-delivered indictment of English politics, press and people. Similarly, “London Song” delves into the not-so-finer points of the city itself and wonders what has happened to its once grand culture and history. Sadly, the date sounds of the drums, guitar leads and back-ups vocals make the song sound like a mid-’80s outtake (largely forgettable). Thankfully, the song is immediately followed by the inspired song “The Storyteller,” a wistful, country-tinged tune that could easily serve double duty as Davies’ musical autobiography. The Thanksgiving Day EP has certainly whetted my appetite for the soon-to be-delivered main course and Davies’ return has given me one more thing to treasure this holiday season. Ray Davies will perform “Thanksgiving Day” on Thanksgiving (Nov. 24) on the “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” show.

It’s 1985. David Lee Roth has left Van Halen and the band is searching for a new singer. BUT…here the timeline diverges from our own reality and Eddie Van Halen recruits the Pointers Sisters to take over the band’s lead vocals. In this alternate reality, the new Van Halen sounds like something approximating the Do the Awesome EP from Bling Kong. Fronted by a quartet of foul-mouthed cheerleaders, Bling Kong fuses power-pop, cock rock, and the movie Bring It On to create a terrific live experience, and now, one of the catchiest rock albums of the year. The song titles (“Enter Bling Kong,” “We Got the Bling,” and “Bling Kong Girls”) show that the band knows only one thing, but it knows the shit out of it. “Bling Kong Girls” features instant-classic lyrics (“Those with big cocks/We salute you!” which I can’t believe wasn’t thought of sooner than this) and guitar licks that your Uncle Nick’s Motorhead cover band could only dream of writing. Originally started as a joke t-shirt that became a band, Bling Kong has been tearing up the East Coast and perfecting its craft. Soon, it will become a monstrous, runaway smash success, and we will no longer have to imagine what music would sound like if the minds that created “Hot for Teacher” and “Neutron Dance” got together and wrote the biggest pop hits the world had ever known.