The rare time that all four reviews in this entry are great! Let's GO!
Also, I need to review the Lolla poster. May lead us to some of the ACL bands (which I have been very lazy about working on this year!)
Eddie Vedder - Earthling. Weird album, but I really like it. You get some songs that would absolutely sound at home on a Pearl Jam album, like the great rockers "Good and Evil" or "Rose of Jerico." Then you get a faithful recreation of a Beatles-ish song in "Mrs. Mills." An Elton John duet? Yep. A bouncing freaking that includes Stevie Wonder going nuts on the harmonica? Sure. "The Dark" makes me think of an eighties rock song - Loverboy or something. A faithful recreation of a Tom Petty-ish song in "Long Way." Trippy Frank Sinatra shit with the album closer "On My Way?" Well, sure! But you also get the opening track that sounds like an Eddie Vedder solo track of him aiming for the stars and singing something lovely about love. And yet, despite all of those disparate pieces and sounds, I love it. Really enjoyable disc. Really low streaming numbers, which is kind of surprising. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by low streaming numbers for rock music anymore. I was hoping "Rose of Jericho" was going to be the banger, just because I really dig it, but the top streamer is "Long Way" with 3.5 million.
Please tell me you hear the Tom Petty. Not just in the intonation and chorus, but also in the guitar and other instrumentation. I really like that tune. I also really enjoy the weird-ish Beatles-sounding tune. "Mrs. Mills" is about a sex worker? One of those dancers in a booth who do their thing for a few minutes while a guy watches from behind glass? Seems more like a sex worker since their hands get to roam on her flesh and bone. But no one ever takes her home, except Eddie really wants to, so he plays her some French horn licks as he repeats her name for a while. Just an unexpected song, and one of the reasons you can tell this isn't just a Pearl Jam album. Some of these songs would be at home there for sure, but that one would definitely be an oddity. I really dig this.
Momma - Two of Me. I mentioned one of their songs the other day in my post full of singles - that single I reviewed isn't on this 2020 album, but it was their most recent disc so I wanted to check it out. Freaking rules. If you are in to some 90's alt rock buzz bin stuff - then this scratches that itch right away. The band is two ladies who do the singing and guitar, and then a dude drummer (who doesn't show up in their photo and isn't mentioned in their very basic Spotify promo). On top of incorporating Breeders-esque alternative, and some Madchester shoegaze bits, these tracks are full of tight hooks that make them lean towards pop rock. Every time I listen I dig it all over again. Another album that is being criminally ignored (again, probably because rock is dead), the top streamer only has just over 1 million streams. "Double Dare."
Bringing that alt rock sound forward like Soccer Mommy or Mitski. Not any sort of groundbreaking tune, but just deeply solid and catchy as hell. That freaking corn dog looks good as hell. I hate eating healthy foods when shit like corndogs exist. I just studied the small print of the Lolla poster, hoping I'd spot these ladies on there so that they might be coming to ACL, but no such luck.
Mitski - Laurel Hell. And interesting album, shifting styles between disco party jams and dark indie tunes. More than once in here my brain likened the tune to something I remember from an old Hall & Oates song. Mainly "Should've Been Me" with the bassline from "Maneater." "The Only Heartbreaker" sounds like a straight eighties banger. Benetar but with subdued guitar? I definitely like the brighter tunes than the dark ones, but overall the whole album is a good vibe. The top trick is one of the darker ones - "Working for the Knife" - with 25.2 million streams.
That video takes a while to get going... and then you open with "I cry at the start of every movie," which is a bummer. I read an article about her in one of the recent Rolling Stone magazines - she was planning to hang it up and move on from doing music anymore. That bums me out. I know she was just tired of the spotlight and the demands and expectations, but its sad to me that someone this talented considers giving up on their music just because the industry sucks so bad. And that song sings to that issue - she thought her music career would go one way and feel one way, and instead she feels trapped into a different way and feeling. Its a lovely track in sound, but just sad. And the video doesn't make it any happier with that extended dance freakout at the end. Good little 32 minutes album.
Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa. No clue what is going on with the title of this album, but I fuckin' love it. Just a perfect slice of yummy rock and roll goodness. Got some groove to it, got some lyricism to it, got some pure guitar solo action. Just a super solid bite of rock with every instrument feeling like its been perfectly placed. The drums are crispy and match right up with the bass. Guitar slashes and jangles. I have been up and down with Spoon over time. Overall, I like them, but a few of their albums have missed the cut in my mind. Like, Hot Thoughts was good, but a little too electronic for my taste. This one is the triumphant return to their best form. "The Devil and Mr. Jones" has a slinky groove that jams. "Wild" has a build to it that feels exciting every time. But the top streamer is the one that is the most perfect of the guitar-focused rock tunes on here - "The Hardest Cut." With only 4.2 million streams, this is criminally under-listened.
Gimme groove-based rock and roll all day. Not sure why those people are having to run/dance in place in the video though. What do we have going on there? I thought that bald guy with the knife was Billy Corgan at first. Right about the time that hot guitar solo kicks in, Billy loses it all. Weird, but actually an engaging video that has nothing to do with the song at all. I dig it! I know at least one of my regular readers thinks Spoon is dumb, but I also think he is dumb, so we're square. Just give this album a shot and I think you'll be into it.
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