photo & text by nacrowe
THE WALL (COLUMBIA/CBS, 1979) is one of those records that is so repeatedly CELEBRATED and MYTHOLOGIZED down the generations that it is almost impossible to approach it soberly purely at eye-level. PINK FLOYD had made other massively commercially and artistically successful CONCEPTUAL recordings before, namely THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (CAPITOL, 1973) and WISH YOU WERE HERE (CAPITOL, 1975), which were about the things in life that ALIENATE us from each other and the ISOLATION one feels being used and commoditized by the MUSIC INDUSTRY, respectively. but THE WALL was different in that the source of the DETACHMENT presented was not lifestyle-related or the direct result of business and commerce transactions, instead it was the interaction with the AUDIENCE itself that was the source of said ESTRANGEMENT.
MODERN CELEBRITY CULTURE is something that has come to be more appreciated in recent decades and the phenomena of the PSYCHOLOGICAL TOLL that comes with having to balance the distance between your sense of SELF-PERCEPTION and that of a widely known PUBLIC PERSONA. the collision and collapse of that private/public equilibrium has led to the downfall of countless public figures from the world of SPORTS, POLITICS and ENTERTAINMENT alike. when i listen to the narrative presented in THE WALL, which is a parable / morality play concerned with that process of SELF-ALIENATION, i feel that HUNGER and DESPERATION that comes with battling that INEVITABLE process and sense of IMPENDING SELF-IMMOLATION. its CURIOUS but UNDERSTANDABLE that a band at arguably the peak of their creative powers chose to dissect and disassemble their INTENSE feelings of DISTANCE from EACH OTHER, their AUDIENCE and their CRUMBLING SENSE OF SELF. one can only imagine the pressures and expectations that come with the platform and they created for themselves, especially during an era where ROCK AND ROLL bands where expected (probably because of BOB DYLAN and THE BEATLES before them) to make grand cultural statements that were elevated to level of ART. such is probably why the concurrent PUNK ROCK movement was so effective in scaling back the scope and scale of such to purely PALPABLE, STREET-LEVEL PERSPECTIVES instead of BLOATED treatises on the nature of an artist's relation to themselves and their audience with massive commercial success. bullocks to that! STANDOUT tracks include the legendary ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN (and teacher) anthem "ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART II)," the hazy ode to giving up and giving in to the will of others, "COMFORTABLY NUMB," and other affecting songs such as "RUN LIKE HELL," "MOTHER," "IN THE FLESH?" and "HEY YOU" among others. this album also represents the DISINTEGRATION of the relationship within the band, as keyboardist RICHARD WRIGHT was fired during production but kept on for the subsequent tour as a auxiliary musician. while not the final collaboration between ROGER WATERS and DAVID GILMOUR, THE WALL is their last SIGNIFICANT artistic statement as a CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP. fitting at least that this WATERS-initiated concept was SELF-AWARE enough to presage his own ALIENATION from the group as GILMOUR, once the replacement guitarist for original bandleader and main songwriter SYD BARRETT, with much INTERNAL ACRIMONY took the helm of the group through the 1980s and beyond. my opinion is that some of these songs are UNDENIABLE and that the MYTHOLOGY of PINK FLOYD rests on the sheer MUSICALITY and EMOTION in those songs alone, irrespective of fancy concepts surrounding PERSONAL DETACHMENT. the music is what drew me in as a child, not the lyrics. GILMOUR's guitar leads throughout THE WALL are stuff of legend and very well should be since they are powerful and emotionally affecting in their sense of RESTRAINT and REFINEMENT, rather than masturbatory sonic gymnastics soon to become popular over the next decade. GILMOUR could say more with three notes than later guitarist could with thirty. is THE WALL conceptually a bit PRECIOUS and POMPOUS? no doubt. it is DIFFICULT to make regular people empathize and connect to the INTERNAL PSYCHOLOGICAL HARDSHIPS, which are REAL, of MONEY, STATUS and CELEBRITY CULTURE, but i do feel THE WALL points to a conversation we are still having more than four decades about the toll of losing one's ANONYMITY and sense of SELF-IMAGE in a MASS MEDIA culture. in essence with SOCIAL MEDIA, we are all creating little information silos, i.e. walls, around ourselves to insulate us from feeling attacked for our views and SELF-PERCEPTIONS however WARPED and UNREALISTIC. its an INTRIGUING and RELEVANT question to date and THE WALL helped point the way. definitely an album worthy of revisiting and checking out again.
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photo & text by nacrowe
not gonna lie. FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU) (ATLANTIC, 1981), the follow-up to the LEGENDARY BACK IN BLACK (ATLANTIC, 1980) album by the AUSTRALIAN ROCK N ROLL CULTURAL INSTITUTION known as AC/DC, is all about the title track. with its STEADY buildup and punctuated OPEN CHORDS that rev up the drama and its crescendo with canons blasting is pure CLASSIC ROCK IDIOCY and more than worth the price of admission.
i was LUCKY enough to see AC/DC play MADISON GARDEN back in august of 2000 and by far the highlight was seeing those canons come out and shoot off while ANGUS YOUNG was duckwalking a CRAZY GUITAR SOLO across the stage. it was as RIDICULOUS as it was UNSOPHISTICATED. you can almost imagine the discussion when writing the song about how to really take this track to the next level, with PERCUSSION that sounds like a canon. wait, lets just get the canons and include them on the track! at fifteen none of that mattered to me, all i knew was that the canon schtick was pretty BADASS and the crowd went absolutely MENTAL. fast forward 48 hours and i am back at high school on the other side of the globe for my first day of classes in KUWAIT and my ears were still ringing from those canons. and i wouldnt have it any other way. i think at times ROCK N ROLL gets a bit PRECIOUS and INSULAR, with musicians feeling like they need to make some huge ARTISTIC STATEMENT that will last the test of time and define some HIGHFALUTIN claim of an enduring CULTURAL LEGACY. unless you are LEONARD COHEN, BOB DYLAN, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN or JOHN LENNON then that sort of thing normally falls flat on its face (see everyone from BONO, TOM DELONGE, JARED LETO, GENE SIMMONS, BILLY CORGAN, ROGER WATERS, CHRIS MARTIN, PETE TOWNSEND and that dude from THE KILLERS). there is a certain sense of earned STATURE and AUTHENTICITY that allows those aforementioned artists that sort of platform with GRAND OBSERVATIONS to resonate with large swaths of the record buying public. you either have it or you dont. with AC/DC that was never their deal or modus operandi. they just wanted to level you with their UNRELENTING FORWARD MOMENTUM and KILLER GROOVE. same with ZZ TOP and even MOTORHEAD to an extent (in addition they wanted to blow your face off with volume as well). the track "FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU)" is absolutely PERFECT in that regard. you can't help listening to it and not smile and feel charged up afterward. for me that song is the STRAIGHT-UP soundtrack to the UNPRETENTIOUS spirit of CLASSIC ROCK N ROLL. a b-line straight from the lineage of CHUCK BERRY himself. as for the rest of the album. it is pretty MEH. photo & text by nacrowe
along with LIVING COLOUR's VIVID (EPIC, 1988) and R.E.M.'s OUT OF TIME (WARNER BROS, 1991) albums, another INDELIBLE early musical memory and PROMINENT record from my childhood was FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS' THE RAW & THE UNCOOKED (I.R.S., 1989). its funny to me, because in college i became familiar with 2-TONE SKA and got really into THE BEAT, having absolutely no clue that guitarist ANDY COX and bassist DAVID STEELE were later members of FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS. both bands had exquisitely conceived and executed SONGWRITING with BOUNCY, PUNCHY rhythms and immediately MEMORABLE MELODIES and HOOKS. as POP albums go, THE RAW & THE UNCOOKED is nearly FLAWLESS.
ive gone a paragraph now without mentioning vocalist ROLAND GIFT, who is undoubtedly the secret weapon of the band and the absolute first thing i noticed when i heard the band as an IMPRESSIONABLE five year-old in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. its difficult for me to describe his VOCAL AFFECTATION other than to say GIFT was blessed with a RARE, EMOTIVE quality allowed for an ability to express deeply felt wells of EMOTION. as much as more UPBEAT 2-TONE SKA revival numbers like "GOOD THING" and "SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY" are rightfully CELEBRATED, this UNIQUE character of his VOCALS is best experienced on more subdued and highly AFFECTING tracks like "AS HARD AS IT IS," "TELL ME WHAT," and "I'M NOT THE MAN I USED TO BE." i really feel strongly that those last three songs are just total face melters and upon listening to them instantaneously take me back to my early childhood experiencing the EMOTIONAL POWER of music firsthand by a TALENTED outfit that had recently come out and were not inherited from my parents' collection of ELVIS COSTELLO, BEATLES, NICK LOWE, WHO, ANIMALS and STRANGLERS records (all of which i adored). that GNAWING hollow that comes with the DESPAIR and LOSS of FALLING OUT OF LOVE or LEAVING A RELATIONSHIP in "TELL ME WHAT" especially got me as a child as it reminded me of that feeling of ISOLATION when my parents left me with a babysitter. and i guess that is sort of my point, this album for me has qualities that go beyond the LYRICS or PRODUCTION VALUES (all of which are STELLAR). for me it is SINGULAR record that has a DIVERSE array of STRONG EMOTIONS that is brought to bear by the INCREDIBLE COMPOSITIONS themselves. all of the songs are ESSENTIAL in my opinion, even their cover of BUZZCOCKS' "EVER FALLEN IN LOVE," but the STANDOUT tracks outside of those aforementioned include "I'M NOT SATISFIED," "DON'T LOOK BACK," and "IT'S OK (IT'S ALRIGHT)." production-wise it sounds like the late-NEW WAVE era it was conceived in, with SAMPLED DRUM LOOPS and SYNTH PADS all over, but the quality of the SONGWRITING is never in doubt. and it still holds up more than thirty years later. THE RAW & THE UNCOOKED by FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS is definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
thinking about a pre-TRAVIS BARKER line-up of BLINK-182 is always INTERESTING because the chemistry that lifted them above the POP PUNK fray to become veritable icons of the genre itself was due to that very specific MUSICAL ALCHEMY that came to fruition immediately after DUDE RANCH (MCA, 1997), their second album and major label debut. not that this recording effort is without GOOD SONGWRITING, as is the case with tracks like "DICK LIPS," "WAGGY," "PATHETIC," "APPLE SHAMPOO," and of course their breakout singles "JOSIE" and "DAMMIT." but rhythmically and stylistically, this album is pretty REPETITIVE and MYOPIC in terms of its SONGWRITING. in essence it is a band coming into its own both in terms of PRODUCTION and navigating the expectations that come with being on a major label.
