Long Live the King
A few posts back I mentioned the new CD by the Flamin' Oh's, Long Live the King. I was first introduced to the Flamin' Oh's by my then-girlfriend, now-ex-wife Martha back around 1980. Martha's first cousin Joe was the band's keyboardist. I took to the Oh's pretty quickly and became a huge fan in short order. I own all of their released albums, in one form or another (and in some cases, more than one), and have a bunch of stuff on tape that I listen to in the car a lot. I have seen them perform live more often than any other musical group, probably 25 times or so, and often dragged unsuspecting friends along with me. Martha and I split up, sometime later Joe was tragically murdered (no connection between those two events), and the band went through some personnel changes, broke up, and reunited.
A couple of months ago, they put out their first recording of new material in about two decades. Lead singer and guitarist Robert Wilkinson -- who was always my favorite part of the Oh's -- wrote all the songs on the new album. (Joe and some of the others wrote some songs in their earlier days.) Robert here has reunited with original bass player Jody Ray (who I got to know a little when I lived in the Cities after he had left the band). Long time drummer Bob Meide is still a part of the band, and the keyboards are handled by Bob Burns, who replaced Joe when he left the band (shortly before his death).
Long Live the King is a true return to form for the Oh's. The original '80s version of the Oh's were part of the whole punk/new wave scene, although they were always more new wave than punk. (One of my favorite descriptions of the Oh's, though I don't remember who said it, was that they sounded like the Cars fronted by Bruce Springsteen.) The new CD captures the old sound of the Oh's, cleaned up a lot and modernized somewhat for the '00s (whatever they're called). If I have one complaint about the new CD, it's that the keyboards sound a little too cheesy '80s with lots of synth (though that was their sound back then), although thankfully they're mixed low in the sound. There are guitar rifts that sound just like the old days, but the songs show a great deal of maturity in the songwriting. Robert's always had a very interesting vocal style that I can only describe as him carefully articulating every word that he sings. (No question about the lyrics here, folks.) This can be a detriment with lines like "I'm just a thief who wants to steal your heart," but there's not a lot of that sort of drivel here. Many of the sounds are out-and-out rockers like the title song, and there are a few ballads; I think my favorite track is "The Hardest Thing," which is a heartfelt rememberance of Joe.
All right, let's see if I get 10 comments on this.
A couple of months ago, they put out their first recording of new material in about two decades. Lead singer and guitarist Robert Wilkinson -- who was always my favorite part of the Oh's -- wrote all the songs on the new album. (Joe and some of the others wrote some songs in their earlier days.) Robert here has reunited with original bass player Jody Ray (who I got to know a little when I lived in the Cities after he had left the band). Long time drummer Bob Meide is still a part of the band, and the keyboards are handled by Bob Burns, who replaced Joe when he left the band (shortly before his death).
Long Live the King is a true return to form for the Oh's. The original '80s version of the Oh's were part of the whole punk/new wave scene, although they were always more new wave than punk. (One of my favorite descriptions of the Oh's, though I don't remember who said it, was that they sounded like the Cars fronted by Bruce Springsteen.) The new CD captures the old sound of the Oh's, cleaned up a lot and modernized somewhat for the '00s (whatever they're called). If I have one complaint about the new CD, it's that the keyboards sound a little too cheesy '80s with lots of synth (though that was their sound back then), although thankfully they're mixed low in the sound. There are guitar rifts that sound just like the old days, but the songs show a great deal of maturity in the songwriting. Robert's always had a very interesting vocal style that I can only describe as him carefully articulating every word that he sings. (No question about the lyrics here, folks.) This can be a detriment with lines like "I'm just a thief who wants to steal your heart," but there's not a lot of that sort of drivel here. Many of the sounds are out-and-out rockers like the title song, and there are a few ballads; I think my favorite track is "The Hardest Thing," which is a heartfelt rememberance of Joe.
All right, let's see if I get 10 comments on this.
posted by Kootch | 5:13 PM
1 Comments:
A well-written review, Kootch. I really think you ought to send some of your reviews music and film) to some papers and try to live up to your "dream job" (you said that to Bro a few posts back. They aren't going to hire you if you don't apply. And what the heck...maybe they won't pay well, but maybe you could see some free movies and get free CDs?
(And if you want ten comments, you need to say something controversial.)
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