- Lil Wayne's "Hot Revolver" might just be my favourite pop single of 2009, if it continues to be as dull a year for those things as it has so far; at any rate, it's the best one so far. Why, exactly, is a bit hard to say but it comes down this: I really didn't think the guy could pull it off, and he did. When I first heard Wayne was making a "rock album" (which is now looking ever more elusive and nebulous), my first thought was "uh, why?" followed by "it'll probably be awful". And "Prom Queen", the album's first single, seemed to confirm my trepidation: "Prom Queen" is a horrifying car-wreck of a song; a pile-up of Wanye's auto-tuned gurgle, some of the most over-processed mall-rock guitar skronk I've ever heard, a hammering rhythm that plays to none of the guy's strengths as a vocalist, an abysmal attempt at a chorus, some really bad attempted-emo howls and a lyrical conceit that's both over-used (a girl turned you down and then later regretted it? You don't say!) and entirely removed from what Wayne is comfortable with (mostly making typical hip-hop sex/drugs/money talk interesting and funny via clever metaphors/jokes). It would be unlistenable if not for that fact that it's kind of fascinating in its way and speaks to the fact that Wayne, while I don't doubt his sincerity in wanting to make rock music, has a very warped and vague understanding of what he's trying to do. About the only thing I do like about "Prom Queen" is the music video, which gives us the image of nerd Lil Wayne, which is hilarious.
If "Prom Queen" fails because it can't reconcile what it wants to be (a rock song) with who its performer is (a rapper with a shaky understanding of rock, who can't sing that well), "Hot Revolver" succeeds precisely because it does reconcile those things. It does this by taking rap elements and rock elements and stitching them together in an interesting, and, more importantly, sonically tasty, way.
First, the rap stuff: the chorus isn't sung by Wayne, but rather by song producer Dre (not to be confused with Dr. Dre). This is very good because I really don't think Wayne's voice is made for hooks that aren't simple chants/repeated phrases; he's got too oddball of a vocal timbre to do that, but he's perfectly fine in the verses here, bobbing and weaving with the beat (more on that in a sec) in way that reminds you he's a rapper but isn't exactly rapping. The other thing about Dre chorus is how, in typical hip-hop fashion, it provides contrast. When a chorus in a rap song is sung by a person other than the rapper, it's usually because the chorus is a counter-point or a complimentary element, in lyrical terms, to what the rapper is rapping about. Usually, this means that the chorus is taken by a R&B guy or gal to more explicitly express whatever feeling that the rapper is talking about. But, here, its use is very interesting and plays into the lyrical conceit of the song in a more inventive way (the lyrics are something I'll talk about in detail later). The use of auto-tune also keeps this "rap", in a certain manner, as Wayne clearly, and justifiably, doesn't feel enough confidence to sing without it as a rock singer, even one who doesn't have a conventionally good voice, would. Thankfully, though, unlike "Prom Queen", he doesn't overdo the auto-tune to the point where he sounds like a robot , it just provides a slight trailing effect on his voice. In fact, at one point, Wayne does drop the effect entirely; for the second verse, the song dissolves into a a quick drum machine-lead portion, where he raps a quick bit before the guitars come back in and he goes into a semi-croon. It's a neat trick that shows his range in a way that doesn't draw attention to itself. There's some other little elements (e.g. the fact that Wayne's first words on the song are the quick "young moolah, baby" sonic signature he's been saying on every song in the past while, the use of the term "shorty") that remind us of the rap-roots, as well. Finally, the lyrics, which are the pivot point for the rap and rock elements, are pretty standard issue rap braggadocio, at first glance. Summary, Wayne's on tour and a fucks a girl who tries to make it more serious but he just wants a fuck-buddy. Sort of horrible, but nothing too out of the ordinary, right?
Well, here's where things gets interesting: where a rap song would stop there, because this is "rock", it doesn't (let's not get into why that is, exactly, because it could be an entire series of blog posts by itself). In the third verse, Wayne calls his lady friend and she won't pick up, so, he goes to her house only to find that she ended up "cheating" on him, leaving him hurt and angry. And that Dre chorus I mentioned earlier? It's kind of like Wayne's buddy going "dude, this girl's nice and really likes you, what the hell are you doing here? She's not gonna want to be with you at all if you keep being a dick like this". It's kind of boldly self-effacing and that's really cool because it cuts though the macho bullshit that's present in a lot of mainstream rap while not sacrificing swagger or a sense of fun. And Wayne, while not aloud due to format to be quite as zany with his lyrics, does get a little of his trademark zing in there (he calls his mode of transportation a "spaceship", for example).
Sonically, too, this thing just kicks. The beat is a bass-heavy bit of stiffed-legged new-wave-y rock, with little synth swirls puttering around at times and galloping guitar-crunch coming in for the chorus. Importantly, unlike the loudly pounding "Prom Queen", "Hot Revolver" knows how use both sonic space and dynamics for pop effect; the chorus wouldn't be half as catchy as it is if those guitars were there in the entire song.
