Lawless' Live Gratious Reviews

Paul McCartney – McCartney - 4

I had a hard time with this cd until I came to terms with the fact that it isn’t a Beetles album. I tried to put myself back in time and listen to it as a new album just out in 1970. Since I was 4 then, I likely didn’t go out and buy it, but I would have. The cd held up pretty well. I took a few listens and an open mind, but this guy’s got some talent.

Exene Cervenka – Somewhere Gone - 3.5

I had no idea what to expect with this one. I remember her back in the day with X and thought that they were very cool, but had no idea what she’s been up to since. I guess I know. Great Saturday afternoon wine drinking music.

Spoon – Transference - 4

I don’t remember Spoon sounding like this. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to Spoon. There wasn’t one song that I didn’t like. Just plain good stuff.

Teenage Fanclub-Old – 1.5

I think that the name of this band pretty much says it all. They had catchy intros that had potential, then they started singing. To sum Teenage Fanclub up for me, I’d have to say that they are a total Foo Fighter want to be band.

David Bowie – Reality Tour - 4

Perfect mix of old and new, good and not so good. I don’t remember David Bowie’s voice sounding so strong. Maybe it’s mixing, but one way or another I thought that he sounded great. Believe it or not, it was Bowie’s performance in The Prestige as Nicola Tesla that really got me interested in him. I liked every song and when he told Chinagirl to “just shut the fuck up” I just thought that he’s too cool.

Ghit- Phat house joints from the Meriden hood

Awesome, I never knew that I was black. This has changed my life. I definitely had my favorites. Jaydiohead had my new subwoofer blasting and Good to be a Gansta was awesome. My wife had me turn up the bass. This should have been an inherent reaction, you know, since I am black, but I’m still learning. My Dick is what I consider to be another classic, the song that is, although I’ve never heard any complaints about the real thing either. The song about the girl and sucking on her titties, that was my all time favorite. It’s good to be a gansta, thanks Mike.

Of all the topic questions over the years (that you can remember), which one would you change or amend your answer to now and why?

I can’t remember yesterday, let alone my last posts, sorry.

Phat House Joints from the Meriden Hood!

The Mong Music Group Commentary March 2010

David Bowie – The Reality Tour (Live) – 0 Stars
So very, very, very, very unnecessary. Pitifully pedestrian! There’s absolutely no reason for these recordings to exist other than to service Bowie’s giant ego and to cash in on blindly loyal completists. What’s next for Bowie, a collection of Pop/Rock standards to chronicle his decline into insignificance like Rod Stewart and Robert Palmer? Or maybe he’s already done this ... Fortunately, I don’t know for sure.

Exene Cervenka – Somewhere Gone – 2 Stars
Ah, those zany ex-X members ... it’s tough not to root for them but the songs on “Somewhere Gone” are just too repetitive and with overly-earnest lyrics that are sometimes laughable. One at a time, I think I would have enjoyed these songs more but, as a whole, I was thankful that these inoffensive yet forgettable folk ditties clocked in at well under three minutes each.

Paul McCartney – McCartney – 2 Stars
Other than “Maybe I’m Amazed” (to use the musician vernacular), it’s mostly “noodling” here. Seemingly afterthoughts or half-finished ideas, this is a very lackluster statement for McCartney’s first post-Beatles effort. Maybe he felt that he had nothing to prove but, if it proves anything, it’s that McCartney needed Lennon a lot more than Lennon needed McCartney.

Spoon – Transference – 4.5 Stars
If ever a band has combined the essence of every one of their previous releases into one recording, this is it. Perhaps this “transference” could only happen at this stage in Spoon’s tireless and deliberate evolution where, having now earned a virtual guarantee of ‘hit record’ sales with each new release, this musical recombination actually goes so far as to avoid catering to an audience, nor does it seem an attempt to win new fans. The result is Spoon at their aggressive best. The tracks may not be as pretty or polished as the previous radio-friendly (yet a bit too serviceable) hits, “Sister Jack” or “The Underdog,” but there’s way less intention in these unselfconscious tracks: the best and ballsiest being, “Written in Reverse” and “Got Nuffin’.” “Transference” may not be as grand as “Gimme Fiction,” as inspired as “Girls Can Tell,” or as raw as “A Series of Sneaks,” but it’s got the best of all worlds.

Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque – 5 Stars
As a fan of good Power Pop and good Grunge, I am ashamed to admit that I’d never head this album in its entirety. A perfect achievement of Power Pop that seemingly divined Grunge, I guess it’s no surprise that this is a DGC release. Well, better late than never for me getting on this “Bandwagonesque.” Yes, I know how lame I am for writing that last sentence.

G’Hits – Phat House Joints from the Meriden Hood – Rap/Hip Hop/Club Mix
No, not a “best of” but instead I supplied a pretty respectable (for a white guy) cross-sectioning mix of the heavy hitters and hits of each sub-genre. Love it or hate it, you are now more well-rounded music fans for having heard it. You’re welcome.

MY TOPIC
Of all the topic questions over the years (that you can remember), which one would you change or amend your answer to now and why?

I would almost certainly change several of my top ten lists, since those change at any given moment depending on who-knows-what. But the one answer I would most like to amend is a reply to (I believe it was) a question of D’Arcy’s: If you can only pick ten years of music, what ten years would they be? I’m going to amend my answer to: whatever decade we’re in now without splitting the years between multiple decades because, although my taste had remained pretty consistent, I’ve fond that there’s always something new out there that’s just as great, just as valid, and often just as evolutionary (if not revolutionary) to love. And what’s better than love? New love, of course.

My Dick Is A Rhapsody, Yo' Dick Is A Rap CD

David Bowie – Virtual Tour

I wasn’t sure if this was a “new” or an “old” since it was a 2003 show, but either way, I’ve been a fan long enough to have seen Bowie in what I consider his prime – ’69 to ’76 from The Man Who Sold the World through Station to Station. For me, other than the good sonic quality, a nice version of “Heroes” and a live “Man Who Sold the World”, this CD was just OK for me. The problem is that the depth of his catalogue doesn’t match its volume and he went for a broad swath of material that didn’t hold my interest. 8-10 of these tracks on a single CD would have been more appealing to me…I guess that’s why they finally released the 1972 Santa Monica show (which I’ve had as a bootleg for some time) late in 2009. I’m guessing Bowie knows this…he saves his energy for “Hang on to Yourself” and “Ziggy Stardust” and does solid versions of them as the last few songs of the original concert. 2.5 stars.

Spoon – Transference

This was a curiosity pick for me…I wanted to hear what these guys would do left to their own devices in a home studio. While I liked the songs, it sounded like they decided to experiment with a more sparse sound, which leaves no room for production errors. Some of what they chose to do with stereo separation and echo was distracting and took away from the overall package. At the end of the day, this is not as good as the last four CD’s that they put out over the last 10 years… 2.5 stars.

Teenage Fan Club – Bandwagonesque

Next to Matthew Sweet, this band is the best practitioner of power pop/noise pop ever. I love this CD…and if not for 1:22 of “Satan” it would be a 5. It gets a 4.5, made even more impressive by the fact that is was their sophomore effort where a lot of bands tend to fall down before rising to greatness.

Paul McCartney – McCartney

I just can’t get by the fact that John Lennon and George Harrison gave us solo material during this same time frame that stomps on this half-baked noodling. The only two tracks that are fleshed out and ‘real’ songs on this CD are “Every Day” and “Maybe I’m Amazed”. Actually, there’s always a surprise in listening to something again after many years and the surprise in this for me is that the drumming is so awful. You would think everybody would want to work on an ex-Beatle’s album…why in the world would he choose to drum himself. 2 stars, one for each song on this album.






