Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  I know I need to do more of this, but whenever I get a hankerin’ to write about something…something else always comes up.  I guess I just need more discipline in it.

So, it’s Spring.  Yay!  I admit I am tired of Winter.  Of course after the gorgeous weather we had last week, it’s now crappy and rainy and cold again.  I don’t mind the rain part of it, I just wish it was warmer again.

Summer, not my favorite season, is when everything is happening though.  In a strange coincidence of things aligning, I’m going to see a lot of great shows this summer: Eddie Izzard, Swervedriver, Jimmy Buffett, Zappa Plays Zappa, Iron Maiden, Rush and who knows what else I’ll see.  King Crimson is doing a small tour, but it’s just not practical for me to head up to Philly to see them this time around.  Of course now they’re saying that this is it for the year.  I hope not.

Still, I’m going to see my favorite band, Iron Maiden, in July.  AND Rush.  AND I get to see the great Ray White play with ZPZ.  While I’m not thrilled with Dweezil & Gail’s attitude to other people playing Frank Zappa’s music (threatening them with lawsuits and stuff), any chance I get to see FZ’s music performed live I’ll definitely be there for.  And Ray White will be part of the band.  Holy crap I can’t wait for that.

For the Maiden show, I was originally hoping to see one with my friend Brian, but it didn’t happen this year.  I’m psyched that Mastadon and I will see them together.  It’ll be a great show, as well as providing us great material for the podcast.  Speaking of the HML, we’ve been planning our latest episode for a few months now and if I have time today I’ll do some more preliminary work on it.  We hope to record it soon and I think it might be our best one yet.

The band is playing a party at my house on Saturday night.  Our friends Jenny & Cherish are coming into town so we’re giving them a special performance.  It’s been an interesting few months for the band.  Things looked great when my friend Josh started to play with us (he’s an amazing drummer), but that didn’t last long since his time has been cut short because of a second job.  I hope we can still play with him in the future since he sounded amazing with us.  We three did manage to record 4 songs for a demo so that’s something positive.  I’m in the process of mixing/overdubbing so I’ll report on how all that goes and mention when they’re ready.

I went with Don last week to see the Two Man Gentlemen Band and they were fantastic.  I’ll be writing the show review momentarily.  I’ve been listening to their albums this morning (and while typing) so it’s put me in a good mood.  Check out their new video on the youtube.

NP: Two Man Gentlemen Band - Heavy Petting

Released: 2004
Tracks: Plunger; Anchor Drops; In the Kitchen; Bullhead City; Miss Tinkle’s Overture; Uncommon; Jajunk Pt. I; 13 Days; Jajunk Pt. II; Walletsworth; Robot World; Mulche’s Odyssey; Wife Soup; The Pequod
Best track: In the Kitchen
Track to skip: Bullhead City

There’s both good and bad here, but for the most part it’s a solid “good”. Some stuff is certainly great. The thing I noticed immediately from the live show and also listening to this disc for the first time was that these guys have a strong Phish influence. It’s REALLY obvious they’ve listened to a lot of Phish as a band. I know it’s not always fair to say “oh, this band sounds just like this other band”, but it’s a bit too obvious in the case of Umphrey’s. From what I’ve heard, over the years they’ve slowly rid themselves of the overbearing Phish influence and are sounding more and more like themselves. Later live shows, DVDs & CDs confirm that they’re slowly growing into sounding like themselves. That’s a really good thing. Not that being influenced by Phish is a bad thing at all (I certainly am), but what was great about Phish was that they didn’t sound like anyone else. They sounded like PHISH. I really like Umphrey’s and I want them to get to that point where Phish is just one of the many influences that’s in the mix and not the primary one.

As a live band and on this studio album, they’ve already taken significant steps in breaking that influence. For one thing, UM brings out music that really isn’t touched on by any other jam band that I’ve heard. Their progressive influence is REALLY pronounced (loud and proud), but the thing that shocked the hell out of me and made me flip out was how they incorporate metal into their work. You see these guys play and it’s clear that the guitarists and drummer were serious metalheads growing up. Umphrey’s is definitely a GUITAR band. Jake Cinninger & Brendan Bayliss are great guitar players (especially Cinninger) and frequently play guitar licks that wouldn’t be out of place at an Iron Maiden or Steve Vai show. I’ve never heard a jam band play metal, real metal, like these guys do.

So, the metal’s here (in the guitar playing, not the overall music) and of course you have the usual jam staples of funk, jazz, blues, reggae, bluegrass, electronica…well, those all aren’t really staples of most jam bands. I think to some people the rampant eclecticism in UM might seem a bit forced and possibly pretentious, but to me they really nail it. For the most part; I’ll get to that in a sec. The music on Anchor Drops is *really* good, as well as the songs. These guys are damn good songwriters. Quality musicianship all around, esp. in the guitars. The one area of the band that’s severely lacking is in the vocal department. Bayliss is the primary vocalist and honestly, the dude can’t sing. Thankfully I’m more of a music person so I can just tune him out, but for most people I’m sure that would be an impassable hurdle. He could fill a backup vocal role just fine, but as a lead he can’t cut it. Jake Cinninger’s got a much better voice, nice and bluesy. It’s too bad he isn’t the primary lead vocalist. I understand why Brendan Bayliss is the lead singer, though. I mean, it’s his band. He started it, he writes most of the material (esp. most of the lyrics) and I fully understand why someone would want to sing their own songs. I just don’t think he cuts it as a vocalist.