when i first heard DUDE RANCH it was in the immediate aftermath of its more commercially and artistically SUCCESSFUL follow-up ENEMA OF THE STATE (MCA, 1999) that had both BARKER and LEGENDARY producer JERRY FINN added to the mix. BARKER being the MULTI-TALENTED drummer that he was, could elevate and transcend basic POP PUNK CHORD PROGRESSIONS with both an eye for SONG DYNAMICS and COMPOSITION as well as sheer TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY. listening to ENEMA OF THE STATE you can hear grooves that are based in both JAZZ and LATIN traditions that bring a sense of SWING and BOUNCE to several tracks. its entirely unfair to compare him to original drummer SCOTT RAYNOR who on DUDE RANCH and its predecessor CHESHIRE CAT (CARGO, 1995) provides a perfectly COMPETENT, if DERIVATIVE, sense of drive to his DRUMMING in the style of MELODIC HARDCORE bands like BAD RELIGION, NOFX and PENNYWISE. lyrically DUDE RANCH continues along the same lines of its predecessor by splitting the difference between SOPHOMORIC toilet humor and heartfelt odes to past relationships and teenage youth a la MILO AUKERMAN and the legendary 80s SOUTH BAY PUNK ROCK band DESCENDENTS. this lyrical perspective would continue on subsequent releases but seemed strategically aimed at both presenting the band as willing to laugh at their PUBLIC IMAGE and provided a critical distraction for genuine efforts at tracks that stretched their SONGWRITING ABILITIES and made them VULNERABLE. all the basic elements are their on DUDE RANCH, as well as CHESHIRE CAT, but the right mixture of TRADITIONAL and PROGRESSIVE MUSICAL ELEMENTS are not quite their yet. for me DUDE RANCH is all about my high school experience and hearing it makes me strangely NOSTALGIC for a time i would not in retrospect under any circumstances ever want to revisit again. what makes it an INTRIGUING listen years later is how foretells what was to come as well as provides a key look at an ICONIC band minus a VITAL ELEMENT in BARKER (or maybe two if you also count FINN, which you probably should). as much as i love this record, ENEMA OF THE STATE is the OBVIOUS starting point for anyone getting into BLINK-182 or POP PUNK in general. maybe after consuming GREEN DAY's DOOKIE (REPRISE, 1994), DESCENDENTS' MILO GOES TO COLLEGE (NEW ALLIANCE, 1982), MXPX's LIFE IN GENERAL (TOOTH & NAIL, 1996), FALL OUT BOY's TAKE THIS TO YOUR GRAVE (FUELED BY RAMEN, 2003) and NEW FOUND GLORY's STICKS AND STONES (DRIVE-THRU, 2002), you should revisit DUDE RANCH for comparison and context. NOT ESSENTIAL but definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
terms like ALTERNATIVE and EXPERIMENTAL get bandied about a bit, myself included, when describing UNFAMILIAR or EXOTIC recordings with UNIQUE production processes beyond the point of being cliche. but that late songwriter DANIEL JOHNSTON is that RARE, AUTHENTIC OUTSIDER ARTIST that is SINGULAR unto himself and yet absolutely INDELIBLE to the listening public. long suffering from SEVERE BIPOLAR DISORDER that found him in various psychiatric institutions throughout his life, JOHNSTON found SOLACE in his songwriting and the makeshift cassettes he made via a basic consumer boombox. these tapes he famously passed out at his AUSTIN fast food gig back in the 1980s.
famously KURT COBAIN at the peak of the ALTERNATIVE ROCK movement vocally promoted the work of JOHNSTON among other INDEPENDENT artists (KYUSS, THE BOREDOMS, HALF JAPANESE, THE RAINCOATS, FLIPPER and SHONEN KNIFE among others) that virtually removed him from CULTURAL OBSCURITY and even made him the center of a major label bidding war. there is a RIVETING documentary about his life called THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, 2005) that is well-worth checking out that goes into much more detail about his UNLIKELY CAREER, CULT STATUS and struggles with MENTAL ILLNESS. HI, HOW ARE YOU (SELF-RELEASED, 1983) is arguably his most famous cassette. STANDOUT tracks from this recording in the intervening years have been covered by everyone from EDDIE VEDDER (PEARL JAM), MIKE WATT (MINUTEMEN) and TV ON THE RADIO and songs from his EXTENSIVE catalogue have likewise been covered on record by the likes of THE FLAMING LIPS, TOM WAITS, M. WARD, BRIGHT EYES, MERCURY REV, GUSTER, EELS, NICK ZINNER (THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS), DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, TEENAGE FANCLUB and BECK among others. CELEBRATED songs include "DESPERATE MAN BLUES," "WALKING THE COW," "BIG BUSINESS MONKEY," "POOR YOU," "DESPAIR CAME KNOCKING" and "GET YOURSELF TOGETHER." to my ears JOHNSTON is almost like the aural equivalent of HENRY DARGER in that his songs have a SELF-CONTAINED, INTERIOR LOGIC and WORLDVIEW that is constructed by a creator without a full-set of facts about how the world works. his characterizations about certain types of people may come across as NAIVE, but there is a PALPABLE sense that through much effort and INCREDIBLE CREATIVITY, he has made a substantial stab at CONTEXTUALIZING, UNDERSTANDING and ultimately ENGAGING with the outside world from a SKEWED PERSPECTIVE. to me that is ultimately the CHARM of his records, as well as the decidedly LO-FI AESTHETICS of his recordings. literally all you have are the songs and they stand on their own in this RUDIMENTARY state sans gimmickry or even BASIC production values as his voice trails and guitar/piano trail in and out due one would assume to his body movement from the boom box's INTERNAL microphone. undoubtedly JOHNSTON is a DIY CULT STATUS and a TRUE AMERICAN original. his is the embodiment of the AUTHENTIC alternative to what is often labeled ALTERNATIVE and his work is well worth checking out. RIP DANIEL JOHNSTON. photo & text by nacrowe
arguably the most CELEBRATED release from the much-REVERED GEORGIA INDIE ROCK institution that is R.E.M., AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (WARNER BROS, 1992) is very much the culmination of the ELEVATED SONGWRITING and LYRICISM explored throughout the entire previous decade. never did the band sound more COGENT and AUTHORITATIVE then on this record.
