DJG Best of 2008
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DJG Best of 2008 1. The Eagles of Death Metal Heart On Congratulations Eagles of Death Metal, this is the first time in the twenty years I’ve been compiling my best of list, that any band has been awarded the coveted DJG #1 slot a second time. I loved their 2006 Death By Sexy, and to my pleasant surprise Heart On is in some ways even better. It’s still loaded with sophomoric innuendo and humor; and it’s still all built on cock rock hooks, leads and cords introduced decades ago by the likes of the Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy. But Jessie Hughes and Josh Homme also show some signs of maturing as well; often coalescing the locker room humor, and this development in the same song. Take the title track, “what good’s a heart if it ain’t on your sleeve, If nobody knows, nobody sees, I tell ‘em all it’s make believe. First your hearts broken what can you do? I only want some pussy from you”. Once again EODM remind us of what true rock and roll is all about. 2. Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse, aka Gnarls Barkley, sound is the square peg that doesn't fit neatly into the round holes of any one genre. Cee-Lo singing voice resists conventional definitions, and not everyone is going to be left awestruck by his raspy, desperately sincere delivery. Yet, backed up by Danger Mouse’s prodigious musical influences Gnarls Barkley has got one hell of an addicting sound. The variety can not be understated, running the gamut of musical styles: pop, rock, soul and even the blues, once you think you’ve got them figured out, they zip into something completely different. Deep, yet catchy, pop yet off beat, all on one CD, and there isn’t a bad tune on The Odd Couple - you really get your moneys worth. 2 3. The Subways All Or Nothing Remember the Subways? They scored my #10 slot in 2006 with the pop smart, aptly titled, Young for Eternity – a CD that sounded like a band in love with being young and in love. Now, with lyrics like "those days are dead and gone, in time we move on", All Or Nothing sounds like a band that’s been beat up a bit. Apparently art really does reflect life: in between Young.. and All.. lead singer Billy Lunn was forced to undergo surgery for nodes on his vocal chords, potentially meaning he may never speak again, never mind sing. If that wasn’t enough of a reality check, while recovering from the surgery, he then split up with fiancée bassist/vocalist Charlotte Cooper. As Fleetwood Mac did so well in the’70, Lunn and Cooper use this gut wrench to their musical advantage. Take for instance I Won't Let You Down, "You said there's nothing else for you to do but hate me, I scream and shout, I'm lost for words" Yikes! I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that All Or Nothing was produced by Butch Vig (who deserves considerable credit for the success of Nirvanas Nevermind [DJG#1, 1991] ), which would explain the absolutely blistering guitar on about ¾ of the CD, and a slight alt-grunge sense. The fact that The Subways can keep it together despite the shit storm they’ve apparently ridden out over the past 24 months and come up with this, is impressive indeed, I sincerely hope they’re able to continue channeling all the negativity into their craft. 4. The Duke Spirit Neptune Unquestionably the main attraction of The Duke Spirit is the crisp, sultry voice of Liela Moss. Her self assured delivery is reminiscent of some of the best elements of Grace Slick, Nico and Debbie Harry (who she physically resembles as well). The song writing runs the gamut of all out rock, smoky soul type numbers and one made for radio hit: A Step and a Walk. Having seen them live, and listened to Neptune numerous times it seems that the bands biggest flaw is the rest of the band just can’t keep up with Moss. Which is ironic since Neptune was produced by Chris Goss (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age), a man known for emphasizing torrents of jostling guitars, bass and drums. It’s a problem that a lot of bands would give their right arm to have; one member is just so good she smokes the rest of the band. Either way, the rest of the band do their best, and the quality of the song writing makes Neptune first rate. 3 5. The Hold Steady Stay Positive I’ve been touting The Hold Steady for about five years now and am pleasantly astounded at the quality of their craft and output, considering the substantial reliance on old- fashioned storytelling. They continue to prove themselves a more convincing classic rock act than should be possible in 2008. Each of their albums have had stand out tunes, but were better placed as a total concept, after all you wouldn’t get a true understanding of a book if you merely read chapters 3 and 8. Once again the narrative exemplifies the losers in life, the ones that didn’t – or couldn’t, quit after last call. This’d all be for naught if the band collapsed under the weight of the tales of tension, overdoses, and police interrogations. But The Hold Steady have always had a knack for coming up with guitar solos that’d make Joe Perry blush. Pushing their craft forward with each consecutive album, they’ve added new elements to the band's palette, including new-wave keyboards and even a harpsichord. Skipping town, starting over clean, resurrection all speak to the redemptive power of second chances; with the way 2008 came to a close: war, economic recession, poor housing markets and all kinds of bad news, a title like Stay Positive is more poignant then ever. 6. Kaiser Chiefs Off With Their Heads Last year I was all agog over Yours Truly Angry Mob (DJG #1), so when they announced a breif US tour I was delighted. Shortly after receiving my tickets, I was crushed when they cancelled the tour in order to “work on new material”. Well Off With Their Heads is that new material, and was it worth canceling the tour? Well, I guess, I mean Off With Their Heads offers the Britpop organ riffs, constant harmonies, and blasting guitars we’ve come to expect from the Chiefs. But the honesty that made Yours Truly.. so alluring seems absent, and unfortunately some songs seem forced, as if they’re trying a little too hard. It’s still a good album, but the bar is set high for these guys and this just disc barley hurtles over it. 4 7. TV on the Radio Dear Science Finally a TV on the Radio CD I can fully embrace! Three times really is a charm! In the past the NYC band left me bereft of patience for their art-rock sonic onslaughts. They’d lure me in with a song or two that I’d find challenging but enjoyable, then before I knew it I felt like I was listening to a casting call for Stomp!. There are still huge drums and dense clouds of feedback, piled on layer after layer. After all, this has been their trademark since day one. But they’re getting better at it; tempering the cacophony of sound with vocal harmonies and funky grooves, relying less on texture and more on actual songs. Surely purists will scoff at TV on the Radio flirtations with pop, but I think Dear Science achieves a relevantly harmonious balance which is much more inclusionary than their past efforts. 8. Glen Campbell Meet Glen Campbell Recently Paul Westerburg was given some jerk-off award, and the sponsors played The Replacements Sadly Beautiful, to which he replied “you should’ve played the Glen Campbell version”. Since I’m a certified Paul Westerburg geek, I checked out Meet Glen Campbell, and yep its that Glen Campbell, the same one that brought us By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Southern Nights and Rhinestone Cowboy. This guy has been in the music business for over 50 years, has more than 70 albums, has already been inducted into the Country Music hall of fame, has played on Strangers in the Night, I’m a Believer, and several Beach Boys tunes - I could go on and on. Now he joins the ranks of music elder statesmen taking on fairly current rock material. For the most part it works: U2’s All I Want is You, The Foo Fighters Times Like These, and Sing (on this years best of CD) by Travis are all very good. He isn’t just replicating these numbers; he’s giving it the Glen Campbell treatment. Not every selection works though, such as Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), a song I never really cared for in the first place. Overall the good tunes out way the bad by a wide margin, it’s a solid effort by a country stalwart that I can easily recommend. 5 9. Motörhead Motörizer It’d be difficult for me to differentiate a tune off of Motörhead’s 3rd album versus their 15th, as they all tend to sound the same after a while. So why pick up their 20th? Well, if you like them, and I do, you gotta give em credit for sticking it out as long as they have, and after hearing a couple tunes online I figured now would be a good time as any to see what there up to.