America’s Sweetheart, Courtney Love’s first and so far only solo album, is absolute shit. It’s fucking confused and drug addled, and unfortunately not in a good way. I mean what the fuck happened to the woman who screamed on Pretty on the Inside? There’s almost no evidence of the intelligence and lyrical power that makes that album sound fresh even today. Plus the production is absolutely horrible.

The thing I don’t like about Courtney’s lyrics nowadays is that she seems to have forgotten to paint interesting images and create powerful metaphors. Now she sometimes resigns herself to pop culture references, and they go as lame as referencing the “why’d the chicken cross the road” joke several times in one song. Why? Why is there a song about how much she loves men? And a song that sounds like she wrote it as an early-20-something bitching about her boyfriend’s obsession with playing “Stairway to Heaven”? These things sound like songs she put on the back-burner (or just plain threw out) when she was younger, and apparently more able to apply a filter.

“Sunset Strip” could be a Guns N Roses song. There are some interesting lyrics, but overall it’s overproduced shit. And that applies to almost all of the songs on here. It sounds like  Pink with a fucked up voice and slightly more credibility. Although I think Courtney’s voice sounds better than on Celebrity Skin, at least in some cases. But the God, the overproduced guitars and overproduced lyrics. Why?

There are only two good songs on the album, the cheesy but insightful “Uncool”, and the hideously brutal “Plague” (aka “Life Despite God”). “Plague” is a fucking mess. It opens with a sloppy organ and grows in intensity with screaming that rivals the end of “Burn Black” until it collapses at the end with Courtney wheezing “all my love’s in vain, cannot find a vein”. It  seems to have Courtney waffling between mocking people who blame her for Kurt’s suicide and believing it herself. It’s a shocking song, really. Considering the childishness and shallowness that surrounds it, the emotional intensity is even more ravaging. Even though the guitars are less bludgeoning, some of it rivals Hole’s first album. It’s really an awesome song.

The biggest problem with this album is basically that no one knew what they wanted it to be. The producer didn’t know how to create anything but radio-friendly pop rock (the guy worked with Matchbox 20 for God’s sake), so that’s what he wanted it to be. Linda Perry apparently wanted it to be a Pink album, and the record label obviously wanted it to be a radio smash, or something. And Courtney was so fucked up on crack at the time that she didn’t know what the hell she wanted. What it should’ve been is a horrifyingly honest album in the vein of “Plague”. What’s wrong with this album, and everything Courtney’s done post-Kurt, is that it’s not honest. Maybe if she spent less time avoiding her true feelings, like in songs like “Zeppelin Song” and “Hello” and song after song after song, this could’ve been truly powerful. But whatever.

Six Uses for a Heart

France de Griessen’s Six Uses for a Heart opens with the Sonic Youth-like jangle of a telecaster. It’s the song “I Want to be You,” which quickly slams into a wall of power chords. Her songs are interesting: mixes of French and English, male and female, punk and country, raw and polished. The lyrics are good (at least the ones in English. I can’t speak French, but I’m sure they’re great too). Although in the first song they stray a little close to standard rock fare, the rest of them are much deeper and more moving. I’m very impressed by some of her lyrical ideas, and her use of musical influences beyond the typical punk, rock, and pop that most people seem to be incapable of escaping from.

Her music shows great sonic range: the second song, “Rue des Pierres Rouges” (which seems to translate to “Street of Red Stones”) is a buzzy, moody ballad with male and female vocals. The third song is a beautiful, raw little song about the innocence of growing up. Then comes the varied “Bellerina,” which ends in with laid back surf guitar. And the sixth use for a heart is catchy and very beautiful country-ish duet about being an outlaw.

France’s voice is great, and she works very well alone and during duets, which appear on this album quite a few times. For an EP, this is very packed. And it’s packed with very good songs. The only suggestion I have for her is to lose the pop punk chord wall that appears a few times and go with the rawer type stuff that is exemplified by “Sunbeam” and the opening of the first song, and I would also really like it if she used more of the feedback and unusual guitar sounds that pop up every now and then. I’m very impressed and can’t wait to see what her next album brings.

Click here to buy the album digitally on Amazon.com

Click here to buy it physically on France’s web page

After last week’s massive post, I thought I’d go light on content today. And because I love the Nymphs so very much, I’m gonna post all of their songs I could find on YouTube and type up the lyrics, which are hard to find, unfortunately, since they’re so great.

