Paul vs. Brendan- Tame Impala

It's time again for another track-by-track album review with my good friend Paul Snyder, a senior editor of a national magazine, Britpop and Northern Soul connoisseur and founder of the essential music blog http://transatlanticmodern.com/. A man that was more excited for the Ram reissue than any of Paul McCartney's ex-wives past or future.

Psychedelic Australian rock band Tame Impala had a huge critical hit last year with it's second album, Lonerism. I asked Paul his thoughts and he implied that he was pondering a leadership position in the Tame Impala is Overrated Backlash Brigade. Curious, I thought, because bands that sound like the Beatles (as Tame Impala does) is PRECISELY where Paul houses his wheels.

I asked Sir Paul to expand on his thoughts and the following spirited debate ensued...

Be Above It

Brendan: Right from the start, Tame Impala's lead singer Kevin Parker's (who plays everything on the album and basically IS Tame Impala like Trent Reznor IS Nine Inch Nails) intent for the album is clear. He wants you to put on your Beats by Dre headphones and really take a trip and space out with the music.

We might as well get this out of the way at the top, but after the whispering chant of "Gotta be above it" when his voice comes in with, "And you know I've gotta be above it now", if I didn't know better, I would have said that it was John Lennon sample. The dude sounds EXACTLY like John Lennon. It sounds like some John Lennon software was downloaded into Pro Tools and he just typed in new lyrics.

As an expert on the Beatles and bands that sorta- sounds like the Beatles, how does this make you feel? Especially when you throw in that Lonerism seems to be a real attempt to make Revolver for the 21st century. I say that knowing that almost no album is as good as Revolver, even Revolver isn't as good as Revolver.

And I'll throw in one more comment for you to chew on: I think that Lonerism, warts and all, is fascinating because I think that if the Beatles were starting right now and they locked themselves in a bedroom with MacBooks to make Revolver and kicked out George Martin this is probably what it would sound like (assuming they only used John's vocal tracks). Overlong, and little messy, sure.

Paul: Every time my music snob friends ask me my opinion on Tame Impala and I say, “It’s alright, I guess, but I don’t really like it,” I get this look from them like I might as well have said, “I’m having a baby. And it’s yours.” Just this sheer inability to comprehend mixed with mild, but discernible panic. I’ll admit that part of my wariness of the band has to do with this blanket “They’re awesome and there’s nothing more to debate” praise they get, but since you bring up Revolver and the issue of “overlong,” here’s the difference: Revolver has 14 songs and clocks in at about 35 minutes. Lonerism has 12 songs and clocks in at about 52 minutes. The difference is wasted space. The Beatles didn’t really waste space on Revolver (I’m prepared to defend Yellow Submarine if I have to), aside from maybe the sitar intro to “Love You To.”

Every time Kevin Parker and the guys land on some bass line or vocal melody or other such idea that absolutely enchants me (and there are plenty on Lonerism and there were on Innerspeaker), they flit away from it a minute later to continue building this abstract sonic painting. I’m more interested in songs than I am sounds.


Endors Toi

Paul: What I said before about sounds and songs. This is just sounds to me. There’s some good drumming in there, and I know there’s singing, but it might as well be in Mandarin, because everything just gets so washed under this flange effect. George Martin wouldn’t have marred a Beatles song like this. Even if he was 23 and in his parents basement with his MacBook Air. I don’t think Giles Martin would do this. However, I wouldn’t put it past Lennon to do something like this. And maybe that’s the point

Brendan: Listening to this in the car it does kind wash over you, but I think the track is greatly improved when listened to on headphones, especially simultaneously reading up on what "flanging" means. Here's the pretty interesting Wikipedia entry for readers out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanging. Interesting reference since George Martin and Lennon are credited with inventing the "flange effect" (think "Tomorrow Never Knows").

Apocalypse Dreams

Brendan: I think of the first three songs as a part of an unofficial suite, culminating in this pretty epic song that I already know drives you a little crazy and is probably ground zero in terms of running time, bloat, overproduction, and some pretty great-sounding music. The first three minutes of the song is a really cool northern soul-type song with some mild spacey effects. Great momentum and a lot of fun. I would have been happy with another few minutes of this, but the second clearly-defined half is straight Planetarium light show "rock" muzak. Ones reaction to this is probably in direct proportion to how much weed you smoked while listening and if you happen to be sitting on a beanbag chair in a college dorm room in front of a black light poster with empty boxes of Gumby's Pokey Sticks strewn about.

