Back from the flu... KB's reviews

Music Club
March/April 2006

Ok Go-Ok No
There was a sense of familiarity with this disc. I felt, even on the first listen, that I knew where the songs were going to go. Sometimes that describes a stagnant, uninspired collection of songs. But in this case it’s a positive. The familiarity was because the songs are well crafted and feel natural.

Ok No was full of good hooks, melodies and positive energy. Though familiar each song had its own identity displaying the band’s style versatility. The lyrics fit the songs and it was nice to actually understand the lyrics sung by a rock band. A little Elastica, Love and Rockets and some Kaiser Chiefs make Ok Go just messy enough without diluting the strength of their chops. A good start to this batch of music. (4)

Ray Davies-Other People’s Lives
Sometimes there’s an automatic high five to a grand master no matter how good the work is. But this high five is well deserved. Other People’s Lives should be well received by past Kinks fans as well as fans of good song writing. Davies sounds as vibrant as he did in his hey day in the late 60s early 70s and his lyrical prowess hasn’t missed a bit. Only the Ray-ness of 2006 (not the one of 1971) could sing “Creatures of Little Faith” with any credence. There is only one stumble on this disc, the little overly dry “Getaway”, but the rest being close to spectacular. Davies can clearly still rock with intelligence, and luckily for us music fans, he hasn’t become Rod Stewart. (4)

Muddy Waters- Electric Mud
Buh BAH DAH Dum Dum. Dum Dum. Buh BAH DAH Dum. This simple cadence would not exist but for Muddy Waters. Ask most rock musicians of the 60s-70s and most would recite Muddy as part of their inspiration. This disc is not the Muddy most of the world knew. Being the aware of the music landscape, and his new found worshipers, he ventured into the psychedelic rock sound with over fuzzed guitar (Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner and Phil Upchurch) and raw, garage band engineering. But honest renditions of his classic standards; “I Just Wanna Make Love to You”, “Mannish Boy”, “She’s Alright” and “Hoochie Coochie Man”. If you like true blues, you will like this. If you are a blues purist, you may not. While his original versions of the mentioned songs are superior, Muddy’s experimentation with 60’s rock is still solid. Hard not feel cool when listening to this disc. (3.5)

Marillion- Misplaced Childhood
I will attempt to deflect a few shots for Byron…. I liked a lot of this disc. Probably because I like the Peter Gariel Genesis (in this case A Trick of the Tail Genesis), who I originally thought back in the day was the singer of the big hit here “Kayleigh”. Yes there are synthesizers. Yes there are dramatic lyrics. Yes there is a traumatic theme. Yes there is the over 9 minute opus “Bind Curve”- which actually didn’t feel like 9 minutes. But to me- take out “Bitter Suite” and I can see why this is a much heralded prog-rock album. The first three cuts, the middle being “Kayleigh” are a solid beginning. “Lavender” is well crafted with its nod to Burl Ives’ Disney song of the “Lavender Blue”. The segues from song to song are superfluous and the changes in tempo and instrumentation make sense with a great ending in “White Feather”.

There isn’t a weak musician in Marillion and while it is easy to dismiss them as prog rock same o same o it would truly be a disservice to do so without giving this disc its fair number of listens. Okay Byron you are now on your own…… (3)

Guided By Voice- Ghits
I expect to get a partial “Kiss My Ass FHead” from Mike, and a secondary FU from Jay. But I didn’t love all of this compilation. The recording quality (most likely by design) took away from what sounded like good songs. That compounded with Pollards wavering vocals created too much of a distraction for to over come. I say this but I also can see the allure and why they are cited as influences or used to compare other DIY bands to. There are concise, well written songs here. I liked the songs more as the disc progressed with the Alien Lanes songs being my favorite. I wish they didn’t embrace the low-fi sound as much as they did, because I know there are more songs there for me to like.

Videos
I have little to offer here. I liked the inane, stupid videos of the mid-80’s (Men at Work videos come to mind) and a few of the serious ones that came in that weren’t too pretentious. I now I’ll forget some but off the top of my head my 5 would be- in no order;

“Everybody Hurts”- REM
“Nothing Compares to You”- Sinead O’baldness
“Close to Me”- Cure
“Bastard of Young” –Replacements
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”- Nirvana