In short, "Hot Revolver" deserves a much bigger audience than what it's got and I really can't see why it only peaked at #33 on the Billboard charts. Maybe it's excess ill will from "Prom Queen" or something but, still. This could cross Wayne over into even more markets, if promoted properly; it's catchy, brash and fun without being offensive (in fact, there's no cursing in the song other than two barely audible "ass"s and a "damn") and it's danceable without being just club fodder.
If Wayne can stick to material like this and stay away from more "Prom Queen"s then I'm really gonna love Rebirth. Strangely enough, the only other song to come off the album is "Fix My Hat" which is a pretty standard "Lil Wayne spazzing out" song that doesn't have a whole lot to do with rock (in fact, it has an 80's hip-hop feel with its basic, 808-heavy beat) but is still pretty good stuff. I don't claim to understand how that man works but he's capable of great things from time-to-time, so, let's hope he'll bring it all together here.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
ONCE I THOUGHT I KNEW, EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW, ABOUT YOU
- I don't have a whole lot to say about the movie of Angels & Demons except that it's a decent, semi-grown up summer thriller that's a lot better than the Da Vinci Code movie. Basically, it captures the book very well (despite a few minor additions and omissions), for better or worse. This means that all the pros (the fun, connect-the-dots plotting, the enjoyably twisty narrative, the genuine suspense, the good pacing) and all the cons (the barely-there characters, the illogical situations, the hackneyed attempts at social commentary, the flat self-seriousness) from the book are present. Though, in the movie's favour, you don't have to deal with Dan Brown's clunky prose style while watching it. Tom Hanks (with a much, much better haircut and a thankful lack of double chin) is a good fit for Langdon, even if his academic asshole routine gets grating at a certain point, and Ewan McGregor is nicely hammy as the interim pope. All of the other actors really make no impression one way or the other, staying out of the way of the plot; that's a good thing. Ron Howard's direction is his usual clean-but-sterile craftsmanship (he does do a lot of spin-the-camera-around-the-actors shots, though, for some reason) but that's not really a negative; flashy direction wouldn't benefit here (see the sequences in Da Vinci which attempted to illustrate Langdon's claustrophobia for proof). It is a bit long (and there's some besides-the-point padding in the middle) but not so much so that I was actively annoyed. All in all, it's worth seeing once but I wouldn't (and didn't) pay full price for a ticket.
- I'll keep my thoughts on Relapse, the new Eminem album, to point form, as it doesn't deserve much more:
- Production, mostly by Dr. Dre, is fine but leans really hard on those cold-steel percussion figures and chunky synth runs that he's been dealing in since "In Da Club" hit it big. It works on "Old Time's Sake", possibly because that song features Dre, but nowhere else. The big departures from this formula do work: "Bagpipes From Baghdad" is mediocre but through no fault of its snake-charmer beat, "Underground" has a clumsy rhythm but a moody ambiance and "Deja Vu" has a dusty guitar-and-drums musical makeup that feels very 90's New York rap.
- Em sounds really tired and bored, for the most part. There's no joy to his voice; when he makes the jokes that should be gleefully offensive pranksterism, they sound like he's just going through the motions because people expect it of him.
- Evidence of this; there are two songs on here where the whole joke is "I am a rapist" and neither are remotely funny or even really offensive in a way other than, "man, that sucks".
- However, when he does get fired up, he proves that he can still rap. "Insane" hearkens back to his Slim Shady LP days, in both rapping and lyrics, "Deja Vu" (the best song on the album) is a brilliantly self-effacing account of his troubles in the past four years, "3 A.M." is a lame horrorcore throwback that's redeemed only though delivery and "Must Be The Ganja" grinds a tired lyrical concept but Em, surprisingly, makes it work.
- The skits are, predictably, awful.
- "Beautiful" samples a goddamn Queen + Paul Rodgers track; that's all I have to say about that.
- Overall, better than Encore but nowhere near as good as it needs to be to get me to truly care about Eminem again
I'll post later in the week about the new Green Day album, the 24 and Lost season finales and Terminator Salvation. But, for now, in order, here's my thoughts: Pretty good, weird/confusing in a bad way, weird/confusing in a good way and overly grim but still well-done.
- I'll keep my thoughts on Relapse, the new Eminem album, to point form, as it doesn't deserve much more:
- Production, mostly by Dr. Dre, is fine but leans really hard on those cold-steel percussion figures and chunky synth runs that he's been dealing in since "In Da Club" hit it big. It works on "Old Time's Sake", possibly because that song features Dre, but nowhere else. The big departures from this formula do work: "Bagpipes From Baghdad" is mediocre but through no fault of its snake-charmer beat, "Underground" has a clumsy rhythm but a moody ambiance and "Deja Vu" has a dusty guitar-and-drums musical makeup that feels very 90's New York rap.
- Em sounds really tired and bored, for the most part. There's no joy to his voice; when he makes the jokes that should be gleefully offensive pranksterism, they sound like he's just going through the motions because people expect it of him.
- Evidence of this; there are two songs on here where the whole joke is "I am a rapist" and neither are remotely funny or even really offensive in a way other than, "man, that sucks".
