If you know or don't know... I'm a huge Sammy Hagar fan. This review will be bigger than usual. You're welcome.
"Last Temptation" The opening track innediately reminds you of your first thought on the debut Chickenfoot record: Joe Satriani is made for more than just virtuosity. The man can write a dirty classic rock riff. And like Joe says, this could feel like a re-worked '50s blues song; but add in the Chad Smith power drums and the Van Halen chorus and it becomes completely updated. The lyrics have a great concept of having that marital relation temptation, and even ties it biblically. I could have stood to see Sammy rework the second and third verse/chorus to change up those words slightly. Keeping the tone, but being less repetitive.
"Alright Alright" Very much a Rolling Stones revue here. A great one. Joe's riffs combine the best elements of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Start Me Up" And while the lyric is about the end of a relationship, Sammy doesn't let the funness of the music get away from him. The chorus is a perfect party harmony that was a little late to be a great summertime jam.
"Different Devil" I'm going to assume that this is the poppiest tune on the record. And that's fine. This could easily be a late-80s rock tune with a video of black-and-white images of the tired band on the road, missing their ladies. It gains interest as the key and the tempo changes in the solo.
"Up Next" Written for a long time confidant of Sammy, John Carter died of cancer during the recording of III. Sammy has written a tune about the ramdomness of death, and his own expectations about arriving on death's door. A heavy riff by Joe is followed by a psychedelic, whammy-barred out solo fill this tune out. It's got the high harmony chorus, but other than that, a great metal marching stomp.
"Lighten Up" A Deep Purple like pipe organ intro kicks off this '70s-vibe number. And while that organ effect doesn't last, the vibe does. A straight ahead rokcer, that once again sees Sammy getting angry about romantic entanglements (his wife better be watching out). But within the straight-ahead rock, Joe does a LOT of signature noodling. Sammy called it the "Free Bird" ending, but it's so much faster.
"Come Closer" A romantic blues tune, I hesitate to call it a "ballad" because Chad uses a train-shuffle rhythm. So it's mellow, but not necessarily slow. Sammy said it, and he's right; it's a '70s R&B tune. It's really left field for anything that any of these guys have ever done in the past. And to that they should get a lot of credit. It is true to that old vibe. And when you start out with that as a lyrical basis, the whole band could have messed it around until it became classic Chickenfoot again. But they let it exist as that R&B sound and it works magically.
"Three and a Half Letters" An odd political statement of Sammy talking, reading letters he's received about people facing financial hardships. He reads the letters and then screams the chorus: "I need a job!" Easily the heaviest tune on the record, this could have been your neighborhood punk band, if I didn't tell you. Recorded live in the studio, you can hear Sammy's voice giving in toward the end. His definitely pushing it to eleven here.
"Big Foot" This one is the closest to the first Chickenfoot album. Because it's the most upbeat and fun. A straight-up driving tune. Got my Big Foot on the gas and driving home to you. It's the most simple and I may have placed it somewhere else in the track listing, because next to "...Letters", it seems too simple. But that's a big part of classic rock- is the breezy driving "Radar Love" thang.
"Dubai Blues" A great lyric about a rich man lamentin his lack of the proverbial "she". "Dubai Blues" is a great title for this. A laundry list of high-end possessions followed each time with, "...but I ain't got you."
"Something Going Wrong" This is the only track on the album that makes me question its inclusion, much less how it became the closer. It starts with an acoustic riff that sounds somewhat like "Can't Find My Way Home" except that Joe is using a slide to give it a delta swamp feel. But the song doesn't progress much from there. And lyrically, its the vaguest of the vague. "My baby can't breathe the air" is the only indication that the point is supposed to be environmental. It's not bad, it just doesn't fit in this collection.
Nonetheless, a steller effort from the 'Foot. Even better than the first record. (5 of5 stars)
A new supergroup-ish collaboration whose heart is really in the right place. A desire to make eclectic pop music has all of the ingredients. And from the view of the sonic landscape, what was desired was completely achieved. Next to that, all the participants could have spent another week re-working the songwriting angle.