on the preceding album OUT OF TIME (WARNER BROS, 1991), guitarist PETER BUCK was largely disenchanted with the guitar as a viable means of EXPRESSION, which is not hard to understand given the EMPTY, MASTURBATORY EDDIE VAN HALEN-inspired WANKERY of the 1980s. BUCK was always more of a TEXTURAL player who philosophically employed his instrument not unlike that of JOHNNY MARR (THE SMITHS), DANIEL ASH (BAUHAUS, LOVE AND ROCKETS, TONES ON TAIL) or ROBERT SMITH (THE CURE) in that the emotional evocation of the part superseded the TECHNICAL PROWESS or DEXTERITY utilized to achieve such. in short, the part served the song and not the other way around. on OUT OF TIME BUCK famously put down his guitar and picked up a mandolin in its place, writing some of their most FAMOUS songs, especially "LOSING MY RELIGION." when i listen to AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE i am confronted with a guitarist that has fallen in love with his instrument again. the SOARING pre-chorus LEAD EMBELLISHMENTS on the aptly titled "DRIVE" or the more SUBTLE FOLK-inspired DELICATE PLUCKED LINES of "MONTY GOT A RAW DEAL" and the WISTFUL, SOFT-FOCUS STRUMMING of "MAN ON THE MOON." the album to my ears just sounds like a master class in the EMOTIVE potential of the guitar as a sonic vehicle. in terms of EARNEST POETIC LYRICISM, the always INTUITIVE and REFLECTIVE vocalist MICHAEL STIPE on previous releases always had an INVENTIVE and rather OPAQUE way with WORDS and TURNS-OF-PHRASE that emotively translated where his PSYCHIC and AFFECTIVE headspace was at during the point of creation. AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE in that sense is a slight bit of a departure in that the themes and subjects are bit more TRANSPARENT, but such are seemingly the vehicle for translating deeply-felt EMOTIONAL CONTENT. a track like "EVERYBODY HURTS" is so SOLEMN on the face of it that it could very easily fall prey to UNINTENTIONAL SELF-PARODY or MOCKERY. what sells that line is the SERIOUS-MINDED conviction of STIPE's voice as if he is still in the process of dealing with the consequences of said experience in real-time. it is quite the PERFORMANCE and quite the achievement. "NIGHTSWIMMING" is a NOSTALGIC, PIANO-DRIVEN RUMINATION on lake skinny-dipping at night as a youth and that PROFOUND sense of UNIMPEDED FREEDOM that is as EPHEMERAL and JOYFUL as it is BITTERSWEET. not unlike the FLEETING experience of youth itself and growing older. "MAN ON THE MOON" is an ODE to ANDY KAUFMAN as if the late comedian where still alive, ready to pounce and eviscerate our collective cultural expectations once again with one last gag to end all gags. although the track celebrates his COMEDIC AESTHETIC, there is a MELANCHOLIC vibe that seemingly counteracts the words and insinuates the DISCONNECTION and ISOLATION of a comedian from their audience. its as if KAUFMAN is lost at sea and this song is a siren call to lure him back to shore. my personal FAVORITE track is "DRIVE." it is a COMPELLING MEDITATION over the complexities of being LYRICAL and EMPATHETIC in such a PUBLIC MEDIUM. the video really relates this ODD DYNAMIC visually quite astutely and strikingly with band members individually crowd surfing, literally connecting physically with their audience while being above and separate from such. i continue to find both the song and accompanying promotional video quite POWERFUL. unfortunately it is assumed that KURT COBAIN (NIRVANA) tragically committed suicide to this song, which obviously only further fuses that song with its strong theme of ISOLATION in the public imagination one step further. not unlike U2 post-THE JOSHUA TREE (ISLAND, 1987), R.E.M. post-AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE finds the group more interested in VEILED EXPRESSIONS through ALTERNATE PERSONAS and EXPANDED PRODUCTION with SONIC JUXTAPOSITIONS that hitherto were not previously part of the band's LEXICON OF SOUNDS. i feel like such was an INEVITABLE step away from the EARNESTNESS that was this album in particular, as if STIPE and company did not wish to be so EXPOSED and TRANSPARENT for public consumption again. at least that is my interpretation. i can't say i blame them. AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE is ESSENTIAL and absolutely required listening. most definitely worth checking out to the uninitiated. photo & text by nacrowe
i heard PEARL JAM's early catalogue haphazardly and completely and out of order. it makes sense because i was very young when those first few releases came out and wasn't conscious of music or CULTURE in general at the time. in fact, i was seven when their debut TEN (EPIC, 1991) came out, although i didnt obtain that album until late 1995. i received PEARL JAM's third album VITALOGY (EPIC, 1994) as a gift from my parents, along with SOUNDGARDEN's SUPERUNKNOWN (A&M, 1994), for either christmas or my birthday in late 1994 or early 1995. both of those two records were the first i ever owned and are still PRECIOUS to me. it wasnt until i moved to NIGERIA in and learned in early 1996 from an AMERICAN classmate that there was, in fact, another in-between album called VS. (EPIC, 1993) that i should check out. so my order went VITALOGY, TEN, and the VS. with PEARL JAM.
irrespective of my own IDIOSYNCRATIC exposure to their material, VITALOGY was a pivotal record in their discography as it marked the effective CREATIVE takeover of the band by vocalist EDDIE VEDDER. in comparison, on TEN the outlines of songs were mostly written by the time of his arrival, so his input was purely lyrical. on VS. the band was still very much effectively helmed by guitarist STONE GOSSARD and bassist JEFF AMENT, who started PEARL JAM in the wake the dissolution of MOTHER LOVE BONE due to the TRAGIC passing of frontman ANDEW WOOD from a heroin overdose. what transpired and altered between VS. and VITALOGY was a massive wave of unmitigated commercial success. surreally, VEDDER in october 1993 was even put on the cover of TIME magazine as the poster boy of sorts for his GENERATION, getting the BOB DYLAN / BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN treatment. by the time of production for VITALOGY there was a power shift where VEDDER asserted his songwriting and AESTHETIC INFLUENCES on the product, figuring that if he was going to be selling his likeness to the public he should at least not be PASSIVE in creating the product itself. VITALOGY is sonically and thematically EXPANSIVE and an ARTISTIC departure from the previous two releases. VITALOGY is OBSCURE, SELF-EFFACING and even HUMOROUS whereas the first two albums are more EARNEST, TRANSPARENT and somewhat DOWN-THE-MIDDLE ROCK AND ROLL. there is a through-line though with songs like "CORDUROY" and "BETTER MAN" off of VITALOGY seeming to come from a similar sonic and lyrical place as "DAUGHTER" and "ELDERLY WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER IN A SMALL TOWN" off VS. or "BLACK" and "OCEANS" off of TEN. this is all incredibly long prologue to bring up how CONTROVERSIAL PEARL JAM's fourth album NO CODE (EPIC, 1996) was upon release. the record came in the wake of a DISASTROUS tour in support of VITALOGY in which the band boycotted TICKETMASTER for financially exploiting its FANBASE. at this point also the band had long since stop making promotional music videos in the wake of "JEREMY" off of TEN. my impression of it was that it was meant as a palette cleanser a la NIRVANA's IN UTERO (DGC, 1993) or more drastically LOU REED's METAL MACHINE MUSIC (RCA VICTOR, 1975). it felt like a NONCOMMERCIAL album that was purposely OPAQUE to try to wean off the more FICKLE elements of its rabid FANBASE and create something more INSULAR, ARTFUL and entirely SELF-AWARE. its almost as if they made a CHALLENGING album for another fictional band that didnt have this OVERWHELMING corporate apparatus on its back chomping at the bit for more product to satisfy their INSATIABLE shareholders. i remember the only tracks i really took to were the UPTEMPO, HARD-CHARGING "HAIL, HAIL" and the decidedly SUBDUED "THERE HE GOES" both of which were SOLID songs but not ICONIC singles like those from the first three records. my opinion now is that this type of relative retreat from the spotlight was INEVITABLE given the PERSONALITY and ETHOS of VEDDER and his bandmates. there was also this palpable sense with the passing of KURT COBAIN years before that having control over your product and putting out into the public something that is AUTHENTIC is really all that matters. COBAIN years earlier commented on their early work being DERIVATIVE of CLASSIC ROCK cliches, which was somewhat ACCURATE and completely BITING. PEARL JAM took such to heart and their career trajectory since has been a conscious attempt at staying true to themselves and their COMMUNITY come what may. this even means reversing course, as PEARL JAM did with the CELEBRATED follow-up to NO CODE, titled YIELD (EPIC, 1998) which was heralded as largely a return to form (even complete with an AWARD-WINNING TODD MCFARLANE-directed animated music video). but NO CODE lived up to its title, its not really meant to be understood. its an INTERESTING curiosity in their catalogue, but NOT ESSENTIAL in my opinion. i would recommend first-time listeners check any of their first three records with a slight preference to VITALOGY, which is undoubtedly one of my FAVORITE albums from my childhood. photo & text by nacrowe
by the time you get to PANTERA's final album REINVENTING THE STEEL (EAST WEST, 2000), a transition within the band's SOUND and RELATIONSHIP to one another that had been underway since THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL (EAST WEST, 1996) had basically come to fruition and fully calcified. namely this album was a band at the END OF THEIR ROPE CREATIVELY and INTERPERSONALLY.