I'll cede the rest of my time to you to fire your big artillery on this track...

Paul: This defines everything great and awful about Tame Impala for me. The first 3 minutes are solid. There is absolutely no reason to have anything on this track beyond the 3-minute mark. Even without horns, that bassline and piano movement is enough to make it the best Northern Soul song in years, but instead of just deciding “Too much of a good thing is bad,” they do that idea one better by tacking on “…so here’s some masturbatory noodling because we like turning the little knobs on the mixing desk. A lot. So kiss our collective ass, Paul Snyder.” They can land on something genius, but they never stick to it. I don’t know if it’s an insurmountable fear of being considered too commercial or just a disinterest in simple pop hooks, but it’s just a great track wasted. Maybe there’s a single edit that cuts at 3 minutes. I could just get that and put it on the ol’ iPod.

Mind Mischief Watch the Video NSFW

Paul: This was a single right? If I listen to this song on its own, it’s tolerable. I actually like the riff, and again it’s good drumming. Although it’s more of a constant fill than a regular backbeat, and in that, it incessantly feels like it’s building to some big grand chorus. We get to the big falsetto at 2:23, but doesn’t it feel like it takes a lot longer to get there? If I listen to it in the context of the album, I’m so still pissed off by the second half of “Apocalypse Dreams” that I can’t really get into it. And again we get the big flange to wash out the last minute of the song. It kind of reminds me of how that story of the first time Robby Krieger played “Moonlight Drive” with his bottleneck slide. And Jim Morrison freaked out and goes “We have to use that on EVERY track.” Thankfully they didn’t—those kind of effects are cooler if they’re used sparingly. Sparingly, Kevin. Sparingly.

Brendan: I think at this point, Tame Impala is like, "What's up, mate. Don't you like these Harrison riffs? Our triple-tracked Liverpool vocals? Ringo drumming? Our mid 60's tape effects? This should be right up your alley? This is your alley, mate!"

You mention the drumming, and I think it's a big strength on the album since I think the incessant and dryly-recorded drums really grounds the songs and keeps them from potentially floating out there into the ether of magical psychedelic land. That said, I will give you that the "big flange wash out" is a great slam and I can't help but hear it every time I listen to the album. Well played.

Music To Walk Home By

Brendan: I think Kevin Parker's been working to get the "Tomorrow Never Knows" vibe and effect through all the tracks of the album so far, and I think this track finally gets the prog-rock Beatles mix just right.

This is a fun sunny track, and I think in general, despite all the heavy production and navel gazing, in general, the music itself is fun and sunny.

Paul: Yes, this is a sunny track and would be nice to walk home by. Would be nicer if the lyrics were a little more discernible. I’ll go with you that the drumming is a strength on this album. I like it a lot on this track too. But again, there’s no need for this track to push the 5 minutes mark. It doesn’t feature the complete change of direction that Kevin figured was appropriate for “Apocalypse Dreams,” so that’s something. At least it’s hanging on to a core groove. Nevertheless, I’d say at least the last minute here is completely superfluous. This whole album is begging for a Lonerism: The Paul Snyder Single Mixes reissue.

Why Won’t They Talk To Me?

Paul: It sounds like more 1980s than 1960s to me. But I doubt John Hughes would’ve even touched it for one of his Brat Pack movie soundtracks. Sounds just a little too self-indulgently sad. Also, basically from 1:40 on, it’s almost exclusively repeating, “Ah, why won’t they talk to me?” If it was a 2 or 3 minute song, that’s one thing, but it’s a 4:47 song! That’s 3 minutes of just repeating the same thing over and over. I got mad when I listened to this in the car. I wish I could say I screamed “BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT NOTHING INTERESTING TO SAY!” to no one as it played, but I only just thought of that. And he does have some interesting things to say. Just not on this track. This track still makes me angry.

