Man, it smells like it, too. You know, the sweaty one hidden in the bottom of your gym locker for a week or two.
This is just awful. Waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyytoo much reggae. Ten covers, two originals, neither written by EC. Doyle Bramhall II (Sheryl Crow, Tedeschi & Trucks, Michael McDonald) was one of the co-writers and I generally enjoy what he does, but half way through the first original was as far as I could get. Second one? Approximately 35 seconds before I dumped it. Thought I'd at least keep the version of Gary Moore's "Still Got The Blues" but nope. Horrible.
He's going to sell records no matter what he does and this will prove it. Debuted at #7 but I expect a steep nosedive back down the charts. He performed the first original at a recent Nashville concert but nothing else from "Smelly Hosiery," and another show didn't have the first tune from it.
I first heard this band on a Joy Division tribute album way back in the mid-90's and liked their version of "Transmission." I had a brief love affair with the slowcore/sadcore genre that rose up against grunge, enjoying bands like Codeine and Red House Painters, but by the time I heard Low I had broken up with the movement, pretty much like everyone else. So it was with great surprise that I learned of this new album some eighteen years later. Plus, I read they went to Jeff Tweedy's house and studio and got him to produce the album. Ah, what the hell...I love Wilco but I never owned anything Low had done, but I picked up the import a few weeks ago anyway (it released here in the US this past Tuesday), and you know what? I think I'll keep the whole album. But there's a catch...
First, let me show you this from LAST NIGHT!
A wonderful song and a neat setting. I was view #19. Not the greatest audio quality and the guy finally puts the camera down after a few seconds. The following video is much better quality and more typical of their music...
Man, I can hear Emmylou and Vince Gill doing that song right now...
I had hoped for some of Tweedy's noise to work its way into the music and I wasn't disappointed. There could have been a little more for my tastes. He can also be very sparse in his settings, and with Low's style, it melds beautifully. Not that I've heard much of Low's music over the last fifteen years, but apparently it's new that the drummer, Mimi Parker, has more lead vocals than before. It's a formula that should continue.
The catch? I lumped this 41-minute album onto the same disc with Jim James' 38-minute record for economy's sake. Turns out it was a fortuitous decision...
I'm not going to trouble you with the spiritual, metaphysical mumbo jumbo most reviewers are pulling from this record. It's all him with just a bit of help with percussion and strings. Yes, it's more eclectic than MMJ in many ways, but in no way is that a slight on either the man or the band.
During multiple spins of this thoroughly pleasing disc (about a third of it I will label outstanding), I made only three observations: 1) There is one track that The Killers wish they had been able to do on their last crappy record, 2) John Lennon would have enjoyed this album, and 3) It's too damn short.
I was in NYC last month and wished I had known about this Sleep No More thing. The following clip is from the concert that Mr. James did for it the night we arrived in the city. Damn it... He played the entire album, some MMJ obscurities, and a couple of covers from the 1930's in an abandoned hotel in Chelsea. Guarantee it was a night to remember for the lucky ones in attendance...
I will only say that every My Morning Jacket fan out there should enjoy this solo effort.
I first went to the vault listings to see which Yo La Tengo album I owned. That's right, one. I know, I know, one of America's great indie success (critically) stories, yada yada yada... I can safely say I never heard the first note by them until 1997's "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One." All the Velvet Underground comparisons did not move me to investigate (never a big Lou Reed fan). I heard the next album in 2000 and wasn't impelled to obtain. Completely missed the following record and then while reviving the "PM In The AM" show on WPRK in 2006, got to hear and play some of their eleventh album, the unforgettably monikered "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass." I vaguely remember sampling 2009's "Popular Songs" shortly after beginning this blog, but again was less than thrilled, yet it seemed there was always enough potential in the noise to pique my interest. When I saw "Fade" released in mid-January, once again I included it on my "investigate" list. Shortly thereafter, I found myself awake in the wee hours of the morning and caught their appearance on Jimmy Fallon's program. Well, it seems that NBC has pulled the video from the 'net so here is the next best performance of the same song, the album's opener...
Oh...my...gawd... Bought the record the next day. Each and every spin since is more enjoyable than the previous. The same multiple, soft, breathy, spoken (a la Roger Waters in a few places) vocals from before. So what is different and why is it working for me now? Horns and strings amongst the guitar drone and loop-like playing? Maybe. I also discovered that they used a different producer for the first time in twenty years, but I honestly can't say that's it. I noted a smidgen of Beatlesque psychedelia and mucho early Church guitar jangle, though most will say it's Byrds-ian. But the record is not all that wild, feedback-drenched racket...
Thank God for non-commercial college radio stations...
"Fade" has made me wonder what I may have missed over the years from this band. Each album since '97 has charted higher than the previous, culminating with this one peaking at #26. Coincidentally, I also realized that 1997 was essentially the end of my music-enhancing activities (let's call it 97%) so maybe that's why I didn't get YLT.
For those of you who still enjoy medicinal/recreational party favours, may I recommend "Fade" for this weekend's Wake-'n'-Bake.
