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For those of you who don't know... Dick Valentine is the lead singer of both Evil Cowards and Electric Six. He's released a series of solo records that usually consist of acoustic songs. His new album is no exception. However, it is slightly different in that the songs are all covers of material previously recorded and released by Evil Cowards and Electric Six.
I was excited about this release and even more pleased with it once I received it and was able to hear it. I spent an entire morning driving around in my truck listening to it. I was blown away!
No matter what the band or how much you love them, there are always certain songs you like more than others. Oddly enough, this compilation has some of my all time favorite Evil Cowards and Electric Six tracks represented. Right off the bat, Valentine starts with 'I Buy The Drugs'... This song was the absolute jam the first time I heard it and I've enjoyed it immensely over the years. I never get tired of hearing it. Both 'Steal Your Bones' and 'Alone With Your Body' are present at the start of this disc and both songs were my favorite tracks on their respective albums. 'Steal Your Bones' is from "Kill" and 'Alone With Your Body' is from "Human Zoo". One song about cloning and one about necrophilia... Once again, Valentine challenges our preconceptions about taboo subjects and turns even the most grimacing perversions into humorous anecdotes. If necrophilia ever becomes a socially acceptable form of sexual expression, we'll know who to blame.
The track I was most anticipating is number 8. 'When I Get To The Green Building' is easily one of my all time favorite E6 songs to date. I absolutely adore this song. In some ways I see it as a classic rock opus... One of those early rock ballads from the 70s where you would get more than just a cool song, you'd get a supernatural story; like the Eagles' 'Hotel California' or Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven'. To me, this is one of the strongest songs Valentine has ever committed to tape and I'm thrilled to have it appear here in this acoustic format. It's as magnificent here as it is on the album. It's followed by another song in this vein called 'Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart' and it's an epic as well.
There are two Evil Cowards' covers here. 'Sex Wars' from "Covered In Gas" and 'Rich Kids' is from "Moving Through Security". Coincidently, 'Rich Kids' is my favorite track from "Moving Through Security". So once again, he's picked more of my favs to re-invent and express here.
There are a couple songs on here I consider sleeper tracks. In other words, I didn't like them the first time I heard them but as I listened to the album a few times, they grew on me and have become favorites. These songs include 'The Band In Hell', 'Pink Flamingos' and 'Iron Dragon'. There's even newer songs appearing on this compilation such as 'Roulette' and 'Take Another Shape'. Both of these tracks are from Electric Six's last record.
Dick Valentine is an interesting character. He's prolific. Maybe not as prolific as Prince, but he writes a lot. And his lyrics are written off by a lot of people, but those who take the time to invest in his work discover a song writer who is insightful, concerned, relevant and deeply poetic. He's an under-rated talent.
What more do I have to say to encourage you to take a chance and buy this awesome record??? You need it. Right now you can order the CD directly from Valentine through his Facebook page. Otherwise, you will have to attend a live E6 show to purchase one.
If you don't know anything about Dick Valentine, this is a good starting point. Pick up this record and if you like it, prepare yourself for even more to come as you explore the worlds of his various projects and bands.
My final words: ACOUSTIC MASTERPIECE FROM A MASTER ARTIST!!!
01. I Buy The Drugs
02. Wikileaks
03. Steal Your Bones
04. Alone With Your Body
05. Show Me What Your Lights Mean
06. Sex Wars
07. Take Another Shape
08. When I Get To The Green Building
09. Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart
10. Rich Kids
11. The Band In Hell
12. Doom And Gloom And Doom And Gloom
13. Pink Flamingos
14. Roulette
15. Heartbeats And Brainwaves
16. Iron Dragon
It's hard to believe anyone born prior to 1970 not knowing who Robert Plant is, but for those who don't... He's the lead singer of Led Zeppelin. And you don't have to go too far to find out who Alison Krauss is... Just do a search on this blog and read some of my other reviews of her work. I love her!
When I first heard she'd done some recording with Robert Plant I was a little annoyed. I tend to be a purest when it comes to vocalists I like; (which in and of itself is a rare thing). I don't like to listen to them singing with other people. It drowns out the sound I want to hear. I was reluctant to listen to this music but eventually I did and I fell in love with it. Amazing!
I think I'm more in love with the promotional material surrounding this release than I am the official. This is a two track promotional CD of the 'Rich Woman' single and it comes in a generic cardboard package. The cardboard actually looks like it's made from recycled paper. The actual cover is a sticker that's been placed across the front and back. It creates a back, side and front label for the disc. I think the idea is unique and interesting. I like it quite a bit and if I can, I'm going to pick up as much of this as I can. I'd like to have a complete album and single collection of this record in this interesting packaging.
As for the disc itself, it features two versions of 'Rich Woman'. One is an edit of the album version. Krauss and Plant sing the tune as a duet and it's fantastic! Brilliant number and performed to perfection. My final words: A UNIQUE AND INTERESTING RELEASE!!!
