Please note that I will RETURN to podcasting in time. For the moment, I am writing individual posts reviewing recent purchases/watches/whatever. I'll be posting a few at a time, divided by subject. It should be set up so that everything viewable on this page is from the same day.
Following are a couple of reviews of some records I've recently purchased. Rating system is out of five-stars, with five being GREAT, and zero being worse than "Gigli."
Over the Rhine - "The Long Surrender"
I wanted to like this a lot more than I do.
The last record (The Trumpet Child) was pretty bad--it got ridiculously jazzy in places. This one is a refreshing change of pace back to the sound of "Ohio," and that should result in me LOVING it, because I loved "Ohio." But somehow, this just falls a little flat. There are some really good songs on it. But there are three that stand out to me as being the element of this band that I don't like...and they drag down the rest of the record for me. Let's start with those...
"Infamous Love Song" has some really terrible lyrics. I don't know what "the Bebop Apocalypse" is...but I do know that I don't want to hear about it from a folk act. "Only God Can Save Us Now" has a lot to say (I believe the setting for the song is a nursing home) and raises some really valid thoughts...but the lyrics try to be "cute" in a lot of places, and OtR's vision of "cute" is my vision of "stupid." (Seriously...if you're in your 40's and still using the phrase "fuzzy-wuzzy," I don't have a lot of time for you.) Then there's "There's a Bluebird in My Heart," which isn't a bad song...but embraces the "jazz" element of the previous record. OtR just doesn't do jazz very well, and this song comes across sleepy and dull.
Still... "The Laugh of Recognition," "Soon," "Undamned," and "Oh Yeah by the Way" can stand with the best of the OtR catalogue. Maybe it's not the record that I don't like...maybe I just need to skip the misses... In all, I'm going to be a little generous, since I do like a LOT of the songs, despite how much I hate a FEW of them.
Rating: ***
Dropkick Murphys - "Going Out in Style"
I've been away from the DKM world for a little while. Even the most ardent fan HAS to admit that sometimes--SOMETIMES--the band seems a little bit repetitive, and that's led to me just plain not being wowed by the band in the past few years. I've heard the records I haven't bought, and I don't think there's been anything wrong with them...but I just haven't been inspired to buy a DKM record in a while. But then I started reading reviews of this one, and decided to give it a shot.
The last DKM record I really thought was stellar was "Sing Loud, Sing Proud." The ones that followed just didn't live up to it... But "Going Out in Style" kinda does. It's catchy in the right places. It's hard-edged, but still embraces the folk aspect of the band. It's got some fun lyrics, and a cool concept (it's a concept-record that documents the life-story of a guy who actually lived and that DKM looked up to). And if you don't feel at least a LITTLE like starting up a Union after listening to "Take 'Em Down" you just don't have any heart left in you. Excellent listen. Brought me back into the DKM fold, and I couldn't be happier to be there.
Rating: ****1/2
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