Here is an obscure Canadian “New Age” recording that is more likely to give you a headache than put you to sleep. Ray plinks and plonks his acoustic guitar in slow motion and adds a big whack of reverb and new age accompaniment (violin, flute.) Most of the guitar notes sound off key and are not that ear friendly. For masochists only. (C)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
What is Polly trying to do here? Is it a musical documentation of World War One atrocities (specifically Gallipoli) or is it a deterioration of English society? The words on a few songs are mostly fine; related to war, but have been done better elsewhere (see Wilfred Owen.) A sense of loss and/or what should have been vaguely pervades the others. For the most part, the voice is overly slurred and kept in the background. Even following the lyric sheet, they are hard to decipher. A bit of a disappointment. (B+)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
Unlike the last KoL recording (Only by the Night), there are few good riffs on this recording . There are 3 songs that are OK (The End, Pyro, Mi Amigo) but none great. There are also less forgettable ones. Caleb F. sings better than previously, but the songs are pretty unremarkable. At least you can say that they are better than The Strokes. (B)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
This is Pinky’s first recording from 2000. She hadn’t developed her sleazette personality yet and it suffers for it. The master schlockmeister, Babyface, had a big hand in the production – so there was hardly hope for it being any better than a combination of the deceased Whitney and Missy Elliott. Only one track of any (slight) interest – the one with the minimum vocals: “Let Me Let You Know”. (C-)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
The former lead singer of the abysmal Bare Naked Ladies goes Jacques Brel – or maybe Rufus Wainwright covering Judy Garland. If you are a fan of retro musicals circa 1940, you might like this piece of contrived caterwauling. I would think that any sane person would reach for the “off” button. (D+)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
Some people have said that these guys produce “Marxist Music”. The only Marxist influence I can hear in these tracks is the statement attributed to Marx: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” The 13 tracks here are mostly forgettable items that have been previously unreleased – and I can see why. If Stereolab ever deems itself worthy of a comeback they should peruse ‘70’s Slapp Happy/Henry Cow for proper influences. (B-)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
Our Whitney is free from Bobby and is there any difference? On 9 of these tracks it seems like there isn’t (the usual crap songwriters – Dianne Warren, R. Kelly, Alicia Keys.) On the other two, someone (couldn’t have been Mr. Clive!) persuaded her to apply the Al Green treatment, which actually seems to work pretty well for her voice. Maybe, when Clive* finally packs it in, WH will find her muse. (D+)
* Too bad, Whitney beat him to it!
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
Here is synergy in action! Find 12 of the world’s cruddiest “love songs” (Ryan Tedder [even!], Diane Warren [barf!], Alicia Keys [yow!]) with the production by the world’s most senile music man (Clive Davis [wha, he ain’t dead yet?]) Jenny can then do her thing (mainly yowling) and what do you get? One of the ten worst recordings of all time. (E)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
The BL’s have put together 10 tracks of slow-moving organ based dirges with the vocals muddied and multi-tracked. There are no tracks here that I dislike, but the attack seems to work only on the exceptionally fine “Albatross”. (The on-line video is OK but would be better and more to the point if it covered Vancouver’s skid row.) Occasionally, there are forays into psychedelia (“Light up the Night” and part of “Albatross”.) I would think that their sound would be better if the organ was less prominent and the vocals more up-front. (B)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB
I can’t imagine how this thing ended up on a major label (and, even more) how it sold as well as it did. Apparently, JB holed up in his bedroom to create this thing. For the most part it is extremely minimal drum machine over over-wrought vocals that are endlessly repeated through an electronic distortion device. By accident, JB actually finds a groove on “Lindisfarne II” over the dorky vocal “Beacon didn’t fly too high”. A good recording to buy if you want to feel depressed. (B-)
Posted by scratch / THE NATTERING NABOB