Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 'Beat the Devil's Tatto' (9/3/2010)

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Back in the 60s and 70s there was a popular wave of crossover bands. No, this isn’t referring to the rap-rock phenomenon of the 90s. This crossover is referring to the fact that the Americans wanted to sound like the Brits and the Brits the Americans. When I listen to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (for first time in my life) I can’t help but think of them as the American counterpart to The Cult – where The Cult came to California to live the life of a biker, BRMC sounds like they upped their Cali roots and moved to the frigid, gray London town to ride their bikes.

And now to immediately contradict the previous statement – the opening (and title) track to this album ‘Beat the Devil’s Tattoo’ reminds me of ‘Mutiny’ by William Elliot Whitmore, which is pretty American. But this is more or less where the American sound ends. The following song, ‘Conscience Killer,’ demonstrates that BRMC are fuzz junkies and proceed to dive head first into a bluesy garage band sound.

‘Bad Blood’ and ‘War Machine’ continue the fuzzed-out mantra vaguely reminiscent of a gritty Stereophonics. Around the end of ‘War Machine,’ the album is 20 minutes young. At this point the listener has been blasted against the wall and is begging for more! These openers are excellent cuts! But then, perhaps as an issue with sequencing, the album takes a turn and heads down a path where slow and uninspired seem to be popular themes.

But let’s ignore these songs for now and continue on with the eighth song, ‘River Styx’ – by far the best track on here. A heavy intro with a looming drum beat and a walking guitar is exactly what was needed to bring the album back to life. You can literally see the sleaze dripping off of this song especially when the guitar solo comes in. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your leather jackets, we’re going for a ride!

Or so you thought. The following songs are good, but they’re nothing compared to the rockers. ‘The Toll’ and ‘Long Way Down’ bring back a slower side to the album. They are solid songs, especially because of the introduction of a piano and harmonica to the BRMC wall of noise. ‘The Toll’ is particularly pleasant to listen to because singer Peter Hayes is being backed by an unnamed female, which nicely rounds out the sound.

But then the album draws to a close and the listener is left with the nagging feeling that there wasn’t enough rock n’ roll. Sure, the slower, sludgier songs are good cuts but they disturb the pace. BRMC excels on ‘Beat the Devil’s Tattoo’ with the ass-kickers, unfortunately there aren’t enough of them.

6/10

Johnny Cash - 'American VI' (23/2/2010)

Johnny Cash’s legacy is so powerful that he still speaks to us from the grave! This fact makes the opening lyrics of this affair all the more hauntingly true – ‘there aint no grave that can hold my body down.’ These are words that only The Man in Black can deliver convincingly and they set the tone for the rest of the album. The following nine songs slowly unfold like a crumpled piece of paper. Each song is driven by delicate guitar parts and there's hardly any beat to tap to your foot to.

Producer Rick Rubin says he has no material left to release so its a safe bet that this is the last Johnny Cash release that will see the light of day. It follows the preceding ‘American’ albums appropriately in the sense that you won’t hear another ‘Walk the Line.’ Instead, Cash and Rubin deliver some of the saddest yet uplifting music in years.

‘For the Good Times’ opens with the weathered Cash singing ‘don’t look so sad, I know it’s over/but life goes on and this whole world will keep on turning/let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together.’ Simple, sure, but so powerfully true. What better way to look at death than to look at the life that led up to it.

This darkness overshadows the album in almost all of the songs. In ‘Satisfied Mind,’ Cash shares his feelings of being at peace with himself as he sings ‘there’s one thing for certain/when it comes my time/I’ll leave this world with a satisfied mind.’ It sounds like Cash had already resigned himself to this set of songs being his last. He doesn’t admit sad defeat but instead expresses a certain satisfaction about the life he led.

This album won’t won’t fit in at a party between the Beastie Boys and Motley Crue. It will fit nicely during an evening at home when you are able to hear the words you wanted all your loved ones to tell you while they were on their death beds.

7/10

Drive-By Truckers - 'The Big To-Do' (16/3/2010)

On the one side of the coin, the Drive-By Truckers are dirty red-necks that shouldn’t be allowed to leave their hometown of Athens, Georgia. But if they stayed home we wouldn’t get to see the other, perhaps preferred side. The side that shows the Drive-By Truckers as well versed rockers that appreciate America’s south for the way of life, the cooking, and the families they live with. On their latest outing, ‘The Big To-Do,’ both sides of the coin are in full force.

The dirty side of this album is evident on such cuts as ‘Fourth Night of My Drinking’ and ‘Birthday Boy,’ two songs that are gauranteed crowd favorites. There’s no dilly-dallying with these songs, they are just in your face rockers about drinking and hookers, respectively. ‘Birthday Boy’ is one of three Mike Cooley songs on this album and it just goes to show that he needs to bring more to the table. At the very least he needs to release a solo album – his songs are so lyrically rich that picturing him as a soft-spoken (alcoholic) dad who speaks nothing but words of great value is not an image which is difficult to attach to him.

Bassist Shonna Tucker steps up once again to join the Drive-By Truckers songwriters guild to show that brighter side of the coin. This time around she’s presenting two cuts that are leaps and bounds better than the songs she delivered for the band’s previous effort. She’s poured a lot of soul and emotion into ‘You Got Another,’ but three songs later she turns into your little rock n’ roll girlfriend on ‘(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So.’

Even though lead songwriter Pattersoon Hood doesn’t always lay gold to tape, the standout track on ‘The Big To-Do’ belongs to him. ‘This Fucking Job’ will have Drive-By Trucker fans in a tizzy and will surely turn into an anthem as it showcases both sides of the DBT coin.

For the most part ‘The Big To-Do’ is another solid Drive-By Truckers release. To have heard Hood repeatedly announce from the tallest buildings around that this album was going to be a balls-to-the-wall rock album is a little disappointing because that led me to believe another ‘The Dirty South’ was on its way. So don’t expect that. Put the hype he tried to create aside and appreciate this record for what it is – a slab of rock n’ roll, a touch of emotion, and a whole bunch of social commentary. God damn, do I love this band!

7/10

Welcome Back!

I'd like to take this moment to apologize for my lack of updates. I have been crazy busy the last while and writing album reviews just didn't fit into my schedule any longer. But have no fear, as I am back!

My plan is to write a review for new releases once every two weeks. This week's review will be posted very shortly. If I come across some old classics or get recommended something to listen to, then I'll try and write something up for that, too, in between the new release posts.

I'm working on a new layout right now, so don't get too attached to what I have going on.
Well that's it for an introduction, I suppose! Rock on!
-v