Permanent Waves #9
Someone bring the records, someone get the brew!
Number nine, number nine… This week was one of the slowest yet, with only four albums on the docket, but you’re in luck: Three of ‘em are by artists of some repute, and of those three I actually had more than usual to say about two! Get ready for some supersized takesTM— let’s mindset.
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Against the Wind
They say that everybody hates most in others what they hate most in themselves, so let’s get vulnerable. Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll” is one of my very least favorite songs of all time, in no small part because it sounds like every insecurity I’ve ever had about how I sound when I talk about how much I love old music. Stodgy, conservative, an under-40 posturing as a grizzled old veteran. Hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE it! But alas, that intense reaction speaks to a certain shared spiritual investment in rock, and on Against the Wind, Seger affirms that investment, affirms his sturdy craft as a singer and guitarist, and affirms his stodgy conservatism as a songwriter. Mellower numbers like “You’ll Accomp’ny Me”, “No Man’s Land” and the wonderful title track have a dignified humility and steady-handed rhythm that makes them total heartland comfort food, fit for a long, sad commute or a bustling honky-tonk. Some of the more up-tempo rockers are hoarier, less universal: “Long Twin Silver Line” succeeds (as a road dog anthem, natch) via sheer muscle, and I’m quite fond of the way Seger screams THEY DOOO RESPECT HER BUTT on “Her Strut”, but “Betty Lou’s Getting Out Tonight” and opener “The Horizontal Bop” are both merely tolerable pastiches; no matter how hard Bob sings, they don’t sing. Seger’s conservatism is disappointing because he’s a limber, charismatic performer, and there’s not actually that much daylight between him and younger bucks like Graham Parker or David Lee Roth. I want a Van Halen cover of “Her Strut”, and even though it’s probably too little too late, I want this fuddy-duddy to try out a little disco— he’s too soulful to be so taciturn.
VERDICT: FINE
Bow Wow - Glorious Road
Squeezing this one in at the last minute! I had to go through my seediest back channels to listen to the fifth album from preeminent Japanese hard-rockers Bow Wow (known confusingly in the future as Vow Wow). Glorious Road makes an admirable attempt to channel their shred-tastic proclivities into retro sunshine-y power pop, and from a fan’s perspective, what they wind up with probably sounds like a compromised, diluted version of their earlier work (Which, at a glance, really truly does fuckin’ shred). As a newcomer to the band, I had a pretty good time with it! A couple of the choruses aren’t quite strong enough to withstand their sheer repetition, and like most of its influences, it leans a bit too much into the cheesy, radio-friendly side of hard rock; a few more like the two short, snotty punk numbers in the back half would have been very welcome. Still, I like their moxie. They have a tangible sense of fun, and as we’ll soon see, that’s a crucial ingredient for stuff this polished.
VERDICT: NICE
Journey - Departure
This one’s easy: The single, “Any Way You Want It” is at least catchy enough to overcome the eye-rolling emptiness of their lyricism, most of the rest just isn’t. “Precious Time” has a nice driving guitar riff, and makes good use of Steve Perry’s massive voice, but that’s really about it. It sounds extremely corporate, extremely generic, the whole band shouts every single chorus to the rafters and I still can hardly remember a word. I don’t quite hate Journey the way a lot of critics hate them, but I struggle mightily to imagine what could possibly make someone love them. What do they stand for? What’s their message? What do they do that no one else does? They’re too simple-minded to be any good as a prog band, but they carry themselves with too much self-seriousness to be much fun as a party-time pop band. Remember kids: selling out isn’t just wrong, it makes you boring, too!
VERDICT: SKIP
Linda Ronstadt - Mad Love
And just like that, Mark Goldenberg of Cretones not-fame is now the sideman for a much stronger singer, who’da thunk it?? I have a lot of quibbles with the execution for Linda Ronstadt’s tenth solo record in only 12 years, but I adore the concept: a new wave makeover for a veteran pop star, and a covers album celebrating the timelessness of great rock music. I want every mega-selling singer to be as into covers as Linda is, and I want this kind of music covered more often— or at least, I thought I did? Like every good covers album, Mad Love imparts more about the singer’s weaknesses than it does about her strengths; those sterling pipes lack spontaneity and tension, and she’s too nice to sell venom when necessary. Unlike every great covers album, this is less than the sum of its parts. As fun as “How Do I Make You” is, her WHOOs in the home stretch don’t ignite any joyful abandon within me. The beat has to lend tension where her voice falls short. I love that Ronstadt is a big Costello-head, but I don’t love her taste in Costello. “Girls Talk” and “Talking in the Dark” were B-sides for a reason, and Dave Edmunds already lent a pretty voice to the former besides. Worse, “Party Girl” wilts as she sheepishly swaps pronouns, singing as the party girl, like she knows she doesn’t have the raw, simmering insecurity to make the original perspective convincing. She does right by her friend Neil Young, though, who can always use a prettier voice singing his great lyrics, and by Goldenberg, whose lyrics are a lot less negligible with a pretty voice singing them (her “Justine” benefits immensely from a fresh sense of sisterhood). Mindset of the week is the best part of the new wave makeover being a 60s British-invasion tune: out-singing the entire Hollies on “Can’t Let Go” should be a feather in Linda’s cap for years to come.
VERDICT: NICE