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'Changes' good
By Will York
THIS YEAR I did
something I haven't done in almost a decade. I saw a video by a
new band on MTV and then went out to a big chain store and bought
their CD because of it.
The CD was the Darkness's
Permission to Land, and for a couple of weeks it was all
I could listen to. The falsettos, the dual-guitar leads, the air
of '70s rock 'n' roll decadence: it was a breath of fresh air in
this post-alternative era. At last, I thought, here was a bit of
present-day pop culture I could take part in and enjoy.
But soon enough, the
honeymoon was over. At first, when I listened to the album, I'd
say to myself, "This part sounds like AC/DC, only with Freddie
Mercury on vocals!" Or, "This part sounds like Van Halen
after David Lee Roth left, crossed with Journey, only better."
Then I started wondering, "Is there any part on this CD where
the Darkness sound like themselves?"
I eventually realized
the Darkness are no different from the bands who've been eliciting
"return of rock" hype during the past couple of years,
when all they're doing is reviving one microtrend after another
from the corners of rock history. The one thing I can say about
the Darkness that I can't say about a band like the Hives is that
at least they're entertaining, which may be all we can really ask
from our rock stars at this stage. So good for them.
But ultimately, like
so many of their peers, they're also devoid of any real substance
once the nostalgia kick wears off. The reason people flip for bands
like the Darkness is not because they're trailblazing artists who
are rewriting rock history; it's because they remind us of other,
better bands from the past. So why not just listen to those older
bands?
It's telling, and mildly
depressing, that some of the most exciting CDs to arrive in my mailbox
this year were either reunion albums or new albums by really old
bands. The best of these was The Forever Changes Concert
(Snapper), by Love with Arthur Lee. I know, reunion albums are traditionally
pointless, embarrassing affairs, and reviews of the Love show at
Bimbo's 365 Club a while back were less than stellar, with tales
of the backing band's young, blues-hound guitar prodigy playing
solos behind his neck and Lee offering rambling between-song
diatribes.
This CD shows none of
those disturbing signs, though. It's surprisingly good, and against
my expectations, I listened to it constantly when it came my way
this summer. True, the acoustic guitar sound is a tad cheesy in
spots, glistening with a bit of that dreaded MTV Unplugged
tone, but other than that, it's just about perfect. The electric
guitar solos are intense but also tasteful – no Kenny Wayne
Shepherd-type grandstanding here – and the horn and string
sections are almost miraculously well done in this context.
Finally, Lee's voice
– while deeper and rougher than on the original album –
sounds great as well. Whatever chip he has on his shoulder, this
man deserves some sort of rock 'n' roll comeback award for returning
from a life sentence – a result of the idiotic "Three
Strikes, You're Out" law – and sounding this good. Certainly,
knowing what he's been through puts a new spin on lines such as
"Served my time / Served it well / You made my soul a cell,"
from "Live and Let Live," and "They're locking them
up today / They're throwing away the key / I wonder who it'll be
tomorrow / You or me?" from "The Red Telephone."
I don't want to sound
like an old fart claiming there's no good new music out there. I
found plenty of exciting, new (to me) music this year, from the
spastic shriek of post-grindcore bands like the Locust, Daughters!,
An Albatross, and Asterisk(*) to the disruptive laptop antics of
Mochipet and Schematic Records' Otto Von Schirach to practically
half of the Relapse Records new-release schedule. I like these artists
because they're not busy reliving rock history – they're destroying
it. Leave the history part to folks who like Arthur Lee who were
there the first time. Otherwise, I say let the destruction continue.
Top 10
1. Asterisk(*),
Dogma (Three One G)
2. Loop d' Loop,
Loop d' Loop (Scratch-N-Sniff)
3. Love, The
Forever Changes Concert (Snapper Music)
4. Tim Berne,
The Sublime And (Thirsty Ear)
5. Lord Weird
Slough Feg, Traveller (Dragonheart)
6. Neung Phak,
Neung Phak (Abduction)
7. Relapse Records
(for new CDs by Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Nasum, Burnt by the Sun,
Skinless, and Regurgitate and reissues of Harvey Milk, Mastodon,
and Cryptic Slaughter)
8. Pop-O-Pies,
Pop-O-Anthology (pop-o-pie.com)
9. Arab on Radar
reissues on Three One G
10. Three-way
tie: Mochipet, "Nelly vs. Poor Kakarookee," Combat
(Violent Turd); Killing Joke, "Blood on Your Hands," Killing
Joke (Zuma); Lightning Bolt, "On Fire," Wonderful
Rainbow (Load)
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