This is Sean Lennon and the drummer from Deerhoof. That should explain the categorization of improvisational noise-rock. I say it sounds like it was recorded some 40-45 years ago in a neighbor's garage/studio and anything you could coax a sound from was utilized on the tape. A perfect soundtrack for those strange little mushrooms shaped like tiki huts you used to find in the cow pastures of Uncle Jed's farm out in Belleview...
"Art-rock exercise...instrumental psych outfit"
Thirteen tracks, eight of which are less than 2:30 in length, and six of those clock in under two. What the hell else has Lennon got to do with his life? Work?
The "Band" is now "The Shakedown" and the bassist has changed. The style of music has not. It's old-school, dirty/sleazy/gritty arena rock...from kids in their twenties. Question: Are others in the same age group going
to get it........or want to?
BKP called a Bon Jovi comparison and the Aerosmith connection is obvious (especially if you read the linked post)...
With all the formal music education among the other three band members, you know there has been plenty of discussions about business as well as playing music. The professionalism of this band in all facets of what they do far exceeds their chronological years. And by God, if you are going to pattern your career after the ones of the previously mentioned American icons, you couldn't do much better. They can certainly pull off the live aspect...
They are doing all the right things, making all the proper moves, even suffered through some adversity (about a month ago they had five guitars and a snare drum stolen while out on the road in Washington). So why am I so damn frustrated with this album? I've given you three of the eleven tracks off "Wild Child," you tell me...
The entire record is completely serviceable, albeit cliched, guitar rock I would have found MadRockerShow-worthy at WPRK back in the late-70's. Hell, it even slips into the next decade with a track that had me yelling "Stroke me, Stroke me"over whatever lyrics were really being used. I looked for some other reviews and found the majority to rate it very good to excellent. Bryant received some high praise from a pretty decent Fender picker himself, Vince Gill, when he said, “To play like this kid is the rarest of the rare. Hands down, a future guitar god.” But it hasn't translated to sales as the record has barely cracked the Heatseekers chart. Granted, it's on a tiny indie label out of Texas with only one other artist, so maybe it's a coup that the album hit any chart, period.
Bryant co-wrote all these songs with about ten different contributors. All are good, none great. I read an interview with him where he was discussing the virtues of having a band versus being solo. He related a time when all the other guys were asleep in the hotel and he had a nagging musical hook in his brain keeping him awake, so as not to disturb the others, retired to the toilet to hammer out the song. He played it for the guys the next morning and the band performed the song that night at the next gig. That's great and all, but it's one thing to write a song on the can yet another to write a GOOD song on the can. And therein lies my issue, the boy isn't ready to write all his tunes yet. Pay a proven songwriter/s for a few sheets of suggestions. Jon Bon Jovi & Ritchie Sambora, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry...those guys could write songs. I don't believe Mr. Bryant is anywhere close right now.
And that's why I'm jumping off the bandwagon. He and the boys are young enough to continue down the road to arena rock stardom but it's too long a drive for me. I'm unliking their Facebook page and I damn sure won't purchase the next record without a sample spin.
I saw this on my release sheet but passed on it because it was live and I owned just one of their albums. Lo and behold, BKP sends it to me in a musical care package. If you are unaware of them, and that's probably most of you (unless you are Canadian or Aussie), The TP are from north of the border and had a very successful eight album/fifteen-year run from 1991-2005. I believe it was six Top 10 albums. They didn't tour much, period, but somehow they developed enough of a following Down Under and traveled there to play around a third of all their shows. So if you get the boys back together after a few years on the shelf, why not do it where you can have a Toohey's oil can and a vegemite sandwich? Your home country will already be in your back pocket.
What I most remember about the band was the employment of Middle Eastern influences and instruments in an alternative rock setting. Nothing straight forward in their R'N'R, though I may have thought of The Cult on occasion, but most of the comparisons were to Zeppelin and The Doors, the latter due to the similarities in vocal timbre (now it's the Editors' Tom Smith who sings like this). This is taken from the tour video and was the opening track of the one CD I have...
More than likely, the album was a promo copy I kept after playing it in-store for three months. That said, it must not have made a lasting impression on me as I didn't remember any of the four songs pulled from it for this concert, which is nearly two hours in length. The recording itself is as pristine and immaculate as it gets for live shows. If you are one of the many who enjoy concerts of all genres, this rock show should be on your next bill.
Thought I'd throw this acoustic setting at you on a whim. They have many, many fans, but is this going to win them any more? Nope. Preaching to the choir. However, it does bode well for a future studio release. It was announced a week ago that the band has stayed in Australia to write and record "the next chapter."
More than seven years of professional radio experience and over twenty years in music retailing have provided many opportunities to introduce friends, family, co-workers and customers to great music in four different decades. Out of the biz now for more than five years, I still seek out new music to add to my enormous collection. Most in my age group gave up on finding new music years ago. To quote a line from Crack the Sky, "Why don't they make music for us anymore?" Well, they do, and I share my discoveries in a manner that is intended for those who know me, but can be appreciated by you who do not. I am not a reveiwer paid to have a piece available upon a recording's release, I write only after several listens and sometimes several weeks of spins. Feel free to comment, suggest, and enjoy!