- However, when he does get fired up, he proves that he can still rap. "Insane" hearkens back to his Slim Shady LP days, in both rapping and lyrics, "Deja Vu" (the best song on the album) is a brilliantly self-effacing account of his troubles in the past four years, "3 A.M." is a lame horrorcore throwback that's redeemed only though delivery and "Must Be The Ganja" grinds a tired lyrical concept but Em, surprisingly, makes it work.
- The skits are, predictably, awful.
- "Beautiful" samples a goddamn Queen + Paul Rodgers track; that's all I have to say about that.
- Overall, better than Encore but nowhere near as good as it needs to be to get me to truly care about Eminem again
I'll post later in the week about the new Green Day album, the 24 and Lost season finales and Terminator Salvation. But, for now, in order, here's my thoughts: Pretty good, weird/confusing in a bad way, weird/confusing in a good way and overly grim but still well-done.
Monday, May 18, 2009
STOLE A THOUSAND BEGGAR'S CHANGE
- I feared the worst with Star Trek when it was announced that it was being directed by J. J. Abrams and being written by the guys who wrote the, completely godawful, 2007 Transformers film. And when I saw the first trailer, it seemed to confirm a lot of my fears: too-big special effects, unnecessary sex appeal, stony serious-mindedness, broad comic relief of the annoying variety. My thoughts going into the theatre were basically "well, it can't be as bad as Transformers and it has Simon Pegg in it". Make no mistake, I was really looking forward to this film but only really because it was an updated Star Trek (I'm not what you'd call a Trekkie, but I like the original series pretty well and thought it could do with a new coat of paint) and not due to a true liking of any of the creative talent involved. For my money, the best thing Abrams ever did with his life was being vaguely involved with Lost as none of his other things, whether TV (I didn't care for Alias, Fringe is okay) or film (Cloverfield is gimmicky, MI:3 is a decent action movie greatly improved by Philip Seymour Hoffman) have really impressed me. Also, I don't really care what else screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have written because they wrote Transformers and I still want to kill them for that.
However, against all those odds, they pulled this one off. It's got enough of a hip sensibility to not seem dated but the thing I love the most is how the movie doesn't ignore the essential optimism at the heart of the Trek world in favour of post-modern deconstructionism. It would be very easy to make this movie "dark" and "edgy" (a sort of Dark Knight take on Trek) and call it at that but, thankfully, the writers don't do that. They do add bigger, more SFX-heavy action sequences (the best of which is a thrilling space-skydive set piece, which includes a redshirt, natch), some romantic tension between Uhura and Spock and a more general light-hearted approach to the material (technobabble is kept to a minimum). The only real issues with the film are a weak villian and that the middle section is a bit slow. Also, no Shatner cameo, but Nimoy has a pretty big part, so, it's forgivable. In fact, with it's general good-heartedness, as opposed to the oppressive darkness of the recent Batman films, and lack of prejudice (especially surprising coming from the scribes of Transformers, which may be the most racially-backwards mainstream film of the past decade) Star Trek might be the first blockbuster for the Obama-era and it'll be interesting to see if this becomes the biggest earner of the summer because of that. Its we're-in-this-together spirit and sense of maybe-this-will-all-work-out embodies a new hope, in the same way that Dark Knight's moral chaos and breakdown of order was a wail from Bush's tail-end.
More importantly than that, though, it's well-acted, well-directed (albeit with a bit too much use of close-ups during action scenes, probably learned from working of TV shows), has excellent special effects (especially coming after Wolverine's cheap green-screened look) and respects the earlier Trek (particularly in terms of character personas/quirks) works without being slavishly beholden to them. It's something that you can love whether you're a Trekkie or someone with no idea of the story beyond the multitude of parodies. It's a big, fun, sloppy space adventure with loads of humour and, even if the actual plot is a little weak, it sets the franchise up for many further adventures with this crew, which I, for one, would be happy to take.
However, against all those odds, they pulled this one off. It's got enough of a hip sensibility to not seem dated but the thing I love the most is how the movie doesn't ignore the essential optimism at the heart of the Trek world in favour of post-modern deconstructionism. It would be very easy to make this movie "dark" and "edgy" (a sort of Dark Knight take on Trek) and call it at that but, thankfully, the writers don't do that. They do add bigger, more SFX-heavy action sequences (the best of which is a thrilling space-skydive set piece, which includes a redshirt, natch), some romantic tension between Uhura and Spock and a more general light-hearted approach to the material (technobabble is kept to a minimum). The only real issues with the film are a weak villian and that the middle section is a bit slow. Also, no Shatner cameo, but Nimoy has a pretty big part, so, it's forgivable. In fact, with it's general good-heartedness, as opposed to the oppressive darkness of the recent Batman films, and lack of prejudice (especially surprising coming from the scribes of Transformers, which may be the most racially-backwards mainstream film of the past decade) Star Trek might be the first blockbuster for the Obama-era and it'll be interesting to see if this becomes the biggest earner of the summer because of that. Its we're-in-this-together spirit and sense of maybe-this-will-all-work-out embodies a new hope, in the same way that Dark Knight's moral chaos and breakdown of order was a wail from Bush's tail-end.
