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The Foo Fighters' self-titled debut (1995)
(July 4, 1995)
Review:
Top Two Tracks:
“This is a Call” & “I’ll Stick Around”
This is the fourth in a five part series dedicated to the top five rock artists of the decade, 2000-2009. The criteria used to determine this list were: (1) Quality of Music, (2) Quantity of Released Material, (3) Diversity of Media, and (4) Roles of Artists/Band Members.
By Chris Moore:
As we close in on my top pick for best rock artist of the decade, the decisions are getting more and more difficult. In an attempt to be as unbiased as possible, I initially had last post’s honoree — Jack White — in the #2 spot. Then I started listening to All in Good Time, which led me back to their albums of last decade. After one listen to Maroon and Everything to Everyone, I knew that the Barenaked Ladies belonged in a higher position. It should also be noted that while I do believe I made the right choice for the #1 slot, I have been a BnL fan for much longer, and they hold quite an important place in my heart where music is concerned.
That being said, let’s get this party started!
The Barenaked Ladies have distinguished themselves in all four of the categories I’ve established (see above) for this list. They are a constantly evolving group of songwriter/musicians and performers, not content to rest easy at what worked for them in the past. Throughout this, the second full decade of their existence, they have been prolific, releasing new material in every year except 2009. In addition to typical studio albums every three years, this decade has seen the release of a greatest hits collection, a DVD compilation of their music videos, a holiday-themed album, a musical production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It (the one release in their catalog I have yet to set eyes on), their first live DVD, and a children’s album with accompanying book.
Although the decade ended with the oft-noted and overly publicized departure of founding member Steven Page, the remaining four members closed out 2009 by recording a series of eighteen songs, fourteen of which would find their way to 2010’s All in Good Time.
In every way that matters, the Barenaked Ladies have been a creative force to reckon with — and pay attention to — throughout this decade, and despite the criticism of naysayers, they have a very promising future in the next.
POST-STUNT EXPECTATIONS
To say that there was a lot riding on Maroon would be an understatement.
After the breakthrough success of 1998’s Stunt (via the chart-topping “One Week”), BnL’s image and career stood to be reconsidered based on what came next. While Maroon was successful enough to preclude accusations of one-hit-wonder status, their American audience in particular seemed less and less interested in their work as the years went on. This much is apparent in the charts, each album topping out further down than the previous one. (As of this writing, this continues to hold true for All in Good Time, which has peaked at 23; in Canada, on the other hand, it has rightfully marked a comeback, hitting #3 which is the highest chart position for a BnL album there since Maroon.)
But numbers are numbers. There are so many important aspects of modern life which, contrary to the beliefs and attempts of the powers that be, simply cannot be quantified.
Music is certainly one of those.
Maroon is BnL’s most fully-realized, cohesive, balanced album; it is serious, yet entertaining — fast and slow, loud and quiet. The first half is populated by equally single-worthy rockers like “Falling for the First Time,” “Too Little Too Late,” and “Pinch Me,” the latter admittedly seeming like a wanna-be follow-up to “One Week.” The second half of the album stretches out a bit, unwinding hauntingly gorgeous ballads like “Off the Hook” and “Helicopters.” I haven’t even mentioned some of my favorites — “Baby Seat,” “Go Home,” and “The Humour of the Situation.” This is a true five star album.
Although the album and singles performed well, it was apparent that they were all received with a bit less interest than Stunt‘s material had been (or, more accurately, its lead-off single). I, for one, think that it is no coincidence that this was just about the same time that I began to lose interest in popular radio and music television.
BRILLIANCE IN RELATIVE OBSCURITY
To avoid going into painstaking detail about every track that the Barenaked Ladies have released since 2000, I will begin by saying that there is a vast sea of reasons to be interested in and entertained by this band. As much as I felt people should have been more receptive to Maroon, I was flabbergasted at the apathy that 2003’s Everything to Everyone. How an album that could so masterfully run the gamut between silly and serious, all the while being consistently brilliant — both lyrically and instrumentally — is beyond me. This album is composed of some truly killer tracks: sardonic songs like “Celebrity” and “Second Best,” upbeat rockers like “Testing 1, 2, 3” and “Unfinished,” a love song like “Maybe Katie,” the oddly foreboding “War on Drugs,” and the stereotypical BnL knee-slappers “Another Postcard” and “Shopping.”
