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The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?" (1967)
(May 12, 1967)
Review:
This is one of those rare albums that defies all of the rules about debut releases; it is an excellent set of outstanding songs (each and every one of them) that sets the bar so high that even Hendrix himself would be unable to top it.
Top Two Tracks:
“Purple Haze” & “Stone Free”
By Chris Moore:
RATING: 3.5 / 5 stars
Earning a spot on the 2007 edition of the Alternative Press’ “100 Bands You Need to Know” list didn’t bring Locksley any closer to recognition even from an independent music store regular such as myself. In fact, for such an under-the-radar band, Locksley has accumulated quite the resume in their six years together. Aside from being featured in magazines like SPIN and Elle, their music has appeared in conjunction with multiple retailers, they have played live for both Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, they have opened for bands such as Hanson and Rooney, and they have the distinction of being the first unsigned band ever to have their music played on MtV.
I truly had no inkling of any of these accomplishments when I noticed a somewhat beat up copy of Don’t Make Me Wait in the used CD rack of my local Newbury Comics store. Their very simple packaging and retro look caught my eye, and despite the fact that I could have produced this cover on a Windows 95 computer, I had a good feeling about the look of the band.
And, for $3.99, I figured, how could I go wrong?
Well, the answer is, you couldn’t with Locksley.
Theirs is a derivative sound, to be certain, and it rings strongly of early sixties Beatles. Perhaps most prominently, there’s a “Twist and Shout” John Lennon-esque crackling lead vocal on “Let Me Know,” and the dual leads throughout many of the songs will lead any fan of Please Please Me-era Beatles to draw comparisons.
And yet, Locksley is not simply a Beatles rip-off, a band begging to be sent back to stagnation in cheap bars only interested in cover songs. There’s an uncanny blending of garage rock with their roots-based sound. In fact, for all the blunt distortion guitars and their practically punk rock mentality, there is no confusing this band for a sixties group.
Locksley's "Don't Make Me Wait" (2006, 2008)
Don’t Make Me Wait is probably best described as the best of both worlds, and it is clear that Locksley is playing around, experimenting with harmonies (which are subtle in some places, beautiful in others), lead guitar parts, and overall composition. The title track leads off the album, and sets the tone for what is to be an upbeat, energetic collection of tracks. The dual lead vocals are as interesting and excellent as ever on “All Over Again,” just as their vocals on “My Kind of Lover” hint at the potential for truly great vocal work on future releases. Still, my favorite aspect of this album — and the reason I have listened repeatedly — is the tremendous lineup of catchy, quick tunes like “Into the Sun,” “Up the Stairs,” and “She Does,” to name only a few. As soon as one ends, the next kicks in with just as much energy as the one preceding it.
In this sense, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness. Locksley’s Don’t Make Me Wait suffers from the shortfalls of a sophomore release. It is energetic, fun, and brimming with potential, and yet there is nothing about this record that is so unique as to be outstanding in and of itself. Even a track like “All of the Time,” simple as it may be, suffers from the “one-gear” mentality they generally embrace on this record. I feel certain that they are poised to flex a considerable range, particularly from songs like the “For You” suite that closes the record, the bonus track “Safely From the City,” and even the alternate performance of “All of the Time” I’ve heard on YouTube.
Don’t Make Me Wait is an album that expresses considerable potential, and ironically, fans have had to wait since 2006 for a true follow-up to this record. As recently as last week, the follow-up album Be in Love — originally scheduled for release this week — was pushed ahead to late February for digital and mid-March for physical.
Waiting appears to be the name of the game.
While we wait, Don’t Make Me Wait is a youthful, vibrant album that captures all the drive of an unsigned band, living from one gig to the next. That somehow translates on this record, and it is that energy and sincerity that compels me to look past the derivative nature of their sound. How their next album plays out will suggest a great deal about this band’s ability to evolve and make progress without losing all the rock and roll ground they’ve gained here.
The fact that we have to wait until March to reach a verdict only adds more anthemic meaning to this opening track, “Don’t Make Me Wait”!
By Chris Moore:
RATING: 2.5 / 5 stars
Although Ringo’s past several albums have been billed as solo records, they have actually been songwriting and performance collaborations with a core of talented singer/songwriters better known as the Roundheads. They have been musically and lyrically interesting and, at times, even ambitious.
Well, there is no question that Y Not is a true Ringo Starr solo release.
Whereas the collaborations on his past records could be traced through the liner notes and behind-the-scenes documentaries, it is clear that any collaborative efforts on this album are directed by Ringo himself. Ownership is the key word for Y Not, as his fifteenth studio album finds him producing his own material for the first time in his considerably decorated career.
