The Reverend Horton Heat The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds
of The Reverend Horton Heat
Year: 1993 Format: Digital Grade: B+
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. It's the holy trinity of rock 'n' roll and it's what The Reverend Horton Heat's The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds is full of.
Horton and company break down the door with "Wiggle Stick," scratching two of the three from the list in a bluesy brawler. Later, "Bales of Cocaine" humorously makes The Reverend into a drug dealer: "Now I am a rich man, but I'm still a farmer, too / I sold my farm in Texas, bought a farm down in Peru." "Beer:30," as the title might suggest, helps the cause.
Full-Custom Gospel invites you to live in the lap of its depravity, served on a boozy, bluesy platter of country, punk and psychobilly, a frenetic take on rockabilly.
The closer, "Gin and Tonic Blues" dissolves into complete drug-soaked weirdness, Horton's voice sounding hopelessly lost as time slows and expands.
Full-Custom Gospel travels back to rock's roots to drag it into its trippy, dirty future. What a fun ride.
It's a weird thing to write, but it's actually the chaos of The Hold Steady's second record, Separation Sunday, that makes it work so well.
This isn't chaos in a free jazz way, but in the sense that singer Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler sometimes sound unaware that they're in the same band. Finn rattles off lyrics in his signature brand of singspeak a fixture lessened on later records by voice lessons dropping lines about parties, drugs and Bible-stealing, born-again Christians. In between, Kubler steps in and rattles off a solo or provides the hook.
The recording is more raw than any of the Hold Steady records that follow it, a quality which works to the advantage of their thinking man's bar band ethos. A live, fresh sound is really what suits their sound best, especially when Finn and Kubler are this unaware of each other. Somewhere around the time of Stay Positive, someone informed them they were both in Hold Steady and the results have been mellower songs and a breaking down of the juxtaposition that made Boys and Girls in America and Separation Sunday so much fun.
Tomorrow's entry: The Reverend Horton Heat, The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of The Reverend Horton Heat
The Heritage Hunter Tour, which pulled into the Fox Theater in Oakland Friday night, is a meeting of two prog metal giants in Opeth and Mastodon.
Mastodon is the comparative newcomer, the younger band, but looked like it had something to prove on the co-headlining bill.
Sandwiched between Opeth (photo above) and Ghost, the band ripped through nearly every track from its 2011 album, The Hunter (right). While mostly abandoning the band's older, Cookie Monster-style vocals, the Hunter delivered thanks to a lights show that captured scope and intensity.
When they strayed from The Hunter, they did well, too. "Crack the Skye," the lone track from the 2009 album of the same name, showed polish and focus. The showstopper was the "Moby-Dick"-referencing classic "Blood and Thunder," which turned the historic Oakland venue's crowd into a rage of mosh pits, headbangers, pumped fists and metal-horn fingers thrust in the sky. (Watch it here, as filmed by yours truly on an iPhone.)
Opeth, meanwhile, which closed the night, looked like the grizzled veterans. The band spent most of its first decade turning everything it touched to critical gold with a string of classic prog death metal records, but has since settled into a mellower brand.
Like Mastodon, the Swedish group favored its most recent record, Heritage (left). This choice showed the gulf between the band's classic metal and Mikael Äkerfeldt's chilling death growl, and the newer material, on which he sings pleasantly.
The stark contrast for Opeth between "Demon of the Fall" and everything that proceeded it was startling. After 45 minutes of heavy rock that drew a response of standing, rapt attention, Opeth shifted into another gear and pushed the speedometer into the red. Äkerfeldt delivered the growls, the sound swelled to more aggressive heights and the crowd remembered how it moshed and mashed to "Blood and Thunder."
"Demon of the Fall" showed just how good Opeth's older material is and how much more it felt like familiar territory as opposed to the lighter, wiser touch of Heritage. Even "The Grand Conjuration," which closed the night, is newer, but still managed to outstrip the Heritage cuts.
Ghost (Opus Eponymous, right) opened the night with a blazing 30-minute set that was not to be missed. Five of its six members appeared clad in black hoods and robes except for singer Papa Emeritus, who wore a cardinal outfit and a mask. The theatrics added intrigue, but were unnecessary the band brought loud, shattering doom metal just fine without it.
