Diario

Shout It Out
Hanson

Critical opinion from reviews I have read so far have two main points:
1)Shout It Out is a fun record (or album, depending on where they are from)
1b)The “fun” does not translate into any lasting impression or sense of progress for the band
2)The lyrics are trite and/or corny and/or juvenile

They are both pretty solidly on the mark. Luckily I am a Hanson fan, so I have trained myself to like songs in spite of these failings. So here is my review. Reference has been made to my Stand Up Stand Up review, which can be found here: http://bit.ly/arTvhk

1. Waiting for This

Without a doubt
Girl you're ahead of your time
Let's go out on the town
Give it a piece of your mind
You've been going round and round in your head
So don't think twice
You'll end up worse than you've been

I fell in love with the raw energy of this song on Stand Up, Stand Up, and this version fails in two major respects as far as I am concerned. All of the energy and drive the drums had on the acoustic version: gone. Taylor’s full-throated vocals: gone. They seem to have taken a step away from the song, and are playing it cool rather than playing it right. Taylor croons in that horribly nasal way he so irritatingly assumes and that I can barely call singing.

The roots of the song are still there though, and if I hadn’t been weaned on the acoustic version I daresay I wouldn’t have too many problems with it. Still, it was a disappointing start to the album, all things said and done.

2. Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’

You didn't have to do what you did
But I thank you it ended like this
'Cause the love I've got is better than what you gave
Well, I've got girls in line
Waiting for these arms of mine
Listen up to what I say

Just in case anyone in the world hasn’t heard this:


And just in case anyone in the world hasn’t seen this:


I do regret that the song took such a drastic turn away from what it was, but what they’ve turned it into is still great. It’s a bit of an aberration music-wise, but it’s a good one, and I’d take a bit of breezy keyboard-brass funk-pop over any amount of overwrought "meaningful" rubbish.

The video hits perfectly the vibe I think they were trying to hit through the album, and the video does a much better job of it than the album does. Taylor’s Ray Charles is pretty impressive (and the keyboard in his glasses is just too cool), and Isaac and Zac are so unabashedly goofy it brings a smile to this jaded, cynical writer’s face. And awww, adorable kiddies aww etc.

It’s really a great song, perfectly matched to video, and I think probably the best combined product Hanson have ever come out with. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

If only they could take pity on me and my fellow pedantic taggers and sort out those apostrophes.

3. Kiss Me When You Come Home

I will tell you straight

If you’re too hot to handle

Musically, FUCK YES. The drums kicking the song off, and the piano taking the lead, and the interplay between them at key moments just screams “we are slick and cool and totally hep to the groove”. Then the actual words are one of those true-love tracts that get on my nerves. Much like Georgia, except the music is slightly less good and the words are also less good. Though they do get points for on … my … LIPS! for sheer exuberance.

4. Carry You There

Well, I don’t care

What you say

Don’t have use for your words anyway

I’ve written about this one before too on the Stand Up Stand Up review, so here I’ll stick to the studio version, hopefully with less rampant abuse and more intelligent thought. Much less rampant abuse actually, since I consider the studio version an improvement. Yes, that’s right, I prefer the studio version to the acoustic version. I now require a short break to process that thought and all its implications.

Okay, nothing broken. My favourite thing about this song is the ramp-up at the end. A feeling I get from a lot of this album is that they are holding back, vocally at least, in an effort to capture that chilled-out summer vibe or whatever they call it. Something about the three of them singing together at the top of their lungs is just beautiful. Really brings out the gospel feel they hint at every now and again, and gives the damn song some feeling. With such cheesy lyrics, the vocal strength is the only thing that saves the song from the pit of eternal shittery. And how!

5. Give a Little

Leave an empty shoulder
Let her move in closer

This is an example of that trying-to-be-cool thing I was just talking about. The guitar line isn’t that great, and some of the lyrics downright clunk. Many of the lyrics downright clunk. The lines I’ve put up above are the best I could find, and it’s not much. The chorus is poppy enough, and of course they pull off the oh-oh!-ohh-oh-oh delightfully, but this song just doesn’t feel like much to me. It feels like they are trying to be something they're not, which is sad, because I think they could easily do a song like this ... this just isn't it.

6. Make It Out Alive

These memories, that we've got
May not amount to much,
But I'm so glad we've got 'em
We cannot be, what we're not
But it's too late to get out
Or shed a tear for doubt

Funny, no matter how I agree with every criticism I’ve heard about this song, I still enjoy it for the most part. It’s mixed oddly, with everything coming in at about the same level giving a pretty overloaded effect. No layers, just BLARGHRG THIS IS OUR SONG. I like the cymbal and the brass hits, and the reckless whatever-may-come vibe that kind of matches with Dancin' In The Wind, now I think of it. I think this song would kill live, but on the album it is just a pass-mark kind of a song.

7. And I Waited

Now there's nothing wrong with the way you look
But you've been acting like you're up to no good
You're playing me like I've got nothing to lose
You better keep in line

I'm not gonna get off
Until the last stop
Nobody else is gonna save me
Turn the heat up
For the meltdown
I've been up all night

This is the second-best song on the album. Initially my criticism of this version was along the same kind of lines as for Waiting for This and These Walls. It just sounded a bit more restrained than the 5 of 5 one and his voice had some strange quality I personally didn’t like. I'm not surprised that it's grown on me, since it's a damn good song and I just adore the 5 of 5 one.

Zac has a knack for setting up the atmosphere of songs like this so that it’s not the meaning of the lyrics that matter, but just that they fit. I mean, what’s this song about? What’s Running Man about? The correct answer to both of these questions is "who cares"? He sings like a man who lives to lose himself in a song (When it's pounding in your ear/Doesn't matter what you feel), and that is what matters. Some other things that matter are every other part of the song (bassline, guitar, horns, drums, harmonies, lyrics, etc etc etc), because it's awesome. I would welcome four thousand more songs in this style, because it's awesome. Also,

You’re such a doll…
my…
dear…
OHH-OH-OH! OHHH!



8. Use Me Up

Even if the hull should crack
Even if the blood flows red
Nothing could be worse than numb
Please, use me up

...

Treat me some way cruel
You can throw me away
As long as I feel it
Show me something real
You can deceive me
I am yours to use

And here comes the other type of Zac-song. The piano ballad. I have mixed feelings about this effort. I’ve been effusive enough about the songwriting itself in this familiar link, so I won’t go over that old ground again, except to say I love the change from the blood flowing red to running cold. What I will say is that this song would do better without the furbelows they have given it, but it certainly wouldn’t have fit on the album. As it is, it doesn’t fit all that well, but if they hadn’t filled out the sound of it it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. So I can forgive the horns and the odd explosions, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to skip the song because I don’t want to hear them. It’s a strong vocal performance, but that’s just not enough. The song doesn’t sound like the lyrics suggest it should, and the dissonance doesn't make it better. It makes it skip-fodder.

9. These Walls
See Waiting For This. But not quite so much.

10. Musical Ride

It's simple,
But somehow,
Letting go's the hardest part.

Here is another song it was hard to find cool lyrics from. Very hard indeed. Just because Zac is obviously the best one in the band doesn’t mean he can’t write a weak song once in a while (see: Wish That I Was There, Broken Angel). Musically there is nothing especially engaging, though it is a pleasant song. It’s the lyrics that have me cringing and trying to find excuses for him (“he’s only seventeen” doesn’t work that well any more, sadly). It’s sweet how he likes music so much, but I’ve just heard This is the Jam, and that is a much more spirited song about how great music is. I mean, take:

Come on this musical ride with me.
It might just change the life you think you're gonna lead.
And if I'm right you might just stop and see,

I'll take your breath away.
Show you more than you have known.
And everyday, I'll give you all this, nothing, and more.

and

This is the jam

And I don’t know where we’re going

I don’t want to take a stand

I just want to be who I am
This is my jam

And I don’t care if you’re listening

I don’t want to rock the boat
I just want to rock and roll
And tell me which one is the more uplifting. (Hint: don’t choose Musical Ride.)

