What should have occurred to me immediately is that the reason that I love Okkervil, was for Will's songwriting. And, of course, he is not writing anything on the album. So there is no wordy-word-word over-done-it stories that include a million a minute references to hipster impressives. And that's okay, just different. Roky is doing his country gospel thing. So lines are repeated 3 times per verse and choruses are heavy.
But it fits the style of Roky's songwriting, and it's great. The opening track for example, "Devotional Number One" is an archived recording. Scratchy, cut up and distorted in its age. It would have been better if Will had produced the album with that same sense of lack. Instead, the vocals are clean and way up in the mix; when Roky is not young nor does his voice have the dynamics that it once did.
Funny, it seems that the biggest problem I have with the album is not with Roky, but the guy I was most excited to see. I would expect that Will Sheff would produce his own band with the crisp of sunny California soft rock or even Philly soul. But Austin acoustic gospel deserves to sound like it wasn't produced at all. (2.5 of 5 stars)
I was in the mood for something metal today, but my firsttwo choices were not available on my trusty Rhapsody software. So I move on to the third heavy release. And I'm familiar enough with the C&C music factory, I just haven't listened to an album all the way through yet.
And yes, I know that this is a prequel, a fifth album in a storyline of the history of Battlestar Galactica or something like that. I realize that some of the lyrical themes may have been foreign to me. But a review on allmusic assures me that the themes are vague enough for the the average listener to latch onto.
All the while of course, knowing that the price of admission is really supposed to be going to the daring prog-rock instrumentation. The adventurous landscapes and broad Matisse paintings to embolden the colors in our ears' collective palettes.
"Pearl of the Stars" is nice enough turn on the ballad side, which even turns a hopeful-ballad lyric on its ear: "And when the world burns apart there'll be a place for your car." But other than that, it still follows basically the same path as any general alt. rock ballad track. It's scarcely different than that Hoobastanksong.
And aside from the random cool riff here and there it's straight ahead emo rock. A high point is "World Of Lines"- but it's too slow a work in progress to build to that point only to have it drop to nothing again. Maybe I just don't get it, but if you want heavy and progressive... go here. Or shit... even here... (2 of 5 stars)
The themes don't stray from past performance either, ranging from the bourbon, the trials of the man who travels, lonliness, the women who've wronged us, the women we've wronged. It paints a picture of saloons and cowboy trails without limiting itself to anything like that. "...she makes a kind of music of the buttons poppin' off her dress..." Great line.
And with a general lack of surprise, there are still several fantastic songs in this collection. The song from that line above, "On The Dark Streets Below" breaks out the mariachi horns ala "Ring Of Fire". And with its Irish jig chorus, "As Long As There Is Whiskey In The World" should be covered by Flogging Molly tomorrow.
The highlight though, is "Foxglove". It opens with a shuffle that sounds like MBD is going to cover Barry White's "You're the First, the Last, My Everything". The disco permeates through the entire song, mellowing out during the chorus, but still anticipating a dance explosion. That explosion never comes, but the heart race is still a sexy ride.
Starts on big highs and ends just as well. I can bet that this will show up on my year end list. (4 of 5 stars)
An album of sexually inspired music might seem out of place from the guy who once said that his biggest fear was "losing my penis to a whore with disease". But songs like "O My Tidy Sum" and "Wild One" have a sloppy texas-jazz kind of vibe that is probably as sexy as he'll be able to get.
Don't be misled, these may be different fare from the songs of the Pixes or even the Catholics, but it's not R. Kelly slow jams either. The Gram Parsons cover "Wheels" for example, has a expected Son Voltcountry dive swagger, with lyrics that I'm attributing to an inexperienced kid praying for better performance.
"Six Legged Man" will be a treat for the all-Pixies-all-the-time crowd (I'm looking at YOU, Dave Dugan), but he also rehashes the previously released "Dead Man's Curve" for reasons unknown.
The awesomely titled- "When I Go Down On You" will leave listeners very disappointed. Too literal, simple and un-ironic to have much value on a Frank record. The title track, though, should probably make it onto a handful of sexy-time college kids' mixtapes. It's mellow minor key piano riff can set a candle lit mood. Even if you really have to know someone well to tell them that you want to be inside them... all the way... everyday.
Nonstoperotik may do it for you if you're attracted to Frank's music in general. But I suspect that there won't be too many seduced by Frank's je ne sais quoi.
I did not have the knowledge of Roky Erickson's history or music when I first heard about this collaboration. But I love Okkervil River. And Roky's tale of psychedelic-turned-schizophrenic made for a great enough redemption story for me to give this record a try.