Here’s the official video for “Imitating Angels” after the break:

Here’s a live performance of “Wasting my Days”:

Here’s the official video for “Sad and Damned”. Supposedly, she’s making fun of Courtney Love with her costume:

Here’s a little bit of the indie video for “Alright,” done by the same guy who did their awesome cover artwork:

Let me know if any of you know where I can find the rest of that.

For the last video, here’s an indie video done for “Imitating Angels”.

And for the lyrics–

“Imitating Angels”

Those venomous fumes like ghosts imitating angels
Came and brushed death thru her hair with loving strokes
Telling her pretty lies and flowery stories
Of a place where nothing hurts and no one knows
Oh…

We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
And we got a long, long way to go
And we got a long, long way to go

Sail a sad ship across the sea out to the edge of this world
And I ain’t coming back cuz I didn’t leave nothin’ behind
All the old crowd still hangs out imitating angels
But I ain’t found a halo here no matter how I tried
And I tried

We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
And we got a long long way to go
And we got a long long way to go

Angels are waiting, and praying for me
I know those angels are waiting for me
Angels, those angels are waiting for me
I know those angels are waiting for me

We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
We’re imitating angels
And we got a long long way to go
And we got a long long way to go
Yeah
And we got a long long way to go

“Death of a Scenester”

Walk around with your hands up in the air…
Didn’t anybody tell you? Didn’t anybody tell you?
How could you just let it all just fall?
Let it all fall to the ground?
You’re laughing and smiling, all your friends
They’re just puttin’ you down

Diamonds won’t help…
Velvet, your Velvet Underground records won’t help
They won’t help you now, oh no no no no no
Oh no, oh no no no

I want to believe in God
but He never seems to show Himself around
I want’a believe in people
but they always seem to let me down

Diamonds won’t help…
Velvet, your Velvet Underground records won’t help
They won’t help you now, oh no no no no no
Oh no, oh no no no

Walk around with your hands up in the air…
Didn’t anybody tell you? Didn’t anybody tell you…

Diamonds won’t help…
Velvet, your Velvet Underground records won’t help

Velvet, your Velvet Underground records won’t help
they won’t help you now, oh no no no no no
Oh no, oh no no no no no no

“Wasting My Days”

Talk to myself, cuz
I’m the only one that understands
And I’m sorry baby
Now it’s just out of my hands…
Hey, I’m sorry baby but’cha know one an’one an’one an’one an’one makes five
When yer down, down and dirty
Tryin’ to keep yourself alive, (I’ve I’ve)

I’m just wasting my days
Wasting my days
Gonna drop out of the human race
I’m wasting my days

When I solved, solved that problem
I just didn’t Know what to do
Parked my car down in Cliffwood
On the beach the city shining through
Hey, I’m sorry baby but’cha know one an’one an’one an’one an’one makes five
When yer down, down and dirty
Tryin’ to keep yourself alive

I’m just wasting my days
Wasting my days
Gonna drop out of the human race
I’m wasting my days

Don’t you want some more of
More of everything
I need temptation, I need frustation
Give me anything
Change the station, purification
But there’s something wrong
I think you’re faking ’bout this no escaping
cuz I’m already gone

Wasting my days
Wasting my days
Gonna drop out of the human race
I’m wasting my days
Wasting my days
wasting my days
wasting my days

“Sad and Damned”

Sitting in my room, waiting for the sun
I hope it comes, I hope it comes
I’m sad, I’m damned I need someplace
I gotta get away, I gotta get right out a’here
And that’s what I said

I’m damned, I’m damned, and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned, and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned, and I’m so so, so, so

I look for hidden meaning there
I don’t find none at all
Just a cold stab into my heart
I look for hidden meaning there
I don’t find none at all
Just a cold stab into my heart
And I’m ready to fall

I’m damned, I’m damned and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned, and I’m so so, so, so

Hey, there what’s that sound, take a little walk
To Chinatown, I’ll cop for you if ya kick some down

I’m damned, I’m damned and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned and I’m so so sad
I’m damned, I’m damned and I’m so so sad

Thanks for reading guys. Peace

Today I’ve decided instead of posting a review of music, I would post an incredibly lengthy paper I wrote for English class about how the RIAA and MPAA are basically destroying art. Hope you guys enjoy it. I strongly recommend everyone read at least the online articles I’ve cited (at the end of the article).