11. Voice in the Chorus

All this time
I've been bearing it alone
Never had a single doubt in my mind
You passed me by
When I was barely hanging on
But you were there when I was doing just fine

...

Cause you'll be there waiting when I'm back on top
and you'll be there saying you gave me what I've got

...

Big surprise
You're the last one to arrive
and the first to cut in line

This is the best song on the album “hands down”, as is the parlance on the Hanson boards. By my third-or-so listen, the start of this song had me thinking that finally, here was something I could really get behind as a song. For all the “I like the drums on And I Waited” and “Thinkin Bout Something is a damn cool song”, there wasn’t a song that meant something. This is the first song that really went deep for me, and felt like it did for them as well.

It’s a funny thing, because when I first saw the tracklisting for this album, I saw Musical Ride, and I saw Voice in the Chorus, and I went nooooooooo. Musical Ride lived up to its sap-factor and then some, but Voice in the Chorus is an uplifting song that works, and that is because it has teeth. It’s that rare thing: a Hanson song that feels meticulously constructed and is stronger for it. The horns don’t feel tacked on

Of course, for me to have such unqualified praise for a Hanson song means you haven’t finished reading my thoughts on it just yet. My one issue with this song is a surprise to me, because it’s something that Hanson have traditionally done exceptionally well. It is the bridge. Now this is nitpicking, and I don’t care. I would have preferred this song without the really personal turn it takes,

'Cause you've never really known
Until you're all on your own
And the words come out all wrong
Oh you've never really known
Oh you never really know
Til its dark and its cold
There's no one to call you home
Oh you've never really known
Your true colors will be shown
When you're out all alone
And everything comes out all wrong
When you find it you will know

I dunno, I just feel like it’s unnecessary cruel, or at least negative. How perfect a song it would have been if it had been entirely a song of self-reliance and persistence and defiance. If the name ‘Caroline’ had been a way to fob it off as a love song and it had stayed out of the personal and just been a “guess what? we don't need you” to false friends, the music business, music media, god knows who, rather than a "you suck" to them.

12. Me Myself and I

When I'm alone in a cold, dark room,
well
There's still someone
That I can tell my troubles to

If they wanted to end this album with A Song To Sing, they could have just stuck on the This Time Around recording and saved themselves the money. Or maybe they could have taken the passable if rather maudlin lyrics and written a new song around it.

Gah.

Overall, I think this album is a good sign. I have my issues with it, but then I have issues with most things. I'm glad that their mission is pop, and that they're in a place where they can give their lead-off single a goofy music video built around fan involvement and a lot of spirit. I'm also glad they haven't fallen into the trap of giving Isaac a song even if he doesn't have one for the album. It's sad that the direction their music is going leans further and further away from his voice suiting it, but then he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who minds not singing lead. I've heard Make It Through The Day, and its a nice song, but it doesn't belong on this album. So kudos to the lot of them for that. I just hope they take a step forward for the next album, because they can do so much more than what is on show here.

And here are a couple of things that made me smile:

ALERT BLOG PROMOTION ATTACK
http://suburbanhomeboy.wordpress.com/
That is my blog where I put album reviews as well as other miscellaneous posts I like it better than last.fm journal but I stay here as well because I'm just that generous.

A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing is a huge step up from Sparks, even though I guess technically not much has changed. They have found a bigger, more assured sound, and much more variety in styles. Russell is less adolescent-sounding, and he finds a few new voices to play with, but mostly the songs are just better. And here they all are in their majesty and weird:

Girl From Germany

It's just on the edges of commercial-friendly musically, but have to somehow get by the stretchy, affected vocals and painfully chipper, whistly chorus to see that this song is a real lyrical gem. Somehow it feels funny to call it a song about racism, but it really is, all about this guy seeing a German chick but whose parents can't deal with the post-war trauma.

Oh, no! Bring her home and the folks look ill
My word, they can't forget, they never will
They can hear the stormtroops on our lawn
When I show her in
And the Fuehrer is alive and well
In our panelled den ...

It kind of edges around both being a joke and being serious, like the best of their songs do. Ron has gone on record saying he thinks that pretty much everything is funny, and I guess it's that that lets their songs about suicide pacts, the threat of child abuse, racism, senility and so on be so endlessly entertaining and somehow very rarely offensive.

Well, the car I drive is parked outside
It's German-made
They resent that less than the people
Who are German-made

Beaver O'Lindy

A confused, unstable mess of male puberty that I have recently been informed is about masturbation, which at least explains the I'm the girl in your head but the boy in your bed line. It flicks from lethargic waltz to seriously heavy distorted guitar and frenzied drumming to hyperactive cheerleader chorus in I think their most extraordinarily bipolar moment, beating out even Dick Around 34 years later. It's an inspired transition, followed by some fooling around between speeds for a while, and then back to the bizarre B-E-A-V-E-R-O-L-I-N-D-Y of the chorus. I have to be really paying attention to and actively appreciating this song to enjoy it, otherwise it gets on my nerves in no small way.

Nothing Is Sacred

This song is about immortality, and how much it would suck.

Adding some of this to some of that
Madame Science wins again
We are now forever people
We'll outlive our will to live

Most of the lyrics are nothing is sacred any more, and the song goes on and on and on and on in much the same way that this song portrays an immortal life. It sounds very much like a song from Halfnelson, from the guitar-and-drums foundation with piano extras to Russell's loopy-loop falsetto. It's got a neat bassline, probably the best part of the whole song, except for maybe the frantic outro, which makes the long wait through the rest of the song worthwhile.

Here Comes Bob

When I spot a driver worth a second glance
Foot to floorboard, impact soon achieved
Here comes Bob!
I ain't subtle in my ways of making friends

One of those ideas so out there I don't really know what to say about it and cannot guess where it came from. Basically a gorgeous piano and string arrangement around the concept that some guy doesn't know how to make friends, so goes about it by crashing his car into other vehicles. Notable for an incredible all-but-breathless section in the middle which builds up in intensity and he has actually achieved live:

Sometimes I'll stoop to hitting
Two-door coupes without the frills
But that's just for casual acquaintances,
For stripped-down thrills
Your car, girl? or mine?
It doesn't matter, doesn't matter, no
But for affairs with staying power
I go after limousines
It's always nice if something big
Is acting as your go-between
And for group encounters I'll hit buses,
Mobile homes, or trains to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The song has so much charisma it's ridiculous; I almost start thinking that it could be a pretty good idea. The way he announces himself he is so confident and proud of himself. And there's a real gift somewhere in this band for string arrangements, one I feel was extremely under-used in the early years. In all years, really. The string arrangements on Plagiarism of songs from Kimono My House and Propaganda rival the originals, even for This Town. Ah well, none of that can ever stop me from loving this song, so I guess it's all good.

Moon Over Kentucky

First five-star song Sparks made. Comes out of nowhere, especially after Here Comes Bob, like nothing they had done before and nothing they have done since. Darkly mysterious, sinister, heavy guitar, deep bass, simple, incredibly effective keyboard and pounding drums and Russell giving the vocal performance of his life with eerie tuneful wails and dark pronouncements such as:

I heard somewhere that they're stamping,
Trampling all upon you
Your pocked face remains impassive
Though I know it hurts you

Moon over Kentucky
Take me with you
Full moon over Kentucky
Leave this mooring
And seek some new rendezvous

Cut your ties with this possessive mother, she'll destroy you
Cut your ties and find another one who will respect you

Co-written by Ron Mael and Jim Mankey, it totally rocks, especially towards the end where the vocals stay the same and the music just gradually edges up and over it. I have simply never heard anything like it, especially not from nineteen seventy bloody two.

