Keeping Rock n' Roll Alive…
Reviews
Album Review: The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
May 15th
Probably the best bar band in the world ever are back with their literate indie rock and roll.
The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
RockOSaurus Says:
“Oh…where for art thou Franz” is the first thing which stands out on first listen to Heaven Is Whenever. Without it’s moustache sporting keyboard maestro many of the backing vocal led woah-a-woah-a-longs have gone and its seriously blunted their pop edge. Replacing them are bigger riffs which I would normally lap up, yet something doesn’t feel right. Their classic rock sound is fuzzier than usual and sounds like it was recorded in a tube tunnel. The production is purposefully more alternative than previous outings and I have to say I’m not a fan.
This is not saying Hold Steady have lost their touch completely. Tunes like ‘Soft In The Center’ & ‘Rock Problems’ are still packed with attention grabbing melodies and Craig Finn’s lyrical gift is more than a good reason to give this a try.
What the album is missing is some urgency despite the amping up of the record! The majority of the tracks ramble along in a mid-tempo groove that fails to pick-up when the going gets tedious. Even their ballads have lost their poignancy displaying vividly the hole left by their enigmatic piano player. A good album by anyone else’s standards, but for The Hold Steady this can only be a disappointment.
Mr Flowers Says:
The album starts with the relative slow-burners, Sweet Part Of The City and Soft In The Center, which give you an idea of what the album offers: less action, less excitement and probably fewer of those massive nights.
Now minus a keyboardist, the Steady seem to have compensated with crunchier guitars and a higher solo quota, with varying degrees of success. The Weekenders comes closest to getting back to the sound that made the band so well loved, while there’s some hope for the new formula with the rocky riffage and nice use of the cow bells in The Smidge, and the sweet solo in Rock Problems. Listening out for the numerous name-checks of We Can Get Together is amusing for a minute or so, but the song meanders and never reaches the sweet spot. It signals a string of similarly disappointing songs where a noticeable lack of hook works to the band’s detriment and unfortunately ends up defining the album.
It’s a shame it’s ended up like this, as previous Hold Steady albums would have gotten some 8s, 9s and even 10s on these pages. Let’s just hope the downward trend shown in this album isn’t part of some systemic problem for this much-loved band.
RockOSaurus: 6/10
MrFlowers: 6/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 6/10
Album Review: MGMT – Congratulations
May 4th
Electro hitmakers MGMT return for their hotly anticipated sophomore LP.
MGMT – Congratulations
RockOSaurus Says:
Listening to Congratulations is like unwrapping a really large shiny Christmas present you saved till last to open, only to find it contains an Air-fix model. The hype has been immense, yet to really enjoy this album you really have to spend plenty of time to ‘learn to love it’.
Gone are all of the elements which made their debut such a hit single machine. No funky keyboards and instantly catchy tunes. Instead they have been replaced with jingly guitars and mundane melodies. Their quirkyness and likability is still intact on tunes such as the rampant standout track ‘Brian Eno’ & the surf electro-pop opener ‘It’s Working’.
But with tracks as dull as ‘I Found A Whistle’ and as bloated as Siberian Breaks (a 12 minute epic adventure) it feels as if they are purposefully being weird for the sake of being weird. Attempting to jettison your current fan base to upgrade them for better models may be cool and hip, but when this record divebombs their third outing must surely improve.
Sadly Congratulations is one to file next to Be Here Now.
Mr Flowers Says:
MGMT return with a concept album, whose concept is to apparently strip out any standout pop tracks. The result is an album a kin to all the troughs of Oracular Spectacular with out any of the peaks. Brian Eno (the track), comes closest to lifting the dullness, a comparatively fun, fast-paced song with 80s punk overtures. The 12 minute marathon that is Siberian Breaks that goes through some distinct phases like some kind of Simon and Garfunkel-gone-prog love child, but never really does enough to grasp your attention.
If you liked the first album you might be able to be a bit more positive with this latest offering, but for those of us in the other camp will find this a struggle.
RockOSaurus: 3/10
MrFlowers: 2/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 2.5/10
Album Review: Meat Loaf – Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Apr 24th
Mr ‘Rock Opera’ the inimitable larger than life ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ singer Meat Loaf is back with a new LP, this time he has friends!
