November 12, 2003

ONE MINUTE RECORD REVIEWS: I've

ONE MINUTE RECORD REVIEWS: I've gotten a lot of new CDs lately, and haven't written about hardly any of them, so I'll play Robert Christgau (except, you know, readable), and crank out a few brief reviews. Here we go:

The Strokes- Room on Fire (RCA)

The release of the Strokes' debut album "Is This It" two years ago ignited the "post-punk" revival and subsequently a hipster civil war that nearly caused Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to burn to the ground. One side of the debate heralded the return to minimalist, stripped-down rock after a half-decade of Britney mousketeering; opponents seized on everything from the band's haircuts to their clothes to their status as rich boys with famous fathers to their obvious inferiority to the Ramones.
Lost amid the hype was that "Is This It" was a near-masterpiece, vying with "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" for the title of Best Album of the Decade So Far. "Room on Fire" isn't much of a departure thematically, and while it doesn’t quite measure up to its predecessor, it nonetheless represents a worthy follow-up.
Must-downloads: "Meet Me in the Bathroom," "12:51."


Barenaked Ladies- Everything To Everyone (Reprise)

Coming off a three-year layoff following the best album of their career (2000's "Maroon"), this Canadian band is back with more fun pop-rock for the masses. There's less harmonizing than usual, but Page, Robertson, and Co. keep up their trademark humorous lyrics, especially on "Another Postcard." The album's tour de force is "War on Drugs"- no, it's not a heavy-handed political track, but rather a beautiful ballad in which the meaning of the title remains a mystery until the last verse. For that and "Maybe Katie," I'll forgive BNL for jumping on the unfortunate recent trend of including feeble acoustic versions of three songs as hidden tracks.
Must-downloads: "War on Drugs," "Maybe Katie"


Triumph the Insult Comic Dog- Come Poop With Me (Warner Bros.)

The debut album from America's Foremost Insult Comic Dog is, like the "South Park" movie soundtrack before it, a masterful distillation of a modern comedic institution into musical comedy album form. Creator Robert Smigel and a virtual armada of Conan O'Brien writers take what was once a one-joke character and create a three-dimensional comedy album that's full of laugh-out-loud moments.
Highlights include "Cats Are C-nts" (featuring Conan himself; you'll have it in your head all day!), "Benji's Queer," and a duet with Blackwolf the Dragon Master, the Star Wars nerd from Triumph's famous "Attack of the Clones" bit who hangs around Washington Square Park in a wizard costume and uncannily resembles disgraced Times reporter Jayson Blair. There's also "I Keed, I Keed," an Eminem-style insult rap in which the dog declares that Christina Aguilera's videos are "like watching porn, except the music isn't as good."
I could do without the prank call/spoken word bits, but during a montage of quotes from live appearances, Triumph says, "Welcome to Waltham, Massachusetts- America's poophole." Proving that, yes, one of the Conan writers must be a Brandeis alum.
Must downloads: "I Keed, I Keed," "Blackwolf," "Benji's Queer," "Cats Are C-nts."


Ludacris- Chicken-N-Beer (Def Jam South)

I love Luda, and his "Word of Mouf" is on the short list of my favorite rap albums of all time, but after two years (an eternity in hip-hop), "Chicken-N-Beer" is a huge disappointment. Except for on "Hip Hop Quotables," there's very little of Luda's trademark humor and wit, the skits all fall flat, and not even his long-awaited slam of Bill O'Reilly is all that funny. "Stand Up" is a much better video than song, and when the cover of the album is funnier than any of the songs, that's a problem.
Must downloads: "Hip Hop Quotables," "Hoes in My Room."


Outkast- Speakerboxx/The Love Below (Arista)

When it comes to the question of whether it was a good idea for Andre and Big Boi to record separate albums, everybody's got an opinion (even General Wesley Clark!) Mine is that both sides of the double-album are too long and chock-full of filler, as well as material that pales in comparison to much of the work Outkast has performed as a duo in the past. Besides, two and a half hours is just way too much music- and how do you get Norah Jones for a guest spot where she's barely even audible?
Still though- "Hey Ya" is a strong candidate for single of the year.
Must downloads: "Hey Ya," "The Way You Move," "Prototype."


Andrew WK- The Wolf (Island)

This time Andrew's only got one song with the word "party" in the title (compared to three on his last album), but don't hold that against him- "The Wolf" is more of the '80s-influenced fun-rock we've come to expect from AWK. And yes, he's got less buzz than last time around and may be headed for quite a short career, but that doesn't mean the album doesn't kick ass. When he comes to party, he will party hard!
Must downloads: "Long Live the Party," "Make Sex," "Totally Stupid."


Travis- 12 Memories (Sony)

Unless you're a hard-core follower of the rock-crit scene, you may very well have never heard of the Scottish band Travis. But I've been a big booster of the band for awhile now- their debut "The Man Who" is just as good as everyone says, their follow-up "The Invisible Band" even better, and critics who panned it didn't know what they're talking about. They also did a memorable concert cover of Britney's "Baby One More Time."
In fact, if you were to pit Travis' first two albums against the first two of their fellow Radiohead inheritors Coldplay, I'd hand it to Travis, no question. But, I'm sorry to report, "12 Memories" is a colossal dud. The first two discs had me immediately, but I couldn't wait to toss "12 Memories" back on the shelf, what with the horrible melodies, and complete lack of any memorable lyrics or choruses whatsoever.
Then there's "The Beautiful Occupation," which may be the weakest political protest song I've ever heard- "For the beautiful occupation/The beautiful occupation/You don't need an invitation/To drop in upon a nation." Come up- that's the best they can come up with?
Must downloads: None, but look for that Britney cover


John Mayer- Heavier Things (Sony)

Rushing back into things barely a year after his debut hit (though my sister has known about him since the days of Napster 1.0), Mayer delivers a generally solid sophomore disc. Though not solid enough for me to have listened to it at all in the last month, unfortunately…
Must downloads: "Bigger Than My Body," "Daughters."


Dave Matthews- Some Devil (RCA)

Yes, "Some Devil" has all the crap that usually drags down other-wise great DMB albums: lame falsettos, pseudo-gospel, and instrumental jams that seem to go on forever. But buried in all the muck of "Some Devil" are at least five truly great tracks, and the more I listen to the album the more I like it, and realize how superior it is to every DMB studio album since at least "Crash." On hand on two tracks in Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, but in order to prevent jam-band Armageddon, he merely plays guitar and contributes no vocals.
Look at it this way- if your favorite DMB album is "Everyday," you'll like "Some Devil." If it's "Busted Stuff," you probably won't.
Must downloads: "Trouble," "Oh," "Baby," "So Damn Lucky."

Posted by Stephen Silver at November 12, 2003 12:56 PM
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