Do-Re-Mi

Starts out mildly, ramps up hugely. I don't know what inspired them to cover The Sound of Music, but it suits the dynamics experiments of the album perfectly. I mean, we all know the lyrics, but what we can't predict is the strength of the music they write up around them. He could be singing some cliche like a shopping list, and the song would be as powerful, if not as incongruous. While the drums are crashing like crazy things around that simple keyboard melody, I know that Sparks can't possibly be of this earth.

Angus Desire

Then back to the same old Halfnelson blueprint of minimal instruments supporting Russell's delivery of fucked-up lyrics, perking up occasionally but mostly just being weird.

See private parts in public school
They look so odd, try something else
Unnatural acts, consent implied
No one objects to Angus Desire

This worries me. I think I would be more worried if I felt I understood it at all. I think instead, I will just sit over here.

Underground

It's a nice to change to find some relaxing pop in the midst of all the everything, so Underground, penned by guitarist Earle Mankey gets two thumbs up from me. It hits the same kind of spot as Slowboat does on Halfnelson. If you don't listen to any lyrics beyond Oh won't you please go with me underground then it's a pretty kind of a pop song, with a pretty melody, fun bassline and some great tinkly piano. For ages, that was exactly why I liked it. But then I tried to work out the lyrics.

First, I deciphered this:

Why don't you please go with me underground
Where love is free and supergroups can be found

And that was exciting, because songs about music are some of my favourite things.

Once I dreamed I was on a basement tape
Took in just one take
Oh Lord, we gained our world distribution by relevant means
Jazz folk-rock fusion appealed to the teens

Okay so it's not all that coherent, but gives a lot more meaning and charm to the song when Underground means underground music (which they definitely were) and the mission statement is:

We shall sail off over rainbows
Till we spy the lands that come together
Smiles will greet us
Heads will turn to meet us
As we make the scene,
As we would make the scene.

A little more fey than I feel a Mael would have written it, but it appeals to me and I forgive Mankey for the travesty that is Biology 2.

The Louvre

The one song I automatically skip on this album, the one song that prevents it from being perfect. Too drawn out, even by Sparks standards. The gimmick of Russell singing in French doesn't save the song from being essentially dull, and when the same lyrics are sung in English later it takes away the kind of coolness it got from being incomprehensible to a lot of people. You see, me speaking some French, I feel cheated if I can work out what it means and other people just get the meaning spoonfed.

It's from the point of view of a statue in the Louvre, wanting to get out but being a statue makes it kinda difficult.

Essayer donc de m'enlever
Je voudrais voir si vous oser

Ils touchent mon marbre froid
Mais mes yeux sont fixer sur la porte

That's all you're getting from me, I am sick of this song.

Batteries Not Included

A great little piano-and-vocals scene, I almost don't want to say anything about it because of spoilers, which is ridiculous because it's a forty-five second song whose ending is the title. I will just say that Russell makes an excellent petulant child and leave it at that.

Whippings and Apologies

Far less risque than it sounds. Kinda like Moon Over Kentucky in that the lyrics are few and far between. Less like Moon Over Kentucky in that it starts frenetic and driven, and the vocals are yelped with slighly strangled relish in the slight pauses between onslaughts of noise. The drums are my favourite part of the whole deal, as are those moments where the music has stopped and you're just on edge, waiting for him to cut back in, bringing the music with him with a crash.

This album is way up there with the best of Sparks, despite its initial obscurity. I wish I had seen it live, like I wish I had seen every single album live. But it was not to be, and I have to settle for videos such as this:

I feel that for thoroughness' sake I should finish the early Sparks records before moving on to the late ones, so where better to start than Sparks, or Halfnelson, as it is more puristically called?

Back at this early stage of Sparks history, they were a five-piece band called Halfnelson, as can be seen on this album cover:



Look at Ron in his corner, peering in the back window, shades and tache in place. Then look at Russell, gazing idyllically into the distance, every bit the bashful maiden. And then look at the other three! My research tells me they are Earle and Jim Mankey (guitar and bass) and Harley Feinstein who, aside from having a great name, plays drums.

Unfortunately I don't have the buckets of money required to have a copy of the original LP, so I have had to compromise with this reissued cd:



I have grown to love this cover, with Ron's trademark glare unobscured by sunglasses, Russell and his Adam's apple playing it straight and the strange little man in the back with his ciggie. It looks like Ron is already preparing for the When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way' video. Who knew he was such a dedicated method actor?

Anyway, enough blather about album covers. We're here for the music, right? I am happy to announce it does not let us down.

Wonder Girl is a perfect way to start the whole shebang. With Russell's voice coming from everywhere in both the falsetto and the regular variety, tinkling, circular piano resting just underneath and a prominent basic drumbeat, it consists of all Sparks have ever really needed. Repetitive, too, which they seem to like and can usually make work. And the bassline has started to push itself to the forefront the more I listen, soft but pervasive.

The lyrics? Not sure. A lot of she was a wonder girl (some girl, that girl)-ing, a few verses. Haven't really got a handle on exactly what it's about, but it doesn't bother me.

Fa La Fa Lee is actually more catchy and far more funny. It's the song from here I find myself singing most often. Unfortunately, it's not the most family-friendly song to be singing aloud, so I often have to restrict myself to just the Fa la fa lee, she ain't heavy she's a brother to me bit. I don't want people thinking I'm singing about ... uh ... being deprived of ... incest:

Fa la fa lee,
She thinks only of the higher part of me
Such a shame, were I she
I'd set my sights much lower
Then I'd sing
Fa la fa la fa lee
But as it stands now that would be a felony
Whoo, fa la laaaaa ...

La lee

I don't know what half the sounds on this song are from, but they are things of beauty. It's lively and bizarre and unpredictable. But most of all, it is a song about incest called "Fa La Fa Lee". See if you can beat that, Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV.

Next! Roger
Grandiose count-in? Check! Atonal irrythmic music? Check! Lyrics you can decipher but that are impossible to interpret? Check! Vocal gymnastics? Check! Tireless repetition of one word? Check! Cymbals? Check! Quite a nice piano line coming in and fading out at the end for no apparent reason? Check!

Russell Mael wrote this song, one of his two solo songwriting credits for the album, and it's a perfectly calibrated mess of a song.

High C
Sorry, did someone say vocal gymnastics? This song, about an opera diva who's lost her touch, is all about reaching, as you may have guessed, high C. From the point of view of some guy, manager, agent, whatever, who wants to guide her back to the elusive high C. Or at least so I thought originally, now I'm thinking maybe it's a fan, considering the opening lines:

A picket fence, I leaped it
Through your screen door, I gotta meet you

and the closing:

Come on home with me and we'll sing our little hearts out
We will hit high C or maybe somewhere thereabouts

The song flips from grandiose vocal with jaunty musical stylings to jaunty vocal with grandiose musical stylings and back again, with little interspersed vocal romps up and down the scales. Not a highlight as far as the album goes, but pretty fun.

Fletcher Honorama is quite spooky, and easily my favourite. I don't know what or who Fletcher Honorama is, but the song is about an old man (of eighty Junes), or a boy, depending on what part of the lyrics you listen to, on his deathbed. It's gentle, eerie and even when it revs up a little and the vocals slip from muted to full bore, it remains disjointed and surreal. The piano break initially seems to break the mood, but the more times it starts up again the more it fits in.

Please, go easy now with him
Because this is his final whim
So be sure that the boy don't die before the morn

We'll merely sing the songs that made you scream

The way he sings scream is just subtly different and hell-creepy.