Meat Loaf – Hang Cool Teddy Bear
RockOSaurus Says:
The round one is back! Hand Cool Teddy Bear is a glorious and star studded return to from from the larger than life american classic ‘rock opera’ star. His storytelling pop musings are everpresent but with the helping hand from some friends this album is a real treat of hard hitting rock and roll.
The collaborators range from guitarists Jon Bon Jovi (co-writing the showstopper Elvis in Vegas) to Jack Black & American Idoler Kara DioGuardi (sinigng backing vocals), plus every one’s favourite TV Doctor Hugh Laurie even takes a turn tinkling the ivories quite beautifully on If I Can’t Have You. Don’t let the mix of artists fool you this is definitely a Meatloaf record, just with some added oomph!
Justin Hawkins is the only guest who really stamps his style on the album with his trademark falsetto, unmistakable guitar sound, plus his tongue in cheek man rock lyrics on California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey There Girl). The real treat is the Justin collaboration Love Is Not Real with its huge riffing and stunning solo’s from guitar legends Brian May and Steve Vai.
Yes it’s big! Yes its slighly cheesy! Yes it’s suprisingly good! Meatloaf has finally stopped trying to recreate Bat Out Of Hell and is now firmly rocking it in the modern day!
Mr Flowers Says:
What’s with this spate of rock gods returning with an army of collaborators these days? Meat Loaf returns with his rock opera sound perfectly intact after over 4 decades. The chances are you’ll already know if you like this or not.
The duet with Kara DioGuardi doesn’t quite match the highs of the duets that defined Meat Loaf’s career, but she equips herself well and belts out the rock choruses well. The Jack White collaboration on Like A Rose is probably the most modern sounding on the album, and Elvis In Vegas ends the album with a fittingly epic Springsteen-like effort. Another highlight is California Isn’t Big Enough, one of the Justin Hawkins penned songs on the album, whose chorus features the brilliant lyric, “I can barely fit my dick in my hands, ooowoahh”. Some of the ballads don’t work so well, but it’s not anything that can’t be rescued with a guitar solo here or there.
So it’s an album with some pretty good songs on it, but if you’ve never been a Meat fan there’s nothing here that’s going to be changing your mind.
RockOSaurus: 8/10
MrFlowers: 7/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 7.5/10
Album Review: Slash – Slash
Apr 16th
The most iconic modern guitarist has gone solo, well sort of! He has enlisted the help of a huge number of superstar singers to craft what is one of the finest Hard Rock release of the year so far!
Slash – Slash
RockOSaurus Says:
Slash himself provides the guitar wizardry and his signature sleazy blues, stunning soloing and wah wah inflected mega riffing is stamped firmly over the whole album. Yet far from being a one dimensional release, songs range in styles from his staple classic hard rock to blues, pop, metal, prog and even country.
The guest list of this album reads like a who’s who of both classic, modern rock and pop. It’s these collaborators who have defined the albums style more so that slash himself with each track playing to the strengths of the vocalists. Now this can be seen as either lazy on slash’s behalf or a decision taken to produce the finest album possible with the talent available.
The albums opening riff on Ghost is a typical high squalling Slash product and with The Cults Ian Astbury providing the vocal muscle this sets the tone for a polished, hard rock effort packed with hooky pop choruses.
Fergie’s turn on Beautiful Dangerous work surprisingly well and her sultry voice leading a promiscuous riff and blistering solo. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 leads an understated ballad showing blazing guitars can be scaled back to equally good effect, while By The Sword is a trippy meandering acoustic come hard rocker led very fittingly by Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale. There is surprisingly little filler here with only I Hold On with Kid Rock & Chris Cornell led Promise not living up to potential.
Slash is at his best when producing those mammoth rock numbers and the man who compliments him above all else is Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy. This is proven with 2 stunning tracks Back From Cali & Starlight both infected with a slow building bluesy swagger and stratospheric chorus’s!
When the pop edge is finally jilted, the back to basic rock spirit really revels on the superb Doctor Alibi featuring Motorhead’s Lemmy and the metal thrashing is unrelenting on the chugging Nothing To Say, showcasing Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows vocals perfectly & Slash’s axe versatility.
There is something here for everyone and not to like this is criminal as it is a perfectly crafted set of epic rock tunes with huge variety, mass pop appeal and a thumping rock and roll heart!