More importantly than that, though, it's well-acted, well-directed (albeit with a bit too much use of close-ups during action scenes, probably learned from working of TV shows), has excellent special effects (especially coming after Wolverine's cheap green-screened look) and respects the earlier Trek (particularly in terms of character personas/quirks) works without being slavishly beholden to them. It's something that you can love whether you're a Trekkie or someone with no idea of the story beyond the multitude of parodies. It's a big, fun, sloppy space adventure with loads of humour and, even if the actual plot is a little weak, it sets the franchise up for many further adventures with this crew, which I, for one, would be happy to take.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
WE ARE THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT
- I would talk about Star Trek here but I don't think that I have enough to say about it to warrant an entire post to itself (general summary: it's great), so, I'll wait until after the Lost season finale airs on Wednesday and talk about both of those things in one post. I've decided to make this post about something I promised to cover a while ago: My other favourite album of 2008, besides 808's & Heartbreak, namely, The Gaslight Anthem's The '59 Sound:
In a certain way, it's odd that 808's and '59 could be my two favourite albums of last year because, both thematically and sonically, they couldn't be more diametrically opposed. 808's is all depressive, paranoid truths, delivered with appropriately alien and synthetic musical backdrop; it's harsh at points but altogether necessary and, despite its frigidness, it finds pockets of warmth within heartache that make it all, ultimately, life-affirming. The '59 Sound, by contrast, feels like a musical postcard from a time that, if it ever existed at all, is long gone and, as such, it's all warm, mushy nostalgia and heart-on-sleeve working class sentiments backed up by fittingly scrappy, but never mean or overly aggressive, guitar rock.
The obvious start point for The Gaslight Anthem is Bruce Springsteen (more specifically, the Springsteen of Born To Run and prior, before the cynicism set in and he was creating grand lyrical mosaics out of everyday life) and, certainly, it checks out (hell, "Meet Me By The River's Edge" includes the lyric "no surrender/my Bobby Jean") but there seems to be a slowly developing genre of bands like this and I couldn't be happier. I haven't heard it termed yet but all these groups share a general aesthetic: Soulful, grown-man vocals, alternately twinkling or clacking guitars, working class subject matter, at least two of the band members looking like auto mechanics, punkish energy/enthusiasm, an affinity for cleaned-up 50's nostalgia, slight nods to old-school country (these bands are the first people you call in when putting together a Johnny Cash tribute record) and lead singer having a penchant for hair grease and sleeve tattoos. Examples of this "movement": The Loved Ones, Bad Religion (sometimes), Social Distortion (at their least emo), The Lawrence Arms, This Charming Man, Against Me!' (at their least shout-y) and Polar Bear Club.
The Gaslight Anthem, while certainly not the first band to do this sort of thing, are, in my mind, the best at it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they're the band who has most fully stripped away the harshness and meanness of their punk rock roots, while not abandoning the energy. If one were to term The '59 Sound as a "punk " record, it would be more in the Ramones sense (stripped-down, speedy musicality with an appreciation for pre-Beatles rock & roll) than in the Sex Pistols sense (outright rage/nihilism, with confrontational singing and lyrics) but even that isn't really accurate; it's far too cleanly produced (but, thankfully, retains grit and energy) and has a bit greater tonal range. Secondly, they're the band with the most naked heartland-rock fixation. Not just Springsteen, but Dylan and Petty (who gets a chorus name check in "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues") too. The guitar sounds, often interlocking in patterns which alternately jangle brightly or clatter like those beat-up car engines they love to sing about, are the biggest give away in that regard but check out the rock-solid, but deceptively complex, rhythm section and the clever use of non-rock sounds (the cabaret stand-up bass on "Film Noir", the clanging church bells on the title track, the brief scat-singing (!) interlude on "Great Expectations") for further evidence.
There's also the issue of those lyrics, which are my third factor putting the band above their competition. If you're not like me, and don't have a sort of unreasonable nostalgia for an era you've never lived in, you probably won't go quite as ga-ga over the band's shameless appropriation of 50's motifs as I did. But, for me, this is mana from heaven: They sing about sleeping on beaches and using pay phones, one chorus references "high-top sneakers", "sailor tattoos" and an "old '55", another contains a wish about looking "like Elvis", they speak in grand declarations like "I'll love you forever/if I ever love at all", they reference Audrey Hepburn and Marylin Monroe, the phrase "twist the night away" is used with no irony, they think Ferris Wheels and carnivals are the coolest things ever. I could go on and on but you get the idea. To be fair, the band does, on occasion, try to bring a bit of edge to this fuzzy-dice nostalgia trip (there's a semi-hardcore punk backup shout on "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and "High Lonesome" contains a line about "the powder on the bar") but those ultimately feel sort of hollow, perhaps the last fleeting vestige of traditional punk being molted away. Of course, none of this would mean anything if the band didn't believe it; if they were winking or being ironic. But, as far as I can tell, they seem to be 100% serious about this stuff, which is pretty commendable. In an era where being whiny/angry is almost a guarantee of success (whether in standard radio-rock or more MTV-friendly emo), it's great to hear a band with this much zest and enthusiasm (even if they have to reach back nearly 60 years to find it). Heck, even the ex-girlfriend ballad "Here's Looking At You, Kid" and the dead friend-tribute title track are delivered with faint smiles of fondness than agonized cries of pain and are much better for it.