Brendan: For an album titled Lonerism you could say that Parker repeating "Why won't they talk to me?" over and over might be a tad "on the nose", but I think it's actually the nose itself. He does sing "but I don't really care anyway" which I think is really funny in it's disingenuousness.

Good or bad, I find this song a serious earworm. At some point during the four hundred times he sings, "Why won't they talk to me?" I notice I've been singing along the whole time. I look at my watch and 16 hours have gone by. A series of lap dissolves. White clouds race across a blue sky. My pupils dilate. A flock of birds fly out of a leafless tree. I'm lying on a beach. I see an old music box. I open it. I hear, "Why won't they talk to me? Why won't they talk to me. Why won't they talk to me." I wake up. The track is finally over.

Feels Like We Only Go Backwards Watch the Video

Brendan: This is the first track I heard by Tame Impala (and I don't think I'm alone in this) but it was one of those tire screech moments where you go, "Who is that?" And you look it up online and you find out it's something called Tame Impala and you discover that all the music snobs have already hailed both of their albums and they're in the backlash phase already and you go, "Where have I been?"

I remember having a similar reaction when I heard "It's Not the End of the World?" by the Super Furry Animals. It's also a similar sort of song. Very dreamy and beautiful. While not my favorite track per se, I think this is probably the song that you'd play for someone who wanted to know what Tame Impala sounds like. Also probably the one who'd put on a mix tape.

Paul: It’s easily the standout track. It’s contained to the length of a perfect pop single, it doesn’t wander anywhere off its track in an infuriating fit of A.D.D. and the bassline is absolutely wonderful too. And yes, the Tame Impala fans are rather persnickety if you say you like this track, but I suppose I can forgive them, cos I would get the same way with people who used to say, “Oh, Oasis? Yeah I like ‘Wonderwall.’”


What caught me offguard was a couple months ago my oldest friend and I were having a conversation about this whole album, and he’s just blown away by it. Really smitten. “Kevin Parker, this production, it’s the future, no one else is doing it …” Putting aside my need to talk about pretty much every underground psychedelic single release between 1967 and 1969 and say this is basically just a 2012 update in the way the Chemical Brothers’ “Setting Sun” was a 1996 update of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” he went on to say, “Oh ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ is probably my least favorite song on the album. I’m surprised it’s your favorite.” I repeat: this dude is my oldest friend. He knows my preference for good hooks and hummable melodies. Has for many years. But thought I would prefer one of the aimless, overflanged 6-minute escapades to this. There’s nothing wrong with being conventional. You just can’t do it all the time. Just like it’s annoying to be unconventional all the time.

Keep on Lying

Paul: Oh, hooray another 6-minute odyssey and they’re courteous enough to let us join in the middle of the actual “song” part. As a result, we get about 1:46 of a song (Not a bad song-length mind, you. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs’ “Stay” doesn’t even touch 1:40 and look how we remember it), but instead of just cutting tape and having done, we get 4 more minutes of ambient cocktail party noise so we can noodle on this riff a little more. I mean a lot more. If I’m sitting on my La-Z Boy, under the influence of something and content to just let music play on underneath whatever weird game of Tetris my mind conjures up (high ... I think I'm doing it wrong), that’s fine, but if I’m putting on music to be entertained, the original recording of “Witch Doctor” is going to lap this quickly. This is just masturbatory. Least favorite on the album. And it makes me suspicious of anyone who calls Lonerism classic.

Brendan: I can't tell you how happy I am to see that it was your turn when this track came up. It's like the hanging curveball you've been waiting for all game. Everything you said is probably right. It's like Parker (and producer Dave Fridman) knew that they had their Revolver bases covered and decided to check off their Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon bonafides just to give rock critics a little something extra to help their reviews along. I believe referencing Dark Side is F6 on rock critic's keyboards.

I also want to point out (and start a false rumor) that if you sync up the third "Gotta be above it" from the first track on the album to the company logo in the opening credits of Donnie Darko, Lonersim plays as a perfect soundtrack. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself college-age millennial stoners!

Paul: To perpetuate the rumor, that’s another reason for me to hate (hate, HATE) Donnie Darko.