Mr Flowers Says:
Reliably, Slash’s guitar parts can’t be faulted and each song is appropriately infused with each of it’s collaborators hallmarks. For the most part, the all-star cast bring a lot to the table; Crucify The Dead’s macabre vibe would have been a corn-fest had it not featured one of the men who pioneered it all, and Doctor Alibi is easily one of the most exciting songs on the album with the undeniable vocal tones of Lemmy backed by a crunching 4 power-chord riff. Even Fergie assumes the role of rock goddess convincingly on Beautiful Dangerous. Unfortunately, sharing songwriting duties back fires a bit on Gotten, which sucks slightly *because* it sounds like Maroon 5.
Starlight’s slow-fast combo works well, with its sweet intro and blues/gospel style, and the Iggy Pop collaboration, We’re All Gonna Die, is great too. You could argue having a record written by such a disparate set of songwriters means you can never get a coherent album experience, but as a set of individual songs there’s hardly a foot misplaced.
RockOSaurus: 9/10
MrFlowers: 7.5/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 8.25/10
Album Review: Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Apr 13th
UK folker Laura Marling returns with her sophomore effort
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
RockOSaurus Says:
Starlet of the UK’s resurging folk scene Laura Marling latest album shows much growth from the debut but it is shrouded in a whole lot darker light. Gone are the wistful whimsies pop songs of mercury award nominated debut and in its place are sullen downbeat tunes. This is not to be entirely unexpected given her recent love split with Noah & The Whale frontman Charlie Fink who wrote almost an entire album worth of breakup songs.
Looking beyond the darkness it tricky but the production values are greatly improved with plenty of dramatic addition of string instruments and floaty backings. The Devils Spoke is a feisty single which shines brightest with its subtle acoustics and swelling cello.
This is a complex richly textured album of many heartfelt emotional outpourings (see breakup song Blackberry Stone), leading to a rather alluring listen. But at the end of the day, without any real fireworks this album is best kept for those days when you feel no-one else feels as bad you do… because apparently they can!
Mr Flowers Says:
This is an album full of some beautifully-crafted songs, but I fear you probably need to have a more discerning ear for folk music then I have to fully appreciate it.
Devil’s Spoke is rollicking jam by folk standards which builds like a storm of ominous vocals with banjos and acoustic guitars, and Blackberry Stone has a great melody which really shows off Marling’s soulful and amazingly mature-sounding voice from the off, but as a whole the album is simply a bit short of stand out songs to truly mark it out.
RockOSaurus: 6.5/10
MrFlowers: 6/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 6.25/10
Listen to Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can now on Spotify!
Album Review: Streetlight Manifesto – 99 Songs Of Revolution
Apr 6th
Ska Punkers and all round good time posse Streetlight Manifesto release new album full of covers.
Streetlight Manifesto – 99 Songs Of Revolution
RockOSaurus Says:
The greater Streetlight Manifesto collective have taken on an ambitious covers project, this being the first release of that series. Now despite these songs not being written by the band themselves, vocalist Tomas Kalnoky has stamped his rap come punk vocal authority all over this album by picking well suited material to re-work.
Their brass heavy antics have most of the album packed with melody and fun time feelings. This is even to be said of their inspired uplifting cover of Radiohead’s hit Just complete with tenacity and a joyously fuzzy guitar/trumpet assault.
Where I feel this album lacks is that a lot of the songs do not really test the musical sector of the band. Reggae inflected Skyscraper (Bad Religion) and the acoustic Linoleum (NOFX) do not shine brightly on their talented musicians. Others feel like slightly above average ska punk numbers where Streetlight haven’t done so much as reinvent material, rather just play it. Some tracks work well like Punk Rock Girl (The Dead Milkman) and Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard (Paul Simon). But offset against The Troubadour (Louis Jordan) and Birds Fly Away (Mason Jennings) the album is flatter than your average Streetlight Release.
If you like ska punk this is still a great release of lesser know tunes given the uplifting happy brass work over, but it is unlikely to win over any new fans!
Mr Flowers Says:
A compilation of ska-punk covers from Streetlight Manifesto. The result is a enjoyable album, but what did you expect when you take a collection of already popular songs and re-release them?
None of the covers are necessarily better than their originals, but are suitably fun ska romps in their own right. There’s not a huge amount of originality there, either in the concept or how they’ve reimagined the songs (Just with trumpets – Mark Ronson, anyone?) but at the end of the day, who cares? It’s fun and if it allows some people to rediscover some old songs like Paul Simon’s Me and Julio then this album deserves at least a few listens.