A lack of public praise never slowed them down, as 2006 saw the recording of 29 new tracks. Where the band went wrong, in this writer’s opinion, was in deciding to release one album that year and a second album the following year. What ended up happening was the most outstanding tracks were split between the two discs and, with a lack of cohesion between the two discs, the Are Me/Are Men project was simply not as good as it could have been. Even Wikipedians are uncertain how to classify these selections in their catalog — either as the seventh or the seventh and eighth albums of BnL’s career. Still, these releases saw the unveiling of a new era for the band — one of independence from major labels and of stretching their musical sensibilities. Kevin Hearn’s contributions demonstrated the potential that he presented not only as an instrumentalist and singer, but also as a songwriter. Jim Creeggan’s beautiful vocals also showed significant promise, even if they were only showed off on a silly number.
These three (or four?) albums would be reason alone to consider BnL one of the best bands of the decade. And yet they didn’t stop there. In the past ten years, the band has released some amazing work, not the least of which are their holiday album and children’s album. The holiday album, Barenaked for the Holidays, brilliantly blended Christmas, Hanukkah, and winter-themed songs in one very characteristic collection (think: “Elf’s Lament,” “Green Christmas,” and others). The latter, Snacktime!, swung far enough to the silly side of the spectrum to be largely ignored by “serious” music critics. That being said, anyone who takes a moment to listen to the harmonies and instrumentation will realize that Snacktime! is a masterpiece unto itself, two of the best tracks — “Pollywog in a Bog” and “Louis Loon” — being penned by the unusual collaboration of Creeggan & Ed Robertson. And it saw the lead vocal debut of Tyler Stewart on the rocking “Allergies,” a song that almost makes me feel cool for having season allergies myself.
AN ARREST, A CRASH, A BREAK, A VOW
Far too much has been written about the moments of crisis and tragedy in the personal lives of the Barenaked Ladies these past few years, so I’ll be especially brief here. If you’ve kept up with music news, you know that Steven Page was arrested on charges of drug possession, Ed Robertson crashed his plane (fortunately with no serious injuries sustained), and Page’s departure was announced in 2009. All in all, not a wonderful end to the decade.
That being said, the four remaining members — Robertson, Hearn, Creeggan, and Stewart — have vowed to continue recording and performing as BnL. How well is that going?
One listen to All in Good Time is all you’ll need to answer that one on your own.
This is the third in a five part series dedicated to the top five rock artists of the decade, 2000-2009. The criteria used to determine this list were: (1) Quality of Music, (2) Quantity of Released Material, (3) Diversity of Media, and (4) Roles of Artists/Band Members.
By Chris Moore:
Easily one of the busiest figures in contemporary rock music, Jack White has made it his business to write, record, perform, and produce music every chance he gets. There is something breathtaking about the apparent ease with which he has transcended genre lines and brought the influences back to his own music. It is equally impressive to consider how many directions he has been pulled in during this decade, and yet how strong his contributions have been to each of his numerous ventures.
I, for one, wasn’t sure what to make of this straggly-haired ax-grinder when I first heard of him in the wake of the White Stripes’ breakthrough effort Elephant in 2003. I’ll never forget tuning in (on the advice of a friend) to Late Night with Conan O’Brien during their week-long tenure promoting this aforementioned album. “Seven Nation Army” may have been overplayed for some, but I loved its gritty, riffy simplicity, punctuated by White’s lead vocals and Meg White’s wonderfully boneheaded drumming.
With each new White Stripes album I’ve heard, I’ve realized more and more the degree to which Jack and Meg — particularly Jack — are experts at finding their comfort zones, then burning them down. In the Raconteurs, he contributes a very big, very characteristic guitar sound, somehow crafting a new landscape without plagiarizing his White Stripes sound. And the Dead Weather, his second side project, is something else all together, a sound that White pulls together with his drumming rather than his guitar work.
