Quick Hits, Vol. 167 (Filthy Friends, Jack Johnson, Living Colour, Billy Corgan)

I feel this odd sense of loss about the Cranberries singer passing away over the weekend.  Not because I was a huge Cranberries fan, but because of the outpouring of sadness for her which has led me to realize that they were a very popular band worldwide.  I knew that one album, everyone owned a copy of No Need to Argue in college, and recall another after that, but then had no clue that they continued to release music in the decades since, and have sold millions and millions of albums.  So now I feel like I missed out on something special, when my Twitter feed is chock full of people rightfully mourning the loss of a special, very individual voice in rock.  RIP to Dolores.

Filthy Friends - Invitation.  I forget where I read about this band, probably on Twitter, but this is a supergroup of sorts, boasting the vocalist from Slater-Kinney and R.E.M.'s guitarist, Peter Buck.  It's funny, I wonder if I would hear echos of R.E.M. in this music if I didn't know that Buck was in the band?  The top track, with only 52k streams, is "The Arrival."

I've never been able to get behind the Slater-Kinney thing, and Tucker's vocals are so distinctive, this feels like the same thing.  I think my favorite tune is "Second Life," which sounds like a Fables of the Reconstruction -era song.  But I'll let this album go.

Jack Johnson - All the Light Above It Too.  You have to hand it to Johnson.  He just keeps plugging along, making perfectly pleasant acoustic Hawaiian chill tunes.  This album could really be one that I heard 10 years ago, and I'd have zero clue that this was new and not old.  More albums of sameness just keep washing up like waves.  The top track is "My Mind if For Sale," which I think is a rebuke to Trump, and almost has 10 million streams.

You know exactly what you are getting with Jack Johnson, and I kind of respect that.  Never change.  I'm good after a few listens here, but if you are into his surfer relaxation stuff, go get some.

Living Colour - Shade.  I loved the first two Living Colour albums.  Like listened to them more than just about anything in the world during a period of Junior High.  When I play the Legend of Zelda, the strongest memory of that game is of listening to Time's Up as I played.  The guitar work was phenomenal, the activist messages were inspirational, but the key was the hard rock (but not too hard) groove.  So, seeing that a new Living Colour album was out was pretty exciting.  After a few listens, I'm a lot less excited.  It has the hallmarks of the old stuff, but it just seems less vital, less exciting.  Retread.  Things like "Who Shot Ya" is more of an explicit rap attempt (over a weak track that reminds me of the Judgment Night soundtrack thing) than they used to do, and it doesn't work.  Moments of this, almost always stacked on the Vernon Reid licks, can be fun, but for the most part it is a slog.  "Who Shot Ya" is the top track on the album on Spotify, with 175k streams, so here you go.

Nah.  Give me "Cult of Personality" and "Open Letter (to a Landlord)" and "Glamour Boys" and "Pride" any day.  In fact, I'm gonna go listen to those albums now instead.

Billy Corgan - Ogilala.  And here is another old school musical hero of mine, reduced in power and impact, leaving me wanting with a new project.  This is the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins, one of my favorite bands of all time.  And while I'm well aware that Corgan was the driving force behind much of the Pumpkins music even when he wasn't solo, this project drops out all of the wonderfully distorted guitar squall and nimble bass and goes with the piano and acoustic balladry that popped up here and there on Pumpkins records.  Which isn't terrible, but certainly was never the reason I wanted to listen to Siamese Dream or Gish.  The top track is one called "Aeronaut, with almost half a million streams.

Yaaaawwwnnn.  The violins are lovely, and honestly his voice sounds really nice, but its just a plodding piano riff that tries to carry the song.  The whole album is like this, acoustic guitar, some piano, some synth/organ, and some strings.  Which would probably have a different effect on me if I'd never heard of SP before, but since I'm wanting a proper face melt, this seems disappointing.