Ted head
I've had today and tomorrow circled on my calendar for months now. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists are playing the El Rey, but which night would I attend? It turns out that tonight is the first night of GR's spring/summer softball season and tomorrow night I'll be driving up to Mammoth to check out the fresh snow/end another snowboarding season. So the answer was "neither" until my friend Miranda at Touch & Go tipped me off that the band doesn't hit the stage until 10:45. Our game is scheduled from 9:00-10:30, so tonight it is. I have extra incentive to mow down the opposing hitters, start some rallies, end the game early via the mercy rule, and get to the show. (If we have a rocky start, you can rest assured that I will not tank it.)
Why the fuss? This is the review I wrote for Living With The Living, the group's latest album: "Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, The Clash–the list of musicians that have the guts to write about topics that matter and skill to make them listenable is short, but Ted Leo and The Pharmacists deserve serious consideration. From the first songs, 'The Sons of Cain' and 'Army Bound,' onward, the supremely listenable guitar rock with smooth-to-falsetto vocals laced with punk politics is almost too good to be true. It’s smart, exhilarating, and heartbreaking, and giving a shit never sounded so great. The trio changes tempo as easily as it changes styles; I kept waiting for a song to stink, but it never happened. Shockingly, the reggae track–a risky venture, for sure–turns out to be one of the strongest pieces of all, with vocals sounding a bit like Junior Murvin."
Damn, I dropped some big names in the intro (and I used the non-word "listenable" twice) but I stand by it. The advance CD must have been in my car's shuffler for a month before I wrote the review--or read anyone else's gushing or criticism--and it's still locked in the rotation two months later. What I didn't know when I wrote it is that it comes with Mo' Living, a bonus EP with some rough songs that the trio banged out to balance the smooth production of the album. I bought the real version of the CD to get it, and the fuzzed-out treatment of Chumbawamba's Holocaust anthem "Rappaport's Testament (I Never Gave Up)" is powerful stuff.
There aren't many current bands that I reserve this sort of enthusiasm for. Check out this live set on NPR or, better yet, go to the show tonight or whenever you get a chance. Here are the remaining dates.
Why the fuss? This is the review I wrote for Living With The Living, the group's latest album: "Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, The Clash–the list of musicians that have the guts to write about topics that matter and skill to make them listenable is short, but Ted Leo and The Pharmacists deserve serious consideration. From the first songs, 'The Sons of Cain' and 'Army Bound,' onward, the supremely listenable guitar rock with smooth-to-falsetto vocals laced with punk politics is almost too good to be true. It’s smart, exhilarating, and heartbreaking, and giving a shit never sounded so great. The trio changes tempo as easily as it changes styles; I kept waiting for a song to stink, but it never happened. Shockingly, the reggae track–a risky venture, for sure–turns out to be one of the strongest pieces of all, with vocals sounding a bit like Junior Murvin."
Damn, I dropped some big names in the intro (and I used the non-word "listenable" twice) but I stand by it. The advance CD must have been in my car's shuffler for a month before I wrote the review--or read anyone else's gushing or criticism--and it's still locked in the rotation two months later. What I didn't know when I wrote it is that it comes with Mo' Living, a bonus EP with some rough songs that the trio banged out to balance the smooth production of the album. I bought the real version of the CD to get it, and the fuzzed-out treatment of Chumbawamba's Holocaust anthem "Rappaport's Testament (I Never Gave Up)" is powerful stuff.
There aren't many current bands that I reserve this sort of enthusiasm for. Check out this live set on NPR or, better yet, go to the show tonight or whenever you get a chance. Here are the remaining dates.
posted by gr at
4:01 PM
Now I'm living vicariously through you. You've got action sports and rock and roll... I'm trying to stop a cat from eating a squirrel.
Post a Comment
<< Home