Taking these three bands into consideration, then throwing in his solo work and other one-off collaborations for good measure, there is simply no way to avoid giving Jack White a respectful — if not awe-filled — nod for his exemplary contemporary rock music created this decade.
BLACK & WHITE & RED ALL OVER
Any music promoter will tell you that it’s not simply the sound of a band that is important, but also their image and general appearance. Jack and Meg White have excelled with this other half of the equation, always dressing in red, white, and black, as well as seeing to it that their album artwork follows suit. Their music may draw comparisons to acts of the past like Led Zeppelin, but this is no retro act. In their continually developing sound, and equally in the way they dress and act, the White Stripes are one of the most interesting bands of the decade.
How to go about describing such a band in a few paragraphs?
I’ll start with words like quirky, bold, frenetic, complex, basic, and that’s just to begin with. Since 2000’s De Stijl, the White Stripes have released four more albums: 2001’s very promising White Blood Cells, their major label debut Elephant in 2001 (a.k.a. their personal catapult into the pop culture lexicon), 2005’s piano-driven masterpiece Get Behind Me Satan, and most recently, a return to distortion drenched guitar in the riff-laden reveries of 2007’s Icky Thump. By the time they released their first live CD, Under Great White Northern Lights (2010), the White Stripes had developed quite a catalog to draw from.
That they are able to achieve their sound with just two band members is intriguing. Granted, Meg White suffered a breakdown that resulted in the cancellation of some tour dates in 2007, but there have been confirmed reports since last year that they are already at work on their seventh album.
A SIDE PROJECT, A SIDE PROJECT FROM THE SIDE PROJECT, AND MORE!
Jack White’s work in the White Stripes is substantial enough to be considered notable, but it is his wide variety of ventures outside the scope of his primary band that cinch his position at the upper part of the contemporary rock music ladder. His five contributions to the Cold Mountain soundtrack in 2003 suggested that he had more to give than could be satisfied in one band alone. He has since gone on to produce and play on a laundry list of other albums, including Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose. More recently, he wrote and recorded an outstanding duet with Alicia Keys for the James Bond film Another Way to Die, the first duet in the Bond series.
With all the writing, performing, and recording White has done since the early nineties, it is interesting to note that his first official “solo” work was released in 2009 — the single “Fly Farm Blues.”
In addition to these one-off efforts, White has joined not one but two side projects. The first, the Raconteurs, formed in 2005 along with power pop rocker Brendan Benson (sharing guitar duty), bassist Jack Lawrence, and drummer Patrick Keeler. After their 2006 debut Broken Boy Soldiers, they followed up quickly with the phenomenal Consolers of the Lonely in 2008. The latter is easily one of the best rock music albums of the decade, and it is an outrage that I passed over it for my Top 50 Albums of the 2000s list. This is the Jack White music that I am perhaps most drawn to: tight, fully-produced, riff-driven songs with an abundance of crunchy guitars, a rockin’ rhythm section, and catchy leads.
As if that weren’t enough to keep him busy, White co-founded the Dead Weather in 2009 with the Kills’ lead singer Alison Mosshart, guitarist Dean Fertita, and Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence. This is an altogether different venture that features a grungier tone than the Raconteurs or even the White Stripes. The songs are a bit longer, and could be described as a set of almost-jams. After I heard their interpretations of Bob Dylan’s “New Pony,” a so-so deep track from 1978’s Street Legal, I was hooked.
In summary, this decade has seen Jack White bring the White Stripes to worldwide rock music fame, form not one but two side groups, release his first single as a solo artist, and contribute to a myriad of other artists’ albums and soundtracks. At the time of this writing (early 2010), there is a May 11th release date set for the follow-up Dead Weather album, confirmations from White that the White Stripes will be releasing an album in the near future, and whispers of an all-out solo record from the man himself.
Hands down, Jack White is my pick for the number three rock music artist of the 2000s for all the right reasons: the sheer quantity of music produced, his development of a signature guitar sound, and his collaborations with other artists (Dylan, Beck, and more in addition to those mentioned above). It’s a no-brainer, my friends.
