April's thoughtful reviews from a white trash perspective

Boomtown Rats – I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. There are some really good cuts on here like “Rat Trap” which sounds like early Springsteen. However, a couple of songs sound horribly dated, notably “Living on an Island” which suffers from cheesy synths and background vocals. A good disc, but it hasn’t aged nearly as well as the stuff their peers (Jam, Joe Jackson, Clash, etc) were doing at the time. 3 stars

Robbie Robertson – Good effort that doesn’t sound quite as earth shattering as it did 20+ years ago. Very chameleon like in that the songs bend to the style of the guest on each track. “Fallen Angel” sounds like a Peter Gabriel song, “Sweet Fire of Love” sounds like a U2 song, etc. Robbie almost sounds like a bit player on his own record. Regardless, it’s solid throughout and holds up pretty well. Nice to hear this one again and it raises the question “Whatever happened to Robbie Robertson?” 3.5 stars

Blue October – Clever trick, put an absolute crap track first, so the rest of it sounds comparatively good. This was a mixed bag quality and genre wise. What I liked was the more pop oriented material like “Blue Skies”. The spoken word bits bugged me, and the kids’ chorus on “Picking Up Pieces” was cringe-inducing. Singer sounded unnervingly like Phil Collins in spots, which didn’t help. 2 stars

Chris Isaak – I always associate Isaak with “Wicked Game”, a song that I absolutely hate, so this disc went into the player with 2 strikes against it to begin with. Surprisingly, it turned out to be my favorite disc of the month. Isaak’s voice is Roy Orbison-like, and there aren’t many singers you can say that about. He changes styles fluidly, but gets too cute at times. The better songs are the simpler ones. When you have a good band and voice like that, skip the novelties like the brass section and stick with the basics. “Cheater’s Town” is a lock for my year end disc. 3.5 stars

Little Feat – One of those bands I always meant to catch up on, but never did, so this compilation was very welcome. Its a great combination of funk, Dixie and blues. The middle 1/3 of the disc was particularly outstanding. My sole gripe would be that there were a couple of post-Lowell George songs that were worthy of inclusion (“Down on the Farm”, “Rad Gumbo”). A nice collection that I am happy to have.

Discussion Question

1) Rolling Stone – Going to qualify this by specifying the years 1977-1990. Made an indelible impression. Exposed me to Hunter Thompson, politics and numerous bands I had never heard of.
2) No Depression – Loved this magazine and its coverage of alt-country music. Sadly defunct as of last year.
3) Musician – Don’t know if anyone else remembers this one, but in the 80’s and 90’s it was essential. Covered artists that weren’t big enough for RS. If memory serves, Lester Bangs and Cameron Crowe were early contributors.
4) Creem – Lester Bangs and similarly irreverent critics. Jumped on punk/new wave before RS.
5) Paste – The only music magazine I currently read. Quality of the monthly CD and the writing has begun to slip.


Critics:

1) Lester Bangs
2) Dave Marsh (R&R Confidential)
3) David Fricke (RS)
4) Chuck Klosterman (Spin/GQ)
5) Jon Pareles (NY Times)