The outro is the high point of the whole song, with overlapping so be sure, so be sure, that the ... boy, don't die before the morrrrnnnns and ghostly oooo-oo-ooooos creating a place I could stay in for hours.

Simple Ballet

Publicity getting out of hand. It all just started out with a simple ballet.

Simple ballet was an idea,
Then a novel,
Next a movie,
Soon on T.V.

Do a plié
For the D.A.
When he comes round
Your alleged conduct with the director
Has raised some questions
That he wants answered
Good for the ratings

The music is all plinky plonk, with massive clashing cymbals at regular intervals and high-pitched backing vocals on occasion. Russell's voice is refined and delicate, and even when the guitar makes an entry it's very clean and respectable. Maybe a little longer than it needs to be, but nice, sweet and subversive.

Slowboat

A pure slow soft rock song, vaguely about waiting patiently for a lost love to return, even though you know they won't, but they definitely will. Or something. The most important thing about this song is the prop-work it got in the early days:


Russell Mael complete with papier-mache slowboat

Russell gives this song the thorough crooning it deserves, and the piano part is very pretty. It feels almost like filler, but since it's better than at least half of the other songs on here, I guess it can't be.

Biology 2

A Sparks song without a Mael as a songwriter? Blasphemy! It's a straightforward comedy song written by Earle Mankey, and it's not very good. At least I hope it's not just me reacting to it being a Mankey song aha manky; I think I didn't like it before I knew who wrote it. The vocals are silly beyond endearing, and though the structure is pretty interesting, and the music does some cool things, it just can't win me over. The intro is hopelessly cheesy and dated, and most of the song is just genetics references masquerading as wit, and references to Darwin and Mendel. The line I do like comes right at the end:

Pick a stud to congeal your blood, and get your earlobes freed

Eugenics!

Saccharin and the War

What. The. Hell. Someone, please explain this to me. Or at least reassure me that it makes no sense.

Fifteen years the bus had waited,
Before it moved on into the town.
Eye liner worn by all their girls.

Through the night the war was fought
Each eye liner took two small drops
Reaction
Elation
Joy, Joy, Joy

Every girl took in a doctor
The Constitution says: "You must house the men"
Each doctor undermined a plot
Yes they did

All the weight that was soon lost
They erected as a golden cross
Remember the weight is no longer here

Through the street girls sang
The marching bands brought on the rain
The doctors stood by the gold cross

One eye liner she had an idea
She read the Book, the Golden Book
It seems another man had come across a cross

Well, Dr. Jones they crucified
But, all their weight was returned back
Ha, ha for all the girls
Now

The only sense I can maybe make of it is that a lot of people took a weight loss pill, then turned on the doctor responsible and all the weight miraculously returned? I thought Ron was the crazier one, but now I am not so sure... Musically it's almost as disjointed as Roger, and after all the lyrics are out of the way it goes on a rockin spree with crashing drums, cool piano and odd squeakings at the periphery for a while.

Big Bands

Here is a love song for the most enduring love of all: music. This strikes me as a love song from a middle-aged man to his halcyon days when big bands ruled the waves. It's really quite touching. The bittersweetness of him having practically bankrupted himself:

Follow me my lady to my home
See my large collection, some on loan
Of every big band record ever made
I had to sell my heater, so don't shake

to keep up his passion, which is pretty much all he has to live for:

I find it so much warmer in the ballroom than at home
A common bond unites us so we're really not alone
Sure we've got our problems, but tonight we won't admit it
If I have a lady friend, we'll make it seem like we were there tonight

is something I think most music-lovers can identify with to some degree.

I smile like Herbert Hoover when the big bands play is a line that I don't need to understand to love. I did a little looking into Mr. Hoover, and all I can say is he doesn't have much of a smile that I can find anywhere. Maybe that's the joke.

Musically, it's a really good song, starting out guitar-heavy but for a surprisingly long time staying sedate and piano-y. Russell demonstrates his vocal versatility, from the soft warbling in the verses to the bald statement in the chorus (I ... am ... quite ... partial!), and as it goes mental towards the end like the best songs do, speeding up and speaking the remaining verses.

(No More) Mr. Nice Guys

Is a fairly epic closer, full of dynamics and words and sounds and things. It rocks out the most of any of the songs, maybe due to it being co-written by Jim Mankey and Ron? Centering on the incongruous man of morals (see It Ain't 1918), it tells us that being nice really isn't what a girl is looking for these days.

Just when sin was quite the thing,
There's one who holds quite tight to what had worked before
What's his outlet?
What's his secret?
Is it something one can buy at some drug store?
Could the gospel be his girl,
Does he exercise by breaking 2 by 4's?
Just what is his game?
Could he be enticed?
No, no one's quite that plain
No one's quite that nice
That nice

It almost reads as a mission statement in the chorus:

No more Mr. Nice Guys
Few are left but him
No more Mr. Nice Guys
The nice guys cannot
And the nice guys shall not,
The nice guys will not win

And sure enough, no one really is quite that nice:

He could be enticed
His game had to end
But he's still quite nice
She sees other men than him

So cynicism is justified, and there really are no more Mr. Nice Guys.

This album is unusual and interesting, and a surprisingly accurate introduction to Sparks as they have been for most of their career. Sure, the Mankeys and Feinstein would only be around for one more album, but able replacements were found and Biology 2 is one of my least favourite Sparks songs, so I won't be missing the songwriting skills. Russell's voice is very young, but in fine fettle, and the songwriting is if anything more adventurous than in much of their later work. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Russell had kept up his songwriting efforts instead of just letting Ron take over. From the glimpses this album has given us, it would have been an alternate history to be baffled by.

I like Sparks.

Nothing Without You

Carney are one of the few bands from the 00s (and by that I mean originating in the 00s, not just continuing into them) that I can really get into. No surprises that they have a pure heavy classic-rock sound, but for them it sounds organic and natural, definitely not an attempt to cash in on nostalgia or just ape other bands (I was going to put in a jab at Wolfmother here, but I haven't heard enough of either them or Zeppelin for it to be warranted. Hell, why should that stop me, I'M LOOKING AT YOU, WOLFMOTHER). The band itself is tight and powerful, and it's all drawn together by the sometimes-ethereal sometimes-raw always-genuine vocals of Reeve Carney, brother of lead guitarist Zane. No, I don't know what their parents were thinking either. And in other news, Reeve has just been cast as Spiderman in the Broadway musical I believe, so yay for him.

This EP is just four songs, but they are all high-quality and diverse enough for me to have high hopes for an LP soon enough.

1. Nothing Without You
2. Imperial Lover
3. There She Goes
4. Testify

Nothing Without You is the song that drew me in, and is probably still my favourite if I am forced to choose. It opens the EP with a barely-controlled yell of

I'm NOTHING! WITHOUT! YOU!

and then after a moment of quiet the song settles into its rhythm, mellow and understated, vocals cool and breathy except for those few moments where there is nothing for it but to howl. I feel like I need to know a lot more about music to be able to explain how great this song is. It's atmospheric, with a steady cymbal-heavy drumbeat, and guitars working around the spaces in the song. It's one of those songs where everything just does exactly what it needs to do without standing out above any other part. The lead up to the ending is fantastic, where the drums finally get a hammering before it ends just as it began.

Sometimes
I'm kinda surprised
You kept me alive
This long

I will be your lover
Holding you close to my heart
And forever
I will endeavour to show
Oh that I will be
Your lover

Imperial Lover opens quietly, with the vocals at centre stage again.

Imperial lover
I didn't know this was the way it was gonna be
We're pulling me under
All that it was
Is nothing but a memory

Something I tend to not realise is how good the lyrics to these songs are. They're not exceptional, of course, and the content isn't anything out of the ordinary, but they have a poetry and a flow that I haven't found in many places. The strongest thing about them is the way they meld effortlessly with the music around them, so that most of the time I don't notice a particular instrument, or the words he's saying, but I just hear the sound they have made with the combination. This song doesn't even really have a high point like Nothing Without You had, but it is captivating as a whole.