By Chris Moore:
RATING: 4 / 5 stars
I read recently that Volume Two is, in so many words, a collection of some of the brightest sounding sad songs ever recorded, and I have to agree with that description.
Subtleties such as this are what set She & Him’s follow-up effort apart from the competition.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should concede that, after hearing a track and a half on my first listen, I actually expressed out loud my opinion that I was glad I bought this album, but that I recognized it as a one-speed album of retro pop.
As I have become so accustomed to finding, I was wrong.
By the third track, my nonchalance was deteriorating and before I had completed my first listen, I was hooked by Zooey Deschanel’s unique, alluring lead vocals, backed by M. Ward and company’s instrumentation. Still, I assumed that this would wear off after a few listens.
Not so.
In ways that I have not quite been able to ascertain and certainly haven’t been able to translate into words, She & Him have managed to walk the line — never crossing it — with what should be derivative sounding retro pop. At times, I feel like I’ve been transported back to the fifties or sixties, listening to A.M. radio of the past. At others, these songs feel as new as any indie rock that’s available today, including the sorts of songs played by Deschanel’s husband, the king of indie himself, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard.
She & Him's "Volume Two" (2010)
With two exceptions, this is an album of Deschanel-penned originals, which adds strength to the collection. Were this a disc of covers, there would be no real tie to modern-day, to the lead singer. Instead, there is a sense of urgency and relevance in her words, although the overall sound may lean toward the aforementioned retro genre.
Songs like “Thieves” and “Don’t Look Back” are undeniably the highlights of this crop: unique, distinctive tracks. Although — as per usual — I don’t necessarily agree with the choice of single, “In the Sun” is an entertaining track.
The first half of the album is rounded out with two excellent slower songs. “Lingering” is an infectious little tune, and “Me and You” is a comforting number.
The second half of the album admittedly lags in a couple places. “Home” is perhaps the most notable point. It is not so much that this is a bad song, just that it is not an exemplary one. (But, then, when has any song about home been great? Nice, or heartwarming even, but rarely great.)
“I’m Gonna Make It Better” and “Sing” are good songs, but Volume Two doesn’t really pick up again until the final trio of tunes. The first, “Over It Over Again,” is single material, and certainly first half of the album quality.
Next comes “Brand New Shoes,” a melancholy track that invokes Fiona Apple.
Finally, rounding out the collection, comes the lush, breath-taking vocals of “If You Can’t Sleep.”
Even the covers fit seamlessly — “Ridin’ In My Car” sounding like a natural addition to the originals, and “Gonna Get Along Without You Now” being one of my favorites since my first listen. Still, these songs — particularly the lyrics — sound dated in a way that most of Deschanel’s originals do not.
From front to back, She & Him have made Volume Two an album of authentic and distinctive sounds, simple but moving lyrics, all punctuated by Zooey Deschanel’s characteristic vocals — truly a must-listen.
Music ReviewsWhen new music is released by favorite music artists and new songwriters alike, many are curious to know – is it worth my money to buy this new music? In the age of iPods and mp3s, we may carry ten thousand songs with us wherever we go. The question is valid – is it worth my money to add another ten to fifteen tracks to my collection? The music reviews at http://LaptopSessions.com combine the sensibilities of a songwriter with the needs and desires of a listener, as each music review is written by an indie music artist that has devoted much time and energy to both classic as well as new music. The reviewers know how to write a song, but also love to listen to new music when it is of a high quality. New music singles should be upbeat and catchy, and new album tracks should have interesting, intelligent lyrics and generally be satisfying to listen to, whether the song is a downbeat, simple ballad or an electrified, distorted rocker with multiple sections. The music packaging should be worthwhile – pictures, lyrics, liner notes, and more. A music video included would be nice. When it comes to new rock music, the music reviews of the Laptop Sessions will never steer you wrong. The music reviewers tell it like it is, based on the music itself and not on whether or not it is “cool” or “in style.” |