The result? This is a fun record, one that Ringo and his assorted guests obviously enjoyed recording. As the title implies, there is a generally carefree attitude ringing forth from these tracks, an attitude which Ringo has carefully cultivated over a lifetime’s worth of recording and performing. As early as “Peace Dream,” his positive worldview is sung with as much emotion and sincerity as ever before, followed by the blunt honesty and autobiography of “The Other Side of Liverpool.” The latter is different from many of his previously autobiographical tracks — think: “Liverpool 8” — in that it covers some darker realms of his past, but it does so with that same air of confidence and cool attitude that we have come to know and expect from the famous drummer for the Beatles.
Ringo Starr's "Y Not" (2010)
There are many positive comments to be made about Y Not, to be certain, and yet the unfortunate flip side of the “ownership” coin is that this most recent Ringo release comes across as somewhat flat compared to his previous albums. Anyone who has heard his recent work — Ringo Rama (2003), Choose Love (2005), even as far back as Time Takes Time (1992) — will note the diminished effect of this record.
Even from the outside looking in, Y Not is a black and white, one-fold booklet release with a minimum of effort put into design and packaging. The advertisement label, never mind the album cover, looks like something I could have designed on Windows 98 and printed out on an inkjet printer manufactured a decade ago. The advertisement sticker itself seems like an afterthought, placed on the bottom rear of the CD case.
But these are only superficial observations; obviously, an album should be judged first and foremost on the quality of the material contained on the CD or downloaded from Internet.
And this is where the true inconsistencies of the album begin.
There are some truly outstanding songs — the funky, uplifting “Time” and the aforementioned “Peace Dream” to name two. Then there are some fun if mediocre tracks like the repetitive “Everyone Wins,” the somewhat phoned-in (pun intended) “Fill in the Blanks,” and the title track, which frankly borders on annoying, especially by the time the Indian-influenced middle section arrives. “Walk With You” narrowly avoids falling into this category by virtue of the fact that Ringo’s duet with Paul McCartney elevates it to “gem” status. There is a reason why these two men were members of what was arguably the best rock band of all time.
Finally, there is a track which will make you shake your head, and not in a good way. Consider the album closer “Who’s Your Daddy” which is every bit as embarrassing as it sounds. This is essentially a Joss Stone song with Ringo Starr guest-dueting on the chorus, laying down the anchor phrase “Who’s your daddy?” amidst her lead vocal.
The review essentially boils down to this: Y Not is a disappointment if you’re looking for material to compete with the best material of his career, or even his recent career. (If you think too long about the title, that’s an oddity and perhaps a disappointment in and of itself — IM shorthand? Really?)
If you’re simply looking for some fun rock and roll to kick off your 2010 soundtrack, then give this one a try. Even for all my criticism, I’d be hard-pressed to recommend an artist or band who can so consistently provide such fun, upbeat, positive rock music as Ringo always has and continues to produce. And, really, between the excellent and embarrassing songs, there are some wonderful tracks like the oh-so-obviously Richard Marx co-written song “Mystery of the Night” and the one Roundhead throw-back “Can’t Do It Wrong,” both of which are more than up to snuff, earning a place alongside some of Ringo’s best album tracks.
The final verdict is that I’m sad to see the Roundheads disband, but I’m happy to have Ringo carry on and take more personal responsibility for his music than ever before.
And yes, embarrassing as it may be, I’ll be singing along with Ringo on “Who’s Your Daddy” just about every time…
By Chris Moore:
Welcome to The Weekend Review in a different time slot, as the first part of a Chris Moore Monday two-fer. This week, I took a look – and a listen – back at all of the great and, well, not so great rock music of 2009. This seemed like a topic of enough substance for a full Weekend Review report. So, without further ado, here are the top ten rock albums of 2009…
Honorable Mention:
My Old, Familiar Friend – Brendan Benson:
Better known this decade as “the other singer/guitarist” in the Raconteurs, Brendan Benson released a power pop gem this year in My Old, Familiar Friend. Track after track, this album harkens back to some of the best, Byrds-iest sounds of the sixties. This is not to say that it is overly derivative, but it is certainly a throw-back and will be a blast for any fan of tight, poppy classic rock songs. And “A Whole Lot Better” is a nod to “Feel A Whole Lot Better,” right?
