Monthly Archives: February 2012

PiL Vinyl–First in 20 Years! Coming For Record Store Day

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The music blogs are abuzz about the new Public Image Limited four-song vinyl EP due out as part of Record Store Day on April  21, 2012. It’s a precursor to the new PiL album, This Is Public Image Limited due out in the summer.

In an interview for the BBC, John Lydon told interviewers Adrian Larkin & Matt Everitt, “…we record live, some songs are made up on the spot,” and adds that the new songs are “not moody and terrible” and making a point to mention the “completely experimental” nature of the new material.

You can get a listen to the new PiL track, One Drop, at the SlicingUpEyeballs Soundcloud account. The track and commentary are via the BBC.

Soundwise, One Drop hearkens back to mid-period Public Image Limited, taking the more commercial (but still quite enjoyable) sounds of 9, stripped down a bit with a bit more dub space added for good measure. It’s nowhere near as dub-influenced as the Wobble-era recordings, but you’ll feel a bit of the Jamaican vibe, definitely. There’s even a bit of vocal harmony–PiL has always sounded stronger with additional voices to counterbalance Lydon’s verbal assault vocal style. Well done, lads.

Lydon’s voice sounds more vulnerable than in the past. The swagger is still there, but it’s been tempered by age and tragedy. Lydon had a death in the family prior to this recording–whether or not that factors into the actual songwriting, his material sounds more thoughtful, less antagonistic. Could that be reading too much into one single? Perhaps.

Lyrically, he’s revisiting his past. The track is said to be an autobiographical snapshot of his life in the early days. It sounds strange to hear Lydon, the grand old warhorse of the rock-n-roll swindle, singing “We are teenagers”…but the track is solid, no doubt about it. Any PiL follower would be happy to have this in the collection.

PiL and John Lydon fans will also be interested in the new Public Image Limited Live At Rock Palast DVD which is, at the time of this writing, is in the pre-order stage, due to be released on February 21.

WTF Album Covers: Lil’ Wayne Tha Carter IV

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Seriously?

Oh, the prison tats on the little kid…I’m sure SOMEBODY thought that was CUTE. How cute is it? Well, let’s see what that bastion of accuracy Wikipedia has to say:

“The teardrop tattoo or tear tattoo is a symbolic tattoo that is placed underneath the eye. It has no fixed meaning but almost all meanings have some connection to prison. In the United States, it can mean the wearer has killed someone and the number of teardrops may indicate the number of killings. It can also indicate the number of years served in prison or the loss of a loved one or fellow gang member.

In at least one prison, (Oaxaca State) it indicates that the wearer was raped in prison.”

Ohhhhhh dear.

WTF Album Covers: Mew And The Glass Handed Kites

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The WTF factor on this album art by Mew is so high that you might get a nosebleed while contemplating its awfulness. Fortunately for this band, the music itself does not choke the way the cover does.

And The Glass Handed Kits features music that sounds a bit like a more pop-oriented (and less uber-trippy) Gang Gang Dance. There’s an epic quality to many of the tracks on this record that are totally misrepresented by this violently awful cover. Though it has to be said, they manage to veer excruciatingly off into Neil Young “Harvest” territory at times…and do we really need anybody besides Neil Young warbling away like that? Er, not realllllly.

Ignore the cover and try to head toward the experimental pop portions of this Mew record. You can preview bits of all tracks at the Mew And The Glass Handed Kites Amazon page.

Vinyl Record Reviews: Ceasar Pink & The Imperial Orgy, The Explorers Club

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Lately there have been more records coming to our inbox–review copies for new music are always welcome as long as they are on vinyl. Turntabling makes very few exceptions to this rule (Chris Joss releases being one–damn, how can you say no to another Chris Joss record regardless of format?) so please understand, indie bands–vinyl review copies only!

Two records came last week, Four Legs Good Two, Legs Baaad by Caesar Pink and the Imperial Orgy, plus Grand Hotel by The Explorers Club.

