Although it’s been much maligned, and pointedly ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until now, heavy metal is a remarkably resilient genre, both commercially and artistically, its appeal spanning the ages, exemplified by these two albums, made by guys in their 40s and 20s, respectively. Although headed by the increasingly visible Sully Erna, Godsmack has been virtually faceless, flying below the radar through their almost decade-long career, despite two straight #1 album chart debuts and more Rock radio hits than anyone this side of Metallica.
Their latest finds them trying to satisfy their loyal following at the same time as they attempt to tweak out the sound - the wailing harmonica on “Shine Down,” the acoustic guitar, mandolin and female vocal on “Hollow,” and the aural ambience of “One Rainy Day” are all unmistakable signs of a veteran band expressing its maturity, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And while Sully explores personal demons on songs of infidelity like the first single, “Speak,” “Livin’ in Sin” and “Temptation,” the self-proclaimed pagan isn’t afraid to express his faith in both the divine father (“Shine Down”) and mother (“Mama”).
Meanwhile, critically acclaimed Aussie power trio Wolfmother, fronted by Afro’ed vocalist/guitarist Andrew Stockdale, flex the muscles of youth, with a glorious updating of the psychedelic tradition of Zeppelin, Sabbath and Hendrix by way of Detroit grunge progenitors Grand Funk and the MC5.
You could almost imagine them performing at Bill Graham’s Fillmore back in the day. What makes the band so special is the songs, stupid, which are anything but, from the sensual “Stairway to Heaven” build of “Mind’s Eye” and the jaunty White Stripes garage-rock exuberance of “Joker & the Thief” to the Jethro Tull flute blasts of “Witchcraft” and the Zep-meets-Doors-meets-Sabs acid flashback of “White Unicorn” and its biblical hippie refrain, “And I know it’s on your mind/We’ve been drinking on the wine/That we drank from the serpent’s vine/Now we live in another time/We could live together.”
Better than neo-revivalists The Darkness and Jet because their tongues aren’t planted firmly in cheek, Wolfmother are serious but playful… which is why they’re so much fun. It almost makes me wanna trip again.
Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner
The Daily Show faux commentator’s controversial performance before Dubya and the Washington press corps gets off to a promising start, as he sarcastically skewers the Prez with the unctuousness that apparently characterizes what I have to guess is his onstage persona, since I am a devout non-fan of Jon Stewart and company’s brand of dry political satire.
The rest of the routine peters out quickly enough, leading into what is apparently an interminable filmed comic bit about a presidential press conference presided over by Colbert featuring real-life correspondent Helen Thomas. On the ABC News footage of Colbert's bit streamed on AOL here, the camera focuses entirely on Bush watching the segment, as the President’s face starts to tighten and his lips curl in an incredible display of annoyance, disgust and, then, seemingly blank incomprehension, the same look Michael Moore captured so well as George sits in front of that classroom after hearing about the World Trade Center attacks in Fahrenheit 9/11. It is at once more chilling and darkly humorous than anything in Colbert’s routine could ever be.
Article comments
1 - Mary K. Williams
Then there's the rise of bottom-up, everyone-has-an-opinion blogs like Blogcritics.org and Amazon.com, in which quantity trumps quality.
Mr. Trakin:
Not sure if you put this in just to see who noticed - well you've been noticed. Even in context of your complaint of not enough good music writing - it's not only not true, it's a bit rude.
2 - Eric Olsen
I have to disagree with this characterization of us as well.
3 - Michael J. West
I'm insulted, frankly. If that's the way you feel about the site why bother writing here yourself, Roy? If you want to attack hack music writers, there's much better targets...like Dave Eggers...
4 - Roy Trakin
Didn't mean to offend anyone on this here site. I am happy to be a part of it, thanks to my good friend Eric Olsen for hooking me up. I only mean to say that the proliferation of blogs has made everyone a critic, which is all well and good, except not everybody has something to say of value. I certainly didn't mean to single out my distinguised blogcritics.org colleagues... If the shoe fits, though...
5 - zingzing
yes, he only meant to attack those that weren't looking...
6 - Michael J. West
What I fear you're missing, Roy, is that the site actively looks for writers of quality who have something to say.
7 - Mary K. Williams
If the shoe fits, though...
Oh, come on now.
OK, there is room for improvement here, same as in many other very popular media outlets. But when you are given the privilege of posting here, it's just not kosher to make those kinds of comments.
8 - Mary K. Williams
Oh, and one more thing - Amazon.com has had some very good writing on their site as well.
9 - zingzing
oh hell, leave him alone. he can say what he wants to.
10 - nugget
metal music is "resilient" in the same way horror flicks are "resilient." (if ya catch my drift)
11 - rolfwind
Stephen Colbert was funny. The last quarter of his act (the video) was mediocre, but his stand-up routine was hilarious.
12 - Peter Stoller
Dear Mr. Trakin,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful, well-written review of Peggy Lee Sings Leiber & Stoller.
If I may offer one brief correction: crediting Jed Leiber and me with "reworking" Mirrors is an overstatement of our role. Engineer Brian Blackburn and I remixed the tracks at Jed's studio. We did not impose our own ideas in a "creative" remix; we sought only to improve the sonics of the original. The choices of which additional tracks to include, and how to sequence them, were made by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. This is still very much their record...and, of course, Peggy Lee's.