Elephant Watch the Video

Brendan: This is my favorite track on the album. After finally tiring of fiddling with all the software add-ons on his Pro Tools, Parker decides to put the laptop down, pick up the guitar, and rock the fuck out.

I love the fuzzy lumbering guitar, the drum rolls, the cymbal crashes. Lots of good old fashioned big dick rock star swagger. I even love the Ray Manzerek "Light My Fire"-esque (our second Doors reference in this blog) meets ? & the Mysterians keyboard interlude in the middle. Then Parker comes back strong with my favorite lyric on the album, "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac (YEAH)/'Cause he doesn't like it looking like he looks back."

This song WILL for better or worse at some point show up in car (maybe not Cadillac) or Nike or cell phone commercials (paging Vanessa Mackey) and maybe in twenty years it will take over from the White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" as the the go-to stadium rock song ("Seven Nation Army" finally taking the mantle after a long runs by Gary Glitter and Queen).

It also probably is something best left unsaid, but I will say it anyway because I know you want to hear it: "Elephant" led off my running mix this summer.

Paul: I was waiting to hear your justification for that passing mention about using this album to soundtrack your runs. I get using “Elephant,” though. It’s a good track. I don’t think it’s as melodic or thoroughly gorgeous as “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” but it’s coming from a different place, and lord knows I can appreciate a bit of big-dick rock star swagger now and again. I don’t think there’s any way for me to say that without sounding questionable. Dammit. It is a good lyric and is just as applicable for a good night out as it is for a SportsCenter “Top Plays” montage. When you can bridge those two circumstances, you’ve got it, friend. Good keyboard break in the middle, doesn’t stray off path as some of their other interludes do. Oh and look at that. 3:30! I swear to God, I have a point with this “Keep it focused and under 4 minutes” mantra I keep hammering home here. Even the cut ending! They literally stopped tape. And it’s a brilliant ending for the song. When that Lonerism: The Paul Snyder Single Mixes release comes as a bonus disc on the 10th anniversary reissue of this, “Elephant” will be left as is.  

She Just Won’t Believe Me

Paul: And then to taunt my “Keep it focused and under 4 minutes” mantra, they give me this. So fuck them.

Here’s a story for you. When I was in third or fourth grade, I decided to “make an album” with my friend (this is the same friend I mentioned earlier—the one who’s least favorite track on the album is “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”). If I was in third or fourth grade, he’d have been in first or second. We just started making up words and melodies and singing them into a little one-speaker tape player while banging on a toy drum and strumming open strings on a guitar. This was making an album at that time. But here’s the thing: We had a Maxell 60-minute blank tape. And all the tapes of albums we bought at that time were cut to fit the length of the album, right? So 30 minutes a side … I can’t imagine we had more than 14 “songs” that probably (mercifully) topped out at 2 minutes apiece. So we’d have this lump of 15 minutes or more of blank tape at the end of each side. So we found weird sound effects on this big 1980s synthesizer and just hit keys at random for 15 minutes. Neither of us could play a damn thing. Now he can play anything, and I can play some things. But at the time, a synthesizer was no more than “Wow, that’s a lot of buttons. Let’s just press them for 15 minutes. That’ll be fun to listen to.” I must have been 9 years old. And when we played it back, I thought “This is not fun to listen to.” And I haven’t listened to it since.

But now I kind of want to dig it out of whatever box it’s in (I can’t imagine I threw it out), because I’m sure that somewhere  in those 15 minutes, we stumbled upon “She Just Won’t Believe Me.” And Kevin Parker can expect a call from my lawyer, because writing isn’t making me a crazy amount of money.  This is a worthless track. But at least it’s under 1 minute.

Brendan: With all this talk about running times, I suspect you're not excited about the new Arcade Fire album, Reflektor. It runs one track more and is TWENTY minutes longer than Lonerism. You can just smell the fat sizzling. You probably should call up Win Butler and offers your remix services.

To be honest, after the clipped ending of "Elephant" I would have been perfectly satisfied with the album ending right there but ... wait, I'm totally burying the lead here, you and your buddy used to make two-sided albums when you were seven years old????

