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James Baumann:
April,
2004
Scroll down for reviews of the latest from
Ben Kweller, Dave Edmunds, Rockpile, Various Artists: Porky's
Revenge, Autumn Defense, Thelonious Monster and The Townsmen
Ben Kweller
On My Way
(ATO)
www.benkweller.com
Virtually nothing about Ben Kweller is written
without mentioning his youth and/or the major label deal he
signed as a teenager. And, now, this review is no different.
But with On My Way Kweller certainly establishes himself
as an artist mature beyond his years.
Kweller also proves that 2002's Sha Sha did
not extinguish his supply of musical hooks as they continue
to come from everywhere - a bass line here, a guitar or piano
lick there, a drum fill behind it all, or a vocal on top.
Each song finds its own way to pull the listener in and leaves
them tapping a toe or singing along.
Whether the songs are built around guitar
or keyboards, they all got hops. "The Rules" hints
that he picked a thing or two up from his friends in The Strokes.
"Hospital Bed" and "My Apartment" will
probably sound the most familiar to fans of his previous disc.
"I Need You Back," "Ann Disaster," and
"Down" rock a bit harder while "Believer"
and "Different But the Same" show his softer side.
"Here Me Out" might be the album's underrated highlight
as it slowly works its way through the loud-soft format as
it builds its way to a crescendo.
Lyrically, Kweller succeeds - as my Fufkin
compatriot Mike Bennett put it a few months ago in his piece
on The Thrills - by not overreaching his bounds when it comes
to lyrics. The truth he finds in songs that are autobiographical,
or focused on another individual, can expand to the big picture.
It's a great example of "show, don't tell." Sure,
sometimes, searching for the rhyme or meter, the words might
border on silly (I think of the line "I'll kill him with
karate that I learned in Japan" in the acoustic title
track) but since when were rock songs supposed to be serious?
And seemingly nonsensical lyrics worked pretty well for people
like Dylan, Beck, and Pollard, to name three.
It's also worth noting that this record was
recorded live, in a room, sans headphones, by Ethan Johns.
For those keeping score at home, that's Kweller's guitar in
the right speaker and Ben Stroud's in the right. It works
for this collection of songs, capturing the spirit and letting
any rough edges that might poke up give it flavor. As long
as Kweller is willing to risk brash experiments like that
and continue to mine that melody vein, we will all enjoy his
long career immensely.
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Dave Edmunds
From Small Things (Best of)
(Columbia Legacy)
Rockpile
Seconds of Pleasure
(Columbia Legacy)
Various Artists
Porky's Revenge
(Columbia Legacy)
The fine folks at Sony Legacy have re-discovered
Dave Edmunds and are re-introducing him with a new greatest
hits collection as well as new copies of Rockpile's Seconds
of Pleasure and - that's right - the Porky's Revengesoundtrack.
To me, Edmunds always seemed to be one of
those artists where people might not know who he is, but they
would immediately recognize his songs or, more accurately,
the songs that he covered and made his own. Among his contemporaries
he wasn't as ironic as Nick Lowe, quirky as Graham Parker,
or angry as Elvis Costello, but he made wonderful music out
of his mixture of pub rock plus country plus rockabilly plus
pop plus the sound and spirit of original rock and roll from
the '50s and early '60s.
It's actually quite funny that, out of the
16 tracks on Edmunds' greatest hits collection, he only co-wrote
two of the songs. The others come from names like Lowe, Fogerty,
Costello, Springsteen, Parker, and Lynne. Still, his distinctive
voice, guitar playing, and gift for melody and harmony - not
to mention arrangement - show that he was more than just a
jukebox that cranked out other writers' songs.
