The Extravagant E's
Well hello. How is everyone doing? Me, I’m doing well, and I’m coming at you
with a new edition of this-a here music newsletter. Yeah, you thought that I’d
forgotten about the old A-Z Music Review Revue, didn’t you?
Shame shame. I didn’t forget; it was just that this semester at school was a bit
tough. Who’d have thought that grad school would actually be hard? Not me,
evidently, but I quickly found out that it was.
Just as a bit of a refresher, and an intro for everyone that’s new here, I’m
Ryan, and I write these lame reviews of music that I’ve been listening to. To
(try to) make it interesting, I’ve been doing it from A all the way to Z. So
every now and then, I buy a few CDs that have the same letter and write about
them. I know…sounds boring, doesn’t it? But for some reason, people seem to be
interested in this, and keep asking me when the next review is coming out (and
I’m not just talking about well-intentioned relatives, but thanks nonetheless,
mom!).
Anyhow, I usually start the review with an excuse about why it’s taken me so
long to write a review, and I’ve already covered that, to an extent. I should
also note, though, that I’ve gotten a cat, and feeding him and petting him takes
away lots of valuable music-review-writing time. His name is technically
Gallagher, but I’ve taken to calling him “Kitty.” Not that it matters, though,
since he doesn’t answer to either name. My friend Tori and I have also tossed
around the names “Pyongyang” and “Foodbag,” but neither seems to “speak” to him.
Also, the Cat-Ryan relationship has also yet to be legally defined, as Boulder
has the law that instead of being called a pet owner, a person who has a cat or
dog is a pet GUARDIAN. That seems a bit excessively hippy for me, but I’d be
willing to go along with it. However, I’m not sure if I would have a “cat,” or
if I’d need to refer to him as an “independent feline contractor.” So you see
how all the confusion surrounding this little guy could prevent me from writing
a review for months and months.
Oh well. In any case, I got the cat from a client of my dad who was really
allergic to him, and fortunately my own cat allergies haven’t brought me to my
knees. This cat is really nice, though, and I’d say he’s the ideal cat. The only
problem is that he’s so sweet I routinely want to vomit just from looking at
him. But he sleeps at my feet to keep my warm (and my heating bill down), and I
feed him twice a day, so we have a nice symbiotic relationship.
Anyhow, that’s about enough crap about my cat…I don’t want to become one of
THOSE people. Let’s talk about music. I’ve gotten some good CDs for this review,
but they’re a bit hard to nail down at times, so we’ll have to see how the
review turns out. Also, in the spirit of the holiday sale, I’m going to slash
costs and take 20% off this review, so instead of 5 CDs, I’ll only review 4.
Complaints can be directed at my marketing department.
So, let’s get it done!
EELS – “SOULJACKER”
The Eels are awesome. This CD, along with anything else I’ve heard by them, is
also awesome. And if you ever get the chance to see them in concert, as I was
lucky enough to do a while back, then you had better go because they ROCK and
they are awesome.
OK, got that out of the way. Now for a bit more about this particular CD. It’s
pretty impressive, to say the least. On the front cover, we see the grainy
picture of a bearded, Unibomber-looking man, and he appears to be holding a
confused poodle. As strange as this may sound, this picture actually seems to
set the mood for the entire album: the picture, as well as the songs, are
slightly weird and awkward, but in the end they’re pretty cool, and you can’t
help but laughing a bit when you come across them.
If you have heard any other Eels CD, such as the ever-excellent “Beautiful
Freak” or “Electro-Shock Blues,” then you already know a little bit about the
Eels’ style, which mixes bouncing, up-beat jams alongside slower, melancholic
songs that would be pretty depressing if it weren’t for the jams (and if you
HAVEN’T heard either of those CDs, then get your shit together and listen to one
ASAP. I challenge you to find a better depressing but ultimately feel-good song
than “PS You Rock My World”). As for this CD, there seems to be a pretty even
mix between the jams and the downers, but the jams stand out a bit more to me.
My favorite song is “Fresh Feeling,” which starts off with a string ensemble and
transitions into a bouncy little number, but there’s plenty more where that came
from.
In particular I like “Friendly Ghost” and “Teenage Witch,” as well as “Jungle
Telegraph” which, if we are to believe the liner notes, is about a guy that
becomes a teenage prostitute that kills a man in self defense, and then flees to
Africa to live in a tree.