Uses and Abuses of Copyright

Copyright law is a heated topic these days, and for good reason. Copyright laws affect every area of our lives, from the way we as consumers listen to our favorite songs and watch our favorite movies, to the art musicians create and how it is distributed. Copyright laws have a long and complex history, beginning in the sixteen-hundreds (Demers, 2006:15). It came about as an attempt by companies to gain a print monopoly, but ended up benefiting both the author of the work (whether that work is musical, written, or acted) by giving them new rights, such as protection from piracy and the public domain (Demers 2006:15). Now big corporations, especially those in the music business, are again trying to take advantage of copyright for their own benefit using the classical guise of “for the author” while simultaneously working against the author at every turn.

The history of copyright law goes back to the 1600’s when the printing press was a recent innovation. The first copyrights were called “Letters Patents” and weren’t given to the author of the work, but its publisher. These publishers formed a union that they called the Stationers’ Company. This company was the only government-sanctioned printer in Britain until the House of Commons voted against extending its privileges in 1694 (Demers 2006:14).

The House eliminated the Stationers’ Company’s monopoly for a very specific reason: they wanted to improve competition in the print world. This worked well, but there were some drawbacks. Most problematic, piracy ran rampant. The Stationer’s Company took this as an opportunity to champion the rights of the content creators in order to get their monopoly back. Fortunately, the plan backfired when in 1710, Parliament created the Statute of Anne, which for the first time gave copyright control to the authors. It was also the first law to give a limited life span to the copyright, fourteen years with a possible fourteen-year extension (Demers 2006:15). It also created the public domain by saying that any publisher could use a work after it was out of copyright. As it is easy to see, nearly every lobby to the government by the Stationers’ Company was done, as Joanna Demers says in Steal This Music, “…in the name of authors,” but for the company’s benefit, and the tactics haven’t changed at all in the intervening years, only the names of the companies.

As time went on, the laws continued to evolve, and the United States soon became one of the most prolific countries in creating movies, music and written works. In 1976, the Copyright Reform Act was passed, which better explained fair use, a provision that allows people to technically break copyright if the author isn’t harmed and the user doesn’t benefit monetarily, and extended the length of copyrights.

Fair use can be confusing, and it is not well-defined in U.S. law. Sarah Wiant points out that the vagueness of the definition of fair use is very problematic, because it is one of the few areas in the law that protects the rights of the consumer and the user instead of the copyright holder. These uncertainties cause problems not only for the people, but also for big companies. AT&T has resigned itself to paying for every use of a copyrighted work, whether that use is fair or not, for fear of costly and time-consuming litigation (Wiant 1997: 318). These fears also show up in the behaviors of companies who are less able to absorb the costs of a lawsuit and damages, like hospitals, libraries, universities and the like.

Recently, the laws seem to have gone from giving the author protection and the users rights, to allowing the author (or the company that owns the work) ever-expanding control. Big corporations like Disney and the music cartels have pushed for absurd copyright lengths in the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act and other laws severely restrictive of user’s rights such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Although intellectual property laws are put in place to protect the rights of content creators, they should never unfairly restrict the rights of the public to use that content.

In today’s world, certain provisions of copyright law can seem old-fashioned, poorly-though-out, or even malicious. To people used to copying all of their music from their CD collection to their computer and iPod, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s ban on circumventing any DRM, even the already-broken DRM on every commercial DVD seems illogical. By not allowing anyone to copy their DVDs to their computer legally, the law makes anyone who would like to take their movies on the go without the physical copy into a criminal, which lessens the impact that the “criminal” label has, possibly leading to more crime (Van Horn 2002).

The confusion, convolution, abuse and exploitation of copyright laws by media companies has begun to cause serious problems for our society. The illegal downloading of music is so common that at least two-thirds of college students do it without any ethical reservation, and many do it even with ethical reservations (Wong 2005). It wasn’t long before the big music companies used the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) to sue its own customers for thousands of dollars in damages when they believed they were making copyrighted music available on the internet. They argue not that downloading music free from the internet deprives them of revenue, but that the artists suffer, just as the Stationers’ Company argued several hundred years ago. This time, however, the government is bowing to their will, tightening control and limiting freedom with laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

These companies are also pushing digital and electronic means to restrict users from violating copyrights, such as traffic shaping, which, according to Gregory Jackson (2007) in “The Digital Carrot, the Digital Stick,” relies on “…the attributes — but not the content — of traffic flowing across the network.” In other words, if the network believes that a certain stream of bits in it are an illegal copyrighted work, it will slow their transfer or block them alltogether, never mind that they could easily be something the sender created, such as a song they wrote or a lengthy e-mail. There is also the method of signature matching, which actually looks at the content, so it knows whether it is a song or a text document, but again has no ability to tell whether it is a legal copy or not (Jackson 2007) These digital obstructions are not effective. Most obviously, the pirates have started to use encryption (a method preventing anyone from accessing digital content without a key) which prevents these methods from working entirely. More importantly, they try to curb a person’s actions without going into the underlying reasons of why people are stealing so many copyrighted works.

