GRAB BAG REVIEWS VOL. 2

 

Hello and welcome to the first NutterBlog of 2023.  I've been meaning to bring back Grab Bag reviews for awhile now, so I sent the call out on social media and back came some requests!  Here are my thoughts on:

Julianna Joy & Ariza "Orange" (2020)

[Requested by @Make7upyours6]

Starts with some nice dark arpeggios.  Then in come modern pop vocals, okay, good genre blend.  Nice chord change in the bridge; the slide up really gets a messy, ambivalent emotion across.  But the thing is, I don't get the lyrics.  "You've always felt so Orange" doesn't mean anything to me, even in context.  Even after reading the Genius annotations and finding out this was written after getting blazed and watching Midsommar.  Like...I like the song, it's a very vibey, nocturnal track, but the lyrics just went completely over my head.  (Then again, that didn't stop us from liking music in the mid 90s, where bands would sing comPLETE nonsense and we still ate it up because the songs were still jams, so maybe I'm overthinking it.)

Lee Fields "Sentimental Fool" (2022)

[Requested by @adamtebrugge]

Whoever produced this definitely did their damndest to make this sound like it was an authentic soul song from the 60s.  It's got an interesting relationship between major and minor keys, weaving in and out of nostalgia and melancholy, much like the topic: infatuation.  One-sided affection winds up being no fun in the end but at the beginning there's a few warm fuzzies to be had.  As long as you keep them to yourself and get over them, I guess.

AJR "The DJ Is Crying For Help" (2022)

[Requested By Dave B.]

I'm a music critic so it's no duh I don't like AJR.  They've been skewered and lambasted from here to kingdom come, and their rep may be deserved, but I have to come in with open ears and review the song before me.  So let's click play and see what we've got:

Musically, it's less heinous than their prior output.  Their trajectory almost points to them making a good song by 2031.  (I know!  I was surprised too!)  People like to bag on their lyrics for being juvenile, and yeah there's a point to that, but if I'm to be charitable, arrested development is rampant through the millennial generation (*meekly raises hand*) due largely to financial constraint setting us back from reaching certain benchmarks for "being an adult", but these guys usually take it way too far.  On this song they only take it about one step too far, so like I said, improvement!

The music does have some kind of attempt at emotional weight, but it feels a little manipulative in context, like some kind of Hallmark equivalent of "real" drama, but if that's what they were shooting for in the first place, should we not grade on a curve?  Then again, they always seem sincere-ish, which is one of the reasons they wind up so cringe.  (Which in turn makes reviews of their work skewed because they often play up the hatred rather than analyze the work on its own terms.  Though those terms seem kinda puerile so whatayagonnado?)

All I know is the title "The DJ Is Crying For Help" feels completely disconnected from the subject matter except for the forced metaphor in the bridge of "waiting for the beat to drop" being about waiting for your life to begin.  (You don't wait, you have to make it, dude.  I can relate because I fucked that up too, but you've gotta be the one to hit start and you're the only one who can be Player One.  (Ugh, why did Ernest Cline have to ruin that phrase and why does it fit so well when talking about AJR?))

Overall, this didn't suck.  I wouldn't say it was good, but I would put it a cut above "Meh".  (Might have to revise that estimate down to 2027...)

Pink Floyd "On The Turning Away" (1987)

[Requested By Matt S.]

I've always felt like this is a song for a chorus.  Not just a church hymn (though that as well), but a song for an entire crowd to sing.  Like an entire town, hearing this over the radio at the same time and everyone in their houses, in the pubs, in the streets, just singing it all at once, something to unite everyone for six minutes in one purpose.  A folk song in the truest sense of the word.  It is about acknowledging one another, our existences, our struggles, our innermost, and being brave enough not to turn away from those uncomfortable corners, so why not?

I have no idea why the hell this isn't the opener on A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.  Even if it's not about the split from Roger Waters, this is the perfect line of demarcation for the band.  Oh well.  I guess when they were making the track order, they had a...well, you know.

Subway To Sally "Lenien Los" (2023)

[Requested By Tim M.]

This is a German folk metal act. so let me translate: The band name is written as Svbway To Sally on the cover, but is listed as Subway To Sally on streaming, and the song title translates to "Cast Off".  The song is 90% literal, 10% metaphor about setting sail for the open seas.  Lots of "setting sail", "raising anchor", and most importantly "Casting Off the lines".  Because there are also lines about regaining desire, about sloughing off our sluggishness and sailing on from our lethargy.  And musically, it's a well-produced stomping metal track with bright fiddle, a four-on-the-floor beat and crack-your-ribs hard rock chords, so it'll do a lot to keep you bobbing your head and pushing along, if not outright pumping your fist.

Badfinger "Day After Day" (1971)

[Requested by Jony H.]

Badfinger's not a band I've ever thought about much, nor have I heard much of their catalogue (just three or four songs on rock radio), but this was easily the standout of that bunch.  I've always liked a lyrical guitar lead, one that kind of sings along with the song but isn't the solo, so good start.  (The most prominent example I can think of is an instrumental: "Jessica" by The Allmann Brothers Band.)  Lyrics are a pretty simple meditation on yearning; they fit the vibe well.  Vocal harmonies are just rough around the edges enough to be accepted as rock of the time, but clear enough to last through the ages as they have.  It does a lot with a little; basic yet timeless, simplistic but with enough deft touches to be unmistakable for anything else.

(Also holy shit that can NOT be that guy's real hair on the cover there.  What the fuck?  Not even in a bad way, it just doesn't look like that combo of head and hair is....possible?)

And because I had these lying around on my hard drive for a year, I figured I'd throw in these bonuses from my own collection:

Clutch "Abraham Lincoln" (2009)

I mean, they did a song called "I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth" back in '95, they might as well complete the set, right?  "Abraham Lincoln" is the centerpiece of the band's album Strange Cousins From The West and is my favorite song from it.  It's got a very slow, measured pace, like a funeral procession, but it also fits the machinations and plotting of the assassins that did the deed.  It has no kind words for them, no glory for the snakes, not even a grave.  It's hard to pull off a song just shy of six minutes that never speeds up and keeps the same slow waltz tempo, but Clutch does it here with aplomb.

Atomic Rooster "Do You Know Who's Looking For You" (1980)

This is apparently a reformed, newer lineup after a breakup in the later-70's.  The Wikipedia note on YouTube music says something about them trying a more "raw" sound, more conducive to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal happening around that time.  It's like a band that started as an Alice Cooper knock-off trying to update their sound at the start of a new decade.  They sort of get there; the singer's not great but he gets the job done.  The organs sound out of place, but that's more of a mixing thing.  It's a pulsing rock song with plenty of grit, but it's not quite top tier.

Eric Burdon & War "Sun / Moon" (1970)

OOF the album title The Black Man's Burdon was NOT a good idea.  I actually haven't listened to much of War's output prior to 1971's All Day Music (which was a staple of the Nutter family household growing up, let me tell you), so starting with a song from side C of a double album is probably not a great jumping on point.  Especially because this is a ten minute slooooow, quiet blues tune.  After the three and a half minute mark you can tell it's War backing him up, at least.  This song isn't doing it for me.  There's just too much empty space, it goes on waay too long and Eric Burdon is a lesser singer than any member of War.  

And that'll do it!  First blog of 2023, up and down!  Next up in two weeks is the Spring 2023 Hit Mix.  Already have like 25 songs for that, so get ready.  Until then, keep your hearts full of light and music.

Onward and Upward!