WHAT IS A LEGACY ACT? Music Reviews, April 2022

The term "Legacy Act" gets bandied about pretty frequently, and in the streaming era where 40 year old albums are directly competing for market share with brand new ones, it's harder to pin down.  For my money, the big thing is people just aren't checking for their new albums.  This could be for any number of reasons: Whether they have a reputation for making the same album over and over, aren't as good as they used to be, changed their style or lineup somewhere along the way, "sold out", became more of a nostalgia-fueled business venture than a band, or just kinda got lost in the shuffle.  (Then there's the ones that are still popular enough to have their albums be an event in spite of falling into one or all of these categories).

In this review, we have examples of all of the above, so strap in!  We're gonna go hunting for some sacred cows.

Jethro Tull "The Zealot Gene" (formed in 1967)

We're going in order of when the "Legacy" started, so HOOOO 55 years is the winner by a landslide, folks.

This album was Competent with a capital "C", but I didn't quite connect with it.  It's no frills songwriting, musicianship and production to a fault.  It's a band recorded well...and that's it.  The Zealot Gene feels like it needs a little extra something to take it to the next level and be really good.  What we're left with is fine.  It's good to see Ian Anderson still doing this at 80 and doing it well.  If these songs came up on random, I probably wouldn't skip them.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters "The Boy Named If" (solo debut: 1977)

Sounds like the album he should've made in 2003.  Couple of songs that scream "This is an Elvis Costello song!", couple of songs with acoustic guitars, a slightly rougher, darker edge to the whole thing but with more modern production...y'know, the "return to form" album.  I think it's no less impressive for coming out now, but it feels like something that would've been a much higher water mark 20 years ago.  Better late than never, eh?

Tears For Fears "The Tipping Point" (formed in 1981)

Maaan there's nothing to say about this one.  The title track's okay, but I remember nothing between listening and writing.  It's pretty soft edged overall and again, I could see this coming out post-9/11, pre Usher's "Yeah".  The sargasso of pop music.  But it's here now and...yeah, it's interesting that Tears For Fears still exists, but the album is a whisper largely unheard.

Bastardane "Is This Rage?" (debuted....at the end of March?!?!?  Hold the fuck on...)

So this turned out to be an awkward one to write about.  I picked it because there's a legacy on display here, but not in the ways the other bands I talk about in this piece have.  The drummer of this band is Castor Hetfield.  (Yes, that Hetfield.)  Last seen in the public eye as a pre-schooler in the movie Some Kind Of Monster.

The reason this gets awkward is this is everyone's first metal band when they're starting out, and weirdly enough, it reminds me of local bands from specifically 2003.  That is a bizarre, unintentional through-line for this blog, but yeah, spoiler alert, almost every song in this blog could have come out that year.  This was fun to listen to in the respect that I haven't heard a demo like this in a long time, but there's a reason I haven't heard it in awhile.  I think if they keep at it, the next one could be alright.

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Unlimited Love"  (formed in 1983)

I've always been a casual Peppers fan.  My most listened to release from them is What Hits?.  I didn't even listen to Californication until the mid 2010's.  I've been slowly (ever so slowly) getting into them over the last few years, so I figured I'd give this one a shot.  It's definitely in the laid back RHCP style, no real barn burners like "Suck My Kiss", "Warped" or "Johnny Kick A Hole In The Sky", but they do make up for it with harmony.  The album is too long, like all of their albums, but if this music is your bag it won't feel like a slog, even at 17 songs and 73 minutes.

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators "4" (first solo album 1995; legacy from Guns 'N' Roses, 1985)

Slash is a unique one for this review, because we're talking about A) the solo career of a foundational member of one of the biggest bands of all time, and B) a solo career that's more than 25 years in the running.  Yeah, everybody shows up, but like almost every album on here, there's not much to write home about.  "It's fine for what it is," you could put on almost all of these.  Listen to the opening track and if you like that, keep going; you'll have a fine time.

Meshuggah "Immutable" (formed in 1987)

Yes, I'm calling Meshuggah a legacy act.  This album in particular is proof: taking what's already worked and polishing it, refining it, honing it to the sharpest point possible.  Seeing exactly how far you can take that process of formulation.  But in polishing, Meshuggah have filed off their edges.  I guess the one last left turn in any great band full of surprises is to not surprise you, so here we are.  (They already tried the other last left turn that kind of band has with The Violent Sleep Of Reason, which is to kind of suck).

I didn't like the singles (especially "The Abysmal Eye"), but when I first heard the album, I was shocked to hear that they were better in context.  There's even a moment that couldn't happen in 2003 on here: I think there's a track with a detuned 9-string guitar on it; the bends are from preposterously low up to your standard "Devil's Asshole" sort of low normally trucked with by bands of this type.