And why are they stealing? There are many reasons, but the biggest are detailed in “Digital Carrot, Digital Stick.” Jackson explains that users break copyright law for three reasons: it’s hard for them to get what they want, they aren’t always able to use what they can get, and most simply, they don’t think the price is fair. The media companies in their infinite wisdom have not made it easy for people to legally buy music online until very recently, and even now it is hampered. They have also kept the prices high, even though they have none distribution or packaging costs associated with “real” media, such as CDs or DVDs.

Why can’t the users always get what they want? Each label has to sign a deal with the company that wants to sell online music. Take Apple, for example, as it is the largest music retailer in the country. If Apple wants to sell Nirvana’s music, it has to go to Geffen (Nirvana’s record label) and negotiate a deal. That’s hard enough, but that deal is only good in the United States, so if Apple wants to make iTunes available in Britain, or anywhere else, they have to negotiate a separate deal. If a user lives in a country that the iTunes store isn’t available in, or they would like something more obscure that isn’t available in the iTunes store, they can’t get it there (or it won’t be compatible) and will likely just download it illegally.

Why can’t the consumer always use what they can get? Because up until very recently, every song purchased legally on the internet had a special little code in it called DRM, or Digital Rights Management. DRM allows the record labels to dictate when and how the file can be used, but it can cause issues that aren’t so obvious. The DRM used in Apple’s iTunes store is not available for any other company to use, so if iTunes users want to use a different type of MP3 player than the iPod, they will often have to give up their old purchases or burn them to a CD, which causes a loss in quality. The opposite went for other online stores. None of their songs worked with the iPod, and according to the DMCA, circumventing that DRM to get it on an iPod is a criminal offense.

Finally, prices are high. The standard price for a single song on most online music sites is 99 cents. While that isn’t exorbitant, it is still a psychologically significant amount of money. Buying an entire album also still costs about as much as an actual, physical album, while having none of the benefits of a physical copy or album art. Jackson argues that if content providers took these factors into account, they would reap the benefits in higher sales and less theft. He believes that every bit of content available on a CD, DVD, or any other type of media should be made available for convenient purchase online, completely free of DRM and for reasonable prices. Reasonable, he believes would be about 25 cents for shorter songs and ten cents a minute for lengthier songs. Of course, he admits, illegal sharing would still continue, but it would be greatly curbed.

These changes would do a great deal to curb illegal downloading, but the fact is that copyright law is still in need of reform in many areas. Copyright law is still stuck in the ages of print, paper, and vinyl. The digital revolution has completely changed the landscape, and big changes are necessary to keep copyright relevant. While I would not argue that copyright should be abolished, like Diane Zimmerman (2007) nearly does in Living Without Copyright in a Digital World, I would argue that its scope needs to be reevaluated, and it certainly should not be given any more power, like big media companies are fighting for.

Media company executives, especially those in the music industry, are quick to argue that the more restrictive laws, high prices, DRM restrictions, and lawsuits are all for the benefit of the author of the work, the band or performer. But as has been mentioned before, this is nothing more than their tried-and-true tactic to glean more money from the masses and more support from Congress. The fact is, music companies do not care about the artist at all. They care about getting as much money as possible from the artists, even if it ruins them financially and prevents them from ever releasing more music. Industry veteran, Steve Albini, describes this in his paper “The Problem with Music.” In it, he details the workings of the music industry. There are way too many evil little details to go into, starting as soon as the band meets with the label’s A&R rep. Fledgling artists beware- think twice before you sign a Letter of Intent, which is a “mini” contract that permanently locks you in to finding a full contract with the label. And they don’t care if you even reach a contract (Albini).