There She Goes runs with a classic theme and does it flawlessly: that of the everyboy watching the unattainable female, and dreaming about what they could be together, but without the courage to make a move.

There she goes
Once again
She's the kind of girl who'll drive a poor boy insane
As she strolls
Down the lane
Every word prepared eludes my heart can't explain

Maybe this time I'll be brave and tell her how I feel
Oooh, there she goes
You know I think it's time
I let her know
Oooh, there she goes
I don't think I can wait
Another day...

The chorus and the bridge both rise above the gentle verses, the boy psyching himself up out of his admiration, trying to find the nerve to go up to her. There is a wider variety of instruments (as far as I can tell, there's underlying organ, occasional flute and some form of strings in addition to the regular crew), and impeccable female backing vocals that come in at the high points and lift the song to a whole new level. Every note is considered, and though the guitar is nowhere near the front of the mix, on closer listening it is one of the greatest parts of the song. From a high point it shuts down pretty quickly, with descending ooohs and guitar, leading in to the five-minute closer:

Testify is a pure heavy blues-rock jam, complete with heavy guitars, extended jams, solid drums and a bassline I can't hear very well with my un-awesome headphones. The vocals are rougher for the most part as well, but not without that same haunting quality.

I just wanna listen to your heartbeat
Tell your people that you're still alive
There ain't nothin' sweeter than your mercy
I will testify

The strongest parts are without lyrics, where they just play. For the first half it just rocks hard, then there is an almost psychedelic section, complete with wordless wailing, both from the voicebox and the guitars, which settle down into silence. The intro repeats itself after this, with the opening lyrics all but acapella:

I don't wanna have to learn the hard way
I don't wanna fall along the side
Why'd I keep on learning I was (???)
I will testify.

Then the same thing, genuinely acapella.

Then the same trick as in Nothing Without You, but out of complete silence, and accompanied by the crash of the whole band coming back in.

It's ALL! for you
Gonna do it all for you
I'm gonna give it all for you
Gonna do it all for
You.

And the thing is done.

These four songs, in less than fifteen minutes, take me to another place. One of those pasts-that-never-was, or a world-that-could-never-be, where everything is heightened and means so much more than it does in this dreary reality. This band plays music like it's the reason they are still breathing. Reeve has incredible presence in the music, not just on stage, and I hope he stays a musician rather than heading more into acting, because I am selfish and greedy.

The one other song they have out officially, Love Me Chase Me is of course nowhere to be found in Australia, but I have used my extreme research skills to unearth it on a secret music website called "youtube". I had no idea about the whole circus theme either, but then I learned that for some reason they had access to the Carnivale sets at HBO, so I guess that's why. Warning: TIGER

Flipper was a band I really thought I would like, just from the little bits of information about them I'd read around the place. The catalyst for actually getting me some of their music was a handy site www.nexterlizer.com, where you type in something you've recently listened to, watched, read or played, and it comes up with what it thinks you should tackle next. I typed in "Wipers", and Nexterlizer suggested Album: Generic Flipper aka Generic. I liked the album cover when I looked it up, and critical opinion over most of the internet made me optimistic about having found another good band. Also, Kurt Cobain was a fan, and though I'm not really into Nirvana as such, other favourite bands of his were Wipers and Meat Puppets, so if nothing else his taste was pretty good bordering on excellent.



My first impression of the album, as a whole, is that it's a whole lot of unattractive mess. I don't mind dark, heavy music, or unmusical vocals, or repetitive lyrics, but there needs to be something special or interesting to pull it out of being a morass of dull. Most of the time I was bored to death, and when I wasn't, chances were I was actively unenjoying myself. And I know my dislike is genuine, because I really did want to like this band.

Ever was a deceptively okay track, but I knew that it was one of their most popular songs, so hearing it and knowing that the rest probably wouldn't be as good was distressing. I really liked the lyrics (ever do nothing and gain nothing from it? being my especial favourite line) and the incongruous claptrack. The music itself just foreshadowed what was to come. Sludgy sludge, but not in a good way: in the they-seem-half-asleep-and-to-have-forgotten-the-song way. If the spoken-shouted vocals of the other songs stood out the same way as they do here, I would have more to like about the album as a whole.

Life Is Cheap started out okay, with a descending guitar line, spacey effects and a dull drum sound, but after thirty seconds I actually paused it instinctively. I had an actual physical aversion to the girl-boy vocals in this song, and it went on in the exact same way forever. Her voice is harsh and metallic, and sets me on edge, halfway between creepy and comedic. All the attention of the song is focused on these spoken vocals, and yech. Nothing else happens. And the one lyric that stands out to me is a clunky one Why is there religion? It's just not fair. People cling to things to make to make their lives seem real. Yeah, real profound.

Shed No Tears has a bit more life to it, with a bassline that gives the song the feeling that it's actually going somewhere. The lyrics are genuinely interesting, but again the delivery leaves a lot to be desired. It's neither here nor there: it occasionally borders on having a melody, and occasionally sounds like there's an ounce of passion behind it. The music isn't as boring as previously, but it still doesn't have anything more than middle-of-the-road appeal.

Shed no tears for the martyr dying
Only in pain suffering and death
Can the martyr become what he's chosen to be

...

Shed no tears for the cop bleeding
He once held the gun he once held the key
Now his prisoners will sing and dance and play

...

Shed no tears for the nun beaten
By the children she once called her flock
How they hate their teachers who force darkness upon us

(I Saw You) Shine opens with a fuzzy bassline, and as the guitars whine in and the drums crash, it sounds like this could be a really powerfully ominous track. But then of course words happened, and in addition to the unpleasant vocals (this time a little more musical but even more unappealing somehow) the lyrics themselves are repetitive and uninspiring, probably because I am not sure what they are trying to say. Something about wanting something so much I've got to strip this flesh from my bones/I've got to hammer this wall with my hands/With my hands. The promise of the intro fades out, and again the vocals take prominence and the rest is relegated to background. Priorities are all wrong, here. And this song goes for EIGHT AND A HALF MINUTES and I really can't take it. I listened to the whole thing the first time I listened to it, but this time I just can't make myself. Five minutes is long enough for me to realise my opinion has not changed.

Way Of The World is another song where the vocals let down the lyrics. The singalong of That's the way of the world is uninspiring, and becomes even more so every time they repeat it, and again the intro is good but then the music just lays right down into inconspicuous. If they would play a little more with dynamics perhaps, or change up the tempo a little, I would find more to like about them, but I guess that wasn't what they were aiming for. The sameness of the music and the single level of delivery match the theme of most of the album, but that doesn't make it better, just consistent.

There are eyes that cannot see
And fingers that cannot touch
That's the way of the world
There are dreams left empty and blank
And legs that have ceased to walk
That's the way of the world

Life was a surprise to me. From what I'd heard earlier on the album, I wasn't expecting a song with such cheese for lyrics.

I too have sung death's praise
But I'm not going to sing that song anymore
Yes, I've figured out what living is all about
It's life! life!
Life is the only thing worth living for

It's hard to reconcile the music style with the sentiment here, and though sometimes such a disparate partnership can create music genius, here it doesn't. It just sounds stupid to me. And repetitive to the point of stoned. Maybe my problem is that I'm not out of my mind on licit or illicit substances. But I don't intend to ever be, so too bad.