ROBERT PLANT / ALISON KRAUSS - RICH WOMAN
01. Rich Woman (Radio Edit)
02. Rich Woman (Album Version)
Atticus Ross, now full fledged NIN member and Trent Reznor have embarked on some interesting projects to date and this 3 disc album is no exception. They've done some stuff like this before, and it's kinda hard to review the work because the songs generally bleed together in a tantric sorta way. They become dark sinister chants that draw you along subconsciously. Unless you're listening for it, you won't realize where one track ends and another begins. That doesn't mean to imply they all sound the same. They don't. But they create the same effect. The soundscape you're hearing builds up around you and you get trapped in it.
The important thing to remember when you're listening to this mostly instrumental album is that it's a film score. The album clocks in around 3 hours, but the actual songs appear in the film with shorter, different edits. There are versions of the album released by the record company that list the tracks according to their corresponding cues and in their edited versions. This version, purchased through Reznor's NIN site, is the work in its imagined entirety. The music is presented in the manner the two men wrote the tracks and fully unedited. Hence the long track times and the trance-like quality many of the songs possess.
The album spans three discs, but the track listing counts the songs as one continuous disc. So... I will break them up by disc at the end of the review, but I will number them according to the way they appear in the liner notes.
There are a few numbers with vocals. The first disc starts off with 'Immigrant Song', a Led Zeppelin cover. Vocals are provided by Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I think the track would've benefited from Reznor's vocals rather than a female lead. I suspect they went with a female lead vocal because of the nature of the film. The third disc also contains a cover track with a vocal. 'Is Your Love Strong Enough' is a Bryan Ferry cover and features the singer from another Reznor side project, How To Destroy Angels.
Musically, this is a very satisfying piece of work. However, going track by track isn't an option. First and foremost, I don't have the time to do it right now and second, the similarities between the songs are hard to verbalize without getting technical. I don't want this blog to be one that alienates people in any way. I try to relate the music to my life and hopefully inspire people to relate it to their own.
Suffice it to say, the music follows many of the patterns you've come to expect from Reznor. There's a sense of unease hoovering around. There's also that white noise distortion, the resonating piano, simple but menacing motifs repeating in sinister fashion and an overall feeling of haunting.
When you listen to the music, you start to wonder why video games like Resident Evil haven't hired Reznor to score their games. You can also feel the power and majestic quality of the material projected through your speakers. If you listened to this album while you were falling asleep, I can promise you'd have some strange and disturbing dreams. If you were planning on putting on a haunted house, you'd create more fear if you played this music over the speakers while people were walking through. It's spooky yet effectively conveys the idea of a mystery unfolding. Like Scooby Doo... The underlying message of this film and this soundtrack is rather simple... The monster is actually just a man. Because human beings are the true monsters in this world. And it's that dark revelation, this soundtrack builds up to. That this music ultimately helps reveal. And hasn't that been part of what Reznor was always about? Showing us the dark side of the human condition? Showing us the decay, the rot, the filth, the sadness and tragedy of being human? That even though man rages and defies the natural world, it is nature that will destroy us in the end? Reznor holds our faces up the glass and shows us the things we pretend not to see.
In that very act, he also shows us the way out. How to be better than what we really are. Because the way out is through the damaged areas and broken bits. It's putting the pieces back into place and constantly building what we've destroyed. It's learning from your mistakes. Too often, he's written off and not given credit for his message. Probably more than any other artist alive today, Reznor's music mirrors humanity. More people should listen to him and take him seriously.
Overall, I think you know I find this album exciting and stimulating. I think it's one you should own even if you're not a fan of NIN. My final words: AN UNCONVENTIONAL, UNUSUAL AND BEAUTIFUL SOUNDTRACK TO AN EQUALLY BRILLIANT FILM!!!
TRENT REZNOR / ATTICUS ROSS - THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
DISC 1
01. Immigrant Song
02. She Reminds Me Of You
03. People Lie All The Time
04. Pinned And Mounted
05. Perihelion
06. What If We Could?
07. With The Flies
08. Hidden In Snow
09. A Thousand Details
10. One Particular Moment
11. I Can't Take It Anymore
12. How Brittle The Bones
13. Please Take Your Hand Away
DISC 2
14. Cut Into Pieces
15. The Splinter
16. An Itch
17. Hypomania
18. Uunder The Midnight Sun
19. Aphelion
20. You're Here
21. The Same As The Others
22. A Pause For Reflection
23. While Waiting
24. The Seconds Drag
25. Later Into The Night
26. Parallel Timeline With Alternate Outcome
DISC 3
27. Another Way Of Caring
28. A Viable Construct
29. Revealed In The Thaw
30. Millennia
31. We Could Wait Forever
32. Oraculum
33. Great Bird Of Prey
34. The Heretics
35. A Pair Of Doves
36. Infiltrator
37. The Sound Of Forgetting
38. Of Secrets
39. Is Your Love Strong Enough?