Here is an example Albini gives of an unnamed band who were given a 250 thousand dollar advance upon signing and sold a quarter million CDs. This band also made fifty thousand dollars on tour, twenty thousand in merchandising and twenty thousand from “publishing.” You’d think the band would be in the money, but in fact the fees go on for several pages. Highlights include the $37,500 manager’s cut, the $52,500 studio fee, the $150,000 recording budget, $10,000 legal fee, $50,000 producer’s advance, and the list goes on. But the most insidious fees are the little nickel and dimings by the label. The eight thousand dollars the band is charged for recording tape, the thousand for catering, the two thousand for transportation of god knows what, the three thousand for promotion, the editing, the album artwork, et cetera. In essence, the artists is charged for every single thing the label can think of (Albini).

The band is expected to make that money up in royalties. You know, that little word that the media industry uses to restrict the rights of the public and charge exorbitant amounts for media. But unfortunately for the band, royalties aren’t pure money. This CD took in a gross three million dollars total, selling 250 thousand copies at twelve dollars each. The band is only given payment for ninety percent of the CDs, because the rest are “promotional” CDs, supposedly sent off to radio stations that may or may not play the band’s songs and are never recollected. The royalty is thirteen percent on ninety percent of the CDs. After factoring in all of their earnings and all of their fees, they end up owing 14 thousand dollars to the label. In contrast, the record label ended up making 710 thousand dollars. It takes no genius to see that the labels don’t care a thing about their artists. It’s the money they want (Albini).

In conclusion, copyright law is a topic of much debate, and there are many reasons why. Copyright laws affect every area of our lives, from our consumption of music and movies, to the art musicians create. Our laws have a complicated history, and in many ways is still stuck back in the days when making a copy was difficult and costly. To stop people from stealing copyrighted works, lawsuits, harsh restrictions and digital obfuscation are not the answer, but fairness and a mutual trust are. Unfortunately, media companies are used to taking advantage of the artist and the user, and are trying hard to keep their stranglehold in that area. In all, copyright is meant to protect and benefit both the consumer and the creator. Without both, neither would have any purpose for copyright.

Works Cited

Albini, S. (Undated) The problem with music. Retrieved 13 Mar. 2008, from
<http://www.negativland.com/albini.html>.

Demers, J. (2006). Steal this music: how intellectual property law affects musical creativity. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.

Jackson, G. (2007) The digital carrot, the digital stick. The Chronicle of Higher Education 54, b20. Retrieved 2 Mar. 2008, from <http://chronicle.com/weekly/ v54/i14/14b02001.htm>.

Van Horn, R. (2002, January 1). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Other Egregious Laws. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(3ov), 248. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ657216) Retrieved March 5, 2008, from ERIC database.

Wiant, S.K. (1997). Users’ rights to photocopy: the impact of Texaco and Michigan Document Services. In L.N. Gasaway (Ed.), Growing pains: adapting copyright for libraries, education and society (pp. 315-349). Littleton, CO: Rothman & Co.

Wong, B. (2005,June 30). Illegal downloads don’t pose ethical problem for college students. Seattlepi.com, Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/230702_downloads30.html

Zimmerman, D. (2007). Living without copyright in a digital world. Albany Law Review, 70(4), 1375-1397. Retrieved March 9, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

other reading: The RIAA has gone too far, Cultural Historian?

Pretty on the Inside, Hole’s first album, is one of the most grossly forgotten grunge albums of the early 90s. While it was acclaimed by the underground in its time, it’s basically been forgotten. Not shocking, though, since the band (and most female-lead bands of the time) never get the respect they deserve from the more indie-oriented grunge scene. And it’s even less surprising that the mainstream press ignored it. There’s barely slightest hint of a pop sensibility on the surface, unlike Nirvana’s Bleach, which at least had “About a Girl” (and still got no coverage). There are few hints of future hits like “Doll Parts.”

The album shows Hole at a very experimental time, with two noise collages, one of which includes an angry telephone message from Inger Lorre of the Nymphs (”Sassy”) and the other which has a snippet of one of the earliest songs Courtney ever wrote (”Best Sunday Dress” on ”Star Belly”). Not to mention the two songs “Garbadge Man” and “Loaded” that have 30-second Sonic Youth-y noise experiments at the end.

The music on Pretty on the Inside is greatly influenced by noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard’s forefathers Big Black and Sonic Youth, and to an equal degree early heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, disguising metal riffs in a wash of feedback and good old-fashioned guitar noise. The lyrics are easily the best part of the album. The overall tour-de-force would have to be “Mrs. Jones” a dizzying tale about rape and disease that includes so many interesting musical ideas in its five and a half minutes I could write  a whole article about it, and the immediate favorite is most likely “Garbadge Man” because of its more accessible structure and poignant screaming.