Vocals aside, though, I really dig this album. Like I said, the songs are really well-written and the music is excellent on here. The best song of the lot is clearly In the Kitchen. It’s a total ass-shaker that has an absolutely killer riff and kick ass guitar playing. In my world, this would have been a hit single. Man, that chorus of Walletsworth? Totally kick ass. Also tracks like Plunger, Miss Tinkle’s Overture, The Pequod & Wife Soup are all great songs. The songwriting’s strong on here. There are a few missteps, especially in Bullhead City. This track really reminds me of Allison Krauss & Union Station and in a way it’s kind of the stereotypical jam band, “hey, check us out we can do country too”. You know, with obligatory female vocals and all. I like the track, but it really doesn’t fit with the rest of the album at all. Besides feeling a bit forced, the problem I have with it is the female vocal. Elliot Peck is her name and while she has a good voice, the parts she sings are pretty lame. Really it’s the chorus that gets me. She follows Jake Cinninger’s vocal by singing the last few words exactly like him, like an echo. It gets old after one phrase. Ugh, it’s just so unimaginatively uncreative. It really bugs the hell out of me. If the tune was arranged differently and she sang something else, I might enjoy it. As it stands, I always skip it. Other things I’ve gotta dock the album points on – the ending of Uncommon (an otherwise good song) feels so incomplete; it just ends out of nowhere. 13 days has some moments, but overall it’s not a very good composition. The beginning and ending arpeggiated bits are *really* cool though. Actually the suite of Jajunk I > 13 Days > Jajunk II doesn’t sit right. The last minute or so of Robot World is a bit strange. Almost like it’d be the end of the album (with more reprisal of the random streets of Chicago audio) … but then we get 3 more songs. Wife Soup, another song I really like, is at times too clever, especially with the scratchy “vinyl” sound that pops up throughout it.

So, what to say about it all? Great musicianship, really good songs, eclectic as hell, very fun music…but then you have bad vocals, some missteps in arranging, being too “clever” for their own good. I struggled with the rating for Anchor Drops, I admit it. I don’t think it’s quite “A” material, but it’s still really good. I don’t see this as being their best album; they clearly improve as they go along and with each new album and live show it’s always “better” and you can see them growing. I really don’t expect bands to put out a perfect album early in their careers. For the most part, it’s a good album.

Rating: 88

Released: 2001
Tracks: The Grudge; Eon Blue Apocalypse; The Patient; Mantra; Schism; Parabol; Parabola; Ticks & Leeches; Lateralus; Disposition; Reflection; Triad; Faaip De Oiad
Best track: Parabola I guess
Tracks to skip: Faaip De Oiad, Triad & Mantra

One of the things that’s really impressed me with this album has always been how utterly non-traditional it is. From the packaging and the booklet to the lyrics and song structures, Lateralus is a really unpredictable album. It made me really happy for once to think about the state of music when this was new. I mean, this completely unconventional album was extremely popular and actually debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Insane. Lateralus being as popular as it was gave me hope (for a while) that popular music might actually change something. Of course, I think most people who were influenced by Tool took the wrong things from the music (chunky guitars and mellow/screamy vocals), but you certainly can’t blame Tool for that.

In listening to this album tonight there were many times where I was just blown away by everything…and then there were times (esp. the end of the album) where I was kinda bored. In a sense, I’ve thought about it that way for a few years now. The first hour of the disc (it totals almost 79 minutes) is pretty much awesome. The only skipper in that first hour is Mantra. It paints a nice mood, but it doesn’t really go anywhere and its 1 minute in length doesn’t really serve a purpose. Besides that small bit, yeah, that first hour is incredible. It’s heavy as hell, progressive and complex, rhythmically jaw-dropping and compositionally so utterly unpredictable. I totally love it and incredibly inspiring music to me. As for that last 20 minutes…uhhhh, not so much. I mean, it’s not “bad” necessarily, but they kind of abandoned composition and just have long jammy bits that don’t do much. These 3 tracks are Reflection, Triad & Faaip De Oiad. I don’t know, I mean, Reflection and Triad aren’t bad on their own, but together they’re just kind of boring. Faaip De Oiad is the obligatory and EXTREMELY played-out “hidden track” after 2 minutes of silence at the end of Triad. I guess they were trying to be “freaky” with it, but it’s so lame. The band plays a lot of weird noises behind a caller from Art Bell’s radio show in which he hysterically goes on and on about aliens and the government’s involvement. Boring! And not creepy or trippy at all. After fast-forwarding through the silence and listening to the stupid last track (not really hidden since it’s listed on the cover) you really get the sense that nothing happened for the last 20 minutes of the album. The transition from Disposition to Reflection is quite perfect, but the track then doesn’t do much for its 11 minutes. I really think they should have cut off about 20 minutes and structured the last bit of the album better.

I’ve already mentioned about the compositional unexpectedness and the artwork and all that, but the thing I really want to say about this is I am just astounded at the talent of the drummer, Danny Carey. Holy freakin’ crap he is an *amazing* drummer. He’s certainly the glue of this band and for my listening pleasure the most important part. Yeah, the other guys are all really good and exceptionally creative musicians, but Danny Carey is phenomenal. Everything on this album hinges on his drumming. As a bassist, THAT’S the type I guy I want to play with. As a listener too, that’s what I want to hear drummers do – I want to hear them push the instrument in such a way that they absolutely rule the music. It’s not really in a “show off” kind of way, it’s just a BAD ASS kind of way. Before hearing this album I had no idea he was that good.

So even with the boredom of the last 20 minutes, I am still going to give this a good grade. An hour’s worth of excellent music will get that from me. On the whole a great album and one that certainly inspires me.

Rating: 95