Setlists Opeth
1. The Devil's Orchard
2. I Feel the Dark
3. Slither
4. Windowpane
5. Burden
6. The Lines in My Hand
7. Folklore
8. Demon of the Fall
9. The Grand Conjuration
Mastodon
1. Black Tongue
2. Hand of Stone
3. Crystal Skull
4. Dry Bone Valley
5. Thickening
6. Octopus Has No Friends
7. Blasteroid
8. Stargasm
9. The Hunter
10. Crack the Skye
11. All the Heavy Lifting
12. Spectrelight
13. Curl of the Burl
14. Bedazzled Fingernails
15. Aqua Dementia
16. Blood and Thunder
17. The Sparrow
Ghost
1. Con Clavi Con Dio
2. Elizabeth
3. Prime Mover
4. Death Knell
5. Satan Prayer
6. Ritual
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The Killers had the task of following up the success of their neo-new wave hits "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me" on the Las Vegas group's sophomore effort.
To say Sam's Town is virtually indistinguishable from Hot Fuss is the least of it. The record shows little change in the group's formula. Personally, Hot Fuzz didn't blow my hair back, so more of the same is even discouraging.
When they dial it in, The Killers do what they do well. They make catchy singles, so making "Read My Mind" cut from the same bombastic arena rock as "Brightside" and "Somebody," awash in synthesizers before its triumphant chorus, is a smart move.
However, elsewhere, though, their decisions are confusing. "Enterlude" and "Exitlude" don't add much while songs such as "Uncle Johnny" seem formulated to bring cheering arena crowds to their feet on a platter of style and little substance.
The Killers draw from their new waves inspirations as well as U2, Bruce Springsteen and Queen, but wind up with a record that sounds less like homage and more like imitation.
Tomorrow's entry: The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday
Opeth's master work, Still Life, starts audaciously with "The Moor," a serpentine, 11.5-minute blast of metal that slithers through many landscapes, giving Mikael Äkerfeldt the chance to show off that demonic, dirty growl as much as his clean, gentle vocals.
"The Moor" sets the stage for Still Life, which is chock full of tasty riffs and epic arrangements, as the legendary Swedish death metal group is known to do. "Moonlapse Vertigo," a nine-minute effort, eventually erupts into a propulsive riff and rides it. "Face of Melinda" builds to a foot-stomping rattle.
As Opeth also is known to do, not everything is shiver-your-bones death metal. "Benighted" shows their softer side.
All of the tasty metal riffage is set against the story of Still Life, which charts the tale of a religious expatriate who returns to his hometown. Without reading a lyrics book, Äkerfeldt's rough vocals make the concept difficult to track, but when the music is this good, much like The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, no one cares if your concept fails.
As prog metal goes, it's hard to imagine many records better than Still Life.
An Internet friend registered surprise when I compared Spiritualized's Sweet Heart Sweet Light to Oasis, but I hear it so strongly.
The closer, "So Long You Pretty Thing," has all the swell, swagger and excess of one of the lengthy workouts from Be Here Now, including an elevating bed of backing vocals.
On the other end of the platter is "Hey Jane," the 9-minute lead single that stands as one of 2012's best tracks thus far. It combines the same elements of neo-psychedelia and guitar sounds that call of mind (What's the Story) Morning Glory.
Sweet Heart isn't imitation, however. "I Am What I Am" squeaks and futzes in a way early Oasis never considered and still stays afloat. "Get What You Deserve," a nearly 7-minute ramble, seesaws in a haze. While Spaceman's lyrics are sullen, his songs are upbeat.
Even with the (erroneous?) comparisons to Oasis, Sweet Heart Sweet Light stands on its own as a full, interesting body of work.
Blunderbuss amounts to Jack White's first solo and first full-length, post-White Stripes effort.
The problem is that's easy to miss for a man whose mere involvement in two other bands, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, earned them the distinction of being "Jack White Music."
If solo records are when the artist bares all and shows us who he or she really is, we already know White. He picks an instrument or a certain feel and rides it. See the marimba and The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan for proof.
White feels enamored with instruments with keys here, letting them add touches to many or even steer a few tracks entirely. "Love Interruption" opens with a keyboard lick to do Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" proud; "Hypocritical Kiss" stumbles in with a piano flourish.
We're not devoid of familiar White rave ups. "Sixteen Saltines" could be a Stripes leftover and "I'm Shakin' " has a boogie one could see The Raconteurs tackle.
Blunderbuss falls under the umbrella of "Jack White Music," something not earthshatteringly different than we've heard before from him, but, like such efforts, worthy of a listen.
The electronic dance music scene has risen during the past few years thanks to the likes of Skrillex and Deadmau5.
Deadmau5 pronounced "Deadmouse" for the uninitiated has emerged as one of the leaders of the scene thanks to his live performances, which feature Joel Zimmerman donning a large costume mask in one of a variety of sizes, colors and flashing lights.
Much dance music suffers in the transition from the floor to the iPod and 4x4=12, named after a mathematical gaff by Deadmau5 in describing his equipment, proves no different. The only conceivable way to listen to this at home is at decibels so high it rattles the walls, emulating the feel of being in the club.