“Teenage Whore” is a forgettable opener, and the album’s first and only single, which seems strange as it’s easily the worst song on the album. “Babydoll” has an extremely catchy guitar riff. Next is “Garbadge Man,” the album’s best song, and Hole’s first ever video. Do yourselves a favor and download the rerecorded video version of this song. It’s without a question an improvement, darkening it up and removing the annoying voice crack in the chorus. And the album ends with a solemn re-imagining of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” that ties everything together before it fades out.

The weakest parts are the drumming and the mix. The drumming isn’t bad by any means, and on certain songs (”Babydoll”) it’s even pretty hooky, but on some, like “Mrs. Jones,” the drummer should’ve been thrashing along with the guitar, but shows too much restraint. However, this is probably due to the mix, which pushes the drums far behind the guitars instead of using them as the foundation that gave Steve Albini’s recordings such power. The mix itself has certain strengths and weaknesses. The worst parts are the extreme lack of bass in most songs and the low drum mix. However, there are some interesting ideas, such as the way Eric and Courtney’s guitars mesh, almost causing Courtney’s ice pick sound to be its own type of percussion.

The compositions are also very interesting. A lot of the songs start off with Courtney’s playing, all treble and no bass -very reminiscent of Big Black and even the Stooges’ Raw Power era, and then plunges into Eric’s more Sabbath-esque guitar, which eventually degenerates to the point that the original riffs are no longer recognizable. The songs are also really long. Almost half of them are at or near five minutes, but after a few listens they become incredibly catchy. The lengths allow for an interesting structure, where the songs stumble, turn on themselves and sometimes sputter into odd endings (or in the case of “Mrs. Jones” a shockingly beautiful mock 60’s girl group bridge). It’s a really interesting effect that allows the album to reflect the whirlpool of despair that LA was at the time.

Honestly, Pretty on the Inside is Hole’s best album. The interesting thing about it is how effectively it proves the band’s intent (and title): without any obvious (some might say cheap) attractiveness, few people will take the time and energy required to truly appreciate it. As it stands, it’s not much more than a footnote that both Eric and Courtney acknowledge as something of an embarrassment in the rest of their catalogue. The sad fact is, there are spectacular and unique melodies under all the anger and noise, and many have missed out on them.

Hole continued to get more and more pop-oriented until they were basically indistinguishable from all the other boring bands of the late 90’s, whining incessantly with the same early 90’s narrow-minded cynical selfishness but without the same insanity and energy, too rich and bored to have any problems that anyone but a celebrity could relate to. It’s a shame Hole didn’t continue on the punk path, because for a very short time, they were more punk than Nirvana.

Buy the CD at Amazon.com

The Jesus Lizard – Goat, 1991

The Jesus Lizard is one of the most well-respected bands of the 90’s, with people from the legendary Steve Albini to Steve Funderburg exalting its praises. I can’t say that I’m an expert on the band, but Goat is often considered to be their definitive, if not their best, album.

First off, just like most of the albums I’ve reviewed, this disc takes awhile to get into your head. One good thing about Goat is that most of the songs are very short, which make them easier to digest than, say, Pretty on the Inside by Hole. The first-listen standout is without a question “Nub,” a song about a bandmate’s (made up) amputation. It’s got a great slide-guitar riff and some really intriguing chord changes. “Here Comes Dudley” is sort of a throwaway for the first track (although it grows on you), but the album only falters slightly until “Mouth Breather” comes up, with a riff I’ve heard in a million of the shitty punk-wannabe bands that came and went in the 2000’s. Jesus Lizard manages to do it first, better, and as a bonus, it includes the stop and start dynamics that became Nirvana’s trademark the same year this was released.

The lyrics and singing in this album are… interesting. It would be hard to say that the lyrics are really great, but they’re definitely not clichéd, and they manage tell some interesting stories (“Monkey Trick,” ”Lady Shoes” is a retooling of the Aristocrats joke) and are generally very humorous (”Nub,” “Mouth Breather,” “Lady Shoes” again). Also, I should never have said that there was singing on this album. There isn’t. However, there is screaming and some vocal cord contortions that fit in with the lurching guitars perfectly. Yow’s voice was made for this music. I’ve heard it described as a “baptist minister on crack” and I won’t disagree.

