November Rantings

Damone - I think there is only one chick in the band, so the comparison isn’t entirely accurate, but my first thought is that it’s the Go Gos on Crank. And that works for me. The natural progression from the Go Gos through the Donnas to Damone. Yeah, I know it breaks no new ground, but good pop, by definition rarely does. The hooks are decent, the playing as adequate as it needs to be and despite the fact that they employ every metal cliché known to man and that they occasionally come dangerously close to crossing the line toward bands like Scandal, it has a certain exhuberence that merits a 3.5

Isis – Five seconds in I was thinking it needed to be nearly perfect the rest of the way out just to get back to a 0, but over time it became bearable and even had its moments. The problem is, though, that my feeble mind is already cluttered with too many sub-genres – alt country, metal pop (see Damone), surf punk, etc. - and I really don’t think I have a place for instrumental metal. And that’s essentially what this is – or at least should be as his singing is clearly there to annoy or startle one out of the metal instrumental coma. Sorry, that was gratuitous. I really didn’t dislike it that much. I’m simply over sub-genre’d. Anyway, certain songs had moments, like the 3rd and the 5th (don’t have the CD in front of me so I can’t give you the names), and it would be intellectually dishonest for me to rip this on one hand and then wax eloquent about, say, Sonic Youth, because while there is a fairly wide creative gap between the two, these guys often head out into the same territory as my heroes. 2.5

Kinks – I probably should like this more, but found myself under-whelmed and, quite frankly a bit bored. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood as I have to be in the mood for music that is as dated as this sounds. Not a criticism necessarily, most rock from the 60s sounds dated, but I just wasn’t into it. Quality writing, some good melodies…blah blah blah. I sacreligiously give it a 2.

Postscript – yeah, I know I gave a record by Damone a much higher rating than a record by the Kinks and, on the surface, that’s patently absurd. Here’s a rationale. Some records get judged by how successfully they accomplish what they set out to do. And records also get judged against the expectations that previous and subsequent releases by that band create. In my opinion, even though their sights were not set very high (it’s metal pop after all), Damone got close to what they were trying to do. I can’t think of many bands like them doing a better job as a matter of fact. Arthur, on the other hand, while good, is a middle of the road Kinks record in my opinion. There are a handful of Kinks records that are better, so it suffers by comparison and if it is not up to their best, by definition, it could be considered a “failure.” Mostly, I was just a little bored by it, but there’s some food for thought here anyway.



Robert Randolph and the Family Band – There has been this promise – expounded upon by critics ever since I started paying attention – that certain bands combined soul, funk and rock to create a unique and interesting sound. It goes back to James Brown, and moves forward through Sly, George Clinton and Prince. And quite frankly I never thought any of those bands and many that I didn’t mention lived up to the promise – at least with regard to the “rock” element. Robert Randolph lives up to that promise. Predictably, I liked the funkier, harder rocking songs, but every song has something to offer, even the unnecessary cover of Jesus Is Just Alright With me, because eventually his inventive, at time smokin’ guitar work saves even the mellow songs. Ain’t nothing wrong with this indeed! One of my favorite records of the year. 4.5


Stooges – Suprisingly enough, I don’t buy into the punk influence line of thinking as much as most critics. I acknowledge that certain influential punks were personally moved by Iggy’s music and more importantly his persona, but nobody has come close to anything resembling Iggy and the Stooges musical style. So I don’t love this music as an artifact or as an important document. I love it on it’s own. I’m guessing that it is easy to be critical of this music. The recording quality is at times barely adequate (but a huge step up from the original un-remastered versions, by the way), there is a sameness that pervades many of the songs and the lyrics are simplistic (I think someone counted the total different words on the first record and the number barely made it into 3 digits). None of that matters, though. For me, this is the essence of rock and roll. Power, energy, evil, sex - it’s all there and the repetition gives it an unrelenting quality that is rare. I don’t have the ability as a writer to correctly explain why it’s great. All I know is it makes me want to want to play air guitar and sing along at the top of my lungs. I won’t go so far as to say that in my house, it’s “love Iggy and the Stooges or there’s the fuckin’ door,” but I will say that if you don’t hear great rock and roll when you put this on then not only are you and I listening to rock for entirely different reasons, but we’re getting entirely different things out of rock music. And I feel bad for you.

Discussion

My original list was:

Replacements – Tim
Clash – London Calling
Allman Brothers – Fillmore East
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Saw Doctors – Sing a Powerful Song
Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night
Dictators – Go Girl Crazy
Matthew Sweet – Live in Chicago
Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

I would upgrade London Calling to the 25th anniversary edition and I would upgrade the Fillmore album to the new 2 disc version.

I still love the Saw Doctors, but I’ve probably played that record more times in the last 5 years than any other record and I guess I’m over it now. I’ll replace that with the Stooges first record.