That would recreate the feel, but much of 4x4 feels floating between trying to appeal to newcomers to his brand of electro house while not being risky enough to appease diehards. "Some Chords" and "Animal Rights" get the hips moving, but many other tracks pick a formula and stick to it.
When those formulas are twinned with a stunning lights show and wall-rattling bass, it makes listening to 4x4 in the comfort of one's living room a poor introduction to deadmau5.
Today marks 10 years since the release of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
During the process of delivering the album to shelves, one of the band's driving creative forces, Jay Bennett, was dismissed from the group. From then until his 2009 accidental death from a painkiller overdose, Bennett issued solo records.
At the time of his death, Kicking at the Perfumed Air was mostly completed. Little about the record gives the indication that it was unfinished it's easy to accept the sparse recordings of "Footprints" or "M Plates" as flight of fancy.
More songs miss than hit on Kicking, but when they do, they show Bennett's grasp for songwriting. "Twice a Year," for example, is beautifully sad, piano and guitar twinning together to tell a heartbroken ballad.
"Beer" becomes the final volley from Bennett, a song that goes from funny to dark quickly as the number of beers drank climbs. It's not as serious as some of the rest, but it delivers.
It goes a long way to showing that when Bennett was on, he could make a heckuva tune.
Monday marks one decade since the release of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
It’s the Chicago alternative rockers’ magnum opus, a record that appeared on numerous albums of the decade lists for the 2000s.
A sizable portion of the album’s legend is its difficult birth. The group was dropped from one Warner Bros. subsidiary, Reprise, only to sign with another, Nonesuch, over the course of several months in 2001. The saga is captured in the documentary “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” named after the LP’s first song.
The mythos of YHF, as some fans call it, seemed to have been helped initially by the notion that it was the album we nearly never heard.
This mystique fuels our desire to hear a number of albums, some even achieving legendary status. People clamored for unreleased Neil Young recordings for years, only a taste of which was issued in his 2009 The Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 box set.
Much like Young’s material, we did get to hear YHF, but without waiting decades. The story of “the album that nearly wasn’t” was and is an inescapable part of YHF’s unusually belabored birth, but as we approach the 10-year mark, it is known now more as the record which established the band’s identity.
It’s been a constantly shifting identity, too. During the making of the follow up to YHF, A Ghost is Born, Wilco swelled to six members, adding multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen and renowned improv jazz guitarist Nels Cline. YHF marked the band’s first album with drummer Glenn Kotche and its last with multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett.
Bennett left the group amid turmoil with singer and creator leader Jeff Tweedy. After his dismissal, the Illinois native released a string of solo records until his death from a painkiller overdose in 2009.
The collaboration between Bennett and Tweedy may have been turbulent, but it also spawned Wilco’s best material. Only three of the 11 tracks on YHF are not credited to them jointly.
Among their shared works is “Jesus, Etc.,” (YouTube clip at the top of the entry) a song whose chorus describes the defining moment of a generation: “Tall buildings shake, voices escape singing sad, sad songs.”
A haunting fact about that chorus is that like all of the YHF material, it was written prior to 9/11.
This, I think, has added to the record’s mystique and legend more than its difficult birth, how unsettling it is that Tweedy and Bennett (left, performing in 2000) were plugged into not what was going on at the time, but what was to come: “I would like to salute the ashes of American flags,” sings Tweedy on one song.
What made the creative minds at Reprise reject YHF is part of what makes it enduring. The first minute tells the listener it is unlike any Wilco record that preceded it, with alarm clocks buzzing in the background against a plinking piano and a swath of keyboards on “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” (Listen).
YHF endures, too, because much of the last decade has been about the social, political and emotional ramifications of 9/11. Though there are eerily resonant moments YHF’s cover depicting Chicago’s Marina City buildings does seem like a nod to the Twin Towers. Musically, the band covers an array of emotions: anger, happiness, love, longing, lament, dissonance, regret and, as the final track is titled, “Reservations.”
Maybe it was the right record for the right moment, but it has aged well, too. The stories about the hardships Yankee Hotel Foxtrot endured to find its way to record shelves are becoming a story for the record books while the quality of the album endures.
A decade later, many have forgotten about the drama that led to the eventual release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but the album endures as required listening for anyone who wants to know what it was like to live in America after 9/11.
Music, music, music Nick DeCicco writes For Those About to Rock, a music blog for the Daily Republic. After trying and failing to play multiple instruments, Nick realized he should combine his love of words and music and use it to mock those who can play much, much better than him. And he does. He's attended hundreds of concerts, has a CD collection numbering into the thousands, crossed the Atlantic to see shows, and is a two-time record store employee. He lives in Solano County, with his two iPods and two CD players.
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