I'm not sure why Juliette and the Licks' label thought it would be a good idea to release an EP early in the year (…Like a Bolt of Lightening) when the full-length album was expected to be released just a few months later (You're Speaking My Language). In any case, I had the luck of hearing them both for the first time at the same time. The EP is short, by its very nature, and it's probably a good thing. Juliette Lewis' lyrics and delivery exudes an aggressive sexuality that would be described as cock rock if she was a man. There is so much frenetic energy coming out of the speakers that by the end I found myself sonically exhausted, but ready to go for it again, and again, and again. A few of the stand-out tracks are "Shelter Your Needs," "20 Year Old Lover," and "American Boy."
The full-length album, You're Speaking My Language, provides a bit more variety than the EP. The energy from the EP is still there, but occasionally Lewis channels it into a quiet intensity and vocals that could almost be described as pretty. The mellow track "This I Know" even sounds a bit like an Edie Brickell cover, unlike the more riot grrl style tracks on the rest of the recording (my review copy doesn't include the liner notes, so I don't know who wrote the song).
"American Boy" from the previously released EP gets a new take on You're Speaking My Language as "American Boy Vol II." The second version starts of with an open, 60's rock feel. I'm having visions of tie-dyed hippies rocking out at Woodstock, and then the chorus shifts into a more modern punk grind. The original version off of the EP has a modern punk grind the whole way through and as a result is a bit more "in your face" with the militant political wakeup call.
Article comments
1 - Jude
Just got a copy of the new album (Four on the Floor), exciting stuff! I've put a review on myspace.com/thejude.
Can't stop listening to it!