blackleatherbookshelf | Entries tagged with garage rock

The Finest in Garage Glitter and Grit

4 Out Of 5 Stars

As The Black Keys have steadily ascended to the garage stomp throne since vacated by The White Stripes, the best thing about their climb has been the increasing coolness of their albums. "Brothers" pulled everything into a tight, thudding packages, and with "El Camino," the duo - again with the help of Danger Mouse - bring everything down to a basic fuzz-guitar pounding. At the same time, everything is in its perfect place, from the raging buzz-saw solos ("Gold On The Ceiling") to the Hives-y raunch of "Stop Stop," this is an album that refines itself to the core.

It also means those who loved the disjointed and unfocused loopiness that the early albums contained will be crying Sell-Out all over the place. The simple truth is, The Black Keys have learned their craft down the a level of cool that most bands never reach. They even know and wink at it; search for the Colbert Report Sell-Out Sell-Off between The Black Keys and vampire Weekend and you'll see what Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach think of their commercial success. It's only rock and roll, and they're going to have a good time with it. "She wants milk and honey/She wants filthy money" cries Auerbach in "Money Maker." It's still all about cars and girls. And volume. And for now, The Black Keys' "El Camino" is the best place to find it.

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Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Money Maker" Black Keys

Is This Really It?
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The Strokes are one of those bands that have been held up as 'saviors' for so long that it's hard to believe that their total output for a decade is a mere four albums. "Angles" is the first time that they've - in my opinion - lived up to the hype of the first album. It doesn't sound like a knock-off (the reason my review of "Room on Fire" was two stars), and sounds more committed than "First Impressions" did. They've re-embraced pop structure, and Julian Casablancas' singing is at a new peak. Even the first single, "Under Cover of Darkness" breezed by with an easy charm.

Maybe it was the near five year break that motivated them, but "Angles" has that cool-band buzziness back. The punk urgency of "You're So Right" recaptures the CBGB rawness of the earlier days, while the new-wave "Two Kinds of Happiness" and "Games" take their cues from the chittering work The Cars were so perfect at. At the same time, the experimentation that made "First Impressions" sound listless is tightened up for "Gratisfaction" (best Strokes song ever?) and the moody, "Call Me Back." So maybe "First Impressions of Earth" wasn't as much a backslide as I first thought.

Overall, "Angles" is what "Is This It" originally promised from The Strokes. They had, at the beginning both attitude and ambition to burn. Casablancasa was as blatant an anti-star as the year had turned out, with all the attractiveness that would imply. The snarling twin guitars and snapping rhythm section are as tight now as they were then, and "Angles" is the sound of a band, while not making a masterpiece, still on solid footing.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Call Me Back" The Strokes

Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits Billboard.com

It's official -- Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. The class of 2011 will be formally feted on Mar. 14 at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Current Mood: curious
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Welcome To My Nightmare" Alice Cooper

It's Super-Rock Time! The IRS Years, 1980-85

It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's...Super Rock Time
4 Out of 5 Stars

It's been a long long wait for Fleshtones Fans. I had the sole CD release of IRS Living Legends series of The Fleshtones, but it got stolen. I was dumbfounded to see it selling for hundreds of dollars on ebay and the like, and had to settle for a well worn tape of "Roman Gods." Finally, relief has come...from Australia of all places.

Appropriating their own banner of "Super Rock," this 25 song collection of the incredible Fleshtones was well worth the wait. They were among the best bands IRS had to offer, and yet they always seemed one step behind the curve. They mixed raw, unbridled garage rock with sixties frat bands and an almost defiant lo-fidelity and no-tech recording style. Vocalist/keyboardist Peter Zaremba was the ultimate in non-singer lead singers, guitarist Keith Streng had that buzzing surf-rock guitar thing down like The B-52's did, and the rest of the band (especially the late Gordon Spaeth on sax) followed in perfect sync.

Until A&M/IRS gets it together for a proper reissue of the 5 star worthy "Roman Gods," the bulk of the album is here. That includes their semi-hit cover of Lee Dorsey's "Ride Your Pony" and the best dance instrumental the 80's produced in the horn drenched chant-along title track. (I have the vinyl 12 inch remix and loved it so much I used it as the theme to a radio show in the late 80's.) "HexBreaker" is represented by six of its best, and the unheralded live album is here, too. Add a couple previously unreleased live cuts and the "American Beat" single from Tom Hanks' "Bachelor Party," and you've got over an hour of some of America's best garage rock.

Granted, not every garage band gets to be The Kinks or even The Kingsmen (although the song "Roman Gods" darn sure tried), but there's more than enough big sounding noise rock here to satisfy...at least until we finally see those Fleshtones reissues.

Best of the Irs Years 1982-1987 (Bonus CD)

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Roman Gods" The Fleshtones

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Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

All Purpose Multi Function Combat Wombat

Entries tagged with garage rock

My Amazon Reviews: Black Keys "El Camino"

My Amazon Reviews: The Strokes "Angles"

Alice Cooper in The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame...finally!

My Amazon Reviews: The Fleshtones "It's Super Rock Time; The Best of The IRS Years"

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