Tweedy's voice isn't a grabber
There is more going on than I would've expected - I expected alt country. Pleasant, undemanding but bar Heavy Metal Drummer, nothing I'd ever want to circle back around to.
Doesn't demand anything of the listener, or even ask for anything, without being explicitly boring, nothing very interesting happens over a dwindling attention span...
Now isn't this the very antithesis of five mumble blokes saying we just make music for ourselves and if anyone else likes it, that's a bonus.
This, without knowing anything before pressing play, is music demanding attention. It is not background, it grabs you and requires a response - either turn it of or that tiny toe tap that started from the first blast of horns is going to spread thought your nervous systems... and nervous system it is.
It's not aimed solely at the feet because when those solos start needling on on your nerves - it is clear that this isn't just party music.
Then i clicks the links and read the context. Nigerian anti government protests, the Zombie's of the title are the Nigerian military. Protest, resistance, death ... How Fela Kuti was the innovator of afrobeat and a political activist (and more too as one review on the app simply said "Murderer, rapist turd" so that is probably more to unpackage).
In a rock context, I can hear things like Talking Heads, Paul Simon and Foals ... whether that is good or bad things are probably bridges to be crossed further down this journey but I am told this is the root source of all of that ... And it is thrilling.
Of the pieces presented, we're talking four tracks all over 10 minutes long based on solid structures and blasting horns. With anything of length, especially where routed to a structure, the challenge can be to hold attention but these songs absolutely grab the wave and hold mevtill the end with some really anxious solos breaking through to keep it interesting and fresh .
When the album is over, I can still feel the groove within and there a little sway in my usual stumble through the day to day. Yesterday, I started with Wilco which was inauspicious beginning but this is the real shit. Music with a purpose, that opens up areas I was totally unaware of. Obviously not every record can do that but when you find it, what a joy! Afrobeat, African politics etc. etc. Definitely an album I'd want to hear again from an artist I want to know more about.
4/5
The chiming guitars are by far the best part. I would happily listen to a an ambient mix of just The Edge's guitar and background synth washes, especially on the lighter touch songs. The earnest blister of Bullet The Blue Sky, not so much. That song sucks. You can imagine it was written with one foot on the monitor, while the band thought about how cool and serious they'd look playing it, teasing the audience, extending the coda because this means something... Same with Ex it's Patti Smith fantasy.
For a band that apparently have so much to say, why are their lyrics singular unmemorable?
I've never previously been taken by anything in the world music sphere but this was an enjoyable listen.
Now THIS is an album that MUST be heard. A record that is utterly indifferent to whether you like it or not, yet has a purity and passion so many others lack. You only have to look at the reviews to see how divisive this record is and I can imagine if you could crunch the numbers that the people that give this record 5 are frequently not on the same page as those who give it 1 because, again from the reviews, it provokes people.
And it is easy to hear why.
It is a blur of buzzing synths, needling repetitive drums and echo laden vocals that spiral of to nowhere.
A love song 'Girl' that sounds both lust filled and psychotic. A similar tightrope is walked with the albums most accessible song 'Johnny' which stands on a similar knife edge to David Lynch's work were siultaneously it could be a simple wide eyed 50's apple pie rockabilly pastiche or the splintering mind of a serial killer.
And then there is Frankie Teardrop
This is an uncomfortable, intense listen. It is magnificent.
Jesus Christ - what a slog that was.
I know it is good and I really want to like it more, but something just is not quite there for me
You know when you hear about the military playing music during a standoff to make people surrender? It's usually something not that offensive...
I can only imagine a court of human rights has outlawed Yes. F**k me - this is f**king horrible.
The first song lures you into a false sense of security - not because it is good but because it is not as head meltingly awful as what come next - The Clap?! I can easily imagine this as an audio STD...
And then it gets worse.
Seriously, this is god awful.
How can you remove the one star ranking?!
It is a grower. I didn't immediately get much from it and found it a bit one dimensional. It was actually disappointing if I am honest because I expected more. This is a funny thing with records/artists when I am not coming totally cold. Preprogramming kicks in and makes adjustments - be they allowances or forfeit.
I give it a few more goes but rather than as a whole, randomly jumping around tracks - playing if the appeal skipping if they dont and slowly, I start to like it a little more.
Would I buy it? No. Will I give another listen? Maybe in a while when very I'm very bored and have an itch nothing else is scratching and I am thinking about records that fit the criteria of "try again" but it wouldn't be with any expectations of suddenly discovering an album I could fall in love with.
The politics overshadow the beats but only because they are so jaw droppingly relevant to today, it is stunning to think the album is 35 years old.
Also very depressing.
Sonically, the album doesn't have much range but it is nice to hear This Mortal Coil being sampled. Twice.
But it is the lyrics that will keep me returning to this. I knew 'Television Drug of The Nation's but it was wonderful to be exposed to the album. It makes you long for a re-release to highlight not how little we have advanced, but how far we've gone backwards.
3.5/5
I kinda guessed a britpop album would be the one that made me question the whole "must" hear but I didn't expect it to be everyone's fav little/big brothers Supergrass?
What is there people must hear?! A couple of vaguely catch guitar based songs - like you can't get that on ten other albums around this time.
The only thing of interest is wondering why it starts with In it For The Money rather than roaring out of the gate with Richard III.
It is not bad, it is not great.
2.5/5
The cover does not give off encouraging vibes, man and it is with a sigh I press play on the latest installment.
And immediately my preconceptions are blown away as the energy rush leaps out of the speakers. This sounds great.
If it ended at about the two minute mark before that organ solo kicked in... If.
But it didn't. Instead what sounds like something clown in a cape from a parody movie noodles away for an eternity (probably about way less than a minute but it feels like a lifetime). The song comes back and just when I'm hoping it might get back on track, the guitarist picks up the gauntlet the organ player put down for the dullest soloing ever and challenges him all the way.
The next few songs plod on in away that I'm sure conasouirs of the genre might enjoy but to me is just dull.
Then, like a beast of an ocean liner, Smoke glides into on one of the great riffs. This moment could flip this thing around. Most people know the story behind the song but the joys of a riff like that is being to busy playing air guitar while going ner ner ner, ner ner ni-ner to pay any attention. Unfortunately, a side effect of doing this thing is digging a little deeper and I make the istake of looking at the lyrics which read like 10 year Old's "My News" story.
Worse is yet to come because either the beauty of the riff or the boringness of that 10 year Old's story about a fire has annoyed the organ player and they've decided on the next so g to make everyone get a migraine.
Thankfully there is only one song left and it is called Space Truckin'... and while, I'd have previously thought NO ONE can fuck up a song called Space Truckin', these guys make me actually worry. In the end, I don't what is more surprising, that ultimately they don't or that coming up to the 3 minute mark, how hard they try to!
Final thoughts is that the pluses of the first few minutes of the Highway Star, the riff of Smoke or the almost glorious stupidity of Space Truckin' are heavily counter balanced by a lot of drudgery... But to give the good bits some credit, the take a previously nailed on 1 and elevate it to a generous
2/5
Fantastic stuff! I would give it a 5 if it wasn't for the fact that their next album is better!
4/5
This is one of those albums that seemed to get great reviews, a lost gem etc. It is largely soft, adult, American rock with very little emphasis on rock. Denis has a pleasant bit of grit to his voice which is nice when expecting Beach Boys style songs but it is large un-inspiring fair with nothing that would compel a second listen
