Music Review #114:

Jan Hammer Group
Oh, Yeah?
1976
Nemperor Records

Mahavishnu Orchestra's first (and arguably most prolific) incarnation came to a painful end in 1973, as a sudden rise in popularity and a series of calamitous recording failures suddenly turned the great Mahavishnu into less of what they originally were into more or less the John McLaughlin Group. The band's original lineup, however, was so bursting-at-the-seams with talent and skill that it's members couldn't help but go on to form formidable solo careers -- Billy Cobham would traverse the jazz fusion path himself with Spectrum in 1973, and Jan Hammer, after collaborating with fellow musician Jerry Goodman, debuted his own solo material with The First Seven Days in 1975.

The album was well-received, and showcased the excellent skill Hammer obviously had. He continued on with the jazz-fusion shtick until the 80's, where he found himself composing film and television scores for such programs as Miami Vice. For the time being however Hammer really got in the swing of things and, not but a year later, delivered the facetiously titled Oh, Yeah? in 1976.

It's common for musicians to take an album or two to really get going, and get going Hammer did. Oh, Yeah? is a romp through some of the most thought-provoking and challenging sides of the jazz rock genre, whether it be the thumping bass/timbale combination of 'Bambu Forest', the eclectic and insane callbacks to Mahavishnu on 'Twenty One', or the driving openers and closers, 'Magical Dog' and 'Red and Orange', respectively. Almost every single song has something different to say in their own right, such as the throwing in of drummer Tony Smith's soulful vocals on 'One To One'. Jan Hammer and his band utilize an almost proto-80s synth culture to design Oh, Yeah? to be a sort of generational bridge that sits on neither side of the waters. A culture clash it may be, but it's a good one. Jan Hammer himself is the main pioneer in this regard, and with his effective use of a gamut of different synthesizing and keyboard effects it's easy to see why his more progressive electronic leanings make a greater impact than the likes of new age artists like Jean Michel Jarre did.

Towering and powerful, Oh, Yeah? is a can't-miss album, not only of the jazz fusion genre but of 70's music in general. It is the definition of a passion-project and is justly the penultimate release of Hammer's career.

 2017 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Have a nice day! 

Music Review #113:

Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Tarkus
1971
Island Records







The snag.

"Jumping the shark" is a common phrase that references when a television show, in danger of losing it's audience to the ever-decreasing quality of the program, does something ridiculous to rekindle interest. Named after a moment in an episode of Happy Days in 1977 where Fonzie, clad impractically in his signature leather jacket, takes a water- ski jump over a lake-area in which swims a shark. In the long-run the show didn't have much to worry about because it took seven more years to kill the damn thing, nonetheless the term stuck around and was subsequently applied to pieces of entertainment which acted similarly.

However even before Happy Days and the Fonz, new shining stars of the progressive rock scene Emerson, Lake & Palmer decided to jump the proverbial shark with Tarkus in 1971. For many progressive rock bands, jumping the shark was a common thing to do...in the eighties. Exhausting their creative muscle in the 70s, many bands got burnt out and fell back upon the 80s pop-rock music scene instead, and as many saw it went inadvertently into retirement from the business. However this wasn't the 80's -- as mentioned before Tarkus was in 1971, a period where albums like Meddle by Pink Floyd and Nursery Cryme by Genesis continued to emerge with gusto. Appearing less than seven months after their debut and following a European tour, Tarkus came to a young and craving fan-base happy with almost anything the band produced at the time. For all intents and purposes the album could not have been timed better, but timing is a factor that rarely has bearing on quality. In quality-terms however, Tarkus is vastly inferior to it's predecessor.

One glaring and inadmissible trait the album has is it's VERY obvious pompous nature. ELP went from a mild release with a bit of grandstanding to a overblown and ultimately ridiculous concept album in one fell swoop. Tarkus, and by that I mean the 20 minute title-track suite, follows the adventure of a sentient armadillo tank as he battles his way through a universe filled with ludicrous characters, spotlit ones including a manticore and an aquamarine version of Tarkus himself, so cleverly referred to as "Aquatarkus", the latter to which he ultimately loses against. This concept sounding ridiculous on paper is unsurprising, but what really matters is how the band adapts this concept to sound good. And if you were envisioning something tough, explosive, and chivalrous to depict such a surrealist battleground, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand however if you yearned for an overbearing collection of synthesizer, constant and sometimes heavy guitar noodling and lackluster vocals, then consider yourself acquainted with Tarkus. In simple terms, 'Tarkus' is an out-and-out mess. The song, while mostly being a fast-paced journey riddled with inconsistent progressive ramblings with Carl Palmer rattling around much more flamboyantly than necessary, does have it's odd enjoyable moments. For instance in the latter half there is a short-lived space rock section, but it's quickly pushed aside in order for misplaced quirky keyboard. A dichotomy I mentioned in my review for ELP's self-titled was where each band member seemed like they were trying to out-do each-other with their respective medium. If that was prominent on the first album, then it is even more so on Tarkus. Each member practically trips over eachother, almost like their playing different songs at the same time. It creates an unpleasant mishmash of half-baked ideas that becomes a drag after listening to the same inconsistency for 20 whole minutes.

