Oct 20
AndrewMusic AC/DC, Album, cd, Music, Review, wal-mart
Anthems may be their gift (or strategy) but AC/DC’s first studio album in 8 years leads off with the rather lackluster track Rock N’ Roll Train. A sign of the times or just poor sequencing?
Turns out it doesn’t matter. Black Ice is uninspired AC/DC rock. From vocals to riffs, their signature sound permeates every song and that seems like it should be a good thing. The problem is that song after song seem kind of muted, from the “Hey Hey Heys” of Skies on Fire to strange pronunciation of Decibel (pronounced “deci-bell” which would be distracting if the track was even remotely listenable.) More to the point, anthems usually inspire sing-a-long kind of choruses, which are virtually missing here. Can you just see a crowd shouting “Big Jack, Big Jack, He said that he’s the only one who got a full sack”? If you can, you’re a better man than I.
Towards the end, it starts to feel like one is listening to the same song on repeat over and over again. Spoilin’ for a Fight sounds a lot like the title track. Not a solitary track stands out over another, and since AC/DC is eschewing typical promotional channels like digital singles, it’s hard to even know which song they want us to listen to. And the ballads are just turds.
Black Ice is only on sale at Wal-Mart, and the company has promised to create a mini-store concept to promote the album, complete with the band’s past catalog, t-shirts and other AC/DC-branded stuff. It will be a mild footnote if the band can rest on its reputation to sell Black Ice only at Wal-Mart, without any digital presence to speak of, as Garth Brooks did successfully. In this day and age, it’s one thing to eschew the Best Buys and Targets of the world, but it’s foolhardy to cut out amazon.com and iTunes. Especially when your music just plain ole sucks.
Sep 30
AndrewMusic Album, Ben Folds, Review
Way to Normal, the new full-length release by college rock icon Ben Folds, exceeds expectations. What might one come to expect from an artist that recorded “fake” versions of songs and then leaked them to the internet to throw fans and foes alike of the scent of the new album? Good question.
The answer, in part, is a solid rock album led off by the bombastic track Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head). The album includes the song Before Cologne, followed by the song Cologne (a stunning, almost ethereal love song) -- more evidence of Folds’ unique sense of humor. The best of the album is the single, You Don’t Know Me, a track recorded with Regina Spektor. But there is a lot else to like here. Brainwascht evokes earlier Ben Folds tunes and there’s something almost tragic in the message of Effington “I want to live, I want to die. Please bury me in Effington” even if you get the impression it’s all sung with a smile and a wink. But maybe the point isn’t to read too much into it. With Ben Folds, you can take it either way.
Folds took his band into the studio for three days to record the “fake” versions, which he leaked and is now playing on tour side by side with the album versions. It some cases, it’s proving not quite to his advantage, since the “fake” version of Brainwascht is at least as good as the real. And in the case of Free Coffee, the “fake” version is actually better.
For all that, fans will be happy and there isn’t much to nitpick here (though Kylie from Connecticut isn’t really all that fun and coming at the end as it is, you may just skip it from now on.) Even if you wanted to argue that Folds hasn’t picked up his game with Way to Normal, at the very least he delivered above expectations.
Feb 16
AndrewMusic Concert, Paula Cole, Review
Paula Cole
Berklee Performance Theatre
February 16, 2007
As Paula Cole herself admitted, it has been a long time. Her return to recording and touring has been a slow evolution fueled in part by having a child, and in part by her musical collaboration with Chris Botti, a renowned trumpeter. The jazz influence is obvious in her new songs, but it is also notable that the new music sounds a lot like the Paula Cole some of us remember.
Her last album, Amen, was released in 1999. It was a good collection of songs, but her enthusiasm for recording and touring had waned, and it was pretty evident. With time away, she returns invigorated because, as she says, “music is fun again.” Paula Cole is putting together a full tour to coincide with the release of her next album, Courage, on June 12.
Cole arranged for a hometown performance at the Berklee Performance Theatre, a part of the Berklee College of Music where Cole attended. She was greeted warmly by a mix of friends, fans and college students. Her first tune was an amazing reworking of one of her biggest hits Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? Cole sat alone on stage, at the piano and played a new arrangement of the song. It was breathtaking. She followed by adding drummer Ben Wittman for a roaring version of Mississippi from her album This Fire.
Most of the set stole from This Fire, the one album that made Paula Cole a household name, however briefly -- though it is not besides the point that she won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1998. During the two hour set, she addressed the audience openly and often, talking about her experiences in the seven years she was away from the music scene, about her new energy and her musical influences.
The spotlight for the first half of the show was new material. Comin’ Down was a spirtual gospel romp “Lord make me an instrument to sing away the pain, This rushing river, comin’ down.” Easily the highlight of the new material, it could find a home on adult contemporary radio. Love Light (Cardinal) was shining, just a powerful tune that gave way to the high energy of Tiger. Cole then pulled back a chair and delivered the jazz standard My One and Only Love (which she had recorded a version of with Botti) as a soft lullabye.
From that point in the show, she pulled out all the stops. Throwing Stones, one of her angriest, best Fuck You songs (though Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? will always be the best) pulsed through the audience, and she even played a full band version of Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?
Some of her best songs were saved for the encores, including what most people know as the Dawson’s Creek theme song I Don’t Want to Wait and a cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene complete with a three-minute human beat box ending by Cole. She came back on stage for I Am So Ordinary, just her at the piano again -- an extra song “for her hometown,” and a fitting to close the show.
Cole’s voice is better than it has ever sounded, and it was always an impressive instrument in its own right. She looked radiant and happy and the performance was as nice a treat for the audience as it was for her. She will launch the Lessons for Life Tour later in the year.
Setlist
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? (Piano solo)
Mississippi
Comin’ Down
Lonelytown
El Greco
Love Light (Cardinal)
Tiger
My One and Only Love
Hard To Be Soft/Throwing Stones
14
Hush Hush Hush
Amen
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? (Full band)
Me
The Ladder
Encore 1
Carmen
Watch the Woman’s Hands
I Don’t Want to Wait
Jolene
Encore 2
I Am So Ordinary
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