There’s more than just a hint of 70s-era singer/songwriter vibe floating out of Grand Hotel. From the packaging with its simulated record jacket ringwear, the ghost-of-George Harrison riffs on Weight of the World, and the bongos-n-Herb Alpert horns of Run Run Run, this is time capsule rock, and well done at that.

In some places, The Explorers Club comes across as a more freshly-scrubbed Smithereens, except there is absolutely no trace of the melancholy that made Smithereens records so enjoyable. Elsewhere there are nods to J.D. Souther, Todd Rundgren and the Beach Boys.

Many reviewers name-drop Burt Bacharach when discussing The Explorers Club, and it’s true that his influence is felt on this album, but stylistically the band is a bit more unfocused–there is a lot of room for all sorts of sonic nostalgia on the album, and in the group’s live performance videos on YouTube. One of their standout moments as a group isn’t on Grand Hotel–the group’s Kind Of A Drag cover, originally recorded by The Buckinghams, could be considered source code for the group, as is another cover sadly not on this record, Stormy by Classics IV.

There is some really strong material on Grand Hotel. On Side Two, Summer Days, Summer Nights elevates this record to something higher than a tribute to the analog golden age. This is a recording by a group full of confidence in the material–the vocals are much stronger than on the fun-and-bouncy Run Run Run or Bluebird. Not that they don’t sound confident on tracks like Any Little Way or Acapulco, but Summer Days, Summer Nights sounds like the song they could barely wait to record.

Here’s a band that sounds very much like it might like to go in a Classics IV direction but can’t decide whether they’ll lose their way in doing so. There’s equal enthusiasm on the Grass Roots-y Go For You, but listen to the entire Grand Hotel record and you may agree, Summer Days, Summer Nights is THE standout track–it deserves plenty of attention.

Make no mistake–this is NOT the record for anyone currently grooving exclusively on reissues of the Chrome back catalog or interested in unreleased rarities by Christian Death, but for anyone with retro damage (guilty) or a love for the pre-Yacht Rock singer songwriter sounds of Classics IV, Janis Ian and the like, this is a record worth checking out.

(Those of us fortunate enough to be able to listen to Chrome AND Classics IV think Grand Hotel is a bit of all right, too.)

Caesar Pink and the Imperial Orgy offer up a vinyl record called Four Legs Good, Two Legs Baaad. It’s important to review a vinyl record on its own merits rather than compare it to the one you just reviewed, so it took a bit of time to shake off the retro goodness of The Explorers Club so Four Legs Good, Two Legs Baaad could get its due.

Caesar Pink and the Imperial Orgy play a type of music that can only be described, however inadequately, as “rawk”. The lyric sheets reads like a hardcore album, but the music is ranges from sub-Chili Peppers funk attempts to chirpy jangle pop…but without the jangle. The most embarassing part on this is the psuedo-rapping of Rabid, which tries to blend machine-gun delivery with moody keyboard riffs.

There’s even a psuedo Black Crowes moment on this, which wears out its welcome very quickly. Sorry, Imperial Orgy folks, but it’s true.

The band doesn’t do itself any favors by writing on the back cover of the LP, “Recorded and manufactured without funding or interference from any corporations large or small”. This sounds wonderful and anti-authoritarian until you discover the MP3 version of this album for sale on Amazon.com. Ummm, Caesar? Your contradictions are showing.

The lyrics talk a good game about Disney, corporations, religion, and other easy targets, but the album fails miserably by delivering bland instrumentation and been-there-done-that arrangements. Dressing up like angry arty types might be a visually strong fashion statement, but you need more than a wardrobe change to pull it off…and lyrics aside, there’s not a whole lot that’s angry or powerful here.

Joe Wallace reviews vinyl records for Turntabling, but urges bands NOT to send review copies unless they are on vinyl. It’s a vinyl-only review column here, savvy? Send your 12-inch, 7-inch or full length vinyl record albums to Turntabling care of:

Joe Wallace 4520 N. Oakley First Floor, Chicago Illinois 60625