What's this? A second side? It almost seems strange that there even exists a second side, but even after Tarkus seemed to have gone through each checkbox, ELP continued the album anyway. Unsurprisingly, the second side is just as if not more monotonous than the title-track. Not much is different, other than that Emerson uses some sort of Barrelhouse-esque piano on a few of the early songs, which sounds absolutely horrendous because of a tendency of ELP to turn the keyboard up higher than the rest of the instruments until it becomes overpowering. There is one exception to the second side, however. 'A Time and a Place' is a bit of a throwback to the self-titled, along the lines of the 'The Barbarian' or 'Knife-Edge'. Heavy and atmospheric, this track is so powerful that I've listened to it multiple times with continued interest. Greg Lake's vocals are at their best on this track, his blistering screams channeling Burton Cummings of the Guess Who with their raw intensity. It is truly a memorable piece of music, but unfortunately remains solitary on the second side as the only one noteworthy.

Tarkus is not only a big disappointment, but is also an excuse for ELP to continue to become more and more vapid and self-aggrandizing than they already are with it's widespread success. Some hope still remains, however. The next album may be able to rectify the problems created with this one. Right?

 2017 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Have a nice day! 

Music Review #112:

Tesla
Bust A Nut
1994
Geffen Records

Have you ever experienced music that is the epitome of harmless art? I have. Many times these albums are neither good nor bad, rather they walk the fine line that separates truly spectacular music and campy drivel. If you ever ask me for an example I could pull up numerous ones, first of which would likely be Bust A Nut by Tesla.

Decorated with a comically unsubtle double entendre as it's title, this album by Sacremento mid-weights Tesla is quite the piece of history. I mean this not necessarily in the sense that it shows the middle school student-like nature of humor of many bands in the 80s and 90s even though the music they presented was intended to be serious -- relatively I mean this more in the way that Bust A Nut is a perfect example of something many 80s rock bands had to go through as grunge began rapidly becoming the subject of interest. Tesla, while not being exactly extremely early to the 80s hard rock / metal scene, still had their debut Mechanical Resonance released in 1986, a year where alternative music hadn't quite yet burst forth as bombastically as it did a year or so later, but it wasn't far off. The band was already in a way established as a radio-friendly crowd-pleaser, so their uniqueness saving them from being drowned by supposedly more creative music seemed practically out of the question. However Tesla was able to persevere, funnily enough scoring their biggest hits in the 1990s. This was owed in part to their staying power -- not only did they feed off the still-existing glam arena rock sound, they managed to be inoffensive enough to be perfect for casual listening.

This is where we come to Bust A Nut, no pun intended. Released in 1994 subsequent to 1991's Psychotic Supper, a blues-infused Aerosmith-esque release, Bust A Nut returns to the more cleanly produced sound of the band's highly acclaimed The Great Radio Controversy from 1989. Some consider it not to be, but I believe Psychotic Supper was a bit of a misstep between The Great Radio Controversy and this album, as it lacked quite the punch of the semi-serious songwriting, no-holds-barred spectacles, and unique spices to break the monotony of the arena rock scene. That would make this album an undoubted improvement. While the AC/DC - Aerosmith fusion can get stale pretty quickly, that's not to say the album does not have many very well-done moments. Two great examples are the two first tracks, which act as perfect hooks with their crunching bluesy rumble and raw intensity. The album hits a few dated snags here and there like 'Try So Hard' with it's crying acoustic and vocal melodies. There are some clear Aerosmith coattail-riders like 'Mama's Fool', only differentiating themselves not with Jeff Keith's voice but with slightly heavier guitars than their predecessors. The guitar from Tommy Skeoch and Frank Hannon are what make the album pop like it does, and I believe without these Bust a Nut would be reduced to a simple by-the-numbers album. But with them, Tesla makes it clear they are still the tough guys even if they are playing on an album named after male ejaculation.