In fact, the liner notes themselves are also really interesting. There is the
standard list of lyrics, but there is also a mini essay by a DJ Killingspree
that is really funny and informative. When talking about “Jungle Telegraph,” for
example, Killingspree says “Is it just me, or is there something heavy going on
here?” He also calls the album a “Magna Carta of rock,” and says that if we all
show the Eels some respect, they will continue to drop “some serious science” on
our heads.
As a final interesting note, “World of Shit” could actually be considered a love
song, at least in the odd realm of musicdom that the Eels occupy. It is also a
prime example of the way Mr. E and the gang mix happy and sad to create an
irresistible result. An excerpt: “baby, I confess / I am quite a mess / so let’s
get married and / make some people / more than equal / in this world of shit…I
will make a pledge / to get down off the ledge / you and I belong together / and
forever we will have / our love.”
In other words, if you are a human being that has his or her sense of hearing
intact, then you should get yourself a CD by the Eels!
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN – “HEAVEN UP HERE”
I must admit that, as is the case with many of my CD purchases, I bought this
album out of a desire to do some “musical homework,” a phenomenon that I’ve
discussed in a previous edition of the review. In this case, I had heard mention
of Echo and the Bunnymen in the movie “High Fidelity,” which is one of my
favorites. The deal was sealed with the name of the group, which is admittedly
weird but cool. So one day I found myself at Bart’s CD Cellar (which isn’t
actually a cellar at all), perusing the Echo CDs. I grabbed this CD, and an
employee that was passing by said out of nowhere that it was the best one by the
group, so I felt reassured. Upon listening to the album, though, I’ve found it
excessively hard to describe and pinpoint.
First of all, the album is from the year 1981, and it’s hard to avoid comparing
it to early U2, or some other acts of the era. And I hate to say it, but a lot
of the songs on the album sound the same, or at least really, really similar.
There is the tight drumming, the quick guitars, and the nearly-incomprehensible
ululating soaring above it all on basically every track. That’s not to say that
it sounds bad, because it doesn’t. It just sounds like a collection of early
lost U2 singles. And I feel like an unappreciative musical simpleton for
berating these Welshmen in such a manner, but it’s just the truth of what I
personally perceive. This CD is boring to me.
I think that the problem with this CD is that I WANT to appreciate it, but I
still DON’T. It would be really cool to say that I’m really into Echo and the
Bunnymen, but I guess I’m just not. It’s the type of CD I’d expect to hear in
the following sort of situation:
I go to some place in Europe, let’s say Germany, and visit a friend of mine.
We’ll call him Pedro. So Pedro gets invited over to a friend’s house, and at
that friend’s house there is a CD playing in the background.
It’s kind of rocking, but after about three songs, I notice that they all sound
kind of the same. So I ask his friend, “Hey, Pedro’s friend, which CD is this?”
and he answers, “Oh, it’s ‘Heaven Up Here,’ from Echo and the Bunnymen. It’s
great, isn’t it?” And I’d smile and say, “Oh yes, I like it a lot…it’s pretty
sweet!” When it comes to music tastes, I’ve found that it’s often best to smile
and lie, just avoid some sort of international incident.
STEVE EARLE – “JERUSALEM”
Speaking of Germany, this CD was recommended to me by a friend of mine named
Brian, who lives in Munich. I’ve taken quite a few of his recommendations, and
they have yet to disappoint me, and this CD is no exception. It is quite
excellent for a few reasons.
First of all, this is not really a country CD. Evidently Steve Earle is still
considered “country” in some circles, but most of this CD is far from that
moniker. Plus, with the likes of Toby Keith (aka “The Antichrist”) being part of
country music these days, I’m pretty sure Steve Earle would be happy to be set
aside from the title “country.” The modern institution of country music seems to
be interested mainly in wrapping itself in the flag and kowtowing to the
governmental status quo. There are a few notable exceptions, such as the Dixie
Chicks, but they are quickly cursed and mocked by the other fixtures of the
country music establishment. This is particularly sad because there used to be a
strong strain of resistance in country music, as evidenced by the mere name of
the outlaw movement. It is in this vein of resistance, then, that Earle made
this album, and it’s a breath of fresh air.
