Awesome doo-wop, garage, and psychedelic stuff from way back! Still, I don’t quite get the comparison of the Black Lips, King Khan and BBQ to these bands. I can hear influence, but I would never go as far as to say modern bands are “ripping off” these tunes…except for the Black Lips (in one instance) since they covered “You Must Be A Witch.”
1. The Choir – “It’s Cold Outside” – Sundazed Records
2. The Rare Breed – “Beg, Borrow, and Steal” – ????
3. Sir Douglas Quintet – “She’s About a Mover” – Smash Records
4. The Music Explosion – “Little Bit O’ Soul” – Sundazed Records
5. The Gestures – “Run Run Run” – ????
6. The Lollipop Shoppe – “You Must Be A Witch” – Music Maniac
Band: The Flaming Lips Label: Warner Brothers Release: October 13, 2009
1. “Convinced of the Hex” – 8.8 2. “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine” – 8.4 3. “Evil” – 8.5 4. “Aquarius Sabotage” – 7.7 5. “See The Leaves” – 8.0 6. “If” – 8.5 7. “Gemini Syringes” – 7.3 8. “Your Bats” – 7.5 9. “Powerless” – 7.5 10. “The Ego’s Last Stand” – 7.2 11. “I Can Be A Frog” – 7.4 12. “Sagittarius Silver Announcement” – 8.3 13. “Worm Mountain” – 8.6 14. “Scorpio Sword” – 7.4 15. “The Impulse” – 7.9 16. “Silver Trembling Hands” – 8.4 17. “Virgo Self-Esteem Broadcast” – 6.3 18. “Watching The Planets” – 8.8
Comments: I can reason why this album is getting great reviews. The Flaming Lips have been around since 1983. They’ve been making pretty good music over the years. Initially it sounds sort of boring…at least in contrast to what it’s hyped up to be. Yay, space rock. It’s not exactly a surprise to me that Flaming Lips are covering Dark Side of the Moon. “Evil” sounds like a leftover track from that classic. I don’t know maybe this album is too far out for me, but I don’t see a lot of replay-ability in any of these songs. Somebody answer me this: is there anything on here as awesome as “The W.A.N.D” or “Do You Realize?” Please inform me if there is because I might have missed something.
Grade: 7.9
==Track listing==
<!– THESE TIMINGS ARE BASED UPON THE ORIGINAL VINYL RELEASE – DO NOT CHANGE OR YOUR EDITS WILL BE REVERTED –>
{{tracklist
| headline = Side one
| all_lyrics = Roger Waters
| music_credits = yes
| extra_column = Lead vocals
| title1 = [[Speak to Me]]
| music1 = Mason
| extra1 = [[Instrumental]]
| length1 = 1:30
| title2 = [[Breathe (Pink Floyd song)|Breathe]]
| music2 = Waters, Gilmour, Wright
| extra2 = Gilmour
| length2 = 2:43
| title3 = [[On the Run (Pink Floyd song)|On the Run]]
| music3 = Gilmour, Waters
| extra3 = Instrumental
| length3 = 3:30
| title4 = [[Time (Pink Floyd song)|Time]]
| note4 = containing “[[Breathe (Reprise)]]”
| music4 = Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour
| extra4 = Gilmour and Wright
| length4 = 6:53
| title5 = [[The Great Gig in the Sky]]
| music5 = Wright, Clare Torry{{#tag:ref|All post-2005 pressings including “The Great Gig in the Sky” credit both Wright and Torry for the song, as per her successful court challenge.<ref>{{Harvnb|Povey|2007|p=161.}}</ref>|group=”nb”}}
| extra5 = Clare Torry
| length5 = 4:15
}}
<!– THESE TIMINGS ARE BASED UPON THE ORIGINAL VINYL RELEASE – DO NOT CHANGE OR YOUR EDITS WILL BE REVERTED –>
{{tracklist
| headline = Side two
| music_credits = yes
| extra_column = Lead vocals
| title1 = [[Money (Pink Floyd song)|Money]]
| music1 = Waters
| extra1 = Gilmour
| length1 = 6:30
| title2 = [[Us and Them (song)|Us and Them]]
| music2 = Waters, Wright
| extra2 = Gilmour and Wright
| length2 = 7:34
| title3 = [[Any Colour You Like]]
| music3 = Gilmour, Mason, Wright
| extra3 = Instrumental
| length3 = 3:24
| title4 = [[Brain Damage (song)|Brain Damage]]
| music4 = Waters
| extra4 = Waters
| length4 = 3:50
| title5 = [[Eclipse (song)|Eclipse]]
| music5 = Waters
| extra5 = Waters
| length5 = 1:45
}}
Artists: King Khan & BBQ Show, Dum Dum Girls, Downbeat 5 Location: Middle East Downstairs, Cambrdige Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009 Rating: A +
Downbeat 5 –
Glen: I don’t really know how to describe them. For starters, I was standing right in front of the lead guitarist and he really knew what he was doing. He had some great solos. Definitely, they mixed some components of “southern” rock, country-rock, and garage. The lead singer and rhythm guitarist, she reminded me of Debbie Harry. During their set all I could think of was the song “One Way or Another.” So yeah, just listen to that and you’ll get a pretty good idea.
