Sunday, August 29, 2004
If you can't afford a broken nose/ how can you afford to fight?
I've heard the new Ted Leo. The worst thing I can say about it is it's not Hearts of Oak. If this album just appeared without a history attached, I'd think it was fantastic. But Hearts was by far my favorite album last year, and it'll probably end up one of my favorite albums of all time. Shake the Sheets has its own sound; it's not the hip-shakin' good time of the last album, but it's still great. More politically active, angrier, more diverse in its sound.
A few days ago I heard a song that I couldn't place and it was driving me nuts. I knew it, just couldn't place it. Was it the Strokes? Interpol? I really couldn't tell, and it could have been either. Then I realized I was listening to the intro of "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand. And I have that album; I've listened to it fairly recently. But it just sounded like all those other bands, however you want to categorize them. Any band is going to have influences, and may wear them on their sleeve. The Stones had American soul and blues bands; Springsteen wrote "Born to Run" as an epic Roy Orbison song. Rarely, if ever, do bands just appear out of the ether; no matter how good, they're standing on the shoulders of giants. The trick is to make those influences into something new. And you can listen to Ted and hear any amount of influences: the Clash, Gang of Four, Thin Lizzy, early '80s pop-metal, the Jam. The list really does extend beyond my knowledge and my patience. But he makes it all his own. God bless him for it.
One song does sound like something else: it's the next to last song (at least on the version I got; Lookout has it listed as the last song), "Walking to Do". It's got this amazing call and response ending. Anyway, it sounds like another song and it's right there; it's like having a word on the tip of your tongue. Frustrating.
I don't know why he doesn't get the hype the other bands do, but it reminds me of an article I read in the Guardian a few weeks ago, that I linked to (and I'm too lazy to go back and find). I guess Lookout just doesn't have PR machine working like other labels do. Ah well.
It comes out October 19. Here are people smart than I reviewing "Me and Mia". You can download it from Lookout Records. I might right more in-depth about it later, as it sinks in. For right now, I haven't stopped listening to it, and it grows on me more every time.
A few days ago I heard a song that I couldn't place and it was driving me nuts. I knew it, just couldn't place it. Was it the Strokes? Interpol? I really couldn't tell, and it could have been either. Then I realized I was listening to the intro of "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand. And I have that album; I've listened to it fairly recently. But it just sounded like all those other bands, however you want to categorize them. Any band is going to have influences, and may wear them on their sleeve. The Stones had American soul and blues bands; Springsteen wrote "Born to Run" as an epic Roy Orbison song. Rarely, if ever, do bands just appear out of the ether; no matter how good, they're standing on the shoulders of giants. The trick is to make those influences into something new. And you can listen to Ted and hear any amount of influences: the Clash, Gang of Four, Thin Lizzy, early '80s pop-metal, the Jam. The list really does extend beyond my knowledge and my patience. But he makes it all his own. God bless him for it.
One song does sound like something else: it's the next to last song (at least on the version I got; Lookout has it listed as the last song), "Walking to Do". It's got this amazing call and response ending. Anyway, it sounds like another song and it's right there; it's like having a word on the tip of your tongue. Frustrating.
I don't know why he doesn't get the hype the other bands do, but it reminds me of an article I read in the Guardian a few weeks ago, that I linked to (and I'm too lazy to go back and find). I guess Lookout just doesn't have PR machine working like other labels do. Ah well.
It comes out October 19. Here are people smart than I reviewing "Me and Mia". You can download it from Lookout Records. I might right more in-depth about it later, as it sinks in. For right now, I haven't stopped listening to it, and it grows on me more every time.