Nothing has an intro that makes me laugh. A guy reminds the band, "Everybody start at the same time, ready?" and counts them in, and it just strikes me, fairly or otherwise, as exactly the kind of thing this band might just forget to do. The song itself is straightforward nihilism.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing
Not to believe is what you believe

The delivery here is rougher and actually kinda good, and I found myself nodding my head to it a little. That, coupled with the fact it's not even two and a half minutes long, makes it one of the better songs on the album.

Living For The Depression is even shorter, and also quite good, packed with more lyrics than in their million-minute-long songs. The virtue of having something to say gives the song life, and it hums along at a merry pace:

We're living for life to be the way we feel
Not living for life, but the death appeal
Who needs a cancerous boring end
When you can die from misery and follow the trend?

And there's a nod to the merits of the song which I really like:

This song rhymes and we play it in time

Sex Bomb is actually a great song, probably because of the use of saxophone. I'm telling you, add saxophone to a song and it is a better song. On wikipedia it records the sax credits as being to Bobby and Ward, and whoever they are, I love them. The hoarse yelling, sax line and ramblings, deep fuzzy bass riff and whatever that wavery whistle thing is could be the whole album and I would be happy. Man, if this was the base from which all their songs were made, they would be the greatest band ever. It's just a chaotic jumble jam and at nearly eight minutes, it ends far too soon. Remove lyrics (apart from SEX BOMB BABY, YEAH!), play like there's something to play for, become awesome.

I think my problem with this album is not that it's a bad album, it's that the worst songs on it are truly excruciating for me. Take out Life is Cheap, (I Saw You) Shine and Life and the album is okay. Ideally, the album would open with Ever, maybe include the quick one-two of Nothing and Living for the Depression and then let Sex Bomb live for about half an hour to close out the record. To that, I would give a hearty thumbs-up.

Fun House - The Stooges

Rarely have I encountered an album whose artwork so perfectly describes what it sounds like. I'm going to say some words about it now, but it truly has to be heard to be believed.

Down On the Street opens with a sedate drumbeat, heavy blues-y guitar, a perfectly sleazy bassline and a series of deranged yelps. Iggy narrates in that trademark drawl no one else can come close to touching and the guitars keep pace dutifully. When it revs up for the second time (the first really being just a teaser), and lyrics descend into those same shrieks and grunts from Iggy sitting over the top of a pair of guitar solos constantly threatening to fall to pieces, that is when you know exactly what you are getting yourself into. It's a simple song, heavy and uncomplicated, just a taste of things to come.

Loose is essentially the same dark blues rock. The thing that really sticks out of this track for me is the transition from the nasal sneer of I took a riiiiide, with the pretty music to the lighter, almost gentle I'll stick it deep inside. I don't really like this song as much as Down on the Street: it's just as simple, but I get less energy from it. The bass riff is painfully evocative of Smoke In The Water (and you do not want to know how long it took me to remember the name of that song. And by remember, I mean ask the right person, who told me immediately and made me feel stupid), which is more than a little distracting. The best part is when the minimal control they have over the song erodes that little bit further and the guitars and Iggy go mental for some time.

T.V. Eye

I haven't paid much mind to the lyrics so far in this review, mostly because who the hell cares? The only reason for words in this kind of an environment is to make the mouth make sound, to fit in with all the other sounds and make sounds sound good. The cooler they sound the better, so writing them down here where you can't hear them is kind of pointless. For this album it tends to be a few phrases repeated over and over and over, as a rule. Here is an example from this song, just in case you are curious:

See that cat
Yeah I do mean you
See that cat
Yeah I do mean you
She got a TV eye on me
She got a TV eye
She got a TV eye on me, oh
See that cat
Down on her back
See that cat
Down on her back
She got a TV eye on me
She got a TV eye
She got a TV eye on me, oh
See that cat

et cetera.

The vocals are grating, nasal and harsh, and as usual the bass booms around it, and guitars ramble on around a fairly simple drumbeat for the majority of the song. When the song breaks out of that structure and they start to jam the song improves, Iggy springs his howling madness on the listener and then there is actually a part with horrific screaming, coughing and mumbling that serves some sort of purpose I expect.

Dirt rolls up slowly from a light slow beat and a loud inhalation, adding in some smooth rolling bass and some guitar shudderings and twangings and then Iggy comes in all sultry and slow Ooh, I been dirt ... and I don't care, and as the guitars wail up all demented the seven minutes of this song each promise to be something incredible. Every part of this song works just perfectly to create that undertone of menace in a leisurely stroll through sordidville. It has a similar touch of the surreal to it as I Will Fall, but there is something far more menacing about this song that makes it so much more enthralling. It always ends before I think it will, and it's like just waking up. Just go and listen to it, it's not like I can describe it here anyway. Just keep an ear on that bass, it rules me.

1970

This song almost has traces of pop in it, the way it almost has like a melody and everything. It's a more conventional kind of a song, and I mean that only in comparison with the rest of the songs on here, not in any wider sense. It is loud and wild and really quite good. Covered by The Damned as I Feel Alright, for a while I didn't realise who had covered whom (grammer). Then I remembered that the Stooges were absurdly ahead of their time, and that I was confusing the Damned with MC5, and I had to punch myself in the face a few times in punishment. Once that was done, I tried very hard to listen to this song without thinking the lyrics were wrong. I didn't altogether succeed at that. It is the first time we hear the legendary saxomophone on this album, too, where the song actually goes completely mental. The saxophone whinnies, Iggy audibly loses his mind and the song implodes nicely.

Fun House

Listening to this song now, I wish the saxophone had showed itself even a little on side one, because here it just gives so much life to the jam. It stops being the raw proto-garage-punk-mess of side one and adds some kind of edge, funk or jazz or big band or just something that gives it a real unique sound. Even after seven minutes, there's no sign of any tiring on anyone's part even when it takes a turn for the slower. Least of all mine. Iggy's vocals are, as always, deranged, extreme, diverse and skilful, especially at just after five minutes. I'm surprised he can still talk at his age after all this shit, let alone sing.

L.A. Blues

Some screaming, some demented wordless yammering, some hammering drums, some atonal guitar, and a surprisingly sane saxophone part make up about the first lemme see ... four and a half minutes of this song. The remaining thirty seconds is the guitar feedback fading out. Sooo, yeah. The messiest mess of the messiest messy messy messy messy AMAZINGLY GOOD mess. It doesn't need to make sense it just needs to exist. Nothing else would have done to close this monster out.

Strangely, on second listen this album actually did less for me overall. I was far less impressed by the first three tracks, and maybe appreciated the others a little more at most. I have yet to properly listen to it though. My good headphones broke, I am on a laptop, and I don't want to blast all the hearing out of my ears until I am at least fifty. The opportunity will come, I am sure, and when I can turn the volume up to 11 I expect I'll be hearing it in a whole new light.

I like The Replacements. I like them very, very much. They are one of the very few bands I know who started hardcore-ish and developed a different sound as they went on whose later sound equals or betters their raw beginnings. This post is dedicated to those raw beginnings. Well, as raw as a debut LP can get, anyway.

There is just something about the Replacements that elevates what they do to being more than just some guys getting smashed and making noise. I haven't had the "pleasure" of seeing them live, of course, but I have had reports placed on my desk stating that they weren't exactly the most fan-friendly of bands, what with the alcohol and the drugs and the attitude. Despite this, they were doing a lot of things right. Recording this record their bass player Tommy Stinson had to be only like thirteen or fourteen, which earns him a hearty well done handshake from me. Instead of me giving my uninformed opinions of the people in the band, I will put this quote from the book This Band Could Be Your Life, spoken by Paul Westerberg (guitarist, singer, songwriter) about the way the songs he wrote were received by his bandmates:

"If it doesn't rock enough, Bob [Stinson, lead guitarist] will scoff at it, and if it isn't catchy enough, Chris [Mars, drummer] won't like it, and if it isn't modern enough, Tommy won't like it"

Anyway, enough of me pretending I have anything to say, and down to the down and dirty review itself:



Takin' a Ride

No pussyfooting around, let's just get right to it with a hell-raising opener about speeding around in a car: drunk, high, and fully aware that they'll probably end up dead. Adrenaline, adrenaline and more adrenaline, with music that wouldn't sound out of place as a soundtrack for some racing game, especially with the little drumrolls and the bit where everything else goes quiet while the bass descends and the guitar moves up in sync with it, in the intro and a couple of other places. My favourite part of the song is the thorough subversion of the whole driving too fast along with rock music in these lyrics:

Going real fast, hanging out the window
Drinking in the back seat, half the bottle
The light was green, and so was I
The radio blasting, TURN THAT SHIT OFF!