Of course, even if you aren't convinced by the words here, these songs are impeccably written and performed and should convince by themselves. Ebbing and flowing at just the right points, tracks like "Film Noir" and "Old White Lincoln" have both breezy calms and swirling storms. "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and album-closer "The Backseat" are the most closely-allied with basic punk and, thus, have a tinge more aggression but still drip with warm romance. Slower numbers like the blues-tinged "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and the sparkling "Here's Looking At You, Kid" show the band's range. For me, the record's biggest stunner is "Casanova, Baby!" a rockabilly-ish, night-on-the-town number with great guitar work (dig that bridge!) and the album's best set of words ("every slow, mad song/is a night I'd like to spend with you"? Genuis, to these ears).
In the end, The '59 Sound is very much a regressive album; it doesn't try to advance any sort of music at all, it's almost stubbornly stuck in the past lyrically. But that's cool because the band has written a great set of tunes which live up to their influences and because the lyrical sentiments, as overly sentimental as they might be, are fun to get lost in. This album creates a world of beat-up classic cars, beaches at sunset, hotly anticipated county fairs, dancehalls filled with the sounds of 50's rock, charming, swooning boys in leather jackets and the beautiful, sundress-wearing girls who love them. It's a world where there's nothing that can't be fixed by a good, long drive or a dance with your sweetheart, where the only violence is when your friend knocks you out for making a pass at his girl (but you're still best buds after the ambulance arrives), where you can wash way all your problems with a dip in the river and where the daily grind of your job just gets you more ready for a late night of cruising and dancing. It's a world that's pretty damned far in the past, if it ever even existed at all, but wouldn't it be nice if our world was a bit more like it?
In a certain way, it's odd that 808's and '59 could be my two favourite albums of last year because, both thematically and sonically, they couldn't be more diametrically opposed. 808's is all depressive, paranoid truths, delivered with appropriately alien and synthetic musical backdrop; it's harsh at points but altogether necessary and, despite its frigidness, it finds pockets of warmth within heartache that make it all, ultimately, life-affirming. The '59 Sound, by contrast, feels like a musical postcard from a time that, if it ever existed at all, is long gone and, as such, it's all warm, mushy nostalgia and heart-on-sleeve working class sentiments backed up by fittingly scrappy, but never mean or overly aggressive, guitar rock.
The obvious start point for The Gaslight Anthem is Bruce Springsteen (more specifically, the Springsteen of Born To Run and prior, before the cynicism set in and he was creating grand lyrical mosaics out of everyday life) and, certainly, it checks out (hell, "Meet Me By The River's Edge" includes the lyric "no surrender/my Bobby Jean") but there seems to be a slowly developing genre of bands like this and I couldn't be happier. I haven't heard it termed yet but all these groups share a general aesthetic: Soulful, grown-man vocals, alternately twinkling or clacking guitars, working class subject matter, at least two of the band members looking like auto mechanics, punkish energy/enthusiasm, an affinity for cleaned-up 50's nostalgia, slight nods to old-school country (these bands are the first people you call in when putting together a Johnny Cash tribute record) and lead singer having a penchant for hair grease and sleeve tattoos. Examples of this "movement": The Loved Ones, Bad Religion (sometimes), Social Distortion (at their least emo), The Lawrence Arms, This Charming Man, Against Me!' (at their least shout-y) and Polar Bear Club.
The Gaslight Anthem, while certainly not the first band to do this sort of thing, are, in my mind, the best at it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they're the band who has most fully stripped away the harshness and meanness of their punk rock roots, while not abandoning the energy. If one were to term The '59 Sound as a "punk " record, it would be more in the Ramones sense (stripped-down, speedy musicality with an appreciation for pre-Beatles rock & roll) than in the Sex Pistols sense (outright rage/nihilism, with confrontational singing and lyrics) but even that isn't really accurate; it's far too cleanly produced (but, thankfully, retains grit and energy) and has a bit greater tonal range. Secondly, they're the band with the most naked heartland-rock fixation. Not just Springsteen, but Dylan and Petty (who gets a chorus name check in "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues") too. The guitar sounds, often interlocking in patterns which alternately jangle brightly or clatter like those beat-up car engines they love to sing about, are the biggest give away in that regard but check out the rock-solid, but deceptively complex, rhythm section and the clever use of non-rock sounds (the cabaret stand-up bass on "Film Noir", the clanging church bells on the title track, the brief scat-singing (!) interlude on "Great Expectations") for further evidence.