Exene – Somewhere Gone

After repeated listens to Mong’s Greatest Ghetto Hits, this was like a musical enema…in a good way. She has a nice voice, and it’s well suited for this type of musical treatment. Pretty in parts, folksy in others, with country/rock (not country rock like Skynyrd, country slash rock) sensibilities mixed in for good measure. It didn’t knock me out but I did enjoy it and listened to it more than once. I figure if the group average is a 3, then I can submit a Suzanne Vega CD as an “old” without it getting savaged. I give it a 3.

Mong’s GHITS – “Straight Outta Meriden”

This CD could serve as the springboard for a doctoral thesis as to the decline and fall of western civilization, but instead of going down the road of socio-economic disparity creating a seismic shift in pop culture and the ultimate fragmentation of our American “melting pot” due in part to that shift, let’s base this review solely on musical merits and put it in the language of its origin:

“My dick got lyrics like Dylan, yo’ dick money, hos and killin’
My dick be musically ample, yo’ dick is a stolen sample
My dick angry like the Who, yo’ dick, 2 live Crew
My dick Drive by Truckers, yo’ dick drive by motherfuckers
My dick got melody, yo’ dick don’t do it for me
My dick be joyous noise, yo’ dick is the Beastie Boys

Now, I still have to give props to Mike because there were some redeeming things in there rhythmically and lyrically that I never would have otherwise been exposed to and if I ever blindly follow my GPS through a crappy part of town I have something I can quickly throw into the CD player that will reduce the probability of a carjacking.

Its Poohbah cheapshot month!

McCartney – “Every Night” is one of my favorite Paul tracks (deftly recycling the melody from “You Never Give Me Your Money”), and “Maybe I’m Amazed” still sounds good. Most everything else is insignificant, especially in context of his other work, both before and after this album. There’s 15 minutes of instrumentals on a 35-minute album including the worse drum solo in recorded music history. Has the feel of demos that never got finished, as if he rushed this out there to beat Lennon & Harrison to the punch. 2 stars




Teenage Fanclub – A disc that made me wonder how I missed it when it came out. Damn near perfect power pop, reminiscent of Nick Lowe and Matthew Sweet’s finest work. Great jangly guitar riffs, lush harmonies, well-executed songs, its all here. 4 stars



David Bowie – I respect that Bowie is still out there, challenging his audience with new material. Unfortunately, this disc highlights the huge chasm in the quality of his new versus his older material. “Loving the Alien” and “Man Who Sold the World” sound great, but the “Heathens” & “Reality” tracks just pale in comparison. Regrettably, they make up half the set. Until Freddie Mercury is available to sing it, “Under Pressure” should never, ever, EVER be performed. 2.5 stars



Exene Cervenka – I’ve always liked X, but obviously, there’s nothing X-like about this disc. A very lackluster effort that is unremarkable in every way. Track 4 asks the musical question, “Where Do We Go From Here”. The answer, regrettably, is straight to the trash 1.5 stars



Spoon – Sounds like a deliberate return to their earlier stuff, which is too bad. The hooks here are few and far between and there’s no sense of urgency. The steady repetitive drum and bass sound in tandem with the choppy guitar bursts wear thin because there’s nothing noteworthy on top of it. A lack of distinctive melodies made sticking with this disc a chore, and nothing here grabbed me the way most of their last two discs did. 2 stars



Ghits – Anyone claiming they enjoyed this is a liar, or worse, a hipster doofus. Highlight for me was picturing Soccer Dad Ken driving through suburban CT in his minivan, bobbing his head up and down in a pathetic effort to convince himself that he “gets it.” F’ing hipster doofus…. We can’t relate to this crap anymore than our parents could “get” the Clash, nor should we. Despite my drunken haze and the bad lighting in the Spigot, I’m almost positive none of you are young or black. I do remember that you were drinking $5 craft beer drafts, not swigging 40 oz. bottles of Colt 45 from a paper bag, indicating that economically, you don’t have much to be pissed about. Sorry Mike, but Jay’s daughter is right. We are old and pathetic losers. Come to the dark side and join us, the beer is a lot better.



