The Long Blondes – “Couples” (Rough Trade)
This one is gonna surprise a lot of people. Honestly, I was hoping for more of the same absolutely terrific post-punk flavored catchiness that characterized their early singles and first full-length Someone to Drive You Home. The sexual politics in singer KATE JACKSON’s lyrics are still there, but instead of the tight, angular, guitar-based sound of yore, this is essentially an electro-pop album not too dissimilar to early ‘80s NEW ORDER except for a few songs that are more akin to their older style. So far, I like it, but don’t know how it’ll hold up with repeated listening. It’s certainly not as immediate as their previous work, but perhaps that’s just because of the stylistic change here. Time will tell.
Metric – Live at Metropolis (Last Gang)
Listening to this CD (it was also released as a DVD), Metric’s newest release, isn’t entirely representative of what a Metric show is like now. The last time I saw them (last fall), they debuted a bunch of new songs that suggested they were incorporating much more electronica than they did on their sensational 2005 full-length Live It Out. I liked the new songs, but honestly I almost fell asleep a few times (it was a tiring week) during the show! This show, recorded in March of 2006 at Metropolis in Montreal, is the polar opposite. I saw them right around this time and let me tell you, they smoked. Singer EMILY HAINES was running around on the stage like a woman possessed and doing more high leg-kicks and jumping than the average cheerleader when she wasn’t at the piano. The rest of the band followed suit, delivering crowd favorite after crowd favorite from Live It Out and their previous album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?. Now I’m not suggesting that a band’s sole function is to entertain their audience without ever challenging them, but sometimes it’s great to hear songs you know and already like played really well and this CD is more proof of that.
The Stooges – Fun House Sessions (Rhino Handmade)
6 CDs of every note recorded during the sessions for Fun House, which I consider one of the greatest rock and roll records ever made and The Stooges’ finest achievement. You would think that hearing nineteen (!) different takes of “Loose”, for example, would get boring, but then again you’d be wrong. Somehow, this maddening repetition works, but then again maybe that says more about me and my love for these songs than it does about the box. This box was released by Rhino Handmade in the late ‘90s and limited to 5,000 copies. Thus, it’s been out of print for a long time, but if you can find it, go for it!
Phantom Orchard with The Baird Sisters – Bartram’s Gardens (Philadelphia, PA) – March 6, 2008
Phantom Orchard consists of ZEENA PARKINS on harp (both acoustic and electric) and IKUE MORI (the former drummer of no wave legends DNA once upon a time) on electronics and visuals. They record for Tzadik, JOHN ZORN’s record label. Thus, given that description, it’s no surprise that their show here, held at the site of the oldest botanical garden in the U.S., was mind-bending, unpredictable and not for the closed-minded. The Baird Sisters opened the show with some nice folk that’s not quite as psychedelic as MEG BAIRD’s other group ESPERS.
The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride (4AD)
With every record since 2005’s excellent and poignant The Sunset Tree, JOHN DARNIELLE has been edging closer to a full-band sound and on this album he finally achieves it. This album is also notable for not having an overriding theme (I won’t use the term “concept album” except that oops, I just did), which is also unusual for a Mountain Goats album but not a bad thing in this case, either.
The Pagans – Shit Street (Crypt)
The obvious place to start one’s Pagans collection, this contains virtually every slab of vinyl they recorded from 1977 to 1979 along with some studio recordings that hadn’t been released for over two decades. It’s appended with fourteen raw-sounding but terrific live tracks, including scorching versions of songs by THE ROLLING STONES (“Heart of Stone”), ALLEN TOUISSANT (“Fortune Teller”), BOBBY WOMACK (“It’s All Over Now”), THE WHO (“Can’t Explain”) and IGGY AND THE STOOGES (“Search and Destroy”).
The Star Spangles – Dirty Bomb (Tic)
I bought this last December, not even realizing that it was released the previous May. So what happened? After 2003’s excellent but little heard Bazooka!!! stiffed, they lost their contract with Capitol in 2005 and had a lineup change in 2006 with bassist NICK PRICE and drummer JOEY VALENTINE leaving. Essentially down to the core of singer IAN WILSON and guitarist TOMMY VOLUME, they released this album with little or no fanfare on a tiny label and the result is mixed. For starters, it definitely lacks some of the edge, speed and flat-out aggression of Bazooka!!. However, it compensates for that by settling into a mid-tempo groove not too far removed from early ‘70s glam rock heroes MOTT THE HOOPLE instead of the bands they echoed in the past (particularly THE HEARTBREAKERS but also lots of US and UK power-pop and new wave). Furthermore, the attitude is still there, but now that they’re no longer gunning for mainstream attention, the fire and drive of their earlier work isn’t quite there either.
R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant (I.R.S.)
Boy, aren’t the environmentally conscious lyrics of “Fall on Me” and “Cuyahoga” more pertinent and pressing than ever given this day and age? Regardless, this is the fourth in a streak of five remarkable albums this legendary band recorded for I.R.S. before signing to Warner Brothers and becoming one of the biggest bands in the world in the early ‘90s. Some fans prefer their first three albums and deride anything they did after that, but I think they’re foolish. This album, like virtually everything R.E.M. did up until Automatic for the People, is a gem.
Julie Ocean – Long Gone and Nearly There (Transit of Venus)
The latest release from the great Transit of Venus label is by a wonderfully named (after a great UNDERTONES song) group from DC consisting of JIM SPELLMAN (formerly of VELOCITY GIRL and HIGH BACK CHAIRS) on guitar and vocals, TERRY BANKS (formerly of GLO-WORM and also on guitars and vocals), ALEX DANIELS (formerly of SWIZ and SEVERIN) on drums and HUNTER BENNETT (formerly of the post-GOVERNMENT ISSUE outfit WEATHERHEAD) on bass. Regardless of the members’ impressive pedigrees, however, this is simply a fusion of early ‘90s indie-rock and power-pop that works really well. Occupying the ground between groups like THE WEDDING PRESENT, early GUIDED BY VOICES and SEBADOH on one hand and say, WEEZER, early CHEAP TRICK and even DESCENDENTS and DAG NASTY on occasion (Daniels’ drumming recalls BILL STEVENSON of Descendents and the vocals on some tracks hint at PETER CORTNER circa Dag Nasty’s Field Day at times), there are ten songs in twenty-five minutes. Any fan of the aforementioned bands and any early ‘90s indie-rock with bite will enjoy this.
Head Heritage