in terms of their sound, the first two records COWBOYS FROM HELL (ATCO, 1990) and VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER (ATCO, 1992) were the sound of an incredibly tight BROTHERHOOD coalescing together while writing, living and struggling together to create and promote arguably some of the most COHESIVE and EXCITING METAL ever produced. those two records represent an ascent and upward trajectory both commercially and in terms of shared VISION and FOCUS as a CREATIVE UNIT. once they hit FAR BEYOND DRIVEN (EAST WEST, 1994) some INTERNAL SHIFTS had occurred. for one, having been recorded in NASHVILLE it is the only PANTERA record to not be recorded in their home studio as everything before was in PANTEGO SOUND STUDIOS (formerly owned and operated by the ABOTT BROTHERS' father for decades) in ARLINGTON and everything after was done at DIMEBAG's home studio at his DALWORTHINGTON GARDENS residence. as such the record is ODD since it is both EXPANSIVE sonically and lyrically CLAUSTROPHOBIC with themes of DRUG ABUSE and MENTAL DEGRADATION. shortly thereafter its release vocalist PHIL ANSELMO had a HEROIN OVERDOSE on tour which shook the band to its core since for the first time the band's seemingly UNSHAKEABLE UNITY had been COMPROMISED. it was during this period also that ANSELMO pursued a major side project in the SLUDGE METAL supergroup DOWN, which the ABOTT BROTHERS tolerated but quietly chafed at given their allegiance and UNSPARING FOCUS to all things PANTERA. unfortunately, this schism was manifested in THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL being conceived and recorded in two separate studios, the band in TEXAS and ANSELMO in LOUISIANA at TRENT REZNOR's NOTHING STUDIOS in NEW ORLEANS. this DETERIORATION continued on REINVENTING THE STEEL which to some listeners is the sound of a band in bad need of a well-deserved hiatus to recharge and regroup. which of course never happened as their world tour was cut short abroad by 9/11 and the band proved to never play live again thereafter as ANSELMO pursued an ever-growing list of side projects (DOWN and SUPERJOINT RITUAL among numerous others) without checking in with DIMEBAG or VINNE PAUL, leaving them in perpetual limbo for a few years. for me the experience of listening to REINVENTING THE STEEL is a bit BITTERSWEET as there are some STANDOUT tracks like "YESTERDAY DON'T MEAN SHIT," "HELLBOUND" and "REVOLUTION IS MY NAME", but overall its LACK OF COHESION and VISION makes it emerge as the LEAST IMPRESSIVE PANTERA album by far. even sonically, at this point everything had DISINTEGRATED into PURE ATTACK and AGGRESSION, whereas before there was a PALPABLE sense of GROOVE involved, like a more TECHNICALLY ADVANCED and HARDER-HITTING ZZ TOP. maybe, like with METALLICA or SLAYER, the standard and expectation level with PANTERA is just so ELEVATED that they were bound to misfire eventually, but the whole effort feels like a WASTED OPPORTUNITY for such an INNOVATIVE and POWERFUL band that basically kept the METAL flag going in the 1990s in the wake of the ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion. you also can't help but wonder what would have happened if the band just took an extended break, got some side project records out of their system and STAYED IN COMMUNICATION so that when they eventually regrouped theyd be ready to actually fire on all cylinders again having reconvened as a more MATURE and FORGIVING UNIT, both CREATIVELY and INTERPERSONALLY. that of course never happened and the band is permanently a "WHAT IF" scenario only further solidified by the TRAGIC DEATH of DIMEBAG and the subsequent health problems of VINNIE PAUL that led to his PASSING from natural causes a decade later. the modern iteration of the band, nobly carried on with close friends of the ABOTT BROTHERS and METAL all-star recruits in ZAKK WYLDE (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) and CHARLIE BENANTE (ANTHRAX, S.O.D.), still pales in comparison to the ENERGY, CAMARADERIE and SPIRIT of the original which sadly flamed out at the turn of the millennium with their final released effort. i should also mention that this was the period i saw the band play OZZFEST on one proved to be one of their last national tours of the UNITED STATES. although the band was AMAZING, you could definitely see the divide in retrospect as ANSELMO mumbled his way through his seeming CHARLES MANSON phase while DIMEBAG was in full, VIBRANT flight DAZZLING the audiences with his GUITAR HEROICS. it definitely appeared like an odd couple but a DEGRADED PANTERA was likely better than most bands at the top of their game so INCREDIBLE was this band. i wouldnt recommend REINVENTING THE STEEL as it is my LEAST FAVORITE PANTERA record. for me any of the first three albums is a great starting point for this LEGENDARY and highly INFLUENTIAL METAL band, undoubtedly of the first order right alongside BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER and JUDAS PRIEST. photo & text by nacrowe
in the public imagination, ALTERNATIVE ROCK pioneers JANE'S ADDICTION are universally revered for their two TRANSCENDENT releases NOTHING'S SHOCKING (WARNER BROS, 1988) and RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL (WARNER BROS, 1990) before their first implosion after the LEGENDARY inaugural LOLLAPALOOZA in 1991. but the record that initiated it all was their self-titled first album JANES ADDICTION (TRIPLE X, 1987), which was in essence a live recording from a showcase 1987 gig at the ROXY THEATRE in LOS ANGELES with overdubs and crowd noise added later. the record itself is somewhat of a CURIOSITY, as it was OBSCURE upon release (much like vocalist PERRY FARRELL's previous band, PSI COM) coming from a small INDEPENDENT LABEL during what was the heyday of HAIR METAL at the time. JANES ADDICTION is NOTABLE for having the AFFECTING track "I WOULD FOR YOU," the HARD-CHARGING "WHORES" and "TRIP AWAY" as well as the first released iterations of NOTHING'S SHOCKING tracks "PIGS IN ZEN" and "JANE SAYS." if anything, the album proves what a formidable live band JANE'S ADDICTION was, even at this nascent stage in their ascent.
intriguingly, the strategy of having an initial release through that of an INDEPENDENT LABEL quickly became common INDUSTRY PRACTICE, especially prevalent during the subsequent ALTERNATIVE ROCK era when PUNK ROCK bona fides was deemed especially IMPORTANT. you can see this trajectory pursued by peer bands like SOUNDGARDEN (SST to SUB POP to A&M) and the MELVINS (BONER to ATLANTIC and then back down to IPECAC) as well as later acts like THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (CAROLINE to VIRGIN) and NIRVANA (SUB POP to DGC) among countless other examples. with internet-enabled instant global digital distribution available today, this whole notion of physical GATEKEEPING by RECORD LABELS and the implied PURITY of INTENTION identified with independent releases is an ABSOLUTE CULTURAL ANACHRONISM in today's marketplace. but not back then in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. that PERRY FARRELL recognized this PHENOMENA and had his ear to the underground is REMARKABLE. he's something of SHAMAN in that respect, leading the masses out fo the CULTURAL WILDERNESS. this whole ALTERNATIVE movement was set to boil over with the help of FARRELL and JANE'S ADDICTION as well as that of INNOVATIVE peer bands in FISHBONE, THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, FAITH MO MORE, LOVE AND ROCKETS, THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, R.E.M. and the then OBSCURE but BURGEONING SEATTLE scene at the time. as a CULTURAL ARTIFACT that is not by any stretch a DEFINITIVE artistic statement by an ICONIC and historically IMPORTANT band, what i take from it is how ahead of the game they were and how they pointed the way for others to follow and basically take over the industry for the better part of a decade. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
at the tale end of the 1990s NU METAL was very much in full swing. led by the likes of genre innovators like DEFTONES, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, KORN, INCUBUS and yes, LIMP BIZKIT, the lasting cultural impact was of an AGGRESSIVE ALTERNATIVE METAL DISSONANCE decorated with HIP HOP-derived production embellishments. this SOUND found its zenith with the more sonically SOPHISTICATED, structurally COHESIVE and seamlessly INTEGRATED SONGWRITING and PRODUCTION of LINKIN PARK's debut HYBRID THEORY (WARNER BROS, 2000) record, but when ZEBRAHEAD and their second record, and major label debut, WASTE OF MIND (COLUMBIA, 1998) arrived that was still a few years away.
this all to say that ZEBRAHEAD was very much a band of its time in terms of the sonic elements it was playing with, but it came from a distinctly different place. whereas those aforementioned bands (with the exception of INCUBUS) traded on ANGER and FRUSTRATION, ZEBRAHEAD had an AESTHETIC that incorporated the OPTIMISM and light HUMOR more associated with POP PUNK bands like THE VANDALS, LAGWAGON or BLINK-182. listening to WASTE OF MIND and their subsequent albums with original singer JUSTIN MAURIELLO, its apt to describe their SOUND as a cross between NU METAL and POP PUNK which were the culturally dominant rock genres of the period. i should also mention my bias at this point since ZEBRAHEAD is from LA HABRA which was literally the next town over from mine growing up in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. in fact, my father worked in LA HABRA and i spent much time there, so like other notable ORANGE COUNTY acts such as ATREYU, THE VANDALS, SOMETHING CORPORATE, ADOLESCENTS, SOCIAL DISTORTION, NO DOUBT, THE AQUABATS, SUBLIME and AGENT ORANGE, i always hold out a fondness for acts hailing from my childhood region. glad i got that out of the way. unfortunately, more then two decades on ZEBRAHEAD comes off as a bit of a CULTURAL ANACHRONISM. i contend that this is partly due to the rapping of ALI TABATABAEE, which often sounds FORCED, STILTED and a bit AWKWARD. this isnt helped at all by references that didnt age well, notably a boasting allusion to DONALD TRUMP which is beyond CRINGE-INDUCING in retrospect. what saves the album time and time again is the INVENTIVE GUITAR WORK a la GREG BERGDORF and MAURIELLO as well as the catchy chorus melodies sung by MAURIELLO, especially on tracks such as "MOVE ON," "GET BACK," "JAG OFF," "TIME," "CHECK" and "WASTE OF MIND." as a guitar tandem, BERGDORF and MAURIELLO very much created OFF-KILTER RIFFS and SONIC TEXTURES that seemed distinctly rooted in the CELEBRATED TOM MORELLO / WES BORLAND school of IDIOSYNCRATIC guitar heroics. and that dynamic of INSPIRED GUITAR TEXTURES with catchy choruses (and terrible rapping) very much continued on subsequent releases PLAYMATE OF THE YEAR (COLUMBIA, 2000) and MFZB (COLUMBIA, 2003) before MAURIELLO's departure and later efforts with DARLING THIEVES and his solo career. after that departure the band continued on to diminishing returns as the SONIC HOOKS and MEMORABLE MELODIES left with him. WASTE OF MIND is an INTRIGUING album as a cultural marker of the evolution and cross-pollination of NU METAL and POP PUNK at the dawn of the new millennium, but was quickly overshadowed by more HARDCORE purveyors of each separate genre, by everyone from SYSTEM OF A DOWN to NEW FOUND GLORY. i wouldnt recommend WASTE OF MIND, but the next album PLAYMATE OF THE YEAR is definitely worth checking out, despite its CRINGEY PLAYBOY co-branding. photo & text by nacrowe
POLITICS in METAL is kind of a TABOO subject. it is one thing to have PEDESTRIAN observations about the BRUTAL nature of WAR (i.e. "WAR PIGS" by BLACK SABBATH, "TERRITORY" BY SEPULTURA), CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ("RIDE THE LIGHTNING" by METALLICA, "UNDER THE GUILLOTINE" by KREATOR) or CORRUPT POLITICIANS (literally every other MEGADETH song), but it is entirely something else to promote a full-blown perspective. METAL fans tend to skew CONSERVATIVE and seem en masse to prefer first or third-person narratives related to HORROR (SLAYER, PIG DESTROYER), HISTORICAL (MOTORHEAD, IRON MAIDEN) or even FANTASY (DIO, KING DIAMOND) themes probably because there is a disconnect from reality in the lyrical content. it seems when METAL bands decide to get clever and go for DOUBLE ENTENDRES (JUDAS PRIEST) or write in PARABLES (TOOL), such efforts leave the majority of the audience behind. im not attempting to disparage METAL fans by insinuating that they are on the whole pretty UNSOPHISTICATED, but then again i guess maybe i am in fact saying just that. they want what they want and INNOVATIVE lyrical conceits is not part of it.
