Can Mr. Palmer Go Top Ten?

The Mong
Music Group Commentary
July 2008

ROBERT PALMER – “SNEAKIN’ SALLY THROUGH THE ALLEY” = 5 STARS
Robert Palmer and his backing band, Little Feat, have never sounded better, collectively or separately. (The Meters backed him here too but I don’t know their material well enough to make that claim.) I cannot play this album without listening to the whole thing. Every track’s a winner: even the twelve-minute plus, “Through it All There’s You,” is a highlight. “All killer, no filler!”

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS – “RAISING SAND” = 0.5 STARS
Yawn and yawn. “Raising Sand” is as boring as the Honeydrippers but the average song-length is, painfully, twice as long and, astoundingly, even more pointless. By the way, I was listening to this yawn-fest when I wrote this and had to wake myself up twice while writing the previous sentence. Half a star for the amazing production, though.

LOVE & ROCKETS – “EXPRESS” = 4 STARS
I first heard this in 1987 and played the cassette so often that it eventually broke in my car’s player sometime around 1989. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard “Express” and revisiting it was a nice surprise. The lyrics are strong and the hooks plentiful. As much as I remember listening to this back then, I don’t remember thinking it was a great album, in the terms of ‘the pantheon of great albums,’ nor do I now, but it definitely stands the test of time and is a damn good listen.

WOLF PARADE – “AT MOUNT ZOOMER” = 1.5 STARS
What is with the critical intelligentsia’s hard-on for all these Canadian bands!?! Better question, why do all the “prestige” labels keep signing them? They all sound pretty much the same and none of them live up to the hype. Still, this is perhaps the least annoying of the oh-so intentional mish-mash of styles and influences (spawned, indisputably and ironically by the American “Elephant 6 Collective”) of this seemingly unending wave of (these types of) bands. And by, “least annoying,” I mean that I didn’t find it unlistenable but, bottom line (and I think I’ve used half of this slight before when referencing Elephant 6 derivatives but it still applies), this stuff sounds like the soundtrack to a corny adventure to Middle Earth with the singer from Interpol wailing like a stoned bard as its narrator. And that ain’t good.

G’HITS – BIG STAR
Jay put together a great song selection from one of the greatest ‘band’s band’ of all time, also one of the best Power Pop bands of all time.

TOPIC
“Lists five favorite songs by bands that you generally think suck.”

“Song Against Sex” by Neutral Milk Hotel (Speaking of “Elephant 6”)
“Padraic My Prince” by Bright Eyes
“Voices Carry” by ‘Til Tuesday
“Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand
“West End Girls” by Pet Shop Boys

This was a hard list to compile.