From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds
leads listeners through his career chronologically. There's
the street-corner rave ups like "I Knew The Bride,"
"I Hear You Knocking," and "Crawling From the
Wreckage" that segue easily with the smooth "Let
It Be Me" or the country/bluegrass sound of "Warmed
Over Kisses (Leftover Love)" and "Almost Saturday
Night." On the second half of the disc synth parts (and,
in some cases, Jeff Lynne production techniques) work their
way closer to the forefront and songs like the magnificent
"Girl's Talk," "Information," and "Slipping
Away" veer closer to the New Wave sound. And the disc
closes with more raw, stripped down versions of rockers like
"Ju Ju Man," "Run Run Rudolph," and "Do
You Wanna Dance."
It would be nice if the re-release of Rockpile's
Seconds of Pleasure would kick off a wave of acceptance
for bands that simply play great songs with a mixture of spirit
and craftsmanship rather than those who lip-sync and vent
their angst. After years of these musicians - Terry Williams
and Billy Bremner - backing either Lowe or Edmunds on their
records and tours, this disc was the one-time effort under
the Rockpile moniker. The experience shows as they confidently
"play Chuck Berry music four times faster than anyone
else" as the liner notes say.
The tunes are undeniably catchy: "When
I Write A Book," Play That Fast Thing (One More Time),"
"Teacher, Teacher," "Heart," "Wrong
Again (Let's Face It)," and "If Sugar Was As Sweet
As You" to name just a few are stellar. There are no
grandiose statements and the only "questions" the
songwriters seem interested in answering are how to deal with
a broken heart or how to get a girl to notice them.
The new disc adds seven bonus tracks. Four
of them were originally included on a 7-inch EP that was included
with the original LP. There are also two songs taken from
a live BBC performance; "Back To Schooldays" and
a rollicking "They Called It Rock" (which, really,
every bar band should be required to learn) before closing
with an over-the-top live performance of "Crawling From
the Wreckage" which comes from The Concerts for Kampuchea.
The final part of this trilogy is the Porky's
Revenge soundtrack. Organized by Edmunds and featuring
a handful of his tunes, the disc also includes songs by George
Harrison, Jeff Beck, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Crawling
King Snakes (a one-shot band which included Edmunds, Phil
Collins and Robert Plant), Carl Perkins, and Willie Nelson.
Back when I saw this movie as a young teenager
I don't recall noticing the murderer's row of guitar players
that had been assembled. I was probably concentrating too
much on the subtleties and nuances of the movie's plot. Or
maybe it was just waiting to see boobies. Still, the music
accurately captured the spirit of the times, which is what
a soundtrack is supposed to do. Based on that, Edmunds was
the perfect pick to head these sessions as he built an entire
career based on his keen ear. It served him as he produced
acts from the Flaming Groovies to the Stray Cats to k.d. Lang
to The Fabulous Thunderbirds just as well as it did when he
picked songs to cover. So the next time you're stuck at a
wedding or cheesy bar where the house "band" is
cranking out one Eagles' tune after another, recognize the
difference between what a cover band does and the artistry
of Edmunds.
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The Townsmen
Dim As A Glimmer
(Bluehouse)
www.townsmen-ohio.com
There's a certain something about roots rock
or alt-country or whatever title you want to hang on it that
makes it sound better when it comes out of the Midwest. Anywhere
east of Pittsburgh or west of St. Louis and the mixture just
seems a bit off. The Townsmen are a band that has found that
balance, combining the energy and spirit of the punk bands
that probably filled their youth with the craftsmanship of
country tunes and a subconscious influence from those "classic
rock" bands that are inescapable up and down the radio
dial.
Quickly recorded, this batch of tunes sounds
at times like a dustier version of X or an older version of
Uncle Tupelo. The players are seasoned, having held slots
in a number of bands over the year. That's given them the
chops to play but also the knowledge that most of the time
the straight path beats the one with all the curves. "Travel
On," which kicks off the disc, epitomizes the band's
appeal. You've heard these chords before, as well as the "you
don't know what you've got until it's gone" sentiment.
And where one might expect a fancy guitar solo, here we get
simple harmonious la la las. But they deliver it with honest
sentiment that doesn't re-invent the wheel, but improves upon
it.