which to me is what makes the debut REEK OF PUTREFACTION (EARACHE, 1988) album by CARCASS such a deviation from the status quo. it is just so baldly POLITICAL. several members of the LEGENDARY GRINDCORE band are famously VEGETARIANS and from the jump made their PROGRESSIVE opinions on ANIMAL RIGHTS issues front and center lyrically, sonically and artistically. sonically they take off where fellow EARACHE RECORDS label-mates NAPALM DEATH took off, with an unrelentingly DEVASTATING DEATH METAL pounding charge into COMPLETE DISSONANCE and AURAL OBLIVION. if one could even understand the lyrics then they would come to appreciate quickly that in the eyes of CARCASS, there is nothing more VILE and BRUTAL in history than INDUSTRIAL FARMING. and its hard to argue with them on that point. if you concede that animals are SENTIENT beings capable of SUFFERING than modern technological practices within the FACTORY FARMING INDUSTRY meant to maximize PROFITABILITY, PRODUCTION and ECONOMIES OF SCALE (including GENETIC ENGINEERING, MECHANIZED SLAUGHTER, CONFINEMENT IN CLAUSTROPHOBIC CAGES, CASTRATION, DEHORNING, HOT-IRON BRANDING, TAIL DOCKING and DEBEAKING SANS ANESTHESIA) are beyond CRUEL and represent an elevated ORWELLIAN level of INHUMANITY and GORE. in other words its a VALID and thoroughly EMPATHETIC position to uphold while also being incredibly METAL. just look at the original artwork, which was made up of cutouts from one of the band-member's sister's nursing textbook. its all OUT-OF-CONTEXT LIMBS and APPENDAGES from surgery photos pastiched together to showcase what equates on first-glance to be seemingly INDISCRIMINATE BODILY CARNAGE. makes you reconsider what you are, in fact, eating at the dinner table. METAL as a genre itself, despite its limitations, has always been about rebellion and going against the grain, even if the music broadly speaking over time has paradoxically become more RIGID and CONSERVATIVE over time. REEK OF PUTREFACTION and STANDOUT tracks like "VOMITED ANAL TRACK," "MAGGOT COLONY," "REGURGITATION OF GIBLETS," "FRENZIED DETRUNCATION," "PYOSISIFIED (ROTTEN TO THE GORE)" and "GENITAL GRINDER" represents a unique thematic departure from the lyrical and POLITICAL conformity of the genre in the late 1980s. even if a band is not explicitly POLITICAL, that choice is paradoxically a POLITICAL STATEMENT in and of itself. if DIO chooses to sing of WARLOCKS and WIZARDS instead of REAL-WORLD WAR ATROCITIES from the period, than said artistic choice is his to make and equates to a POLITICAL CHOICE. part of me wishes that MODERN METAL had more to say, rather than just aping past artistic choices repeated down the line. but then again, thats what makes REEK OF PUTREFACTION what it is and CARCASS the CELEBRATED BRITISH GRINDCORE / DEATH METAL band that it is. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
QUEEN was always an acquired taste in my estimation. boundlessly INVENTIVE and idiosyncratically SOPHISTICATED to the extreme, the band were entirely UNIQUE amongst their HARD ROCK brethren in the 1970s and their genre-skipping, MARX BROTHERS-referencing fourth album A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (ELEKTRA, 1975) was the culmination of such DISPARATE interests. that complexity of vision is in part the consequence of band whereby each member was a (somewhat) VIABLE songwriter, not just the recognizable faces like the universally CELEBRATED, LARGER-THAN-LIFE frontman FREDDIE MERCURY and LEGENDARY guitarist BRIAN MAY.
case in point is a track like the SELF-EXPLANATORY "I'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR" written and, notably, sung by drummer ROGER TAYLOR. its a pretty STRAIGHTFORWARD declaration of his LOVE for, well, his car. nothing much more to say about that i guess. definitely a LAME track. similarly, bassist JOHN DEACON wrote the AFFECTIONATE yet CONTRIVED "YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND" about his wife. that these two songs (i'd strongly argue FILLER tracks) ended up on such a record is a testament to QUEEN's mutual support of each other's DRIVE, TALENT and CREATIVITY, which is definitely an outlier in the world of ROCK AND ROLL where writing credits and the largesse associated with such is often a BITTER source of CONTENTION and the root of many a breakup. definitely not the best moments by any stretch, but necessary and REVEALING about the economic nature of bands during this period. obviously the main attraction with QUEEN is very much MERCURY and MAY and they absolutely deliver on SEMINAL A NIGHT AT THE OPERA tracks like "LAZING ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON," "DEATH ON TWO LEGS" and the immortally EPIC "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY." what i love about these specific tracks are how all over the map they are lyrically and stylistically. "LAZING ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON" has a CAREFREE, waltz-feel with a megaphone-like effect on MERCURY's VOCALS that emulates an old cylinder phonograph record from the end of the 19th century. it feels almost NOSTALGIC for a VICTORIAN era long-gone by as MERCURY sings jubilantly about his walk around town on a nice afternoon. part of the song's appeal is that it comes right after the opening track "DEATH ON TWO LEGS" which is easily the most MEAN-SPIRITED and PUNISHING QUEEN song ever, long rumored to be public RETRIBUTION against their former manager and his LESS-THAN-HONORABLE business practices. in VICIOUS, UNAMBIGUOUS terms the song basically character assassinates an unknown figure for being a snake, complete with KILLER BACKGROUND VOCALS and a MEMORABLE GUITAR SOLO. i dont consider myself a QUEEN fan, but "DEATH ON TWO LEGS" is pretty undeniably POEWRFUL in its absolute PETTINESS and HATEFUL NEGATIVITY, enough so that MERCURY had some reservations about the track in retrospect, feeling he wanted to put out music that was POSITIVE and uplifted people. the centerpiece of the album, and the track most synonymous with the band is of course "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY." full disclosure, i have a relative who worked on WAYNE'S WORLD (PARAMOUNT, 1992) as a music supervisor who was involved with the ICONIC interior car singing scene at the beginning of the revered PENELOPE SPHEERIS-directed MIKE MYERS and DANA CARVEY comedic vehicle. the song itself, written by MERCURY, is as EPIC as it is RIDICULOUS. there are multiple parts, which were reportedly recorded separately by the band with no inkling of their ultimate arrangement in the track, and a famous harmonized A CAPELLA section that lyrically references famous OPERA characters, the BIBLE and the QU'RAN, for reasons unknown. the song should be irredeemably PRETENTIOUS, but the combined FULL-THROATED CONVICTION, PASSION and vocal DEXTERITY of MERCURY renders the song CONTAGIOUS in its idiosyncrasies. that song is completely UNIQUE and a one of one. i dont believe anyone in ROCK AND ROLL history has ever attempted something that is as CATCHY as it is completely SELF-INDULGENT. and i think that car scene in WAYNE'S WORLD picks up on both the IRREPRESSIBLE ENERGY and THEATRICAL ABSURDITY of that song for comedic effect. they arent making fun of the song at all, in fact they are making light of the song's effect on their behavior, the EPHEMERAL, TRANSPORTIVE state of PURE BLISS without inhibitions that it has unlocked in a cohort of young men. and for me that FLEETING state of DELIGHT in PERFORMATIVE ECSTASY is what sums up FREDDIE MERCURY's appeal and that of his band QUEEN at their apex, which A NIGHT AT THE OPERA arguably represents to most of the listening public. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA is required listening. most definitely worth checking out for fans of ROCK AND ROLL writ large. photo & text by nacrowe
a REGGAE LED ZEPPELIN cover band fronted by an ELVIS impersonator. i feel like the concept sells itself.