Chris: Country rockers, I suppose. The lead singer/guitarist was really sexy blonde and rocked out! One of the best guitar strummers I’ve ever seen! It doesn’t seem like I’ll hear them again, but I enjoyed their energetic performance.
Dum Dum Girls –
Glen: Hey guess what! The Dum Dum Girls (which I found out is only the front-woman Dee Dee) played the same lo-fi set as they did the night before in Northampton. So I’m going to say the same thing: They are smarter than they look! Okay, I stole that one from King. They really rocked out with their psychedelic Jefferson Airplane-esque sound. They built their vocal repertoire off of this old sound and it flat out works. My favorite part of their set was when they jammed the chords of “Don’t Talk To Me.” “Just button your lips…DON’T TALK TO ME.” The utterly amazing girly harmonies make me love their version better than G.G’s or No Age’s or whoever’s. Edit: I still like the bass player, but she is sort of motionless. Haha.
Chris: The sexiness continues! Very sexy in their all black wardrobes. Musically, however, for some reason, they didn’t connect with me. Perhaps because I was anticipating one of my favorite bands hitting the stage next. But, like Glen, I dug their cover of GG’s “Don’t Talk to Me,” (which seems to be a popular cover these days) and I liked the new feminine light they brought to the tune, though I prefer the original.
King Khan & BBQ Show:
Glen: Yeah! They came out and like the night before did a little warm-up (as you can see in the video below) before diving right into “Fish Fight.” Then “Hold Me Tight.” But hold on…the crowd was actually freaking out. Moshing, dancing, and screaming abound, the atmosphere was altogether different from what I experienced at the Iron Horse. This was some serious concert. People knew that greatness was on the stage. Then what? No technical difficulties! Hell no. None of that shit. Mark and King practiced for twenty minutes earlier that evening (even though the tour manager said “hours”…I’ll take BBQ’s word for it) to make sure shit wouldn’t happen. So yeah. “Invisible Girl,” “Tastebuds,” and “I’ll Be Loving You” off of Invisible Girl. “Treat Me Like A Dog,” “I’ll Never Belong,” “Zombies,” “Dock It #8,” “Too Much In Love,” “Into The Snow,” and the encore “Why Don’t You Lie” off of What’s For Dinner? “Waddlin’ Around,” “Love You So,” “Pig Pig,” “Mind Body and Soul,” “Shake Real Low,” as well as the previous two mentioned at the beginning were the tunes played off of their LP.
Chris: Fuck yeah! As seen below, they opened with a long, but worthwhile instrumental, while King did the duck walk a la rock and roller Chuck Berry. Following the instrumental, they blasted into two fiery rockers with “Fish Fight” and “Zombies” (not HMT lol). Then they slid into the soft, sensual “Into the Snow,” this was somewhat awkward considering the fast paced first two numbers and then this sensitive, love song. Glen already listed off the other classics they amazignly performed for the remainder of the evening. I was highly pleased that they played my favorite, “Too Much in Love.” “Shake Real Low” was a wise closer and everyone abided by the title, espeically some real fine hunnies on stage! Overall, a good mix up of soulful, doo woppy ballads, fast, moshing, punk rockers, and in between. So, this enters the echelon of amazing concerts, ranking number four in my all time favorites. Though, I will note, I prefer KKBS over Jay Reatard, who headlined my third favorite show, but that concert was better overall. In other words, KKBS is my third favorite live band, after the Black Lips and King’s other band, the Shrines. I mean, you know if you see a concert where an entire room of adults are screaming, “tastebuds on your cunt, so you can lick my booty from the front!” it has to be special.
LINK It’s just too bad, for every “Animal Party” or ill-fated game of “Spin the Bottle” and well-placed anatomical guffaw there’s one too many tunes that just go through the motions, and old ones at that. Still, the tunes on Invisible Girl work, because Khan and Sultan’s love of the music they’re ripping off is obvious and infectious, and because they’ve got a knack for capturing the feel of the records they’re taking cues from most throwbacks can’t quite muster. Sam the Sham would be proud; that is, if he’s cool with dick jokes.
Since when can you praise an album and then call the songs you just praised “tunes that just go through the motions?” The reviewer, Paul Thompson, is terribly confused and was forced to not give the album anything above an 8. He gave it a 7.1. Which means nothing. It’s just a number.
Comments: This band! The one with the awesome drummer who stands up. Yeah, you know! Spoken by the Chris DeCarlo machine at one point a month or so back were the following words: “[Box Elders were] probably the only opening band that I’d listen to again.” That’s some deep shit. You know why they offered CD a rare experience? Because they play quick garage-pop numbers. These songs are over before you know it. But they are (usually) awesome while they last. They are a part of the “bring-back-the-good-times” scene that includes Black Lips, King Khan, BBQ, Strange Boys, and all the fun bands of the like. It’s hard to not like Box Elders. Yeah, there isn’t much variation in their sound, but they know what is up for them. And that’s all that matters. They channel The Beach Boys, The Idle Race, and all other similar minded groups. It’s a bum that these recordings aren’t more hi-fi, but that would kind of defeat the purpose. I actually wrote a song called “Isabella,” so I got a little chuckle. I’ll hand it to these guys and scrap my version all together. Overall…this thing kicks a lot of ass. Quantity over quality. None of the songs on there suck. They are all pretty damn good. There aren’t any over-the-top best of 2009 kind of tunes. So yeah! Check this thing out.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 