The enjoyment of a release such as this comes from really whether or not you like slightly-heavy-handed simplicity, because that's exactly what it is. Perhaps it's not the greatest product of the 1990s or hell, maybe even 1994, but Bust A Nut's saccharine and innocuous nature can be enjoyable if you're willing to embrace it.

 2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Have a nice day! 

Music Review #111:

Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1970
Island Records

The Carousel Ballroom, a San Francisco-based music venue that mainly held blues performers such as B.B. King and other African American jazz artists in the 1960s, found itself under the control of a musical conglomerate composed of bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, among others in 1968. These bands intended the venue to be a socio-musical experiment to attract audiences in the San Fran/Haight-Ashbury area. Needless to say, the idea wasn't too successful. Former promoter, Bill Graham, took the reigns in '68, hoping to achieve some success similarly with the hall. However the seating capacity of the hall was lackluster at best, and was not nearly grandiose enough to attract the atrophying community surrounding it. In New York City, Graham owned a similar auditorium by the name of Fillmore East which he had acquired not four months earlier. Deciding to seek a better location, the newly-born Fillmore West was born less than a mile away from the original Carousel Ballroom's location.

Fillmore West would go on to host a variety of performances, such as Californian regulars the Grateful Dead, as well as Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service, etc. It should be noted that this performance hall came at a very special time, one known to birth many prolific rock bands all across Europe and North America -- the late '60's. Taking place well into what was colloquially referred to as the Psychedelic Era, rock bands of the time were keen on trekking the globe on large extensive tours, where droves of audiences happened to follow them wherever they went. One of the younger of these acts was King Crimson, who, in December of 1969, co-headlined concerts at Fillmore West with London-based jazz rockers The Nice, a band apart of a similar progressive mindset as Crimson. It was there that keyboardist Keith Emerson from The Nice and bassist Greg Lake from King Crimson met and struck up a quick and steadfast friendship. As their series of performances came to a close, Emerson and Lake were already discussing the prospect of forming a new group. The one musician the band the two needed was a drummer, and after a series of unsuccessful tryouts and careful consideration, the band decided on Carl Palmer, known for his work in both The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. The trio was now set in stone, and a debut album was set in motion. Lake, similarly to how he had in King Crimson, acted as producer, began collecting songs performed previously in the band's gigs, and began executing them in the studio format. Thus, in November 1970, the band's self-titled studio work was born.

Emerson Lake & Palmer, and by that I do mean the album, is perhaps the purest form of skill, intelligence, and understanding of zeitgeist the band ever cared to show. With a 6-track runtime (par for the course for any semi- self-conscious progressive rock band in 1970), the album doesn't exude any overbearing smugness that the band would come to be criticized for. From beginning to end the album is very poignant musically, aside from hitting a few snags and some inopportune times. Starting with the crunching proto-metallic surge of 'The Barbarian', a rock arrangement of ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók's 'Allegro barbaro', ELP manages to pack a big punch in a short amount of time. Unlike many latter releases, ELP's debut does not contain huge quasi-orchestral suites, instead opting for simply semi-lengthy tracks. The majority of the tracks tend to be a mix of clear songwriting and extensive jams. This is clear from the second track, the epic 'Take a Pebble'. Also clear is a certain dichotomy that only got more pronounced as the band aged; because the band is comprised of only 3 admittedly skilled musicians, each member makes what is almost a silent effort to outdo each-other in terms of unabashed bravado. This especially rings true for Keith Emerson, who not only has a luxuriously no-holds-barred piano solo what seems like every 3 minutes, but also permeates the rest of the album with a multitude of synthesized soundscapes that, with multiple listens, can get extremely grating. This relationship between the band members also can create unenjoyable pandemonium, which it seems the band is blissfully unaware is in fact unenjoyable, especially on songs like 'The Three Fates' (said pandemonium occurring funnily enough directly after one of Emerson's solos). This is all prone to subjectivity though, as the band still manages to hit some rather great points. The heavy riffs that the band occasionally pumps out like on the aforementioned 'The Barbarian' and 'Knife-Edge' are much in the vein of Greg Lake's parent band Atomic Rooster, and are thus very well received. 'Tank' may pleasure me with a bias -- as a drummer and a certain fan of Greg Lakes work I'm easily enraptured by a drum solo from the man coincided with some bouncy synth. 'Lucky Man' seems to hold a certain amount of bad blood with prog-fans, however I personally found myself rather warm towards the track's cheesy qualities, not to mention I'm a sucker for some good vocal harmonies.

