SOUNDTRACK : BLACK MOUNTAIN-Wilderness Heart (2010).
As the Tea Party showed, it’s never too late to pay tribute to Led Zeppelin. Of course in 2010, it seems really uncool. So, why not go whole hog? The opener, “The Hair Song” sounds uncannily like Led Zeppelin, from chord structure to guitar sound. And then just wait until after a verse or two and you get the guitar solo which comes straight from a Led Zep song. And, amusingly enough, the duet vocals of Stephen McBean and Amber Webber combine to sound an awful lot like Robert Plant.
It may not be fair to compare them to their forebears, but they seem so intent upon referencing them. “Old Fangs” sounds a ton like Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” (at least they’re fellow Canadians). But the wonderfully 70’s-style sound of the keyboards raise the track above any mere copycat.
“Radiant Hearts” is a gorgeous acoustic ballad where you can really appreciate the split vocals of McBean and Webber (and which should make you go back to the first two songs to really listen to how great they sound together. This is that rare ballad that doesn’t feel like a kind of sell out track.
“Rollercoaster” returns to the 70’s-lovin’ with a monster riff (and a solo) that Tony Iommi would be proud of. But rather than simply bludgeoning us, the riff stops in its tracks and then slowly builds itself back up. “Let Spirits Ride” moves out of the 70s and sounds a bit like a Dio riff circa 1983. But there’s some cool psychedelic vocal processing on the bridge (and a massive organ solo) to really mess with your retro time frame.
“Buried by the Blues” is followed by “The Way to Gone.” They’re both folkie songs (although “Gone” features a re harder edge). After the heaviness of the first half of the album , these tracks seem like a bit of surprise but they match the album’s retro feel very nicely. “The Space of Your Mind” reminds me in many ways of Moxy Fruvous’ “The Drinking Song” (you won’t see that reference too much to this album). Until the chorus comes in, when it turns into something else entirely.
But it’s not all mellow for the end. The title track has some heavy riffage (and great vocals by Webber–she reminds me of some of the guest vocalists on The Decemberists’ The Hazards of Love, although she really sounds like any number of great 70s rock vocalists). I love the way the track ends. The disc ends with “Sadie” another folk song (which makes the album half delicate folk tracks and half heavy rockers). It’s a fine song, but the album is kind of ballad heavy by the end, and the teasing drums and guitars just never bring forth the climax I was looking for.
Despite the obvious homages to classic rock bands, (if you can get past that, the album actually sounds fresh (or maybe preserved is a better word) and strangely original. Like the preposterous cover, the album is preposterous–over the top and crazy. Yet unlike the cover, the pieces all work together to form a compelling picture. Obviously it helps if you like classic rock, but there’s nothing wrong with good classic rock, now is there.
[READ: February 14, 2011] Literary Lapses
Despite the cover picture above, I actually downloaded this book from Google Books (and the cover of that one was boring).
So, obviously, reading the biography of Stephen Leacock made me want to read some of his humorous fiction. True, I also wanted to read Mordecai Richler, but his books are much longer and I wanted this done by the end of February!
So, according to Margaret MacMillan, it is this book, specifically the first story, “My Financial Career,” that solidified Leacock’s reputation as a humorist. And I can totally understand what she means (without having read the other books, of course). “My Financial Career” is indicative of the others stories: not laugh-out-loud funny, but clever, kind of silly and very smile-inducing. The gist is that the narrator is very nervous about going into a bank with his large amount of cash ($56!). He asks to speak to the manager who thinks he’s Very Important and then proceeds to embarrass himself further. And further. It’s quite amusing.
“A Christmas Letter” is one of my favorite in the book. It’s a very snarky look at a friend’s Christmas Party, with a great punchline. And stories like “How to Make a Million Dollars” or “How to be a Doctor” are wonderfully amusing tales in which the narrator mocks the wealthy and “professionals.”
There are 42 stories in this book, so there’s bound to be a few clunkers. Some were mildly amusing, some were mere trifles, and some are crazily out of date for a 2011 audience. This book turned 100 years old last year. (Neat). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 