WEEZER / Maladroit (2002)

 

 

It’s about time I made some decisions, repercussions be damned.

Maladroit is better than Pinkerton.

There’s a fistful of ridiculously great Weezer albums, but Maladroit is the only one that’s an INESCAPABLE STEAMROLLING WALL OF 100% FULL POWER. Lyrically and sonically, in equal measure. Those guitars, JEEBUS! They are not fucking around; not for a single nanosecond. Rivers isn’t pulling any punches, and he isn’t taking any more of your shit. When emotional fragility hardens to bulletproof self-respect, be afraid.

Be very afraid.

Songs of Note: Slob; Love Explosion

5 Reasons Fighting is Weak to Fairy out of 5

WEEZER / Weezer (Red; 2008)

Keep it on the up!

 

I do still agree with a once-upon-a-time friend of mine that some of the best tracks recorded for this album were held back as b-sides (and promotional downloads, if my horrible, schizophrenic memory serves). Two of them are S-tier heart puncturing in the same manner as the most personal tracks on Katy’s masterwork. One is a second missive with Scott Shriner at the helm, and you already know how I feel about that guy~<3

HOWEVER, this slightly unfortunate turn of events doesn’t mean that the regular release isn’t worthwhile in its own right. It’s a bit ramshackle and raucous in places, but that’s honestly the (intermittent) charm of latter-day Weezer, in a nutshell. The rest is both brilliantly emotional and audacious, acting as the origins of Rivers having the balls to get away with things that would easily see lesser mortals trampled under society’s pitchforks and torches.

There’s a song for Patrick, Scott, and Brian, each, with Brian’s being especially pleasing to my ear, perfectly emulating Fastball, as it does. I would love to live in a world where the four of them traded vocals, consistently.

This world ain’t so bad, though~

Just (legally) download and burn Miss Sweeney, Pig, The Spider, and King, since the Deluxe version is a bit pricey and slightly troublesome to come by.

Songs of Note: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn); The Spider


Vanilla: 3 Rightfully Resplendent Renegades out of 5
Deluxe Edition: 4 Ruinously Raw and Regretful Tales of Love and Death out of 5

JEFF WAYNE / Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978)

While I don't personally regard every song on Jeff Wayne's début concept album to be perfect, when considered as a whole it's a masterpiece of adaptation, design (inc. artwork) and aural joy that I never tire of experiencing.
Richard Burton narrates the story, based on H. G. Wells' famous 1898 novel, the actor's euphonious baritones perfectly suited to the work. Completing the magic, a string and prog rock accompaniment create a sweeping aura that carries the listener on a stirring, emotional journey. The changes in tone and dramatic intensity move it seamlessly from ominous to propitious, from elation to woe, all the while able to satisfy people in search of storytelling just as much as people in search of music. It's a work of art that's rich in imagery, content and style.

Songs of Note: Forever Autumn; Thunder Child

5 plans against us out of 5

WEEZER / Weezer (Green; 2001)

There’s nothing overtly wrong with Green, it’s just that it’s very generic. It’s entirely encircled by monumental albums, which absolutely doesn’t help its case. Thankfully, nothing here is remotely as artificial as Beverly Hills. You won’t suffer by throwing this on, on a lazy afternoon half hour while you’re doing something else that actually requires your attention. But, should you really? No. Hash Pipe exists as a prototype or prequel to Dope Nose, which is neat. Around the time that this was being promoted Scott Shriner joined the band and I just love that guy 😄

Songs of Note: No, not really, unfortunately.

1½….Wait, did he say “I got my ass wiped?” out of 5

WEEZER / Make Believe (2005)

We're starting with this one? Yes. Yes, we fucking are. I hate Beverly Hills. It's single-bait gimmickry and it can G.T.F.O. Cut it off the same as Jonathan Davis's song on the Downpour soundtrack. The resultant album is as perfect as anything that's not Pinkerton (or Maladroit) can be. In some ways, it seems like Rivers was trying to take a basic approach like he did with Green, but accidentally fell into startlingly stirring sincerity without any undue effort. I'd personally argue that some pieces here rival Pinkerton's unabashed starkness.

Songs of Note: Damage in Your Heart; The Other Way

4½ Guys Actually Self-Aware Enough to Know What They Are out of 5

ROGER WATERS & VARIOUS ARTISTS / When the Wind Blows (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [1986]

Based upon Raymond Briggs' graphic novel, director Jimmy Murakami (who also faithfully adapted Briggs' The Snowman) was lucky to hire ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters to score When the Wind Blows.
David Bowie's title track is another highlight of the soundtrack album.  However the four remaining songs leave much to be desired if you haven't already fallen asleep.  Waters' contributions sound like a prelude to his Radio K.A.O.S. 1987 solo album and that's all right because they're simply pleasant pieces in bits or as a whole track.  It's not a must-have album but certainly a quaint little record to revisit every once in a blue moon.