The song ends with them arrested (Out of the car/Your hands on the hood), but there's no hint of guilt or regret to be found anywhere, as an earlier verse is sung straight after that. It's just a song in the moment, without any statement to be made or lesson to be learned. After an opener like this, first time I listened this album I knew I was in for a treat.

Careless

Nothing in the attitude changes for the next song, summed up nicely in the opening couplet:

Irresponsibility's my closest friend
Forget my duty I couldn't give a shit

He's careless, and he couldn't care less. Very straightforward, enjoyable musically but not outstanding, delightful statement of intent.

Customer

A key member of the "punk songs about shopping" coterie, this song is so painfully true it's both sad and hilarious. It begins with a rushed spoken section: I'm in love with the girl who works at the store where I'm nothing but a... and then he goes on bemoaning that he's just a customer (I'm a customer, ad nauseam) while also getting as close to her as he can: "What's on sale?", "Uh, where're the Twinkies?", "Yeah, can I get change?" The crowning moment of this song is where he finally loses his cool and just comes out and announces: I love you!, and it echoes through the music as the guitar solo gets going. The guitar gets increasingly unhinged and high-pitched as the song closes and he continues to I'm a customer until the very end. Poor poor man.

Hangin' Downtown

There is one theme running through this album: that of the aimless, unambitious and somewhat hopeless youth, making music to say things that on the surface really don't need to be said. Over and over again. They take the most banal experiences and tangential ideas and turn them into ramshackle, chaotic music, for no more reason than because it's what they know and, probably, what they enjoy. This song, for example, is about hanging around downtown (surprising, huh), but nothing happens in the song. A bus stop is mentioned, as is TV and liquor stores, but the song goes nowhere. The music somehow livens the thing up: the relentless energy and freedom they play with and Westerberg's hoarse frantic vocals combine to give the song some spirit, while simultaneously showing up the mundanity of the lyrics.

Kick Your Door Down

The lyrics to this song are just gumpf grouped around the theme made evident in the title. The music is somewhat more restrained than it has been so far, with the lead guitar mixed more distinctly, and playing almost smoothly, slightly calmer drumming, vocals that sound almost like real singing from Westerberg, and an overall slower pace. It's kind of an opposite to Hangin' Downtown, where the music was wild but the events in the song were dull, as here it's all knock pound knock pound/I'm gonna kick, kick/your door down, but in a bizarrely sedate fashion for the most part. It's the second-longest song on the album, too, which came as a surprise to me when I realised.

Otto

The lyrics go everybody got to go Otto, Otto/everybody wants to know Otto, Otto, in the beginning of the song, a very repetitive, fiercely whirlwind beginning, then it slows to an old-style chugalong about halfway through to

Tried to come over here
Thought I might give her, give her a call
Tried to phone my baby, give her a call
But Otto, he went crazy
He ripped the phone right off the wall

At which point it revs right up again just to let Stinson the elder mess around on his guitar for a while before the song ends. So in other words this song is meaningless lyrically and kinda whatever musically.

I Bought a Headache

This song is the middle of the "whatever" trio of songs on this album, where I am just like hurry up with better songs please. This one is about wasting your money on shit drugs blah blah blah. Production quality is pretty bad too, it sounds pretty much live. I like the bassline though, so well done ickle Tommykins. I don't care how old he is now, he will always be ickle Tommykins to me.

Rattlesnake

The transition from Headache to this song promises so much, but the song fails ultimately to live up to that promise. It's a ramshackle jam where Westerberg goes on and on about being a rattlesnake: Cruisin' on my belly all night long I'm a rattlesnake I'm a rat a rat a rat. He sounds stoned in the end when it slows down and wears out at the end. I don't know why I even bothered to mention that.

I Hate Music

My one beef with this song is that it just has far too many notes.

Johnny's Gonna Die

This is one of my favourite songs by them ever. Of which there are probably at least twenty. It has similarities to the sound of some of Johnny Thunders' own dark songs from the late seventies, especially So Alone. I assume this is intentional. There's a lot of empty space in the song, hypnotic bass, ghostly guitar lines, and sparse lyrics portraying Johnny as a lonely, fucked up man on the edge of reality, just edging closer and closer to the inevitable. The ending is tragic, with Westerberg calling out Johnny ... Johnny ... building up into a desperate howl, then just closing out the song with fading bye-bye ... bye-bye ... It took Thunders quite a few years to eventually make the song come true, but I guess it was always going to happen. I can't imagine how it would have felt for him to hear this song, or how the Replacements felt when he really had died. I hear it in context all the time, and I have only come to love it more the more I hear of Thunders' life and work. Even the childish Johnny's gonna die, na na na-na naaa naa is made poignant by the atmosphere. Though the song sticks out like a sore thumb on this album in terms of both sound and attitude (it is well-crafted !!?!), when considered in context with their later work it fits in perfectly.

Shiftless When Idle

This is another one of those songs generally considered to be the best on an album which I just see nothing special in. I'm listening to it now, trying to think of something to say, but to me in seems pretty much a by-the-numbers early Replacements song, without really much to say but saying it anyway, forcing a little energy into it but ultimately not memorable.

More Cigarettes

He's fixated on cigarettes, needs more, smokes them a lot, needs more again.

Don't Ask Why

This was an early favourite of mine, for two main reasons:

You're...

Goin'...

Out of my mind
I'm...

Stayin'...

Out of your...
Way I used to love ya
That's the way I hate ya now
You know the way I used to love ya
That's the way I hate ya
Don't ask why
Don't ask why
Don't ask why

Pretty good lyrics, especially for the standard of this album, but the delivery is what makes it great, the way it goes from being words into ragged fragments of sound just falling out of his mouth. The other great bit is the ending:

Don't ask why
Don't ask why
Don't ask why
Don't ask why

...Why not?

In terms of what the song is about, it's the first kind of conventional relationship song. They're usually more into songs about the lifestyle, but this song is really a pretty good breakup song, where it's a surprise to neither party, not really a sad thing (You don't call, I don't cry), but he's still apparently not all that happy about it. The song itself is fast, driven by drums heavy on the rolls like so many of their songs are, with pretty frenzied guitar and Westerberg's hoarse, impassioned vocals giving it no small amount of character.

Somethin' to Dü

The second song about another band, this is a song obviously about Hüsker Dü, their contemporaries and local rivals. Like Johnny's Gonna Die, they take the style of their subject and meld it with their own. As a result, this song is fast and guitar-driven, heavier than their usual fare. It seems to be fondly derisive, with digs at the tough-guy image the Huskers had:

Delivering noise
Real tough boys
What else have I got?
Half-priced drugs
Stolen guitars
What else is new
It's somethin to du
Somethin to du
Well it ain't nothin' new

Also, the stand around and sweat/girls? you bet! has to be tongue-in-cheek, and usually makes me grin. As does the end, where it changes to Somethin' to Husker, and as the song ends you hear break the [Bob] mould, which despite all the rivalry stuff flying around never actually seemed to be on anyone's agenda. Despite being from the same city, kind of playing the same scene, I never picked up on there being any actual bad blood between the two. Maybe because they really weren't that similar, just lumped together by geography and the way they started.