“Jerusalem” came out in 2002, and it caused a bit of a controversy with the song
“John Walker’s Blues.” I read a review that said this song was vilified because
it made the mistake of seeing John Walker Lindh as a human and not just as an
evil terrorist. If you’ll remember, Lindh was the American that was captured in
Afghanistan for fighting alongside the Taliban. The song indeed never glorifies
what Lindh did, but instead tried to capture the feelings that Lindh might have
felt: an alienation by the American culture that he sees on MTV and in soda-pop
ads, and an eventual identification with a belief system that makes sense to
him. The song is very effective in that it helps you see that there are two
sides to everything, as my ma would say.
The rest of the CD is not as political, but now and again there are some hints
at resistance and questioning authority in order to produce a stronger society.
On the back cover of the case, even, Earle leaves his listener with a warning,
but an upbeat message, as well. He rejects the idea that second-guessing our
leaders in a time of crisis is unpatriotic, and says instead that such
questioning is even healthy and necessary to maintain our Constitution, which he
sees as the heart of democracy. Doesn’t sound too treasonous, now does it?
As for the SOUND of the album, it’s pretty great, actually. There are a lot of
upbeat songs that are more on the rockin’ end of the scale, and a few, like
“John Walker’s Blues,” that are quieter in order to emphasize the message.
Another is the title song, “Jerusalem,” which is a rejection of violence and a
call for peace. And of course, being at least partially a country album, there
is a few broken-hearted love songs, but for those turned off by a lot of the
staples of country music, there’s not a twang or a slide guitar to be heard, so
you can listen to this album with the confidence that you’re not a closet hick.
THE EVERLY BROTHERS – “THE VERY BEST OF THE EVERLY BROTHERS”
Do you remember how in the last edition of this newsletter, I reviewed Dr. Dre’s
album “The Chronic”? Well, so do I, and this album is nothing like that album.
Nothing at all. Although it does provide an interesting study in contrasts. I
suppose that there’s obviously going to be differences between 60s pop/rock and
90s rap, but it’s funny how pronounced those differences can be. For example, on
“Bye Bye Love” Don and Phil sing about their “baby going away with someone new,”
and how they sure are “blue”
and that they want to cry. Dre, on the other hand, would probably NOT declare
himself to be through with romance and love, but would instead just roll up and
pop a fucking cap in the new guy’s ass, and in the bitch’s ass, as well. Ah, the
Good Old Days.
So yeah, I get a slight touch of the nostalgia when I hear this album, which is
odd, since I was born in 1980. Or perhaps I’m just confusing nostalgia with
nausea. In any case, the music hearkens back to the days when love songs meant
everything, and a song didn’t have to go through weeks of post-production to be
a hit. As far as this particular album goes, it’s obviously a greatest hits
album, which I had subconsciously decided to try to avoid in these reviews.
However, it’s kind of hard to find “E” CDs, and as tempting as it was to just
buy another Eels CD, I wanted to mix it up a bit.
The packaging itself is typically sparse. There is a simple track listing, as
well as a short timeline in the “Notes” section of the liner notes, as well as
two great pictures of the brothers in full dork grandeur.
When seeing the pictures of these two, it’s clear to see how they could perform
sappy songs like “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and “Crying in the Rain.” Most of
the songs are good, if you’re into slow, early-60s pop music, but probably
excruciating if you’re not. As for me, I like many of the songs, but
unfortunately, most of their greatest hits, such as “Bye Bye Love” and “All I
Have to Do Is Dream” have been co-opted by some shitty commercial, and it’s hard
NOT to think of a spinning Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast when I hear “Wake Up
Little Susie.” This album has helped in the Musical Homework Department, though,
by helping me see how different styles and genres combine and evolve in the 60s,
which is still a decade that I am weak in.
So, I’d recommend this CD to you if you’re really into 60s pop (but if you are,
then you probably already have it), or if you want to add a bit of schmaltz to
an evening (but if that’s the case, there’s schmaltzier stuff out there, too).
Well, that’s it for this time. Thanks for reading if you made it this far, and
thanks for the encouragement. Otherwise I’d probably have given up on these
reviews long ago!
Take care, and listen to some music for me!
Ryan