At only nine tracks and about 30 minutes, Goat is a little short, but I’ve got to wonder if it would have been as acclaimed if it required any more of you on your first listen. 30 minutes might be about the right time to end this assault. After all, there’s nothing preventing you from putting it on infinite repeat if that’s the way you want it.

Buy the CD at Amazon.com

As you can see, I’ve started to post again. No, no lame excuses. Frankly, I just didn’t feel like writing. I’ve got a bunch of reviews lined up and, as you can see, I’m getting the hang of this blogging thing. I might go back and edit some of my older reviews to make them more readable. I’m not sure though. I’d have to do that for a whopping four posts.

Take care, and check back weekly for updates.

Hole is a band that is spotty at best, mainly because Courtney Love revamped (gutted) the lineup every fucking time they recorded a CD. Still, when they made good music they made very good music. My Body, The Hand Grenade is a rarities collection that has some pretty awesome songs on it, and I’m not sure why they were never included on an actual release. There’s Hole at its most Nymphs-esque with “Turpentine” (one of the best songs they ever wrote– I might devote a whole post to it someday) and “Drown Soda,” there are some early singles (such as “Burn Black“), a few covers, the controversial “Old Age,” and a bunch of other stuff. Worth getting, even though it’s not that heavy on great content.

Buy the CD at Amazon.com

There are a million crazy stories about the Nymphs out there on the internet, how the lead singer revenge-pissed on the desk of the record company exec who screwed her band over, the onstage oral sex, the Courtney love rivalry, but something that isn’t too often mentioned is the feat that the Nymphs pretty much created their own version of grunge as far back as 1985 in the vacuum that is New Jersey. This band only released one full-length album, but it’s definitely worth getting. At the very least, the album art is extremely cool and it perfectly illustrates the psychotic, dark, and deep sound that the Nymphs put out. At the most, the Nymphs could’ve been one of the first grunge bands out there and maybe would’ve been huge if they hadn’t been jerked around by their label.

Nymphs is an interesting CD sonically. There are songs on here that could have been on a Nirvana album, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see “The Highway” on an Alice in Chains disc at all. But then there are some songs on here that show the glam rock influence that permeated their performances (like the awful bridge that almost ruins “Sad and Damned”), so I would have to echo those reviewers who say that this is a very good bridge between glam and grunge, but it’s much more grunge than glam. There aren’t any songs on here celebrating inane male fantasies, or anything even remotely “happy.” The songs are about insanity, religious disillusionment, yearning, sycophants, social dissatisfaction, and just about every other topic that could please a punk or grunge listener. What sets this album apart (besides the fact that it was very early) is the lyrics, which are full of powerful imagery. The song “Imitating Angels” contains the lines “Those venomous fumes like ghosts imitating angels/ came and brushed death through her hair with a loving stroke/ telling her pretty lies and flowery stories/ about a place where nothing hurts and no one knows” that’s heavy, beautiful stuff that makes you think, and music that makes you think is really lacking these days, just as it was at the time the Nymphs were first starting out. But hey, if you don’t feel like thinking, just sit back and get lost in the drugged, hazy, heavy sound, buzzing guitars and banging drums.

After this album was released, the Nymphs quickly broke up. The band had been ready to release the thing since about 1989, which gave them plenty of time to piss around and get hooked on heroin, lose lovers to overdoses and create rivalries with psychotic fans. All this gave way to Inger (the lead singer) having a nervous breakdown and going back to New Jersey, spending a few years in mental institutions, and recording a pretty awesome solo CD. The band has actually “reformed” and you can find Inger, who is the only original member of the New Nymphs, at MySpace (www.myspace.com/ingerlorre). This album is supposed to be reissued, along with their even rarer EP A Practical Guide to Astral Projection, which you will hear about as soon as I can get my hands on it, and their new CD.

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Track Listing:

1. Just One Happy Day (3 stars)

2. Cold (4 stars)

3. 2 Cats (3 stars)

4. Imitating Angels (5 stars)

5. Wasting My Days (3 stars)

6. Heaven (3 stars)

7. Supersonic (3 star)

8. Sad And Damned (4 stars)

9. Death Of A Scenester (5 stars)

10. The River (2 stars)

11. Revolt (5 stars)

12. The Highway (5 stars)

This CD has been out of print since 1991 and is very rare. It can be bought on eBay and Amazon.com, but it is supposed to be reissued sometime on Sympathy for the Record Industry, so buying it from them will benefit the artists most.

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