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Jason Thompson's
Reviews: March, 2001
Scroll
down for Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and Looper
You’ve Got To Scrape The Shit Right Off Your Shoes
Rolling Stones
Exile On Main St.
(Rolling Stones, 1972/Virgin, 1994)
If you want to hear the sound of degradation in the ‘70s,
then step right up and witness the spectacle that is Exile
On Main St. This is the only Stones album I need, period.
I always thought that the band was a killer singles act, but
their albums always left me feeling a bit flat. But here is
Jagger and company playing it for real. Before the goofy posturing
of It’s Only Rock And Roll, before the plastic groove
of Some Girls, and way before the MTV acceptance of
Undercover, here was the Stones being the baddest, sleaziest,
and most junked-up band with not a care in the world.
The opening "Rocks Off" sounds like this is gonna be one hell
of a great time, but as soon as Jagger’s worn out mumblings
arrive, you realize that something’s gone quite awry. By the
time the fucked up bridge oozes out of your speakers, it’s
all too clear that this is not the same band who wooed you
with "Satisfaction" and "Let’s Spend The Night Together".
This time around, the Stones had slept with you fifty times
over, drank all your booze, crapped all over the place, and
stumbled to the microphones to make good.
Oh sure, they pull their shit together for the soulful "Tumbling
Dice" and the burnt-out optimism of "Happy" (riffs don’t get
any better than the one laid down right here), but it’s all
pointless. This is a shambling masterpiece that falls down
on its face constantly. "Rip This Joint" is exquisite slop.
The nervous "Hip Shake" sounds like a sleazy addict gone haywire.
You listen to these songs and feel the immediate need for
a bath soon after.
The smuttiness that began on "Brown Sugar" continues with
no smirks at all on "Black Angel". The Stones didn’t give
a shit what you thought, though. Here they were living with
their vices planted firmly on the sleeves of all involved.
I hear these tunes and think that maybe Charlie Watts still
managed to maintain the ounce of stability that he always
gave the group, but after awhile I tend to think that maybe
even he became debauched throughout this album. I mean, you
put this album on and everything just turns incredibly dirty
all of a sudden.
It’s all about the shut-down. "Just Wanna See His Face" is
as creepy as it ever got on vinyl for the Stones, "Turd On
The Run" is dirt defined, and the final collapse of "Shine
A Light" and "Soul Survivor" sum up the weariness with no
answers or exits from the fray. But this is why it works.
For once, the band just put their money on the table and made
an album. Who cared if any of it was singles-worthy? Indeed,
the "hits" here are secondary to the entire picture. After
this, though there would be the mediocrity of Goat’s Head
Soup and the ridiculous popularity of "Angie". Blech.
The Stones’ albums have been reissued on CD a number of times.
My copy of Exile On Main St. is the limited edition
version, which faithfully replicates the original LP sleeve,
with gatefold design, all original album art, and even a mini-version
of the postcards that came with the original record. It costs
no more than the standard version of the album on disc, so
if you want something interesting to peruse while getting
drenched in the mud of the music, then I highly suggest this
version. But if you can’t get your hands on this particular
one, don’t worry; the tunes here will leave you ripped long
after the final notes have played.
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Revelation Number Nine
Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde
(Columbia, 1966)
I never thought it would happen. For years, the music of Bob
Dylan failed to ignite much passion in me. Oh sure, I had
always loved "Like A Rolling Stone", and "The Man In Me",
but I just didn’t get it. Recently that all changed with Dylan’s
classic Blonde On Blonde, an album which I had actually
owned a while back but sold because I still wasn’t getting
it.
My
first intro to the work was in high school. This girl whom
I had a crush on made me a mix tape and included "Rainy Day
Women #12 & 35" on it. I found it amusing, but didn’t really
go overboard for it. Then sometime later I picked up Todd
Rundgren’s Faithful album and enjoyed his version of "Most
Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine" from that.
And somewhere either in between or before all that, I had
read in one of my numerous Beatle biographies that Dylan’s
"4th Time Around" was a parody of "Norwegian Wood", so I had
always wanted to hear that. Anyway, a couple years ago I finally
purchased Blonde On Blonde which contains all these songs.
But as I said, I just wasn’t getting it and so out it went
to some used CD store. Fast-forward to very recently when
my CD player is on random and lands on the Fear And Loathing
In Las Vegas soundtrack. Out pops "Stuck Inside Of Mobile
With The Memphis Blues Again". That’s all it took, ladies
and gentlemen. I finally heard Dylan. So I jumped
online to one of the music clubs I still owe purchases from
and found that this song came from Blonde On Blonde
as well. Needless to say, I bought it once again and it gets
played regularly in my home now.
There’s just too many great songs here. The aforementioned
tunes, plus "Visions Of Johanna", "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat",
"Just Like A Woman", "Absolutely Sweet Marie", and "Sad Eyed
Lady Of The Lowlands" are all there. How can you beat that?
And the imagination that Bob injects into these tunes is just
amazing. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it all before, but let
a new convert gush. They don’t make double albums like these
anymore, nor did they make ‘em like this at the time.
It’s beautiful, it’s hilarious, and it deserves every accolade
it has ever received. But it’s not something that can be justified
by yet another review by yet another music critic who stands
in awe of its sheer magnitude. If you own it, go play it again.
If you don’t, just trust me on this one from someone who basically
denied Dylan’s existence for a large chunk of his life. This
is as essential as it gets without getting cliched and overplayed.
Chances are you haven’t heard enough of these songs, and once
you start playing them through I’d bet that you wouldn’t get
sick of them after the hundredth time. Fuck "Stairway To Heaven",
man. "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again"
is where it’s at.
Is this professional ACID?