The title track is filled with jangley guitars
and poppy melodies while "Standing Sideways With Grace"
has a more traditional country tempo and the vocals take on
a bit more twang. Elsewhere, "Chainsaw Boogie" utilizes
the guest appearance of The Battelle Kings horn section to
spice things up and give the song an even more menacing tone
than the title would suggest. "Country Home" and
"Spend Another Night" are lonesome ballads and the
up-tempo "Hello Waitress" and "Back 2 Back"
stray closer to the band's punk roots. Style-wise, The Townsmen
cover a fair amount of ground with this disc, and press reports
say there are another batch of songs from these recording
sessions sitting in a can ready to go right now. Even if they
might not be offering up much that is new, what they do give
is the real thing and it's from the gut.
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Autumn Defense
Circles
(Arena Rock Recording)
www.autumndefense.com
The cover photo of a sunset on this album
looks like it could have come from the cover of a church bulletin,
or a book of poetry from the 1970s. It's an appropriate choice
for this collection of lush instrumentation and breathy vocals.
It sounds like, perhaps, the most mellow Neil Young record
ever.
What intrigues me about this record is the
way it manages to be both quiet and complicated at the same
time. This is not a stripped down affair. Rather, each layer
of gossamer that they recorded just make the songs more plush.
Organs and acoustic guitars drift in and out leaving space
for each other. "Why I'm Like This" is similar to
a Pernice Brothers song. And I enjoy the way the cadence of
"Iowa City Adieu" reminds me of a very melodic post
card.
There are certainly those for whom this disc
is too quiet - I find it works better when I'm in a certain
mood. But there's no denying the way they've combined some
AM radio from the '70s, McCartneyesque melodies (listen to
"Some Kind of Fool") and, for the Kinks fans reading
this, I don't think the repeated references to "the village
green" in "Written In the Snow" is a coincidence.
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Thelonious Monster
California Clam Chowder
(Lakeshore)
www.lakeshorerecords.com
Los Angeles post-punk poets Thelonious Monster
have returned. Well, at least singer/songwriter Bob Forrest
is back with a supporting cast after one album (though it
was released twice) by a project called Bicycle Thief and
- if his past history has held up - probably a whole host
of bizarre escapades. This time he's offering up a covers
album of sorts. Each of the 15 tracks are called "The
_________ Song" with different band names inserted, paying
homage to acts ranging from Gun Club to Curtis Mayfield to
Iggy Stooge to Elton John to The Jam to Bob Dylan to Big Star
to The Rolling Stones (circa '77).
The truth of the matter, though, is that
few of the songs sound that different than Thelonious Monster
songs of the past, so it's more like he's giving credit to
his influences than actually trying to sound like someone
(with the possible exception of the 54-second long "The
Germs Song or the one minute of nonsense that is "The
Beck Song"). The guitar parts include lots of gentle
slides, while Forrest's voice still is capable of a mellow
soulfulness as he spins his woe-to-the-world-it-will-be-okay
tales. He remains the king of the "anything can become
a song" lyrics. The best example is on "The Rolling
Stones '77 Song" where he intones: "It was a typical
day, it was a typical day, it was a typical day in L.A. /
The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot and everything looked
so pretty" over some Keef-style riffs, going on to describe
his lunch date and shopping at Amoeba Records.
Other highlights include "The Bowie
Low Song," which includes long, bass-heavy instrumental
sections, "The Jam Song" which bounces and, yes,
"The Thelonious Monster Song" which allows the guitar
to buzz and the drums to pound a bit harder than elsewhere.
This disc doesn't reach the heights of the
earlier "Beautiful Mess," which I contend is one
of the finest, least-heard major-label releases of the last
15 years. But it has more than its share of moments, and makes
me glad Forrest continually finds people to put out his music.
One big question remains, though. Where is "The Replacements
Song?" Knowing Forrest, he might answer, "they are
all Replacement songs."
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