and somehow JIMMY PAGE, ROBERT PLANT and the rest of the estate agreed making DREAD ZEPPELIN the only sanctioned LED ZEPPELIN cover band known in existence (or at least to my knowledge). it is a well-known industry fact that the LED ZEPPELIN estate jealously guards their interests and has been known to get quite litigious in the past in order to protect their catalogue, making the very fact that DREAD ZEPPELIN exists on an widely distributed record a minor miracle in and of itself. i first learned of the band through their UN-LED-ED (I.R.S., 1990) debut album that my father played for me as a child, usually after listening to LED ZEPPELIN proper. its the same dynamic at play when he introduced my brother and i to MEL BROOKS' CLASSIC SPACEBALLS (MGM/UA, 1987) FARCE only after making us watch the original STAR WARS trilogy back around the same time. one works only after intimate knowledge of the other. it is obviously impossible to divorce the LED ZEPPELIN and DREAD ZEPPELIN from one other, since all the SERIOUSNESS and EXPANSIVE GRANDEUR evoked by the former is basically turned on its head and PARODIED mercilessly by the latter. my personal FAVORITE recorded moment is on their cover of "MOBY DICK," which finds frontman TORTELVIS reading the introduction to the famously INTRICATE and OPAQUE HERMAN MELVILLE novel to a light skank (courtesy of the guitarist with BEYOND-GENIUS alias, JAH PAUL JO), before stopping abruptly and complaining that he's read it a thousand times and still has no idea what the hell the author is talking about. first time i heard that i was basically in LOVE with the band. same with the GENIUS hybrid "BLACK DOG / HOUND DOG" abomination. it just totally takes the piss out of everything involved (with a little classic "BATMAN THEME" from the CHEESY 60's television show through in). how do you not love that." again, same with the "HEARTBREAKER" and "HEART BREAK HOTEL" hybrid track, its all GENIUS. other STANDOUT tracks include their covers of "WHOLE LOTTA LOVE," "I CAN'T QUIT YOU BABY," "YOUR TIME IS GONNA COME" and "IMMIGRANT SONG." again, the fact that these PARODIES exist on record really makes me rethink the PUBLIC IMAGE of LED ZEPPELIN as a bunch of IMAGE-CONSCIOUS auteurs that make music meant to evocatively express the EXPANSIVE and ELUSIVE literary and sonic grandeur of ALBION's FOLK traditions. DREAD ZEPPELIN dismantles such by making music that RE-CONTEXTUALIZES and undercuts those ELEVATED ambitions and renders such as the target of light MOCKERY. they effectively make LED ZEPPELIN appear SILLY. kudos to PAGE, PLANT, JOHN PAUL JONES and the estate for allowing this to happen, because the beneficiary is everyone. ELVIS PRESLEY, REGGAE and LED ZEPPELIN fans alike. i view UN-LED-ED as ESSENTIAL. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
out of all the POST-GRUNGE bands that were signed and foisted on the public by major labels in the halcyon gold rush era that were those immediate post-NEVERMIND years in the early 1990s, one of the best undoubtedly was the ALTERNATIVE ROCK band SPONGE. to my ears they had a decidedly STRIPPED-BACK classic GLAM ROCK (think T. REX, THE NEW YORK DOLLS, etc) aesthetic that differentiated them from their more EARNEST and flannel-clad peers at the time. that being said, i associate the band with their MEMORABLE, HARD-CHARGING, MELODIC single "PLOWED" off of their debut ROTTING PIÑATA (WORK GROUP, 1994) which was as much of a staple on 106.7 KROQ FM in LOS ANGELES during my childhood as anything produced by NIRVANA, SOUNDGARDEN, ALICE IN CHAINS, PEARL JAM or STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ever was. just the sound of vocalist VINNIE DOMBROSKI's EXPANSIVE voice on that track brings back playground images of pickup basketball and weekend excursions to nearby DISNEYLAND during my elementary school years.
and the UBIQUITY of that track is probably the root of their SECOND-TIER STATUS at the time. unlike the FOO FIGHTERS, BUSH, CANDLEBOX and SILVERCHAIR who were all similar-sounding SUCCESSFUL bands that emerged in the immediate wake of the SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion of the early 1990s, SPONGE only had one massive hit single with an accompanying album that was otherwise largely forgettable. i know people will point to the track "MOLLY (SIXTEEN CANDLES)" but until i reacquainted myself with SPONGE in the early 2000s id never heard it before and had zero recollection of such on the radio when it was a new song. those POST-GRUNGE bands notoriously get little respect as they are the go-between stepping stools between the waning ALTERNATIVE ROCK scene and the emerging BELLIGERENT, AGGRESSIVE and decidedly MISOGYNISTIC NU METAL that followed. they occupied a temporary NICHE in the market that was already looking past them upon arrival. a CULTURAL ANACHRONISM of sorts before they had a chance. that all may sound HARSH, but in terms of singles, "PLOWED" is still an UNDENIABLE track that stands up with the best of that period. i wouldnt necessarily recommend ROTTING PIÑATA in totality as it is a bit of a TOP-HEAVY album. check out the more COHESIVE and similarly GLAM ROCK-influenced TINY MUSIC... SONGS FROM THE VATICAN GIFT SHOP (ATLANTIC, 1996) by STONE TEMPLE PILOTS released just two years later instead. photo & text by nacrowe
its one of those weird things about the 90s that arguably the RAWEST and most CUTTING, SELF-PUNISHING record of the decade was a CHAMBER POP album by a DIMINUTIVE and seemingly ANGELIC-presenting chanteuse, who was still in her teens, in singer-songwriter FIONA APPLE. her debut album TIDAL (COLUMBIA, 1996) found her lyrically shedding all socially and culturally constructed aspects of her FEMININITY to reveal a POWERFUL VOICE oozing with confidence while paradoxically wallowing in her own INSECURITIES, MISGIVINGS and CONTRADICTIONS. all this while the sound-bed layer of music is decidedly DELICATE with swells of LUSH, EXOTIC INSTRUMENTATION courtesy of JON BRION. it makes for one of the most DYNAMIC debut albums of that or any other decade.
i wasnt in the UNITED STATES back in 1996 as my family moved to NIGERIA that year and wasnt exposed to APPLE until i was well into college almost a decade later. by that point i was familiar with most of the major ALTERNATIVE ROCK bands of the period, both successful and those less so, but discovering APPLE was a bit of a revelation as i couldnt believe someone this singularly COURAGEOUS and SELF-OBLITERATING ran askew of my radar beforehand. in tracks such as "SHADOWBOXER," "SLEEP TO DREAM," "NEVER IS A PROMISE" and especially "CRIMINAL" you found a SELF-AWARE VOICE coming to terms with how society perceives her through the lens of GENDER and SEXUALITY while attempting to numb and shed those expectations. the fact that such BRUTAL self-observations, some related to SEXUAL ABUSE incurred as a minor, are conducted with such AIRY, LILTING MELODIES and matching DELICATE, UNOBTRUSIVE and decidedly SOPHISTICATED INSTRUMENTATION only augments the power of such. it was like a cross between the more SONICALLY LUSH and INTRICATE moments of peak BEACH BOYS circa PET SOUNDS (CAPITOL, 1966) with the OBSERVATIONAL SELF-ANNIHILATING acumen of a PATTI SMITH, MICHAEL STIPE, PJ HARVEY or LOU REED. its a COMPELLING dichotomy that i was not prepared for on first listen and instantly made me a long-term fan that has followed her IDIOSYNCRATIC career ever since. and i think the OBVIOUS should be stated outright that WOMEN undoubtedly get it harder than men in the MUSIC INDUSTRY and society at large. they are judged against each other by their YOUTH and apparent BEAUTY, which is ultimately a DIMINISHING CULTURAL ASSET over time. men dont have to deal with this SEX OBJECT BULLSHIT at all, being perceived as amassing WISDOM and STATURE over time. across the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY it is that rare actress or singer that can maintain an audience over time. for every MERYL STREEP and DOLLY PARTON there is a GEENA DAVIS and DEBBIE HARRY that has had to struggle to maintain visibility despite abundant TALENT and PAST ACCOLADES and PEER RECOGNITION. i feel strongly that right out of the gate APPLE was attempting to present a VOICE that transcended the UNFAIR societal and culturally imposed LIMITATIONS on her GENDER and competed with the boys at their own titled game. much like BJORK, L7, KATE BUSH, LORETTA LYNN, SINEAD O'CONNOR, CAT POWER, MARIANNE FAITHFUL, COURTNEY BARNETT, SLEATER-KINNEY, JONI MITCHELL, ELASTICA, CHELSEA WOLFE, LAURA NYRO, WANDA JACKSON, BETH ORTON, PATSY CLINE, COURTNEY LOVE, AMY WINEHOUSE and AIMEE MANN did before and after her, she is part of a long UNBROKEN lineage of FEMALE ARTISTS attempting to dismantle PATRIARCHAL estimations of their value as artists and buck the INDUSTRY in the process. i know its REDUCTIVE to speak about her GENDER in this manner, but this conversation feels INEVITABLE given the era and her impact on successive generations of musicians and songwriters (of all GENDER and GENDER EXPRESSIONS) such as SHARON VAN ETTEN, LORDE, TEGAN & SARA, KING PRINCESS, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, VANESSA CARLTON, PERFUME GENIUS, KINGS OF CONVENIENCE, LILY ALLEN, FEIST, SOCCER MOMMY, MITSKI, REGINA SPEKTOR, BAT FOR LASHES, KATE NASH, ST. VINCENT AND LADY GAGA among many others. TIDAL is absolutely required listening in my opinion. her work is INTEGRAL to a complete understanding of music in the 1990s. in fact, i'd take it a step further and state that APPLE's entire catalogue is absolutely worth checking out. enjoy. photo & text by nacrowe
seriously, that GUITAR TONE!