Discussion Question



In going through the blog, I found all my answers to be correct. Accordingly, in the great rock and roll tradition, I am changing the set list, calling an audible, riffing, jamming, etc. The following is a review of your best of 2009 cd’s, in haiku. (Pausing here while someone explains to Ken what a haiku is……………) Ready? OK:



Alan – Lots of power pop.

Not many tempo changes.

Dude, leave your bubble!



D’Arcy - No Avetts? Shocking!

“Community Property”

Best song of the year.



Sandy - Most enlightening.

Never heard of most of these.

Wrong Neko Case song.



Greg - I didn’t get his.

Perhaps too busy stalking

Scarlett Johansson?



Jay - Claims computer broke.

Will send them out for Flag Day.

Always posts late too….



Mongillo – Didn’t send one out.

Bright side - not having to hear

Robert Pollard’s crap.



Ken - Better than before.

No “High School Musical” songs.

He’s still a flamer.



Monsta – What a cool CD.

Every song was a winner.

Impeccable taste.

My Stool Is Black. You Know What I'm Sayin?

Teenage Fanclub- 4.0
Of course I have to start with my selection this month. I love these guys. First, they’re from Scotland and secondly they play classic (there’s that word), and I think brilliant, guitar pop in the ilk of Big Star, The Raspberries, Badfinger, the Beatles even. The nay- sayers will complain that there’s too much Big Star influence and I say so what- what’s the problem in that?? This is an awesome album that has just the right amount of pop without being “cheesy”. A great 90’s record if ever there was one. 4.0

Paul McCartney- 3.0
When this album first came out- boy, was I disappointed. Oh, there were two good, radio friendly and radio ready tunes for sure but overall- I was disappointed. As I’ve aged I guess I would categorize this as modest but nice. It’s a nice record- homegrown, sunny, Sir Paul doing everything himself with the lovely Linda backing vocals on a couple of tracks—nice! 3.0

Exene Cervenka- 2.0
Does the world need another lawyer? Does the world need another depressed folkie singer/songwriter? I think not! While this is not quite music to slit your wrist by, it is still the musings of a depressed person. Allmusic’s Mark Deming says “as a lyricist Cervenka remains a keen observer of the human condition” and call’s her music “bittersweet” and “reflective”. I just think she’s depressed and should go down to her local CVS and get her prescription filled. 2.0

David Bowie- 4.0
Exene needs to go to a Bowie show. What a nice surprise this album was. This guy is a true professional and a real entertainer. Not sure if I could call something recorded in 2004 new, but whatever. The band is obviously having fun, and what a band! The musicianship is quite good. The between song banter is nice and Bowie’s voice is in good form. All of which make this a really good live recording. While I don’t think I can call every song a “greatest hit”, it is certainly a nice compilation of stuff from across his career. I especially enjoyed some of the different arrangements. Great fun! 4.0

Spoon- 4.0
I’m a big fan so this is going to be a bit biased. As far as Alt/Indie bands go- these guys are one of the most consistent. Why aren’t they hugely popular?? This album may not be as readily accessible as some of their past work- GaGaGaGa for instance with its immediately gratifying pop hooks- but it certainly grows on you. I think this record finds the band in diverse, and dare I say mature, form. Transference is a great record from a very under appreciated band. 4.0

Ghits
Wow! If I was worried about our society before--- now I’m really worried! Not my cup of tea for sure. I guess now I have to worry about Mike as well because he bought all this, ok I can’t call it music, stuff. I kept trying to find some redeeming quality to this---stuff. I just couldn’t. I suppose if you stretch things you might find some humor in there if it all wasn’t so offensive. Thanks, Mike, for reaffirming why I don’t own any of this--- stuff.