Upon release, this album was hailed as a mighty fine one, and it's not hard to see why. Right out of the gate Emerson, Lake & Palmer is passionate and alight with unbridled genius. ELP now had a tight grasp on the attention of the outside world, and nearly everything was set up in anticipation for the band's next big hit.

 2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Have a nice day! 

Music Review #110:

Nickelback
All The Right Reasons
2005
Roadrunner Records

This is a re-write review for an album by one of the most hated bands in the circuit they proclaim to be a part of.

Nickelback have been controversial characters for much of their career. At the time of their inception in the mid 90's, they weren't payed much attention to as many post-grunge bands erupted out of the woodwork in the wake of Nirvana's dissolution. Some heavier than others, some lighter and sweeter for a commercial taste, the scene was infested with either mediocre acts or surprisingly good ones. Nickelback, and their debut Curb (1996) directly had the heavy edge but appealed very well to those craving commercial alt-rock tunes. Thus, Nickelback went flying past others on the charts at mach-speed, becoming a concrete part of the 90's hard rock and post-grunge scene. But now it's a few years later, specifically 2005, and Nickelback had released one of their biggest cash-cows yet, All The Right Reasons. This particular album struck gold numerous times, spawning a whopping 7 singles from the 11-song tracklist. The album has become rather infamous for housing 'Photograph', which subsequently became one of the biggest joke songs in the mid 2000's.

To say the album is represented by this song however would be wholly disingenuous, as there are some rather good songs that do deserve to be appreciated. All The Right Reasons is contrived to a borderline insulting degree, but it also is able to have a punch that the band's other albums failed to have. All The Right Reasons starts off with a rumbling double kick thump by the honestly pretty talented Daniel Adair with 'Follow You Home', one of the darkest and likewise aggressive tracks of the whole album. Adair is noted for having performed in the insufferable 3 Doors Down prior to joining, and it's clear that he does a much better job with Nickelback than he did in his parent band. The title track continues this trend, being an unabashed alternative metal riff-off that, while having some pretty soft vocal segments, hardly takes a breath while dealing out some kind of heaviness. But then we hit a wall.

You see, this album is plagued with goody-goody fluff-pieces that can appear at the most annoying of times. In this case, the track that succeeds the title track is the aforementioned 'Photograph', an acoustic memoir piece that has Kroeger melancholically reminiscing out about a childhood that's more bland than the bands music. Apart from the the lyrics being generally uninteresting, Kroeger's genuinely hardcore vocal style juxtaposed with cheesy pop rock acoustic guitar is laughable at best. This tonal shift is prevalent in many annoying spots on the album, making it a rather uncomfortable experience in an album playthrough. Unfortunate yes, but that doesn't mean that there aren't diamonds in the rough still. 'Side of a Bullet' is a tribute to the late Dimebag Darell of Pantera, even featuring an overdubbed guitar solo of his. It really shows that even though Nickelback are known as the unbearable pretty boys, they have their roots in very genuine musicians. To a lesser degree 'Someone That You're With' and 'Animals', the two libido-centric songs are pretty catchy in their own right even though they have about as much subtlety and artistic merit as a piece of cheesecake. There is one exceptional ballad, being 'If Everyone Cared'. Not only well-meaning, the vocal harmonies of Chad Kroeger evoke a very passionate message, even with how heavy-handed it may be. Other than these the album is heavy will vapid material that is unlikely to convince anyone who already hates the band to change their opinion.

Safe? Yes. Predictable. Extremely so. But All the Right Reasons is a guilty pleasure that borders on being actually extremely well thought-out at certain points. If you can get past it's polarizing nature, you may have a decent experience.

2017 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Originally written for Metal Music Archives on 2/18/2017.

Visit the site at www.metalmusicarchives.com

Music Review #109:

The Guess Who
So Long, Bannatyne
1971
RCA Victor










Goin' a little crazy ain't too bad...


So Long, Bannatyne came in the wake of a huge international success that was American Woman, an album that blew up a band that had previously only had a few extraneous hits here and there. Randy Bachman, once perceived as the creative muscle behind songs like 'Undun', took his leave following his bout of Mormon fever that infected his view of the band's then unruly lifestyle. This left The Guess Who to pick up two guitarists from their home city of Winnipeg, Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, to take his place. Bachman's departure had not left the group quite in dire straits, as not only was Share the Land with this new lineup. Released in the same year of 1970, it itself spawned more singles that kept The Guess Who in a continued state of success.

