In Like a Lion

(By the way, if you don't get the reference to the title, please Google it so that some of our folk-lore isn't completely lost).

I just bought a number of albums, and although most of them are relatively dated (from last year), I want to right about them anyway.

So there.

I’ll start with the most recent first, and it is also by far my favorite. Fall Out Boy’s Infinity on High is made up of incredibly catchy songs and solid “B sides” that come together to make a complete album. The single, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” is strong, solid rock with a driving beat, raucous chorus, and an anthem-like refrain at the end that makes you want to sing along. Amazingly, though, it’s not the best song on the album, but probably the fourth. Clearly this is subjective, but this is also a blog, so I believe subjectivity is going to be a pretty common theme around here. If I had to put the songs in order, I’d go with “’The Take Over, The Breaks Over’” (track 2), “I’ve Got All This Ringing in my Ears and None on my Fingers” (track 14), “Hum Hallelujah” (track 5), and then “This Ain’t a Scene.” If you’re wondering about the names of the songs being really long, just know this is a feature of Fall Out Boy (see From Under the Cork Tree for further details – and also because it’s an awesome album), and as a great enjoyer of puns, I have no objections.

One thing that might come up is that Fall Out Boy is an emo band, and not a true “rock band” (this is a link to Andy Radin’s site fourfa.com – wanted to give someone who actually made his own web-site credit). Well, first off, emo is rock, for the most part, and Fall Out Boy, while perhaps having elements of emo, is a legitimate rock band. They have a musicality in their songs that I don’t think is typical of a lot of emo (which is essentially punk + melody + nauseating heart-ache). This is not to say that I don’t like what is considered emo music – there are a number of bands in that genre that I enjoy immensely, such as the All-American Rejects. Mostly I only like specific songs though, which is why Fall Out Boy has created a special album. An album must have songs, not a song, and Infinity on High provides that. It starts strong, ends incredibly well (much like their previous album), and except for one unnecessary “screamo” moment (when they scream lyrics at a larynx grating level – again, a similar moment mars From Under the Cork Tree) during an otherwise great song “The Carpel Tunnel of Love.”

If you like rock, buy this album. Actually, let me clarify that: if you like good music, buy this album. Don’t let yourself get pigeon-holed into genre – listen to it and hear for yourself. Maybe some of the other albums I’ve bought will explain where I’m coming from in this regard.

Next up is the self-titled album by Corinne Bailey Rae, who is a singer-songwriter in a kind of easy-listening, soully kind of mold. It’s hard to pin her down, and I kind of like that. One thing that is great about her is that although she’s a decent singer, she’s not a great singer. What this does is charge her music with a sense of actual emotion. She has a sort of husky voice, and it gives depth to what she’s singing about. Perhaps unfortunately, the songs that are clearly the best on the album are the ones that are or will be the singles: the beautiful “Like a Star,” the slightly poppy “Put Your Records On,” and a sort of in-between, jazzier number, “Trouble Sleeping.” The rest of the album is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just not memorable. This is the kind of album you can put on in the background and not have people go: “Oh, I love this song!” but also not go “What the hell are we listening to?” It’s like elevator music, but with talent behind it.

If you want to get a good idea of what I’m talking about (and hear a great medley of three of today’s better songwriters), watch this:



She’s pretty hot, too (sorry, had to get my “guy-ness” into this somewhere).

(Also, John Mayer has one fantastic guitar-solo, which today is no small feat, considering the guitar solo is all but dead in contemporary rock music.)

The next album came out last year, by the group The Rapture, and is called Pieces of the People We Love. The band is pretty quirky, to say the least, and seems like a combination of disco, dance, and rock that comes together quite nicely on a number of songs. The album in general is not incredibly complete, with some songs (“First Gear” leaps to mind) just wasted space. But when they’re going good, it can be dangerous to be driving, because you will (read: I do) want to shake and boogey. The very first song, “Don Gon Do It,” sets the stage nicely (which is usually the sign of a good album – if that first song sucks, then why even listen to the rest?). The title song isn’t bad, but it’s the two singles that are of the best (which isn’t always the case – how many times have you wondered why a song got chosen to be a single instead of all the other great songs on an album? I know that it bothers me all the time). The ridiculously titled “Whoo! Alright – Yeah. . .Uh Huh (W.A.Y.U.H.)” is a more rock-inspired dance tune (which ironically criticizes people at dance clubs). But the gem is the uber-catchy “Get Myself Into It,” a song that seems designed to get bad-dancers out onto the floor. If you don’t buy the album, at least download this song – it’s that good.

After that we go My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade. It needs to be noted that this is a concept album, and as such, is very complete. It has a flow to it that almost calls for a full listening from beginning to end. It’s weird, because My Chemical Romance is a kind of genre-defying band. This is a good thing, I believe, because it means just focusing on the music as opposed to the supposed audience. What I can say is that if this is where rock has taken us, then rock is not dead. It’s hard enough to appease people who thought Metallica was doing something worth-while (I’m sorry, but I will always hate those guys because they shut down Napster, despite their musical contributions), while listenable enough to appeal to the younger generation that might be into, say, emo (see above). Still, because it is a concept album, the idea of a single is not really as tangible as on the other albums I’ve mentioned. Yes, there have been two already, “Welcome to the Black Parade,” and “Famous Last Words,” but I think they actually work better as part of the album then on their own. On the flip-side, they stand up pretty well on their own, so take what you will from that. This is where “hard” rock is today, and I’m not complaining.

The last album might seem out of left-field, and in a way it is, and in a way it’s not (don’t you just love dichotomies? They make having arguments almost arbitrary – a little bit reactionary, I’m sure, but you try reading literary theory for months and then figure out if anyone ever comes to a singular conclusion). That’s because it’s Stand Still, Look Pretty, by The Wreckers, a pseudo-country group consisting of Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp. Now, I bought this album because, to be honest, I loved Branch’s previous albums, and I have a ridiculous crush on her. I don’t know why, but I do. That’s also besides the point. What matters is that she writes and performs great music (at least I think so), and that I expected the same on The Wreckers’ album.

I was not disappointed. It might be important to note that I am not a country music fan. If you go to pretty much any MySpace profile, under music you will probably read something like: “I like everything. . .except for country!”. Well, I actually do like pretty much everything, including some country. But for me it’s on a very individual basis. If you want to classify The Wreckers as country, then yeah, I like country. Sure, there are definite influences in some of their songs – a fiddle here, such as in the great song “Leave the Pieces”; some twangy guitar in the very country “My, Oh My” – but it mostly sounds like something Branch would have written anyway. I don’t know if that means that Branch has always been “a little bit country,” or that Harp is adding only more traditional elements to the album, but it ends up simply creating a very listenable, oftentimes catchy album. I think my favorite song is “Tennessee,” but I also really like “Way Back Home.” I believe there are enough good songs on this album to warrant purchase, but I will put the caveat out there that it is not a pop-rock album. If you’re expecting The Spirit Room or Hotel Paper, you are going to be disappointed, and not because the music is bad, but because the music is not completely the same.

Okay, I’ve rambled way too long. Overall, I’m completely happy buying these albums. I just want to point out that I do not buy albums based on one song – I need to have recommendations, I need to believe that there is actually an album worth buying. That’s why I generally don’t by hip-hop or pop albums anymore: I’d rather just download the singles I like, and not have to slough through the morass. These five albums are good enough be physical objects in my house. These artists created something that doesn’t bother me for spending way too much money on.

These albums are what it means to be commercial musicians.