There's also the issue of those lyrics, which are my third factor putting the band above their competition. If you're not like me, and don't have a sort of unreasonable nostalgia for an era you've never lived in, you probably won't go quite as ga-ga over the band's shameless appropriation of 50's motifs as I did. But, for me, this is mana from heaven: They sing about sleeping on beaches and using pay phones, one chorus references "high-top sneakers", "sailor tattoos" and an "old '55", another contains a wish about looking "like Elvis", they speak in grand declarations like "I'll love you forever/if I ever love at all", they reference Audrey Hepburn and Marylin Monroe, the phrase "twist the night away" is used with no irony, they think Ferris Wheels and carnivals are the coolest things ever. I could go on and on but you get the idea. To be fair, the band does, on occasion, try to bring a bit of edge to this fuzzy-dice nostalgia trip (there's a semi-hardcore punk backup shout on "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and "High Lonesome" contains a line about "the powder on the bar") but those ultimately feel sort of hollow, perhaps the last fleeting vestige of traditional punk being molted away. Of course, none of this would mean anything if the band didn't believe it; if they were winking or being ironic. But, as far as I can tell, they seem to be 100% serious about this stuff, which is pretty commendable. In an era where being whiny/angry is almost a guarantee of success (whether in standard radio-rock or more MTV-friendly emo), it's great to hear a band with this much zest and enthusiasm (even if they have to reach back nearly 60 years to find it). Heck, even the ex-girlfriend ballad "Here's Looking At You, Kid" and the dead friend-tribute title track are delivered with faint smiles of fondness than agonized cries of pain and are much better for it.
Of course, even if you aren't convinced by the words here, these songs are impeccably written and performed and should convince by themselves. Ebbing and flowing at just the right points, tracks like "Film Noir" and "Old White Lincoln" have both breezy calms and swirling storms. "The Patient Ferris Wheel" and album-closer "The Backseat" are the most closely-allied with basic punk and, thus, have a tinge more aggression but still drip with warm romance. Slower numbers like the blues-tinged "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and the sparkling "Here's Looking At You, Kid" show the band's range. For me, the record's biggest stunner is "Casanova, Baby!" a rockabilly-ish, night-on-the-town number with great guitar work (dig that bridge!) and the album's best set of words ("every slow, mad song/is a night I'd like to spend with you"? Genuis, to these ears).
In the end, The '59 Sound is very much a regressive album; it doesn't try to advance any sort of music at all, it's almost stubbornly stuck in the past lyrically. But that's cool because the band has written a great set of tunes which live up to their influences and because the lyrical sentiments, as overly sentimental as they might be, are fun to get lost in. This album creates a world of beat-up classic cars, beaches at sunset, hotly anticipated county fairs, dancehalls filled with the sounds of 50's rock, charming, swooning boys in leather jackets and the beautiful, sundress-wearing girls who love them. It's a world where there's nothing that can't be fixed by a good, long drive or a dance with your sweetheart, where the only violence is when your friend knocks you out for making a pass at his girl (but you're still best buds after the ambulance arrives), where you can wash way all your problems with a dip in the river and where the daily grind of your job just gets you more ready for a late night of cruising and dancing. It's a world that's pretty damned far in the past, if it ever even existed at all, but wouldn't it be nice if our world was a bit more like it?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
HERE COMES THAT FEAR AGAIN
- Lost last night was, for the most part, one of those piece-mover sort of episodes where it's more about getting everything ready for the big blowout next time than giving pay-off in and of itself. That said, I didn't mind so much with this one both because it's the pre-season finale episode (which always tends to be like this) and because it was snappily paced with enough brain-melters (what does Alpert mean by that "watched them all die" comment?) and little asides (Sawyer talking to Juliet about how to make money, Hurley admitting to Chang that he's from the future) to make it not be a slog. The episode's other highlight (other than a wet 77-era Ellie) was certainly Locke's final statement, which opens a big new can of narrative worms. A friend who I was talking with today floated the theory that Jacob is actually Jack, which would both make sense (Jack is in the past and could potentially become a hero/leader to the Others by detonating that bomb) and provide a juicy new twist to the Jack/Locke rivalry. At any rate, the episode got me pumped for the season finale next week, which was its job.
- I have a really tough time articulating my feelings about X-Men Origins: Wolverine; overall, I'd say it was okay but that's sort of misleading because it's an average: The movie ping-pongs from really good to groan-worthy, often from scene-to-scene. The real problem, as I see it, is that while the directors/actors/writers of this thing know how to make convincing action scenes and decent comic book intrigue, they completely fail at capturing any sort of emotional resonance. That wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing if the movie didn't dwell on "heavy" scenes and kept moving from one set-piece to another (for a good example of this, see the newest Die Hard movie which also can't summon up a father-daughter moment of any draw but tries so infrequently that it doesn't matter). But, thing is, it doesn't move on, it keeps hammering dramatic flat notes. Wolverine's (not really) dead girlfriend is only mildly annoying, and sorta necessary to the film's plot, but by the time they introduce a young Cyclops tortured by his powers and Silverfox's imprisoned sister, I was throwing up my hands. It's sort of a shame that so many cheeseball elements (the "NOOOOOOOO!!!" scream over a dead loved one, the showdown at a nuclear reactor) thrown in here because there are some parts which I enjoyed. The early scenes where Logan is with Team X are fun and provide the best action in the movie, there's a pretty damn good boxing match between The Blob and Wolverine and I'll admit that I nerded out for Gambit (who was underused, though Taylor Kitsch's performance seemed a bit unsure of where to go with the character). There were also bits of comic relief, usually one-liners, that worked (but only sort of point out how overly serious the movie is otherwise; if this is the trend that The Dark Knight is starting, then I may have to reconsider how much I like that movie) and Ryan Reynolds (who works his smug asshole shtick to good effect as Wade Wilson/Deadpool) and Liev Schriber (who sneers convincingly as Sabretooth) deserve gold stars for their efforts. Also, as much flack as Hugh Jackman gets for being very much a "star" (as opposed to an "actor"), I think that he owns Wolverine as a character and this movie did nothing to dissuade me thinking that (though he could have kept his shirt on more). There were some bad choices in terms of casting too, though. I dunno if it was an intentional decision to have two of the people on Team X be from Lost but it was really distracting and Will.i.am's performance was just as bad as you would expect. In terms of action, I am very glad that, for the most part, the film didn't fall victim to fast-cut, jerky-cam syndrome (the bit where Deadpool walks into the drug lord's office spinning his swords is particularly great, mostly because it's done with a minimum of cuts) but a lot of the CGI looked real cheap (the final battle atop the reactor, especially). In the end, it's better than the last X-Men movie (not that that's saying a whole lot) but I feel like it's one of those things that I'll be entirely comfortable never seeing again. It had enough action to get me through and the promise of Gambit and Deadpool-related spinoffs is almost enough to convince me of Wolverine's worth by itself. But, considering that last summer movie season started off with the compulsively re-watchable Iron Man and that the best movie in this series (X2) is a movie I've seen probably 20 times, at least, that's kinda disappointing. Here's hoping that my other two big anticipations for this summer (Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek) don't leave me quite so cold.