As the year winded down however so did this success. The group began to evolve slightly but quickly in to a much less commercially palatable sound with progressive touches here and there. The band went from scoring number ones on the Billboard charts to barely scraping into the top 20 in a year alone. Thus enter So Long, Bannatyne, what came out of this madness. To be blunt, this record has no right to be good considering the circumstances in which it was released. However it'd be foolish to judge a book, or in this case a large plastic disk by its cover.

If a word alone were given to describe this particular record, it would likely be "ambitious". It certainly embodies post-Bachman Guess Who better than anything that followed it- this has a much looser, experimental tone than the harder edged stuff on American Woman. It generally wanders the line between archaic, earthy rock 'n' roll and warm hints of progressive rock. When it comes down to specifics it's all over the place, with each song sounding relatively different and reflecting off of one another. For instance the second track 'She Might Have Been a Nice Girl', a bittersweet, regretful ballad is immediately contrasted by the elaborate and maniacal 'Goin' a Little Crazy'. It's quite hard to get over this seemingly halfbaked nature upon first listen, but after a few spins you begin to see how all of the songs are tied by a vague theme of retrospection and introspection. Though it's fairly known in the band's fan circle that this album's title track is written in relation to Kurt Winter's upheaval from Manitoba, the entire album tends to follow a train of thought that delves into sentimentality quite often. 'Sour Suite', a stunning piano rock ballad (and one of if not the best ballads I've heard) tells of a "runaway dad that took away the only thing that I never had". The more straightforward, floaty rocker 'Pain Train' has the lyric "We love the dollar more than the collar that Daddy used to wear". This whole lyrical theme the album uses not only, as aforementioned, ties everything in, but it also makes it thematically intriguing and keeps your intention extremely well. It doesn't hurt that songs like the jazz-rock of 'Grey Day' keep you on your toes with extremely impressive musicianship. Seriously, this song absolutely stunning. One of both Cummings' and Peterson's best work, as well as the song by the band that likely has impressed me the most to date.

So Long, Bannatyne is a comfort record, for sure. On the other hand, it's also a rocker. On the third hand, it also makes you think. You can take it however way you please. Or you can simply take all three in at once and listen to what a surprisingly beautiful and awesome show that this record is.

 2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 
this review was rewritten on 1/21/2018.

Have a nice day! 

Music Review #108:

Nickelback
Feed The Machine (single)
2017
Republic Records

"...and it's actually pretty good."

This statement to end all statements was bestowed upon the rock community a few days ago as infamous Canadian laughing stock Nickelback dropped their new single, 'Feed the Machine'. Debates raged, collateral damage ensued, "This is metal you dumbass!" and "This is still hard rock and it blows!" being the primary argument fodder to be launched like feces at the opposing side. This verbal warfare brings up one again the time-weathered fact of a sort of ingrained hate for Nickelback, even though they're not nearly the worst band in the rock circuit currently. Many studio albums and singles Nickelback have released in the past haven't managed to break this proverbial mold of dislike...that is, until now.

I suppose after over two decades the hate has died down a bit, and it appears Nickelback has become a bit of new outfit as of late. Though they haven't necessarily ditched the pretty-boy grunge atmosphere completely, they have managed to win many over with their more serious and blatantly heavy output. This I mean in most recent terms possible, as in this only applies to this track. Nickelback's 2014 No Fixed Address flew practically unbeknownst past the ears of everyone, and that includes me. So, Nickelback gets another chance to please people, and they manage to do it to a much greater extent than before.

'Feed the Machine' is one of the heaviest songs songs Nickelback has recorded in previous era. You know the renewed debate on Nickelback's metal credibility I mentioned before? Yeah, all sparked by this song. The damn album hasn't even come out and controversy is everywhere. But this spark has a clear cause- 'Feed the Machine' takes the quasi-political alternative metal vibe up to 11 as the the thunderous riffs blow through the the massive sounding double kick to a savage degree. Chad Kroeger has gotten a lot of blow-back and ridicule over the years because of his "golf ball stuck in the throat" technique that inspired countless others, but I and hopefully others believe that it actually fits much better the heavier the band. His voice's melodious yet no-holds-barred style is very good for what the band is currently producing. The song isn't a cop-out either, with a 5-minute runtime packed with a lot with a ferocious passion that some of the even most hardened of Nickelback cynics admit exists in much of their music.

There you have it. Check it out if you want. I don't know how to end this review. It's better than the last Machine Head single maybe? Yeah. That'll do.

 2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher 

Have a nice day!