I'm in Trouble

You're in love/And I'm in trouble. What more needs to be said? Girlfriends only spend my cash, waste my time so this guy's in deep shit with this girl crushing on him. He runs and hides, but draws the line at suicide. I really like this song, even though I can't really think of anything to say about it. Not many lyrics, not much stands out musically. Just good, somehow.

Love You Till Friday

Building on the same theme, this song starts up with:

Girls are a pain in my life
When they try to be my wife

Commitment is not a strong point, it seems. The whole love you till Friday thing consistently makes the da-da-da-da! from David Bowie's Love You Till Tuesday go through my head. Thanks a lot, Replacements, what did I do to deserve that? I don't need reminders of dumb old twee pop while listening to your album. The styles don't exactly mix well. Aside from that, the song keeps the momentum of the album going without adding too much of interest for me.

Shutup

I am always slightly confused by this song, not only because half the lyrics are incomprehensible (he really lays on the rasp and lays off the diction) but because I'm really not sure who he's talking to at different points and who exactly is being told to shut up and why. I really enjoy listening to it though, even though it tooks me months to understand the lyrics to the second verse, which are clearly the greatest part of the whole song:

Well Tommy's too young
Bobby's too drunk
I only can shout one note
Chris needs a watch to keep time
We'll never find the time to vote

Raised in the City

What better way to end the album but with a perfect summary of the attitude, a song with lyrics such as:

Raised in the city
Till I'm old
Buy a car maybe
When I'm old
This my goddamn band

and

Outta my way
I can't see it
Outta my way
Can't see no band

Most of the songs in the middle aren't even necessary. Open with Takin' a Ride, close with Raised in the City, you know what the deal with this band is.

But they end up going a lot further. As fun as this album is, it's pretty much an exercise in unpolished rock and roll. I don't know exactly how punk I consider it. They're disenfranchised youth, yes, the music is fast, pretty sloppy and straightforward, yes, the songs are short, yes, the vocals are more emotional than they are melodious, yes, but I just don't get much of a punk feel from the whole thing. It's called punk, maybe even hardcore, but I'm just not convinced. If anything they only hit punk at Stink, before they just came out with Hootenanny, Let It Be and Tim. There are hints of what is to come to be found in this album, but it is still incredible to me that they developed so much without losing the spirit that can be found here.

Probably my third- or fourth-favourite album by them, but being my introduction to their music always has a soft spot in my heart. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going off to listen to Johnny Thunders.

“... that’s right, your stereo is fucked up.”

Screeching Weasel

Because of my muchlike for 999 and Buzzcocks, and my like for Dude Ranch, I went trawling the web to find pop punk bands that were generally liked by people whose opinions I respected. The consensus seemed to be the Ramones, and Screeching Weasel. I have the Ramones’ self-titled, and I can’t even get all the way through the thing without getting bored and annoyed. So with hope in my heart, I checked out these Screeching Weasel fellows.

With core members going by the names Ben Weasel and John Jughead, I could tell straight away that these guys were either pretentious as hell, or didn’t take themselves at all seriously. I admire Ben Weasel for giving up on playing bass and singing at the same time and just hiring a bassist. That is the kind of can-do attitude I respect.



Their self-titled debut, released in 1987, has 27 tracks, the longest of which clocks in at two and a half minutes, and only two other tracks even make the two-minute mark. As with a great number of punkish bands, they started raw and hardcore and then gradually developed “sophistication” and “pop smarts”. The vast majority of the time, this rates as a deterioration in my opinion. Screeching Weasel’s followup album Boogadaboogadaboogada! has tracks that are stronger than any on the self-titled, but is overall a less appealing album, and later albums which I have only heard parts of have a totally different sound. This album, if you believe wikipediathefontofallknowledge, was recorded in one night in a studio in Chicago for $200, and is well worth both the time and the money.

My usual method of reviewing an album track-by-track is doomed to fail for an album of these proportions, so I will just make it up as I go along. The album starts out pretty strong, falters in the middle and ends more strongly than it started. The low points are Cows and O.M.W., while the high points are the songs that are straightforward and aggressive, like California Sucks, Hardcore Hippie, Clean-cut Asshole and Jockpunk. The overall theme seems to be “I hate some stuff”. The stuff includes:

•authority (I like saying no! to authority)

•society (society makes me wanna puke)

•California (California sucks/It’s worse than old New York/Filled with scum and wealthy worms and stupid surfing dorks)

•himself (Don’t have a job/Don’t go to school/And worst of all/I think I’m cool/I can’t stand myself)

•People touching his car

•work (Overtime I’m getting pissed off/I don’t have a life/Hey boss fuck off!)

•liars (You’re a worthless old douchebag and I hate you)

•clean-cut assholes (You got no right tellin me that I ain’t okay/College buttfucks rule this world and claim to be alternative/You’re a fucking slimebag I don’t care what you say)

•jocks (You’re startin fights with people weaker than you/Come over here and I’ll pound on you)

•Kmart (I’d like to punch the customers in the face)

•7-11 (There’s an asshole behind the counter/This atmosphere really sucks)

•alcoholics (You can’t have a good time without it/Personality from a bottle/Just leave me alone)

•hippies (You’ll go from beatnik to yuppie in the blink of an eye/Can’t think for yourself cause you’re always fuckin high

They manage to work in a couple of attacks on bands as well, with the alcoholic from Leave Me Alone puking and passing out listening to U2, to the Clean-cut Asshole and all his mates liking R.E.M., and maybe a jab at the hardcore scene in Experience the Ozzfish with Ozzfish just ain't cool anymore/Cause Ozz don't listen to any hardcore.

There are a few poppier numbers, like My Song (as close as it comes to stereotypical teen angst), What Is Right and Murder in the Brady House, which I’d probably find funnier if I were at all familiar with the Brady Bunch. You get a pretty good idea of the song from the first verse:

Bobby Brady's dealing crack, Marcia's on the pill

Mike's in bed with Alice and Sam sells dog chops at his meat shop

Greg is trying on garter belts and Peter spent three nights in jail

Murder in the Brady house because Jan Brady couldn't stand it

The lyrics in general can border on banal, in songs like Wanna Die (Wanna die, wanna die, wanna die, I don’t wanna live), but most of the lyrics are simplistic and still work pretty well, helped along by Ben Weasel’s apparent sincerity and rage. Even a song about microwaving Fred the gerbil (Wavin Gerbs) avoids being completely disgusting and repugnant just by virtue of the stupid voice he puts on, dull-witted and dopey:

I was there alone one day
Me, Fred and my microwave
Fred was a gerbil just the same
I was feeling quite insane
60 seconds set on high
Kiss my gerbil Fred goodbye
Watch old Freddy run and run
He went kaboom ! Just like a gun <--- best part ever
I'm having so much fun
Go and get a Brillo pad
Fred is dead aw ain't it sad
I didn't do it - that I wish
Guess who's next it's Bob my fish

And, for the last track Yeah Baby they even break out the acoustic guitars and a tuneless singalong to get set into a hilarious takeoff of love songs which compliment the girl’s features, starting with face and eyes and ending up with:

Yeah, baby

I like your knees

Yeah, baby

I like your nose

Yeah, baby

I like the cheese

Yeah, baby

Between your toes



For sophistication you’ll have to go elsewhere, or maybe check out what they’ve done later, I dunno, but what they’ve got here is a winning thing. I don’t have an actual favourite song on this album; in iTunes none of them got above three stars. As a whole album though it’s a good listen, especially when in the mood for some undemanding angry-youth sounds mixed in with a bit of poppy goodness, some flashes of real wit and quite a few idiot moments.