not sure what else to say other than guitarist LESLIE WEST has one of the THICKEST, NASTIEST, TASTIEST and downright GNARLIEST tones in recorded ROCK AND ROLL history as evidenced on his band MOUNTAIN's debut album CLIMBING! (WINDFALL, 1970). i remember the first time hearing that ICONIC intro guitar lead in "MISSISSIPPI QUEEN" blasting from the stereo of my father's car stereo as a child. it was OTHERWORLDLY and completely TRANSPORTIVE to another psychic dimension of existence. it also had GROOVE and deep sense of DELTA BLUES SWING to it, as if it had emerged fully-formed from the SWAMPY depths of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. it wasnt until my late 20s that i learned that WEST was in fact from the TRI-STATE area, which seemed unbelievable to me at the time. for years previous to CLIMBING!, WEST was involved in the INFLUENTIAL 1960s COUNTERCULTURE scene emanating form the GREENWICH VILLAGE. before his passing, WEST even spoke about this era on HOWARD STERN's radio show about an IMPROVISATIONAL jam with JIMI HENDRIX on bass at a small club. with everything calcified and formatted now with CLASSIC ROCK labels, its INTRIGUING to think about how FLUID and almost JAZZ-like things were back then in terms of impromptu collaborations without concern for commercial implications. that sort of thing would now be rehearsed and planned out in advance out of fear of shitty cell phone camera footage uploaded for posterity. just a different era. other STANDOUT tracks besides the LEGENDARY "MISSISSIPPI QUEEN" include "NEVER IN MY LIFE" and "THEME FROM AN IMAGINARY WESTERN" with all share the DNA of those EXPANSIVE riffs with that inimitably MASSIVE P-90 PICKUP TONE through a GIBSON LES PAUL JR and SUNN COLISEUM amplifiers that is so indelibly embedded in the hearts and minds of generations of ROCK AND ROLL enthusiasts. there is a reason WEST is so BELOVED and especially this record as songs from CLIMBING! have been covered the years by everyone from UFO, ACE FREHLEY and VAN HALEN to MINISTRY, OZZY OSBOURNE and even the late comedian SAM KINISON. to me his SINGULAR GUITAR TONE is the very EMBODIMENT and SPIRIT of ROCK AND ROLL bar none. cant help but listen and smile. photo & text by nacrowe
it is not hyperbole to state matter-of-factly that LINKIN PARK's debut album HYBRID THEORY (WARNER BROS, 2000) is one of the more culturally CONSEQUENTIAL releases of the new millennium. and that judgement is separate from the album having gone 27 times platinum worldwide since its unveiling more than two decades ago, making it the most SUCCESSFUL debut release of the 21st century. the album itself represents the COHERENT and SEAMLESS integration of HIP HOP PRODUCTION and SONIC AESTHETICS with the INTESITY and AGGRESSION and TRADITIONAL SONGWRITING STRUCTURES of ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL.
what is interesting is that LINKIN PARK was not the first out of the gate with this HYBRID sound, arguably KORN, INCUBUS, LIMP BIZKIT, DEFTONES, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and several other acts of the period associated (FAIRLY or UNFAIRLY) with the NU METAL tag predated them at times by several years. but whereas those bands to a certain extent experimented with CHOPPED BEATS, RAPPED VOCALS and SCRATCHED VINYL TEXTURING as a means of expanding their SOUND, such dalliances didnt necessarily constitute a SOUND centered around such. in LINKIN PARK and especially on HYBRID THEORY, said SCRATCHED TEXTURES, BEAT-MAKING and RAPPED VOCALS inverted such AURAL EXPECTATIONS. those ELEMENTS were the main focus of their SONGWRITING, with METAL tropes like DETUNED, DISSONANT guitars and THUNDEROUS drumming a more secondary compositional element. LINKIN PARK very clearly represented a clean break from the pack and 2.0 version of the NU METAL genre to the music-buying public, which was trending towards becoming GENRE-LESS. id go so far as to say that the current DIGITAL MUSICAL ENVIRONMENT, where TRIBALISM has wained significantly as the new generation (POST MALONE, LIL UZI VERT, MACHINE GUN KELLY) makes music that is DIVERSE, IMAGINATIVE and ICONOCLASTIC as they defy staid genre prescriptions of the past. along with BECK, WEEN, MIKE PATTON and countless other artists, this new musical reality is a world that LINKIN PARK introduced the greater world community to with such a COHESIVE statement as HYBRID THEORY. which is FUNNY, because people at the time thought LINKIN PARK were an INDUSTRY PLANT. literally every song on that album could have been marketed as a single. it was such a STRONG release that TASTEMAKERS and some IRRESPONSIBLE MUSIC CRITICS were immediately convinced that there was no possible way this band wrote their own material. the truth was the band (formerly XERO) had been struggling and turned down by literally every major label (some multiple times) repeatedly for years, some multiple times. they ended up on the ARTIST-FRIENDLY WARNER BROS label due to a previous relationship with their new A&R director at the time, otherwise theyd probably still be looking. the core of the SONGWRITING PARTNERSHIP was rapper MIKE SHINODA and vocalist CHESTER BENNINGTON, the former often providing FORM and CONTEXT to riffs and ideas provided by the rest of the group. producer DON GILMORE (GOOD CHARLOTTE, EVE6, DURAN DURAN, LIT) was an INDISPENSIBLE resource assisting SHINODA with SONG ARRANGEMENTS and navigating him through the process of manipulating the studio to your creative will. this instuction would reap substantial benefits on subsequent releases as SHINODA took on more PRODUCTION duties for the group. this is all to say that the band quite literally was a SELF-CONTAINED PRODUCTION entity in and of themselves, far more AUTONOMOUS then their ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL peer group and far more in keeping structurally and organizationally with HIP HOP PRODUCTION teams of the period (i.e. TIMBALAND, THE NEPTUNES and ORGANIZED NOIZE). i first heard LINKIN PARK during my junior year of high school. my family had moved to KUWAIT and i learned of HYBRID THEORY through an AMERICAN classmate there. i just remember being taken away by how strong the SONGWRITING and PRODUCTION was, which is not necessarily something you associated with an ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL album. if anything, bands like PANTERA, TOOL, SLIPKNOT and SYSTEM OF A DOWN traded not on their POLISH, but on how RAW and BRUTAL the music was while still maintaining a recognizable STRUCTURE. like a caged rat or something. HYBRID THEORY was more like a PRISTINE, highly STYLIZED art piece were everything was seamlessly INTEGRATED and thoroughly CONCEIVED and thought out compositionally for MAXIMUM AURAL IMPACT. it was a departure from what i expected yet fit in with SONIC EXPECTATIONS of MODERN POP and HIP HOP PRODUCTIONS of the period. i also remember the apparent VAGUENESS of the LYRICAL CONTENT, with BENNINGTON repeatedly opining and referencing how he wanted to remain himself and be less effected by another NAMELESS third entity. there was a lot of SECOND-PERSON PERSPECTIVE being thrown around which was a SONGWRITING quirk that was addressed on subsequent releases. there was also a STRIKING lack of CURSING, which seemed ODD at the time yet UNREMARKABLE in retrospect. in that regard they were much like 311 with such being a CONSCIOUS DECISION. the effect at the time was that BENNINGTON came off as slightly INAUTHENTIC. his vocals were so POWERFUL and strangely PROFESSIONAL that not CURSING while emoting ANGER seemed oddly RESTRAINED, especially when compared to his immediate peer group in MAX CAVALERA, JONATHAN DAVIS or even (sadly, yes) FRED DURST, he came off as a bit of a lightweight. a METAL singer for the POP audience. his untimely TRAGIC passing brought to bear in a very public way how deeply TROUBLED, TRAUMATIZED and emotionally affected he had been throughout his adult existence by lingering consequences of surviving SEXUAL ABUSE and severe BULLYING throughout his childhood. i'll speak for myself, but i hear his lyrics very differently now in light of such then i did as a seventeen year-old when HYBRID THEORY was released. i now am of the opinion that BENNINGTON was such a COURAGEOUS dude, bearing his heart in hopes of allowing others to suffer less. i just hate the fact that it took his death for people, including myself, to open up and pay attention to his message. HYBRID THEORY still holds up. again, literally ever song could have been a single, but to me the STANDOUT tracks include "IN THE END," "WITH YOU," "A PLACE FOR MY HEAD," "ONE STEP CLOSER," "POINTS OF AUTHORITY," and my FAVORITE song, "PAPERCUT." more than any other record from this era, i hear the reverberations of the massive CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT that was HYBRID THEORY down the line in HIP HOP and ALTERNATIVE ROCK / METAL music from the past two decades. like NIRVANA before them, what came in their wake were lots of TERRIBLE copycats (i.e. EVANESCENCE, BREAKING BENJAMIN, CRAZY TOWN) as well as some very INSPIRED and CONSEQUENTIAL adherents (i.e. A DAY TO REMEMBER and BRING ME THE HORIZON), but throughout such the ORIGINALITY and CONSISTENCY of HYBRID THEORY and the LINKIN PARK SOUND remains. definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
as has been reported, commented, opined and discussed ad nauseam for more than three decades now, in the wake of NIRVANA's release of NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991), everything basically changed. seemingly overnight, SEATTLE became the most UNLIKELY of cultural MECCAs with ALTERNATIVE ROCK scene peers in groups like SOUNDGARDEN, MELVINS, ALICE IN CHAINS, PEARL JAM, TAD, MUDHONEY and THE SCREAMING TREES all leading the charge to varying degrees of COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, CULTURAL INFLUENCE and CRITICAL PRAISE throughout the decade and beyond. so far and vast was the cultural pull of this scene that bands from the era that were far beyond the PACIFIC NORTHWEST geographic vicinity were huddled together into the movement, such as THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (CHICAGO), STONE TEMPLE PILOTS (SAN DIEGO via OHIO and NEW JERSEY) and BLIND MELON (LOS ANGELES via INDIANA, PENNSYLVANIA and MISSISSIPPI). its super INTERESTING because the SEATTLE so-called GRUNGE bands took inspiration from some variety or amalgam of PUNK ROCK, CLASSIC ROCK and METAL whereas THE SMASHING PUMPKINS incorporated SHOEGAZE, POWER POP and GLAM ROCK with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and even FOLK MUSIC with BLIND MELON. in retrospect its all a bit RIDICULOUS that these bands with DISPARATE influences got lumped together under the GRUNGE tag. but so it was.