RockOSaurus: 6.5/10
MrFlowers: 7/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 6.75/10
Listen to Streetlight Manifesto now on Spotify!
Album Review: Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
Mar 29th
Ted Leo with his Pharmacists in tow release their sixth album their first on Matador Records.
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
RockOSaurus Says:
Ted Leo has been plugging away in the independent rock sphere for many a years now! With each new release comes a bunch of cracking tunes and outstanding pop-rock yet surprisingly he has never reached the mainstream.With The Brutalist Bricks he has produced yet another cracking album which is piled high with incessantly catchy tunes.
Opener The Mighty Sparrow is has a cool driving rock riff and Teds familiar high pitched poppy voice leading a mega-hummable vocal melody. Taking a step back towards more punky spiky guitars Ted has given this album more vigour and purpose. Guitar heavy tunes such as the alt-rocking Mourning In America, The Stick with its shambolic fuzz punk, three chord wonder Where Was My Brain and the high octane rush of Gimme The Wire..
This is not to say that the pop isn’t here in abundance too, Even Heroes Have To Die is a non-stop acoustic strummer with nifty electric guitar lines throw in for good measure, Bottles In Cork showcases Ted’s great way with words as you follow his antics and travels along the lyric sheet while you bop along to the infectious melody. Woke Up Near Chelsea is another example of classic songwriting, triumphant pianos & guitars melded with subtle non pretentious indieness while crucially retaining a huge pop appeal.
The Brutalist Brick is a perfect combination of Pop, Rock, Indie and Punk…if you like any of these genres then you should definitely give this album a try (BTW. I’ve purposely overlooked the terrible artwork).
Mr Flowers Says:
Brutalist Bricks adds even more songs to Ted Leo’s growing catalogue of catchy pop songs, with the ooohh ooowellls of Even Heroes Have To Die destined to be enthusiastically sung back at him at gigs to come.
It’s generally more of the same from Ted, but he does try to mix it up (very slightly) on a few tracks with reasonably good results: Mourning In America mixes the pop sensibilities with menacing bass notes in a kind of Mclusky-lite way. Bottled In Cork nicely introduces an acoustic guitar for the chorus with a Thin Lizzy style alternating note electric-guitar part, and Ted slows it down and adopts a deeper singing-style on One Polaroid A Day. Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop, an unconvincing foray into a fully acoustic song, is a low point but these are few and far between so we can let him off on that one.
There’s quite a few pop-rock gems on this album and proves to be a much more consistent offering from Ted Leo and his pharmaceutical friends, and the minimalistic design on the album artwork scores an extra point and ultimately a net recommendation for The Brutalist Bricks.
RockOSaurus: 8.5/10
MrFlowers: 8/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 8.25/10
Listen to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks now on Spotify!
Album Review: Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Mar 25th
The world’s first Virtual Reality band and back with their third release, this time with a multitude of guests.
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
RockOSaurus Says:
Albarn has put all his music industry contacts into one bucket and lavishly srprayed the contents over Plastic Beach. The list of guest appearances are longer than the song titles themselves and give the album a confused melded sound that wasnt broken in the first place.
In face most of the highlights feature Albarns melancholic vocals like on lead single Stylo and the downturned dance driven electro sounds of On Melancholy Hill. The rest of the album is too influenced by its vocals. Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach sounds like a mediocre Snoop Dog track, Bashy and Kano rap over a nintendo soundtrack while Mos Def does likewise with Sweepstakes.
Its those tunes which still have the Gorillaz tag all over it which bring out the best in the collaborators. Mark E Smith of The Fall using his rough working class vocals over peaking and troughing electro beeper on Glitter Freeze is brilliant. So is De La Soul & Gruff Rhys implanting a light guitar line and indie pop ethos alongside the hip hop influences.
This is in no way a classic album as its mix matching beats hits and miss in equal quantity. It is great if you like your hip hop just a bit indie, but those who love the singles, there isn’t a great deal to reccommend.
Mr Flowers Says:
After the instrumental intro, Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach kicks off the album promisingly with a flurry of brass instruments before regrettably degenerating into something mostly forgettable. White Flag offers a bit more bite with help from British Grime artists Bashy and Kano, but represents a rare hip-hop highlight on album where the rap moments aren’t cutting enough.
