Auf der Maur is the solo debut of the ex-Hole and ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist, Melissa Auf der Maur. Therfore, I am either the perfect person to review this CD or the worst possible choice, depending on your point of view...
Exhibit A: I change the radio when the Pumpkins come on.
Exhibit B: I've never really listened to Hole on purpose.
My beef with the Pumpkins was entirely with Billy Corgan's voice, which for some reason makes me irrationally violent towards my radio. Their music, on the other hand, has always been at least interesting, which is what initially got me thinking about listening to Auf der Maur.
Filled with plenty of hard-rock guitar, including a tip-of-the-cap metal "horse galloping"-type rhythm guitar riff in "Skin receiver" ("Keep yourself alive" by Queen comes to mind, although I know it's not the best example), but also with lots of music-geek-worthy melodic touches AND the occasional "what the hell was that?" atonal weirdness, this album comes close to being all things for all people (well, all rock people at least). And yet it somehow hangs together and sounds like a single band, likely a testament to the--I'm gonna hate myself for using this word--"vision" of Auf der Maur's frontwoman.
The lyrics are possibly the only obvious shortfall of this otherwise very good CD. They are mostly unobtrusive, but there are several spots where the need to pick a rhyming word is rather obvious. "Beast of honor" is one such song, which is a shame because it is otherwise an excellent song (good riff, interesting vocals on the chorus, and an excellent ending). It's entirely possible that this song was purposely cheesed up (one can only hope, with lines like "I’m on a hook, I'm on a hook. Smell that cook."), in which case I need to re-tune my irony detector.
Article comments
1 - particleman
interesting. thanks for the review. i always liked Melissa more than Courtney. Did you catch the Hole Unplugged show back in the 90's? It's actually not bad, and Melissa looks pretty hot...
2 - Steve Gigl
And thanks for reading it! For some reason Hole never really interested me
musically, but I can understand what you mean about acoustic sets: I'm not
sure if it evens up the rough edges or what, but it seems like a lot of bands sound better than usual when they do acoustic sets (some sound worse, though).
3 - Jim Carruthers
I haven't heard the record yet, but Melissa was interviewed last week on the CBC radio on "This Morning". Her father, Nick, was a Montreal city councillor and journalist, and anchor point at several Crescent Street bars (there's a great Aislin cartoon about Nick asking a tween Melissa for political advice at a bar).
4 - mike
i love melissa. she's very naughty.
5 - Lono
I am interested in listening. I have seen her perform (with the Pumpkins) and she was a million times better bassist than Darcy. She is also really really hot. I wish it wasn't so juvenile and base... but those are my real motives.