Quarter Century Review: Up On The Sun

Meat Puppets
Up On The Sun
SST
Produced by Spot

Like a million others, I was introduced to the Meat Puppets on December 14, 1993. When they joined Nirvana on their Unplugged special to perform a couple of their songs, I thought the songs were pretty good but wouldn't sound as good without Kurt Cobain singing them. While I was right about that, the Meat Puppets do have some merit as artists. Like SST alum (the late) D. Boon, Curt Kirkwood performs some very nimble guitarwork on this album. The album actually sounds like a more mellow Minutemen release.

The much mailgned (by me) production by SST house producer Spot is another fine example of just capturing the band as is, like the New Day Rising review from January. Up On The Sun just might be the slickest sounding SST release. The vocals fit in well with the music and are perfectly blended in the mix without being overpowering. Two of the tracks without vocals ("Maiden's Milk," and "Animal Kingdom,") are perhaps the most enjoyable musically on the album. I can't say that this album will ever be a part of any kind of regular rotation in my listening but I can say that is a very well-crafted album. It starts off great with "Up On The Sun," and does lose a little bit of steam toward the end but it is a great effort overall.

Overall Grade = 8.15

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Jagjaguwar
LP/CD

This is, undoubtably, the album I have been most excited to hear of the year. As I write this, I am at 80% of the download I received for pre-ordering it here. I am champing at the bit waiting for this to download. I have already heard the first single, "Albatross," and enjoyed it. But what I learned from 2007's The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is that one song detached from the whole album isn't as powerful. The Besnard Lakes are one of very few bands that are more concerned with crafting a full album and not just concentrating on a few singles and a some filler. I just realized that I have written an entire paragraph that has very little to do with the actual album.

Mind you, I haven't seen any lyrics so my interpretation is solely on the music and the picture it paints for me. The story that began with Volume 1 and continued through Dark Horse sounds as though it is concluding with a Roaring Night. Both spy characters (each played by the Besnard Lakes husband and wife duo Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas) get to take their parting shots on each other and the world. It all starts off rather somber as if to denote that the spy game that our characters have waged has met its end. The opening tandem tracks making up "Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent," set the mood nicely and is a bit of a straightforward song for them, albeit very well-layered. "Chicago Train," is a remarkably beautiful and the first real acknowledgment that our characters are aware that this is their last pillaging hurrah. "Albatross," shows Goreas as thankful for the destruction the couple has wrought but her capture has brought it to an end prematurely.

The mood then shifts as "Glass Printer," lashes out a bit. "Land Of Living Skies," has Goreas lamenting on her unfortunate fate only for Lasek to arrive and release her, our couple joining together again for their common  final assault. "And This Is What We Call Progress," sounds the beginning of a rebellion against a foe only the creators could know of. It is the groundwork of their endgame. "Light Up The Night", as expected, sets their town ablaze as they watch from a distance. The closer sounds like something that came from their last album with the Angelo Badalamenti style guitars. The song would not be out of place at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks and makes a perfect requiem for the album and story.

Track Grades:

1. Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent (Parts 1 & 2) - 8.8
2. Chicago Train - 9.9
3. Albatross - 9.5
4. Glass Printer - 8.6
5. Land Of Living Skies (Parts 1 & 2) - 8.7
6. And This Is What We Call Progress - 9.1
7. Light Up The Night - 8.6
8. The Lonely Moan - 9.0

Overall Grade = 9.03

Quarter Century Review: Bad Moon Rising

Sonic Youth
Bad Moon Rising
Homestead
Produced by Sonic Youth and Martin Bisi

I am, as readers should note by now, a huge SY fan. So it is with great trepidation that I revisit Bad Moon Rising. This has always been regarded by me as the album before the band got good. It did, of course, contain the first Sonic Youth classic in "Death Valley '69," (featuring New York punk legend Lydia Lunch) but little else. There are interesting moments like the MC5 interlude at the beginning of "I Love Her All The Time," but it has nothing to do with the song itself, which is actually not half bad.

On the whole, this album is just a really challenging listen. The more in depth I listened, the more I found myself wincing and gnashing my teeth. I like some ambient noise but there comes a point where it starts to become unlistenable like someone sawing through scrap metal with no earplugs. I always imagine that when Juno MacGuff tells Jason Bateman's character that Sonic Youth is just noise, she has just finished listening to any of the first 3 albums. If only she would have given what would come later a chance as I am glad I did.

Overall Grade = 6.83

Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back

Peter Gabriel
Scratch My Back
Real World/Virgin
LP/CD/2xCD

For the most part, this tribute of Gabriel's is an itch better left unscratched. As a huge admirer of the man with the remarkably unremarkable yet amazing pipes, I was disappointed from the get-go with the knowledge that there were no guitars on the album. The pleasant surprises don't come often enough.

Scratch My Back kicks off with its most well-known track and probably its best in "Heroes," originally by the inimitable David Bowie. The vocals and instrumentation are very low in the mix to start and gradually builds like the character of the song steadily gaining the confidence to become the hero, at least for one day.

What starts so meek and builds to a crescendo begins to fade instead of continuing to soar. The majority of the album could be funeral processionals. Gabriel's voice normally excelling in sadness and shining through it is instead weighed down by the moroseness of the arrangements, which are beautifully performed but would work better as the soundtrack to the largest budget Lifetime movie ever. Among these dirges, there are a few signs of life. His take on Arcade Fire's "My Body Is A Cage," occasionally awakes Gabriel from his slumber. "The Book Of Love," sounds as if The Magnetic Fields could have intended it for Gabriel.

It is my hope that this is not the last we will hear of Peter Gabriel. He has done some amazing works and is one of the finest talents in rock in the last 40 years. If this is his time to reflect on his place among his idols and his contemporaries, let him get through it. There is yet a gem for him to uncover, but Scratch My Back is not it.

Track Grades:

1. Heroes - 8.9
2. The Boy In The Bubble - 6.3
3. Mirrorball - 7.0
4. Flume - 7.8
5. Listening Wind - 7.2
6. The Power Of The Heart - 6.5
7. My Body Is A Cage - 8.0
8. The Book Of Love - 8.8
9. I Think It's Going To Rain Today - 5.3
10. Après Moi - 7.5
11. Philadelphia - 6.7
12. Street Spirit (Fade Out) - 6.4

Overall Grade = 7.20

High On Fire - Snakes For The Divine

High On Fire
Snakes For The Divine
E1 Music
CD

I was only recently indoctrinated with High On Fire and I heard enough to want to check out this album. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking as, generally, metal with vocals like this make me shrug and leave the room (I'm lookin' at you, Dimmu Borgir). The music here only occasionally make up for the limits and shortcomings of the vocals but that is not the norm.

I appreciate just how heavy this is. I really do. There is just something here that lies flat whereas bands like Slayer stick to the script but still make things exciting. It is no surprise to me that the best track on here is the one minute plus instrumental "The Path,". I know that there are a lot of people out there that prefer these growly "vocals" but I don't understand why. Each song trudges along but goes nowhere, which is where I am going to leave this review.

Track Grades:

1. Snakes For The Divine - 6.9
2. Frost Hammer - 6.6
3. Bastard Samurai - 6.3
4. Ghost Neck - 6.4
5. The Path - 7.7
6. Fire, Blood & Plague - 7.3
7. How Dark We Pray - 6.2
8. Holy Flames Of The Fire Spitter - 6.0

Overall Grade = 6.68