I like Immutable...I think?  My first impression was I liked the album, thought it was probably the best I'd heard all year but felt absolutely nothing afterward.  On second listen, I found myself losing patience with a few songs and confirming that "I Am That Thirst" is my least favorite song on here, followed closely by "The Abysmal Eye".  ("Black Cathedral" is not a song; it is two minutes of wasted time and wank.)

On the one hand, it's cool we can hear Thordendaal in the mix again (he was slowly being mixed quieter since 2005), on the other hand this album would have been much better if they'd let him write a song or two (he has zero writing credits).  With the exception of "Black Cathedral", nothing here is outright bad, but it's definitely not as good as the Meshuggah Reddit thinks it is (they are going nuts over this one).  It's worth hearing once.  After that?  Up to you.

Cypress Hill "Back In Black" (formed: 1988)

Cypress Hill makes a quick, punchy set that doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it does what they do as well as they've done it since the Clinton administration.  

Moment that couldn't have been in 2003: Talking about the dichotomy of States legalizing weed, but the Feds still trying to bust you.

Arrested Development "For The FKN Love" (formed in 1988)

Arrested Development (despite being usurped by the TV show in Google searches) has been fighting it out in some form or another since their supposed demise in 1994.  Their albums are usually decent, and what we have here might be their best since their debut.  That owes a heavy debt to the beat selection, largely handled by Configa.

Which you can't forget, even if you wanted to.  There's a shit ton of producer tags all over this.  It's not necessary.  We get it.

Anyway, what do we have on this album?  Yes, you have the conscious hip hop you were expecting, but with dashes of...gunplay, weed and fighting?  (But they still censored "shit" on a song despite the title of the album having "Fkn" in it...)  You have talk of insecurity and mental health struggles (quite noticeable at the halfway point).  You have talk about haters, hairlines, and a defensiveness about the success of 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of... and the commercial cataclysm that followed.  On one hand, this was 30 years ago, get over it, but on the other hand people still bring it up as the only thing they know about AD, so how can they get over it?  At least it's honest.  (There's also a Sugarhill Gang feature but no Sugarhill rapping?  Why tho?)

I groaned a few times, but didn't have a huge problem with the album.  If you're still willingly listening to Arrested Development in 2022, you'll be into this (and I was).

Avril Lavine "Love Sux" (debuted in 2002)

So I've never listened to an Avril Lavigne album before.  And now, having heard this (and the discourse surrounding it), all I've gotta say is:

What were you expecting?

Avril Lavigne has never technically been a rock artist before; she's always been a pop artist with rock trappings, a la Ashlee Simpson, the first few Hannah Montana albums, etc.  And that's not an insult; that was the only way into the mainstream for a woman when ClearChannel had an iron grip on the airwaves.  (For real, all the women disappeared from rock radio in '97 and only a handful aping the thunderchud numetal formula were able to break through in the decades since.)

This is a pop album with a rock framework.  Subtle difference from pop rock, splitting hairs really, and I'm not even solid on the definitions, but this is what you were going to get.  So anybody talking about how they're shocked by the album or "this is the worst thing they've ever heard" or whatever need to chill the fuck out.

I mean, it's not good, but y'know.

The lyrics are infantile, the pop punk is overpolished (but that's par for the course for most of the genre so 'eh), Blackbear and Machine Gun Kelly are here, the songs get repetitive despite changing sonic pallets several times (sometimes per song (see "Deja Vu")) (wow we really are flashing back; it's been ages since I used nested parentheses; used to use those all the time).  This album is 33 minutes and by track 8 I was already looking at my watch.

It's not without merit though: "Cannonball" and "Avalanche" are alright.  And considering Avril was never my bag, that makes them two of her best songs?  See, improvement this far into her career!  Let's celebrate! 

This could have been a LOT worse.  "Hello Kitty" was eight fucking years ago, and that was a WAY more horrendous display of an "Old" trying to be hip.  (Look at me trying to use the word "hip" like anyone uses that anymore.)  Avril Lavigne is three years and one day younger than me.  Who am I to judge?  If you wanna jam to some boilerplate pop punk with electronic diversions that don't blend well, this is your huckleberry.  Don't let anyone stop you.

And, unlike most of the other albums in this blog, IT GAVE ME SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT.

So I'm not sure we solved anything today, but we thought about it.  Making the brain do some sit-ups is not nothing.  And we got to check out some new music, even if the artists have (mostly) been around the block a few times.  Check back in this space for more musings on music and sometimes other stuff.

Love Over Fear.