Saturday, August 23, 2014

I Know You Are But What Am I?

Arctic Monkeys.jpg


I put off getting this for a while, thinking the title pouty on the order of Pee Wee Herman.

And when I finally did get it, it was on the same day I got Live at Leeds which I ended up enjoying so much, I almost forgot I had this.

And how could it not suffer in comparison? After LAL, this came across just a bit too busy for me. I was expecting something punkier. It turns out to focus more on rhythm and words than power chords. Almost a ska-less, rockier but less tuneful Specials.

So I miss the tunes, but grew more respectful of what I was hearing once I saw them slow it down enough to do a cover of Tame Impala’s “Seems Like We Only Go Backwards” and realized I’d need to give these guys some more time.  And every time I’d put it on I’d hear another good line I missed before.

The words concern young British louts hanging out. And they’re pretty articulate about it, too, in that lower class British but pretty smart anyway way. So much so that it helps makes the music come across less generic than it seems.

But the band it tight! I admire how taut each song is. You can imagine them impatiently waiting to spring forward into into the next song. They must be great live, where all of their strengths would be on full display.

But admiration is not love, and I just don’t find myself coming back to this, like say the Parquet Courts, who are not quite as tight (or articulate) but a lot more tuneful (if you count riffs as tunes, that is)  

And it only fits certain moods, like when you want to burn down your neighbor’s house. Which I only want to do sometimes.  And only the one with the barking dog.

B+



Saturday, August 9, 2014

On First

Back (from India), not only to rock ‘n roll, but to ultra familiar rnr.

Who Live at Leeds.jpg

Okay, raise your hands if you haven’t heard this album.  

Bueller?


Sexist Digression:

By the way, I suspect this is a “boy’s album”. The reptilian core of my already small brain harbors an old prejudice that girls (now women) preferred the more polished Who, while the boys (alas, still boys. At least mentally) liked this rough and ready version. But then again, I’m beginning to think Gone Girl is a comedy. Not a funny one, mind you, but a comedy.


Back to the Past:

Why buy an album - even an expanded one - when you’re already heard almost every song? After all, Mrs. Jaybee has the vinyl (so much for the above theory) as did every friend I ever had. So I was very familiar with it.

‘Cause I just got the expanded version on amazon for $5, that’s why!

You’d think it would all sound so very anti-climactic. And yet, it’s wonderful!  Which only goes to prove that you can really only enjoy “classic rock” if you NEVER listen to it on the radio.

Not only was it great to hear Pete Townsend’s er, classic, rock guitar riffing again, the added songs are excellent (“Heaven and Hell” and “Fortune Teller” in particular, since they’re it’s hard to find versions of them) and provide a different yet welcome picture of the Who as equal parts pop and rock.

Although the American release was a famously lean, mean, minimal audience interaction affair, and even looked like a bootleg, this one opens things up a bit. There's a bit more audience interaction, so it does lose a little of its mysteriousness. 

But it's great hearing them explaining the theme of "A Quick One While He's Away". So I guess it’s still a boys album. And while the boy is much older, he’s as juvenile as ever. I don’t think the Who would have it any other way. A