ROCK: The Lame Sequel

Did my last listen to Libertad on the way into work today. It’s not very good. The first 4 songs are like the desert, I dreaded listening to them all week. After song 5 “Last Fight” it gets a little better, and I’ve come to the conclusion that “American Man” is the best track on the record.

But this weekend I was driving around listening to a mix a guy I used to work with made me. The mix is known only as “The Motley Mix” which is written in Sharpie on the front. It’s basically a compilation of the best hair metal ever. It’s heavy on the AC/DC, Ozzy, KISS, Motley Crue, etc. Every time I listen to it, The Motley Mix melts my mind. Even the ballads like “Mama, I’m Coming Home” from Ozzy are unreal. You cannot turn it up loud enough.

WHY DOES NO ONE MAKE MUSIC LIKE THIS ANYMORE!!!

Seriously, when I was a teenager I was getting fat off Poison, ACDC, Van Halen, G n’ R, and the like. Kids were doodling guitar gods on their notebooks. The music kicked ass, period. Nothing today touches this stuff, and that’s sad.

Sure Kings of Leon, the Killers, the Chili Peppers, Wolfmother, Green Day and a few can still go eleven on the dial, but for the most part it’s been a sad state of affairs in rock and Velvet Revolver are a perfect example of why. Technically, as a band they can do what they need to do. Slash can still go dentist drill on his solos shredding with the best of them. But what he’s missing is a riff, a lick. And that makes a huge difference. Solos don’t make ears bleed, riffs do. “American Man” is as close as Velvet Revolver ever get on Libertad to taking me down to the Paradise City and making the music video in my head.

Weiland is another story. He does the sloppy vocal OK, but he needs to do a better job of staying out of the way of the real hero –the guitar. Too often Velvet Revolver mix their stuff to emphasize the vocal, and it takes the oomph out of the rock.

Velvet Revolver is a sequel band. And like most sequels, they aren’t very good. Besides Godfather II and maybe Audioslave, the second time around usually isn’t nearly as fun. So please skip the reunion tours, save me the super groups, and let me remember Michael in a Bulls jersey.

Angst fueled my week 3 music selection. Smashing Pumpkins have a record out this week for the first time in 7 years, but I couldn’t touch it for fear it would sound like a retread. I could have swapped genres and gone hip hop with T.I. Vs. T.I.P., but I finally opted for Interpol’s Our Love to Admire. I don’t know a thing about Interpol, except I think I coerced the Target sales clerk to sell me the deluxe $20.99 version for $9.99 because I rattled him at the register. Let’s hope it’s good. I want some music that makes me want to decorate my locker.

I’m leaning towards Colbie Caillet’s debut CD CoCo next Tuesday 7/17. I need a female voice in my truck. Sara Bareilles also sounds interesting at #1 on the iTunes today. I’m thinking some soothing female pop (Missy Higgins, Alice Peacock) will sound pretty good by then.

Lastly, please post any suggestions for reviews or ideas for the blog. I’ve been getting a lot of emails (much of it about Wilco), but would love to see some people also start to post.

I missed one

Maybe it's the fact that I had the top off the Jeep Wrangler, but I was able to take a liking to another song off Velvet Revolver’s Libertad. Maybe I pronounced them dead to early.

The issue I had with Libertad is there's nothing memorable about it. The production values are high, it sounds ready for radio and super produced. The marketing plan is in high gear. Slash can shred. But there's nothing I want to go back to, play for a friend, or burn to a playlist. There's nothing for me to put in my pocket and take with me.

With a couple exceptions now I guess. I mentioned “Last Fight” in a previous post, but the one that I heard again yesterday was “American Man.” I know a song is rising for me when I hear it the second or third time and my mind already has the shape of the track. As I hear it the second or third time I’m able to recall what the song is going to do next. Call it music muscle memory, but it’s usually a good thing because those bread crumbs usually mean the song is going the right direction. And you remembered it.

That’s what happened for me with “American Man.” I also totally missed the killer guitar riff at the start of the song during my first listen. Slash just blasts a water ski wake intro that is rock solid. Then something peculiar happens. The mix of the song turns down the guitar in favor of Weiland’s vocal and the riff never reaches the heights of the intro. This is a total bummer because the song could have been a burner. As it stands now it’s still a nice track. “American Man” has the circular guitar riff you hear in a lot of the Foo Fighters stuff especially “Everlong.” “American Man” would sound fantastic in a helmets-off-hockey-warm-up for say the World Junior Tournament. Team USA would cast a heavy shadow with this blasting behind them. Consider “American Man” for your next trip to the treadmill. If only we could have kept the guitar knob at ELEVEN.