Heading up the group is, of course, Mick Jagger. Which also brings me to another beef with the record. The vocals are WAY overmixed. This is true of all three vocalists, but is especially apparent at Mick's mic. This is mostly because Damien's vocals are meant to be basically solo reggae breakdowns. And Joss is a great vocalist, whereas Mick is not. All vocals are generally bleeding out what Stewart and Rahman are putting together, but it's more obvious with Jagger, whose voice the listener is more familiar with. I'm avoiding using the word "annoyed" because you won't be. At times, Jagger is quite impressive- spilling out mile-a-minute raps as he does in "Energy" and "Hey Captain". Another time, on the ballad "One Day One Night" it seems that Jagger is playing some alcoholic Tom Waits-type character. The result is definitely weird, but I enjoyed it.
Outside of the vocals is where the band is going to make most of its press. A.R. Rahman is an Indian film composer, which is the bedrock for most of these songs. Dave Stewart then adds some traditional pop and rock elements and puts it over a danceable beat. This is most evident in the title track for the group, which works well as a statement of purpose. Other tracks fair similarly well and will probably go over great at your next mixer.
All in all, the group is surely just a one-off. And that generally comes out without thinking about the details. What they turned out was a good one-night stand moment, but isn't going to be the basis for a lasting relationship. (3 of 5 stars)
I caught Astronautalis at a SxSW show years ago. He rapped over his laptop songs, did some very good freestyling. I came home and fell in love with one of his albums. He's a rapper, to be sure. But his style strayed from straight hip-hop and he was basically rapping over indie rock music.
Andy's lyrics are very literary. Not remotely the boasting MC at all. He tells stories and explores the human condition. The title track talks about how we would live our lives differently, if given the chance. "For the rest of us with our hands on our hips, our work is never done, we are Sisyphus." He's very wordy, fitting as much in as his mouth will allow.
A fantastic mellow number questioning the morality of what comes naturally may have arrived to me just in time to be included on my own next album. "Measure The Globe" doesn't end with answers. The singer is still not sure if he's driven by goodness or evil, but is sure that there's no easy way to judge.
This isn't party jam rap. The closest he comes is with a dance music coda to the otherwise mellow "Midday Moon". A track that effortlessly compares the end of a relationship to mortality questions faced at the end of our lives. That, and the lead single shown below, which does have a very upbeat ground and a huge chorus, backed by Tegan (without Sara).
I never say this, but sometimes I think Astronautalis would serve himself better if he popped it up a little. A perfect example is "Secrets On Our Lips". An excellent romantic story of a one-time hotel fling. It starts out with a simple, poppy piano underlay. But then during the chorus he lets the drummer go nuts. It's perfect for the album, but a single remix could easily be a radio hit.
In the end, I just want to see a great artist get more of the recognition he deserves. This is another great album and I love to see another one in less than three years. (5 of 5 stars)
Just read a review which compared this to Amnesiac, Bowie's Berlin era and the Black Keys. Three things that see completely at odds to me, which leaves me excited to start. And I see the Amnesiac part, kind of. There's plenty of atmospheric drums crashing all about without regard to the mellowness of the keyboards or guitars that may be the anchor of the written song. Even amoung the most ballady of the collection, "Having It Out" pits a weepy Pisano trying to croon like Chris Martin at a piano all while Brian Moen keeps the pace moving with a frenetic tambourine.
It's still way too indie to really be sat alongside those previous examples. These songs are little more than a basic piano or guitar structure with drums that get about a layer of effects overdubs. I get the feeling that Pisano would like to be regarded as a Jim James or Conor Oberst. He's trying to come acoss that earnestly. He lacks a little in the way of dynamic writing, vocal inflection and simple ability to get there.
Still, the pair are able to chalk up a number of successes on the album. The riff laden "Hard Heart" and the more subdued U2 influenced, "Haunt You". (2.5 of 5 stars)
If you know or don't know... I'm a huge Sammy Hagar fan. This review will be bigger than usual. You're welcome.