3 lullabies out of 5

Songs of Note: Tower of Faith; Folded Flags

ROGER WATERS / The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking [1984]

After receiving mixed reviews for Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, Roger Waters opted to record a solo album (and ditch Floyd a year later) which resulted in 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.
The rest of Floyd chose The Wall over this album to record as their next opus in 1979 and it was probably a good idea career wise.  Critics and audiences weren't ready for Waters' bizarre sense of humor and only wanted him dark, melodramatic and cynical.  Still the story of a beaten down middle-aged man that dreams of fucking a hitchhiker he's picked up is still filled with plenty of anger, spit and melancholy as it dissects the human psyche.  Musically it isn't always up to par as it lacks any memorable hooks or melodies as it seems to jump all over the place as its searches for some common ground.  Maybe that's the point and it just requires the listener to dig deep to really find it's cold heart and soul.

3½ possible pasts out of 5

Songs of Note:  4:50 am (Go Fishing); 4:58 am (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin)

RON GEESIN & ROGER WATERS / Music from The Body [1970]

For his bizarre 1970 documentary art-film, The Body, director Ron Battersby enlisted Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Ron Geesin (co-writer of Floyd's epic Atom Heart Mother suite) as the composers.

The results of these two collaborating on something so weird is unsurprisingly strange itself.  A mixture of short bio-music tracks (made up mostly of burps, belly slapping, crazed laughter and the occasional fart) with a few soft-folk numbers sung and played by Waters makes for a bit of a challenging listen.  As a heavy admirer of Ummagumma (and other art-noise Floyd works) this is a fascinating listen but I can honestly say I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without a taste for the same chaotic styles.

3 disturbingly intimate heavy breaths out of 5

Songs of Note: Old Folks Ascension; Give Birth to a Smile

GIN WIGMORE / Gravel & Wine [2011]

Sassy humored Gin Wigmore's second album, 2011's Gravel & Wine, is finer realized step-up from her upbeat soul-pop 2009 debut.

Armed with a coarse deep voice that explodes with passionate attitude, devilish playfulness and sultry seduction, Wigmore's songwriting compliments it with dirty blues, highway twang and a 50's diner daydream rock that was missing from her previous works.  The production is bright, big and spirited enough to never let her voice overpower the music and vice versa.  It might be an exact retro-replica of the music of yesterday but this is a pretty damned good reason as to why someone listened to those type of songs in the first place.

4 bad women to keep out of 5

Songs of Note:  Man Like That; If Only

RICHARD WRIGHT / Broken China [1996]

Richard Wright's second solo studio album, 1996's Broken China, has Pink Floyd stamped all over it, beginning with it's textural mood then leading into it's structure and conceptual narratives.
 The keyboardist's final full-length studio outing, before his death in 2008, is drenched in a deep depression that makes for an unusual and disjointed listen compared to Wright's previous efforts.  Where, someone like Roger Waters who's sadness came out in anger, Wright's sadness mirrors his persona, gentle, dreary and somewhat mysterious.  It's a conceptual album stuck in it's era but still manages to conjure up some pretty interesting musical ideas complimented by some fascinating lyrics.  For the average listener it'll probably be lost but for a Floyd fan this is one of the better solo efforts.

3½ tributes to Mildred out of 5

Songs of Note: Night of a Thousand Furry Toys; Breakthrough (feat. Sinéad O'Connor)

GIN WIGMORE / Holy Smoke [2009]

Upon first listen to New Zealand singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore's 2009 full-length debut, Holy Smoke, it's pretty obvious she's a talent to be reckoned with.
Like Amy Winehouse before her, Wigmore packs a mighty soulful voice that's aged well beyond her youthful years that's instantly likeable and obviously the center-point of the album.  Her raspy sass is complimented by a tightly wound rock back-drop, courtesy of Ryan Adams' former band The Cardinals but as strong as they are, something doesn't quite gel together on a majority of the songs.  It never takes away from the enjoyability of this thoroughly entertaining album but one can't help but constantly thinking "she's really good now but once she's tuned in a bit more she'll be fantastic".

3½ roads to redemption out of 5

Songs of Note: Hey Ho; I Do

RICHARD WRIGHT / Wet Dream [1978]

With Pink Floyd well on it's way into complete self-destruction after 1977's Animals, the band went on a brief  hiatus to gather their bearings and possibly release a solo record or two.
1978's Wet Dream was keyboardist Richard Wright's leisurely offering.
It's a serene dreamlike trip with contemplative soothing vocals gently layered over smooth jazzy keyboards and lite-bluesy guitar riffs.  Like Wright, it's fairly inoffensive, peaceful and almost buries itself in the background making sure it never wears out it's welcome.  To sum it up, it sounds like Dark Side outtakes without the passion of David Gilmour's guitar playing and that's just fine with me.  I just simply enjoy it as a calming ambience every once in a blue moon.

