If you said the exquisite sound of Rada Neal’s piano (and not something totally snarky), you win an exclusive invitation to be inspired and transported far beyond any run-of-the-mill, symphony-of-the-week piano solo collection.

“Timeless Third” is 45 minutes of pure relaxation and original inspiration I would call hypnotizing. Rada’s music will flow into creases of your brain you probably didn’t know you had and fire off some completely legal chemicals you will definitely enjoy.

Rada has a sensitive touch and a surprisingly creative intuition. The music seems to come effortlessly and it’s hard for me to imagine that these songs haven’t been being played and refined and interpreted for centuries in order to reach this level of sophistication and pure musician-to-listener communication.

And just wait until track four - “Haunting Memories.” Wow. This composition is a trance-inducing trip and my favorite on the CD. I don’t know what memories haunted Rada as she wrote this piece, but I hope they are as beautiful and expansive as the song itself.

I always appreciate the chance to support independent artists and when they are Coloradans, it makes it even better. I highly recommend you give Rada a listen and do your part to keep Pagosa Springs’ atmosphere buzzing.

You can buy “Timeless Third” at Rada’s Web site www.pianopassions.com. Rada’s other CDs are available there, too, and you can sample before you buy.

Steve Bays has to be the luckiest singer in recent post-punk rock history - not the best - just the luckiest. His band produces music that cradles and propels and encourages the best vocals Bays can offer. With a voice that would get grating without this quality in the background, Bays would be just another wannabe garage band screamer. The music is incredibly full for a CD that sounds anything but overproduced.

Everything’s catchy and immediately forgettable. Perfect for rock music in my opinion. “Running Out of Time” takes the people we all recognize and then gives us a little deeper look inside - and what’s there ain’t pretty.

“Hollywood waiter with a chip on his shoulder/ Only break has been his back and yet he’s just getting older/ He’s washing his clothes in a sink of self-pity.”

“Pickin’ It Up” is a great shout song with an irresistible beat. Over all, Elevator is a good party CD, more sing-along-with than many honest Canadian rock bands.

But… speaking of honesty, Hot Hot Heat did the nearly unforgivable.

The biggest bitch among people who actually buy CDs, not just burn them from friends, is that the music companies/bands do not provide enough quality listening for the retail price of CDs. Everyone’s bought an $18 CD to find one or, very rarely, two good songs. “Elevator” is different in that respect, the songs are consistent and worth the retail. What made me cranky was that the CD packaging states you’ll get 15 songs for the money. Not true.

No. 1: “Introduction” is listed as a full song - no matter that it’s only 17 seconds long. Hey, even my attention span is longer than that.

As for No. 13, the band is either superstitious - or hoteliers in their past lives - because they blow right to 14 after 12. Not cute. Really. On the disc, it’s a 4 second mosquito-like buzz.

The worst part of this duplicity is that it was unnecessary. Bang out good songs, wait until you have a dozen or so, then record. How hard is that? When you’ve got something good - and Hot Hot Heat seems promising - don’t try to pull it over on your listeners.