Number Ten:
Keep It Hid – Dan Auerbach:
Even though I initially rated this as a “Maybe Not” in my one-sentence review back in February, I have found this album to have a lot of staying power. I remember thinking that this album might not wear well, that it would lose its initial luster upon too many listens. And yet I’ve found just the opposite to be true. Although Auerbach may be working solidly within a certain genre and sound, he stretches a considerable amount within that classification, incorporating a range of instruments – most notably acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and keyboards. The songs range from gritty blues to soothing acoustic ballads to scorching rock numbers and back again several times before the album is over. “Trouble Weighs a Ton” and “Goin’ Home” are fitting bookends for an album that deals largely in the distortion-drenched currency of the rock guitar soloist. “My Last Mistake” channels the Jimi Hendrix Experience. “Heartbroken, In Disrepair” and “Mean Monsoon” make you wish you could play like this. In the end, this is only Auerbach’s first solo effort, and it certainly doesn’t show.
Number Nine:
Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen:
I will be the first to admit that Bruce Springsteen is an over-hyped artist, particularly by such popular rags as Rolling Stone, and yet the man can still produce an album. Or, rather, Springsteen and his band. You know, the E Street Band. You may have heard of them. Working on a Dream is thematically and sonically interwoven from start to finish and offers up some very interesting tracks to balance out the more formulaic ones. “Queen of the Supermarket” is a classic story in song, written and sung as only Springsteen ever could. “Outlaw Pete” provides an unusual but fitting opening for the album. “What Love Can Do” is the track that would have attracted the interest of rock music fans back in the days when rock ruled the radio waves. “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Life Itself” are as beautiful as “The Last Carnival” and bonus track “The Wrestler” are bittersweet. This provides proof positive that even this far into the game, the Boss is still progressing, maturing, and making great music.
Number Eight:
Horehound – The Dead Weather:
Better known to many as Jack White’s second side project, the Dead Weather have found a niche all their own, experimenting with the odd, the abstract, and the obscure. If the Raconteurs provide a channel for White’s more mainstream rock leanings, then the Dead Weather more than satisfy the other end of that spectrum of musical desire. From start to finish, you can’t quite be certain what they will throw at you next – “they,” of course, meaning lead singer Alison Mosshart, guitarist Dean Fertita, bassist Jack Lawrence, and drummer (that’s right, drummer!) Jack White. “I Cut Like a Buffalo” is great metaphor and great rock. Others, like “Hang You From the Heavens” and “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” are best described as infectious. “New Pony” is the musical equivalent of finding a decimated muscle car in a junk yard, rotting away, and rebuilding it to shine with the best of the modern sports cars. The first half of this album is admittedly stronger than the second half, but this is a debut effort, after all.
Number Seven:
Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane – Elvis Costello:
There couldn’t be an album more out of touch with the sounds and textures of modern music, and yet so inherently attuned to the emotions and undertones of that same aforementioned modern music. As I mentioned earlier this year, these tracks sound like they could have come straight off of American folk music figure Harry Smith’s shelf. Finally, I repeat, this is an acoustic album that sounds original and truly acoustic. So many acoustic records of late have been helmed by otherwise successful rock artists looking for a way to stir up their recording process. This feels more authentic than that. “Sulphur to Sugarcane” is wonderfully humorous, less subtle than it is chauvinistic. “Hidden Shame” and “Complicated Shadows” are so fun that you’ll quickly forget that they’re scaled-back numbers, while there is no ignoring the stark sadness in “I Dreamed of My Old Lover,” “How Deep is the Red,” and “Red Cotton.”
Number Six:
Wilco (the album) – Wilco:
Few bands could pull off a song like “Wilco (the song),” but Wilco are not like other bands. They’ve been everywhere – alt-country, folk rock, experimental music, alternative rock, jam-mentality work – and now they’ve arrived at a wonderfully entertaining conglomeration of many of their styles from the past fifteen years. The aforementioned track is sincere and explores the true power and potential for healing that music provides. “Country Disappeared” takes a bleaker view of things, while “Solitaire,” “I’ll Fight, and “You Never Know” take a more positive angle. And, of course, “Deeper Down” and “Bull Black Nova” hint at the experimental possibilities that await us on future Wilco recordings…
Number Five:
Humbug – The Arctic Monkeys:
Humbug, for me, is one of the best albums of the year by a band that has stirred up much controversy over their excellence or lack thereof, depending on who you ask. This should be a breakout album, a set of songs with the potential to unite – if only fleetingly – the sensibilities of fans of classic rock, punk rock, and more modern rock. I was certainly surprised at how much I enjoyed this release, and it’s so wonderfully sequenced with sounds layered in all the right ways to keep you coming back to the individual tracks as well as the album as a whole. “My Propeller” sets the tone for the record wonderfully. “Cornerstone” is, well, the cornerstone for this release – it’s a witty, subversive little track that I can’t get enough of. “Crying Lightning” and “Dance Little Liar” are driving, quirky, and catchy gems. “Fire and The Thud” is a highpoint at the midpoint. Although I would never have guessed it before this year, I will now be awaiting the next Arctic Monkeys release with excitement.