Some of the collaborations with alt-rock stars fare a bit better; Glitter Freeze features Mark E Smith and certainly has a The Fall vibe to it even with the guitars stripped out, and Some Kind of Nature with it’s cartoony pipe-based melody and deep vocals from Lou Reed works well. Having said that, the Gruff Rhys (of SFA) and Mick Jones/Paul Simonon (of The Clash) collabs are disappointingly drab affairs.
Other songs to listen for are perhaps: Mos Def collaboration, Sweepstakes, that takes a while to get going but builds to a hip-hop/brass instrument boogie by the halfway point; and closer Pirate Jet, one of the few Albarn-led songs on the album that doesn’t bore you to tears.
In the end, Plastic Beach suffers from the lack of enough songs that represent great hip-hop or great rock to really standout as a record.
RockOSaurus: 6/10
MrFlowers: 6/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 6/10
Listen to Gorillaz – Plastic Beach now on Spotify!
Album Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
Mar 18th
Californian rockers return this week with their 5th Album.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
RockOSaurus Says:
BRMC have managed to incorperate both earlier garage scuzz melodies of the debut LP and more recently the psychadelic swing of their last album Howl. As an admirer of both these albums there is plenty for any fan to get his teeth into.
Cranking up the fuzz has worked nicely for BRMC and what could be just monotonous rambling lines have a lethal bite. They add to the floaty ethereal atmospherics and combined with the drawn out effect heavy vocals manage to keep you interested…just.
Good thing then that they havent forgotten how to spank their axes. The first real kick in the teeth comes with Concious Killer knocking a cracking blues lick for six. Mama Taught Me Better is another pumped up rocker and Shadow’s Keeper is laced with attitude and a thumping melody.
Critique would be that much of the album falls into a mystifying buzz. But as much as I want to dismiss the drone drenched plodding tunes I find it hard not to be captivated. Drifting along on a tide of BRMC feedback is a superbly blissful place to be, one where life is good…in a noisy way.
Flowers Says:
The title track kickstarts the album appropriately with the familiar Gospel-influenced Blues we’ve come to associate with BRMC. There’s a point early in the album when it seems that it might get bogged down by a string of drony songs (Bad Blood, War Machine, Sweet Feeling, Evol); it’s only with fuzzed up rock of Mama Taught Me Better and the menacing River Styx, before the feeling subsides.
Even the slower songs seem more interesting by that point; The Toll is a beautiful country ballad, with guest female vocals courtesy of Courtney Jaye, complete with a harmonica refrain; and Aya, which starts with a lumbering couple of verses, before the chorus is howled out 2 minutes in.
There’s killer riffs on Shadow’s Keeper, a blues rock romp, and Half-State (reigning in at 10 mins long) is an epic blues jam. Overall, it’s a good album once you fight through a relatively brief depressing period.
RockOSaurus: 7.5/10
MrFlowers: 7/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 7.25
Listen to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo now on Spotify!
Album Review: Airbourne – No Guts. No Glory.
Mar 17th
Australia’s next in line to the Hard Rock throne are back to Rock Your Socks.
Airbourne – No Guts. No Glory.
RockOSaurus Says:
No Guts No Glory, is a triumphantly big return from the Aussie rockers Airbourne. Yes they trade on Ac/Dc thrills and produce some pretty indebted homages to the holy Young brothers, but in their own right they really know how to rock!
Raise The Flag is a barnstorming romp of huge power chords, No Way But The Hard Way proves thier mid tempo rockers are up to scratch and Born To Kill kicks off the album in true barroom brawl, beer drenched, rawkus style. This is a great album packed with mammoth sized tunes from beginning to end.
With Ac/Dc ungracefully fading into their pension plans Airbourne alook set to fill this huge void in the hard rock world…the highest accolade they could possibly receive!
Mr Flowers Says:
An album covering all of classic rock’s mainstays: sex (Blonde, Bad and Beautiful), drugs (White Line Fever) and rock and roll (the whole album).
For some reason especially keen to remind the listener that rock and roll isn’t dead, Airbourne treats us to a by-the-book hard rock album; from the excellent hard rock singer to the crunching riffs on Born To Kill and phenomenal soloing on No Way, Raise The Flag and Overdrive.
It’s not breaking any new ground but it’s a near faultless display of the genre, chock full of fist-pumping classic rock. It loses a point for having the cheesiest album cover this year.
RockOSaurus: 9/10
MrFlowers: 7/10
DoesItRock Overall Score: 8
Listen to Airbourne – No Guts. No Glory. now on We7!