- I have a really tough time articulating my feelings about X-Men Origins: Wolverine; overall, I'd say it was okay but that's sort of misleading because it's an average: The movie ping-pongs from really good to groan-worthy, often from scene-to-scene. The real problem, as I see it, is that while the directors/actors/writers of this thing know how to make convincing action scenes and decent comic book intrigue, they completely fail at capturing any sort of emotional resonance. That wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing if the movie didn't dwell on "heavy" scenes and kept moving from one set-piece to another (for a good example of this, see the newest Die Hard movie which also can't summon up a father-daughter moment of any draw but tries so infrequently that it doesn't matter). But, thing is, it doesn't move on, it keeps hammering dramatic flat notes. Wolverine's (not really) dead girlfriend is only mildly annoying, and sorta necessary to the film's plot, but by the time they introduce a young Cyclops tortured by his powers and Silverfox's imprisoned sister, I was throwing up my hands. It's sort of a shame that so many cheeseball elements (the "NOOOOOOOO!!!" scream over a dead loved one, the showdown at a nuclear reactor) thrown in here because there are some parts which I enjoyed. The early scenes where Logan is with Team X are fun and provide the best action in the movie, there's a pretty damn good boxing match between The Blob and Wolverine and I'll admit that I nerded out for Gambit (who was underused, though Taylor Kitsch's performance seemed a bit unsure of where to go with the character). There were also bits of comic relief, usually one-liners, that worked (but only sort of point out how overly serious the movie is otherwise; if this is the trend that The Dark Knight is starting, then I may have to reconsider how much I like that movie) and Ryan Reynolds (who works his smug asshole shtick to good effect as Wade Wilson/Deadpool) and Liev Schriber (who sneers convincingly as Sabretooth) deserve gold stars for their efforts. Also, as much flack as Hugh Jackman gets for being very much a "star" (as opposed to an "actor"), I think that he owns Wolverine as a character and this movie did nothing to dissuade me thinking that (though he could have kept his shirt on more). There were some bad choices in terms of casting too, though. I dunno if it was an intentional decision to have two of the people on Team X be from Lost but it was really distracting and Will.i.am's performance was just as bad as you would expect. In terms of action, I am very glad that, for the most part, the film didn't fall victim to fast-cut, jerky-cam syndrome (the bit where Deadpool walks into the drug lord's office spinning his swords is particularly great, mostly because it's done with a minimum of cuts) but a lot of the CGI looked real cheap (the final battle atop the reactor, especially). In the end, it's better than the last X-Men movie (not that that's saying a whole lot) but I feel like it's one of those things that I'll be entirely comfortable never seeing again. It had enough action to get me through and the promise of Gambit and Deadpool-related spinoffs is almost enough to convince me of Wolverine's worth by itself. But, considering that last summer movie season started off with the compulsively re-watchable Iron Man and that the best movie in this series (X2) is a movie I've seen probably 20 times, at least, that's kinda disappointing. Here's hoping that my other two big anticipations for this summer (Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek) don't leave me quite so cold.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
THIS TOWN IS A PRISON, WITH ITS FOUR WALLS CLOSING IN
- This week's Lost was some pretty serious business (in contrast to the relative silliness of the last episode) and it was also probably my favourite episode of Season 5 so far. Really, it's pretty simple: they added lots of background to flesh out a character who's already one of the more interesting members of the cast, they provided some new information (Widmore is Faraday's dad!), they ended with a big cliffhanger that makes you immediately anxious for next week and, most importantly, everything moved at a very snappy pace. In fact, Season 5 just might be the fastest-paced season in the show's history; it's practically warp-speed compared to Seasons 2 & 3, anyway. As much as Lost does sometimes need the side-stories or slower-paced character episodes, it's great to see lots of action and forward momentum as we're heading towards the season finale. And, yeah, that twist at the end was a pretty big shocker.