but what is interest is the reaction to the SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion, where bands moved to the area in the hopes of getting signed. FORGOTTEN INDIE ROCK bands, some local some from out of town, like BEST KISSERS IN THE WORLD (MCA), POND (SONY), TRULY (CAPITOL), FLOP (SONY 550) and HAMMERBOX (A&M) all were signed to majors in the wake of the MASSIVE GRUNGE wave and fizzled out shortly thereafter. CANDLEBOX is an INTRIGUING case. they area a local SEATTLE band that came to prominence after the peak of the ALTERNATIVE ROCK explosion. their sound was adjacent enough to those aforementioned bands that they were signed by MADONNA's major-label WARNER BROS. imprint MAVERICK (which over its CELEBRATED lifespan would have a DIVERSE roster including DEFTONES, ALANIS MORISSETTE and MUSE among others) and released a surprisingly COMPETENT debut self-titled album CANDLEBOX (MAVERICK, 1993). tracks like singles "FAR BEHIND," "YOU" and "COVER ME" had singer KEVIN MARTIN's EARNEST and EMOTIVE singing as their center-point and more than held their weight against the OGs of the scene. unfortunately they were tagged as POST-GRUNGE, which had a DISMISSIVE ring to it and critically lumped them for posterity with less COMPELLING acts like BUSH, COLLECTIVE SOUL, SILVERCHAIR and LIVE and later DERIDED and DERIVATIVE acts like DAYS OF THE NEW, SEETHER, NICKELBACK, CREED, MATCHBOX TWENTY and STAIND. i find CANDLEBOX to be interesting in retrospect because they were a SOLID band that had a distinct sound that was an INVITING variation on a theme from the period. they sounded like themselves unlike their POST-GRUNGE peers who largely seem to be aping ALICE IN CHAINS in particular. timing really is everything and PERCEPTION IS REALITY, which did not benefit CANDLEBOX in the least. in spite of all that, the CANDLEBOX record is definitely worth checking out, especially for those familiar with and fans of the more prominent SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE ROCK acts of the period. i still argue and maintain it holds up more than favorably. photo & text by nacrowe
sonically and aesthetically, the initial long-form OFF! release that is the FIRST FOUR EPs (VICE, 2010) compilation is in essence a spiritual continuation of 1980s HARDCORE as if the ensuing decades never happened. just these brief PRIMAL minute-long spasms of UNRELENTING aural INTENSITY. from the moment the BLISTERING opening track "BLACK THOUGHTS" rages out the gate, it is beyond self-evident how EXCITING and REFRESHING it is to hear a ROCK AND ROLL band recorded this RAW, consciously OUT-OF-STEP with modern industry standards for sonic fidelity. yet even with the AUSTERE RAYMOND PETTIBON artwork and STRIPPED-BACK SONIC PRESENTATION reminiscent of early BLACK FLAG, there is nothing nostalgic about this record or this band, which is made up of vocalist KEITH MORRIS (CIRCLE JERKS, BLACK FLAG), guitarist DIMITRI COATS (BURNING BRIDES), bassist/PRODUCER STEVEN SHANE MCDONALD (REDD KROSS) and drummer MARIO RUBALCABA (ROCK FROM THE CRYPT, HOT SNAKES). if anything, it feels and sounds like the way forward and an IDEAL response to what ROCK AND ROLL uniquely provides (PASSION, INTENSITY, UNBRIDLED EMOTION) in the age of UNTETHERED sonic adventurism that is MODERN HIP HOP and EDM.
FIRST FOUR EPs just feels like HARDCORE at its most FUNDAMENTAL and AMOEBIC level, constructed for maximum impact. no bullshit or decorative window-dressing, just a DIRECT shot to the head. i can point out STANDOUT tracks like "I DON'T BELONG," "DARKNESS," the aforementioned "BLACK THOUGHTS" and "UPSIDE DOWN," but the truth is that this record is meant to be experienced in its totality, as if it is one extended 20-minute rant with 18 varieties of WHITE-KNUCKLE VERBAL CONFRONTATION and UNYIELDING SONIC AGGRESSION. for one, MORRIS has never sounded more FOCUSED or VITAL and arguably COATS' decidedly UNDERCOOKED PRODUCTION CHOICES served this end spectacularly. there is an INTENT and IN-THE MOMENT ENERGY that you can only get from a demo, when songs are still in the process of congealing and emerging into shape, of becoming. this record has that feel of a PROMISING demo, which in itself is REVOLUTIONARY. no need to recreate or manufacture it again for real. it is done, on tape, ship it out. if only all ROCK AND ROLL could be that PURE. at the time of its 2010 release, the debut FIRST FOUR EPs compilation by OFF! is probably one of the most CONSEQUENTIAL records in at least a decade. forget HARDCORE or PUNK ROCK, it is a reminder of how ROCK AND ROLL at its core essence should be created and presented. i view it as absolutely ESSENTIAL and most definitely worth checking out. photo & text by nacrowe
one of the earliest music memories i have is riding with my father as a child in his HONDA ACCORD listening to music to and from his work in a neighboring town in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. it was on those small excursions that was introduced to everything from BRITISH INVASION bands like THE BEATLES, THE ANIMALS, THE WHO and so forth to PUNK / NEW WAVE / INDIE ROCK bands like THE RAMONES, JOHN HIATT, THE STRANGLERS, NICK LOWE, TALKING HEADS, ELVIS COSTELLO and especially THE SMITHS / early MORRISSEY. in and amongst that cohort of artists was THE POLICE and the DISTINCT, INDELIBLE memory i have is of those ICONIC flange and reverb-drenched open chords to "WALKING ON THE MOON" by THE POLICE on their second release REGGATTA DE BLANC (A&M, 1979).
and on a purely EMOTIONAL level, that song is THE POLICE to me. that EXPERT use of SPACE by guitarist ANDY SUMMERS and the POLYRHYTHMIC but TASTEFUL, LAIDBACK GROOVE of drummer STEWART COPELAND with PUNCTUATED PULSES promoting a PROPULSIVE forward MOMENTUM by singer/bassist STING. i dont know if its REGGAE per se (the album in english translates to white reggae), but it is a DISTINCT SONIC AESTHETIC in the history of ROCK AND ROLL, with no real precedent outside of the JAMAICAN DUB TRADITION. COPELAND for one, having grown up overseas as a THIRD CULTURE KID in places like EGYPT and LEBANON (his father being involved with the CIA), has a renowned ability to incorporate COMPLEX POLYRHYTHMS that are distinctly rooted in AFRICAN and ARABIC TRADITIONS he experienced as a child and young adult. SUMMERS likewise had a NILES RODGERS-esque affinity for INTERESTING JAZZ INVERSIONS and VOICINGS for TRADITIONAL GUITAR CHORDS that made his sequences feel UNIQUE and EXOTIC. STING has always been a mystery to me as his BRASH VOCALS are what keep the band tethered to street level in a sense. it makes all of these sonic muso TEXTURES feel grounded in POST PUNK EXPERIMENTALISM and not the possible opening prelude to an extended PROG ROCK song. it is entirely ironic to me that his later discography followed the unfortunate trajectory of PAUL SIMON in exploiting WORLD CULTURES rather than TASTEFULLY curating them into a COHESIVE ARTISTIC STATEMENT a la PETER GABRIEL. in THE POLICE all of these DISPARATE DYNAMICS played to their STRENGTH and on singles like "MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE" and "WALKING ON THE MOON" off of REGGATTA DE BLANC, this was parlayed with striking results. i am aware that as personalities, COPELAND and STING in recent years come off as SELF-CONGRATULATORY, NARCISSISTIC pricks. i for one am a huge fan and student of SUMMERS' GUITAR PLAYING and specifically his penchant for utilizing UNIQUE CHORD VOICINGS throughout their catalogue. if anything, stay for that and try to forget about the other two. if anything, that in particular is definitely worth checking out. |
NICHOLAS ARCHIVES
April 2024
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