Looper – The Geometrid
(Sub
Pop, 2000)
Listening to Looper's sophomore effort, The Geometrid,
I can only begin to wonder if this album is some product of
a music program such as ACID Pro. Not that there's anything
wrong with that. It's just that the album feels like it could
have been made by any kid with the right software package
in his own bedroom. Heck, perhaps I should even make a stab
at doing something like this in the near future and secure
myself a recording contract.
Looper is ex-Belle And Sebastian (yawn) bassist Stuart David's
present full time project. With his wife Karn, and "Ronnie
and Scott" the group has released a pair of albums, the first
being Up A Tree in 1999. Whether or not Looper will
cause the kind of commotion and/or ire that David's former
group has managed to conjure is anyone's guess. But my money's
on the Grim Reaper with this group. It's not that The Geometrid
is bad, it's just that it isn't that original and quite horrible.
Electronica like this seems to be dwindling as of late, and
this album certainly doesn't push any barriers around to create
something new.
The lead off track "Mondo '77" has a cool title and that's
about it. Revolving around a distorted keyboard melody line
that sounds like it was pushed through a telephone, the song
slowly builds until the bass and beats are in place. Things
would be just fine if it wasn't for an annoying set of vocal
samples that interfere with the overall groove. When are these
tech whiz kids going to learn how to pare their samples down?
There are some nice keyboard and horn loops as well, and the
bridges break down into Air territory, but Air is tons better
than Looper, and "Mondo '77" sounds like something that could
have been hip maybe twelve years ago in the hands of The Art
Of Noise.
"On The Flipside" opens with some distorted guitar lines that
sound like they're going to be interesting, but soon boil
down into a predictable chord pattern as Karn's vocals spew
out goofy fragments of lyrics that would have been cool in
the early ‘90s, but here they sound once again like a retread.
"My head makes too much noise/Something there won't let me
be/I'd like to sing to the record/I heard the radio play/I'm
stuck on the flipside/Underneath these days". Once more, Looper
pushes the sounds (in this instance, the vocals) through another
telephone type filter. Overall, Karn's vocals sound like she's
trying to cop from Lynn Canfield of Area and The Moon Seven
Times. Canfield is much better than Karn any day.
The obvious "Modem Song" filled with samples of phones ringing
and modems connecting isn't so new either. Way back in 1986,
Kraftwerk played with the idea of phones and communications
in "The Telephone Call" from Electric Cafe. Let's just say
this now: samples of modem connections are not rhythmic or
interesting, especially within the span of an entire pop song.
Stuart's uninteresting poetry is drowned out by all the modem
noise. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I just
know that "Modem Song" gets old within its first twenty seconds.
"Uncle
Ray" attempts to be humorous with its tale of heartburn, but
the limp singalong chorus sounds like it was recorded on a
meth fix. By this point it's becoming obvious that Stuart
and Karn just aren't that interesting as vocalists. Attempting
to sound breathy and smooth, the pair comes off sounding sleepy
and zoned out. "Drink this to put out the fire/Drink this
to put out the flame/Drink this, it tastes like vanilla/Drink
this to cool down your brain". Is there any song on here that
isn't derivative of something much hipper from the past? With
lines like those, the ghost of Os Mutantes looms large and
only reminds everyone that Looper is not in the same ballpark.
Look out, "PuddleMonkey" sounds as if it might actually rock
at first, but then the keyboard squiggles arrive and destroy
everything. And that's the entire track, folks - half a minute
of nothing. Great ideas, guys! "These Things" then follows
and may as well be another "On The Flipside". Karn is calling
through the phone again, mumbling the vocals oh so unexpressively
as the guitars plink away on the nod in the background. Then
back to more of those electronic buzzes and bleeps. "These
things/Almost make me smile" goes the chorus. Gee Karn, I
wouldn't have known that if you actually hadn't said it. Zzzz....
"Bug Rain" pulsates as David intones "Shakin'/Just as the
storm is breakin'/James is hallucinatin'/Tryin' to stay awake/And
the rain and the rain and the rain and the rain". Blah. Elementary
lyrics with elementary rhymes. I get the feeling this album
might appeal to a Blues Clues kind of age group, but then
I figure even those kids have more musical taste than to fall
for anything this empty. Dig it as the keyboard bleeps and
squiggles take the solo and attempt to squash Stuart's performance.
They don't succeed.
The other obvious track on the album "My Robot" is another
snooze-fest filled with more lousy poetry and electronic silliness.
Oh yeah, this is real deep man. First modems now robots. "I
thought I'd teach my robot to write all my songs". Well, I
think you sincerely succeeded Stuart. They suck. Is the torture
over? No? Great. "Tomorrow's World" is filled with more annoying
bleeping melody lines and Karn and Stuart attempting to do
Stereolab. Guess what? Yes, that's right kids. Buy a Stereolab
album instead. I can't believe Sub-Pop actually released this
album by this point. Isn't this the kind of thing that should
be a big seller over at mp3.com, but in reality doesn't stand
a chance?
"Money Hair" tries to actually pump a groove into The Geometrid,
but by this time it's way too late. The group's impression
of Saint Etienne is pointless, just like the rest of the album.
Blah. That's really my best summation of this work. I see
that it has a few fans, but honestly I can't see much of an
interest lingering over The Geometrid very long. If
David thinks this is where the gravy train is going to be
stopping, he's sorely wrong. If I were he, I'd take my sound
card and music software back to the store and demand a refund.
Save yourself some cash and sanity and trust me when I tell
you this album's one big stink pile.
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Jason
Thompson: February, 2001,
January, 2001, December,
2000, November, 2000
Jason
Thompson's Reviews: March,
2001
January,
2001,
December, 2000
Jason
Thompson's Reviews: November, 2000
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