- Together Through Life is a good Bob Dylan album but it's nowhere near as good as his last few ones. I think that the fact that he co-wrote a lot of the lyrics with Roger Avary has had somewhat of a tone-down effect; there's not nearly as much clever wordplay here and there's a lot of (to be fair, deliberate) use of lyrical love cliches. Not that it's innately a problem to have Dylan make an album of love or break-up songs (and I do dig that the kind of love talked about here is of a distinctly adult variety, rather than the teenage yearning/lust present in most popular music) but I wish there was a bit more of his signature wit at work here. The best song on here is "Forgetful Heart", which brims with an old-school Dylan cynicism but also a bluesman woundedness, and has a smokey, deliberate groove. The addition of accordion to the musical arrangements adds a nice Latin flavour to some of the tunes but it also points to a big problem with later-day Dylan records in general and this one in specific. Namely he won't let the songs change musical shape over time, and that's a real problem when the songs are as long as they are here. "This Dream Of You", for example, rides the exact same violin-led vamp for all of its six-minute run time and it gets a little tiresome. Sometimes, that's a positive, though, as in "Shake Shake Mama" which grinds its rudimentary blues riffs to hypnotic effect (it's also the album's shortest song, which may have something to do with its relative quality). However, the album sounds tired to the point of somnambulance at times; the cumulative effect of these sleepy, whiskey-drenched love songs becoming simply boring rather than calming. The problem, as I see it, is that Dylan doesn't have a unifying thought for this record (well, other than "love" but that's so broad and done to death, it hardly counts). Time Out of Mind, his best album past the 60's, had a dark mortality as its underlying message and all the forms that takes (anger, resignation bitterness, etc.) but Together just sort of drifts without an anchor. You can really tell that it was cut quickly, in a burst of inspiration. Not to say its bad, though. The musicianship is generally excellent and the accordion and additional guitar (courtesy of the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell) often provide lots of musical spark. And, again, there are very good songs here ("Beyond Here Lies Nothing" and the aforementioned "Forgetful Heart" chief among them) and it's actually better to take the album in bits and pieces rather than as a long form work because its overall slowness isn't as much of a factor that way. So, overall, it's good but a bit disappointing, coming from someone as usually awesome as Dylan, especially given his "recent" hot streak. Also, even though every reviewer had mentioned this, I really feel the need to note that "My Wife's Hometown" is just "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" with different (and, to be fair, much better and funnier) lyrics. It's fine that 'ol Bob Wants to pay tribute to the blues greats but I don't think that ripping their songs off wholesale and not giving them credit is the right way to do it, just saying.
- Together Through Life is a good Bob Dylan album but it's nowhere near as good as his last few ones. I think that the fact that he co-wrote a lot of the lyrics with Roger Avary has had somewhat of a tone-down effect; there's not nearly as much clever wordplay here and there's a lot of (to be fair, deliberate) use of lyrical love cliches. Not that it's innately a problem to have Dylan make an album of love or break-up songs (and I do dig that the kind of love talked about here is of a distinctly adult variety, rather than the teenage yearning/lust present in most popular music) but I wish there was a bit more of his signature wit at work here. The best song on here is "Forgetful Heart", which brims with an old-school Dylan cynicism but also a bluesman woundedness, and has a smokey, deliberate groove. The addition of accordion to the musical arrangements adds a nice Latin flavour to some of the tunes but it also points to a big problem with later-day Dylan records in general and this one in specific. Namely he won't let the songs change musical shape over time, and that's a real problem when the songs are as long as they are here. "This Dream Of You", for example, rides the exact same violin-led vamp for all of its six-minute run time and it gets a little tiresome. Sometimes, that's a positive, though, as in "Shake Shake Mama" which grinds its rudimentary blues riffs to hypnotic effect (it's also the album's shortest song, which may have something to do with its relative quality). However, the album sounds tired to the point of somnambulance at times; the cumulative effect of these sleepy, whiskey-drenched love songs becoming simply boring rather than calming. The problem, as I see it, is that Dylan doesn't have a unifying thought for this record (well, other than "love" but that's so broad and done to death, it hardly counts). Time Out of Mind, his best album past the 60's, had a dark mortality as its underlying message and all the forms that takes (anger, resignation bitterness, etc.) but Together just sort of drifts without an anchor. You can really tell that it was cut quickly, in a burst of inspiration. Not to say its bad, though. The musicianship is generally excellent and the accordion and additional guitar (courtesy of the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell) often provide lots of musical spark. And, again, there are very good songs here ("Beyond Here Lies Nothing" and the aforementioned "Forgetful Heart" chief among them) and it's actually better to take the album in bits and pieces rather than as a long form work because its overall slowness isn't as much of a factor that way. So, overall, it's good but a bit disappointing, coming from someone as usually awesome as Dylan, especially given his "recent" hot streak. Also, even though every reviewer had mentioned this, I really feel the need to note that "My Wife's Hometown" is just "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" with different (and, to be fair, much better and funnier) lyrics. It's fine that 'ol Bob Wants to pay tribute to the blues greats but I don't think that ripping their songs off wholesale and not giving them credit is the right way to do it, just saying.
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