Number Four:
The Ruminant Band – The Fruit Bats:
The Fruit Bats put out a little disc called Spelled in Bones a few years ago. I had it recommended to me, so I listened and even liked several of the songs. After a few listens, though, I got tired of it. It faded. But there was something about the sound of the Fruit Bats that I found fantastic, and I felt like I saw more potential in them than they had managed to make good on. I expected the same here, but what I found in The Ruminant Band was a quirky, catchy, lyrically provocative, and instrumentally exciting record. I can find no better way to say it: this is one of absolute favorite little albums of the year! The title track is straightforward, but fun. “Tegucigalpa” is less straightforward and more heartfelt. “Singing Joy to the World” is the best acoustic song to be released in a good long time. “Primitive Man” is one of those great songs that you can entirely lose yourself in as you listen. This is a home run for the Fruit Bats, one I didn’t see coming and yet couldn’t be more excited about.
Number Three:
Backspacer – Pearl Jam:
Let me start off by noting that this is simply not Pearl Jam’s best material. Moving past that, let me continue by saying this is one of Pearl Jam’s most cohesive efforts since their debut Ten. Track after track, this is a Vedder-led attack of tight, finely chiseled rock songs with some real gems. As the title implies, the thematic common-ground throughout the record is that of assessing the issues at hand and erasing obstacles, bad blood, and just about everything that stands in the path to peace, independence, and self-confidence. “Got Some” is one of their best efforts ever, which is really saying something. “The Fixer” and “Supersonic” are perfect tours-de-force and redefine what great Pearl Jam tracks may sound like in the coming years. “Just Breathe” is the closest they’ve gotten to a love song, as Vedder put it in an interview. At every turn, Backspacer pleases and at just about a half hour in length, this is an album, that can be played over and over again.
Number Two:
21st Century Breakdown – Green Day:
Up until the number one band on this list released their masterpiece, I thought that this would be the top album of the year for sure. Instead, it suffers a minor bump down to the second position. Regardless, Green Day has followed up American Idiot – which was hailed as their masterpiece – with an even better album. They have really stretched out for this record, painting no less interesting a story than they did on their previous album. The packaging is like a storybook, and the disc follows suit. From beginning to end, 21st Century Breakdown tears it up and lays it out slowly in equal measure – and sometimes in the same song. By the end of the album, the tone-setting title track has been followed up by what is one of the best concept albums in perhaps a decade. “East Jesus Nowhere” and “Horseshoes and Handgrenades” are driving, unstoppably angry scorchers. “21 Guns” and “Restless Heart Syndrome” are more subtle, beautiful tracks. “21st Century Breakdown,” “Peacemaker,” “American Eulogy,” “See the Light,” and just about every other track on the album contributes in a similar but significant way to the overall theme of the whole. Then there is “Know Your Enemy;” the decision to promote this is proof positive that boneheaded rock really does still sell.
Number One:
Forget and Not Slow Down – Relient K:
This has been a year of unexpected releases, not the least of which were noted below in Elvis Costello’s acoustic release, the Arctic Monkeys’ masterful album, and the Fruit Bats’ brilliant record. It is fitting, then, that Relient K should score the number one album of the year with a release – not unlike The Ruminant Band – that I expected to like, not love. And yet I love this album. Forget and Not Slow Down is one of the most entertaining, energetic, and thoughtful post-breakup albums that I’ve had the pleasure to hear. In many ways – and this is practically sacrilege – I would place this album in the company of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and Paul McCartney’s Memory Almost Full, to name a couple. It is certainly more focused as an artistic expression than an album like Ben Folds’ Way to Normal could ever be. Matthew Thiessen isolated himself from society to work on this album, and the result is clear: the best Relient K album to date. To be fair, I wasn’t a fan from the start, but it appears that I’ve become a huge fan just as the band has faded into the background, this outstanding record being ignored by just about all critics this year. What have they missed? They’ve missed “Part of It,” a somber and catchy song at the same time – a difficult combination to pull off. They’ve missed “Therapy,” a song that I wish I could have available on many a similar drive through the country. They’ve missed the beauty of “Savannah” and the bitter, bile-fueled “Sahara,” the blending of the tracks made possible by the intros and the outros, and a powerful pairing in the final two tracks. Simply put, this is the year’s best album.
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.” |