3 pleas for time to breathe out of 5

Songs of Note: Summer Elegy; Drop In From The Top

ROGER WATERS / Amused to Death (1992)

A concept album with a hugely ambitious scope that enables Waters to comment on the entirety of mankind's accomplishments and follies, as viewed from more than one unique perspective. Musically, it performs a similar function in relation to his illustrious career that fans of his input into Pink Floyd should appreciate on a deeper level. But it's not just Floyd 2.0, it's the poet and musician being intellectually engaging and musically diverse, reaching further afield than ever before into what it is that makes us human. I'm not ashamed to say that a part of it makes me tearful, and that's the highest praise I can conceivably give.

Songs of Note: What God Wants, Part I; Three Wishes

5 technical manuals out of 5

WHITE ZOMBIE / Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (1995)

WZ's most commercially successful album sold millions of copies, but it's not their best work. It's boring. Film samples in music are something I really enjoy when done correctly, there's a perfect balance that can be found between the two, but you won’t find it in Astro-Creep. Too many intros interrupt the flow, and when the music eventually does come it's uninspired. They peaked on the previous album and, unable to progress musically, simply go around in circles on this one.

Songs of Note: Creature of the Wheel; Blood, Milk and Sky

2½ bug parades out of 5

THE WONDER STUFF / The Eight Legged Groove Machine (1988)

If Eight Legged was the only album that I'd ever heard by The Wonder Stuff, I'd be inclined to dismiss them as a Bubblegum-pop/Rock outfit with one or two great songs and some interesting lyrical content elsewhere, and then likely never have bothered with them again. But, luckily, I heard Eight Legged after having heard its follow-up, Hup (1989), or I might never have experienced the joys of Hup.
If you want to hear the band at their best, it might be a good idea to go via the same route as I did. I've known a few indie-kids with floppy hair that really liked this album but… well… they were indie-kids with floppy hair. 'Nuff said.

Songs of Note: Rue the Day; Some Sad Someone

1½ merry-go rounds out of 5

WE FELL TO EARTH / We Fell To Earth [2009]

Rich File (½ of U.N.K.L.E.) & Wendy Rae Fowler teamed up to record the eerie spaced-out 2009 self-titled trip-hop album We Fell To Earth.
Unlike their genre partners Portishead & Massive Attack, WFTE steer clear of the overly dreary and center more along the lines of a Jefferson Airplane dabbling in krautrock sort of psychedelic sound in the 90's.  Driven by pulsating percussion, subtle yet plucky guitars and vocal spotlights shared by both members, the album never really seems to tread over new ground but remains a pleasant listen nevertheless.

3 earthlings? out of 5

Songs Of Note: Careful What You Wish For; Lost In Flames

WOODKID / The Golden Age [2013]

With music videos from Taylor Swift & Katy Perry under his director's belt, I had low expectations from Yoann "Woodkid" Lemoine's debut album The Golden Age.

Much to my delight, the album is nothing like the bubblegum crap videos that he's famous for.  Each song holds a bold & busy cinematic power that lends itself to generic visuals quite easily, so I would think by the end of the year they'll all be in Zooey Deschanel's TV sitcom or an iPod commercial.  Lemoine's voice is pleasant enough but it really doesn't do a whole lot of exploration.  While the ambitious songwriting and production is admirable, Lemoine throws it all at you too early in the songs and they never really progress from there.  

3 lives out of 5

Songs Of Note: Run Boy Run; Iron

THE WONDER STUFF / Never Loved Elvis (1991)

The 'Stuffies third album was the one that got them media attention in the UK, which is surprising, considering their previous album is arguably more accessible. Sure, NLE has some great Pop songs that deserved to be hits, but the record-buying public don't often embrace songs that contain fiddle, banjo, mandolin and accordion. Its success is a triumph for good songs from good songwriters!
In a similar way to how shots of bourbon complement the blues, half a dozen cold beers in a student bar increase my enjoyment of NLE.

Songs of Note: Welcome to the Cheap Seats; 38 Line Poem

4 mission drives out of 5

WHITE ZOMBIE / La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 (1992)

La Sexorcisto was the soundtrack to my time in art school. Being inspired by Van Gogh, Hieronymus Bosch, and White Zombie was an exhilarating experience.
Musically, it's dominated by Psychedelic, Sludgy, almost Stoner groove riffs that are undeniably catchy. The aesthetic is helped along by a plethora of audio samples that capture the feeling of living inside a Horror B-Movie, which I imagine was the idea. If it didn't fall into sameness in the last third, it'd be perfect.
Rob Zombie never topped the album, neither musically or conceptually.

Songs of Note: Thunderkiss 65; Black Sunshine

4½ hip cats and dead girls out of 5

WRATHCHILD AMERICA / Climbin' the Walls (1989)

It saddens me to admit it but in truth there's nothing spectacular about Climbin' the Walls. It's a decent late 80s Metal album with solid drumming, some respectable Iron Maiden moments, and Thrash elements that serve their purpose but never manage to drag the songs out of the mediocre pit. Despite its failings, I really like it. There's a faithful (if uninspired) cover of Pink Floyd's 'Time,' which is what first brought it to my attention a long, long time ago.

Songs of Note: No Deposit, No Return; London After Midnight

2½ pieces of candy out of 5