Once you dig that up, let's review that track-by-track next!

Sample Criticism: There's way too much treble on the Speak & Spell in this track. And sure, "write what you know" is always prudent advice, but do we really need three straight songs about boogers? I liked the "Hot Cross Buns" played-on-the-recorder outro, but I'm still missing the hummable melodies... "Sally's Got Cooties" is the "Positively 4th Street" of broken elementary school engagement songs.

Paul: I was 9. He was 7. So I brought a level of maturity to the record that might otherwise have been lacking. Of course, now that I think about it, “Sally’s Got Cooties” has been dormant way too long. Time to break that out of mothballs and turn it into a single.

Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Anything Has Been Anything We Could Control

Brendan: ... Is what the rest of the non-Kevin Parker Tame Impala band members said during the recording sessions.

I suspect this track is one that your friend likes a lot instead of the more immediate "Elephant" or “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.” The production is really interesting. It's like the drums and vocals are trying to punch through deep fog vocal effects and invisible parabolas of audio trickery. It kind of reminded me of something off of the Avalanches Since I Met You, which is kind of a weird comparison to make.

Paul: I’m going to back to what you said about ending the album after “Elephant,” because I think there’s a cogent point to be made for that. Not only does it shave about 13 minutes of running time off, but it keeps the whole thing marginally more focused. I’ve listened to this song at least 10 times since first hearing the album and even now as I have to write these comments about it, and I promise you that in 5 minutes, I’ll forget how this goes. Even with bad or mediocre albums, you can hear a forgettable track and go, “Oh right, the sad acoustic one,” or “Oh right, the one that’s kind of like ‘Beat on the Brat,’” but there’s no distinguishing factor here. “The spacey one.” “The one washed in reverb.” I mean, Christ, even if you say, “The one with talking in the middle,” it could be that cocktail party song from earlier. And again, this is 6 minutes of … what? Which one is this one? Every time I listen to this album, my patience has long since run out by this point. I don’t know if this is one of my buddy’s favorites, but if it is, I might just have to pull out that “album” we made when we were 9 and 7 respectively and remind him what memorable music is.

Sun’s Coming Up

Paul: Is it supposed to steal the Zombies’ “A Rose For Emily”? I’m sure it is. Had they cut it at 2:40 it probably would’ve been an OK closer. Not as good as leaving the whole thing done after “Elephant,” but the piano outro song is a tried and true method when it comes to making an LP. Appropriately for them, we get one last hit of A.D.D. and some weird guitar noodling while a horse wanders through some old west town. It’s a propos of nothing, it’s not really all that interesting, in fact it’s a little jarring after what had been at least a mildly interesting ripoff of a Zombies song and it’s more than a little infuriating to me.


Brendan: I think this song is interesting because it reveals something that we've been circling the whole time: would the album have been better without all the audio production doodads, and the songs were left alone unvarnished? This track (minus the end debris) is probably the least "produced" on the album and the vocals are the least processed. And it's not great or even that interesting. This is the sort of upright piano song that John or Paul or even Thom Yorke of Radiohead would knock out of the ballpark. It's crucial that a lead singer/wanna-be-genius who uses a lot of sonic trickery in their albums show that they can still knock out the simple piano ballad.

As for the end bit, it's like producer Dave Fridmann told Parker at then end of their last mastering day that he still had some odds n' ends from when he produced Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots for the Flaming Lips and Parker said, "Whatever, dude. Just throw it on at the end."

Overall

Paul: After our Beady Eye review and some loose talk about giving some other albums this treatment, I know the M.O. here was to talk about something I didn’t like, so I’m glad we chose Lonerism. I actually didn’t like this album even more than I realized. I just thought it was overrated. Now I actually realize that, on the whole, it’s a pretty weak effort. If you like soundscapes and psychedelic-tinged background music, then Lonerism is good for you. If you actually like songs, hooks and interesting structures, download “Apocalypse Dreams” (but cut it at the 3 minute mark with one of your Apple editing programs), “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and “Elephant.” That would be a solid EP. But Lonerism on the whole plays like a boring waste of money. Especially if you’ve just got to have it on vinyl, which I’m sure most of you do.

Brendan: No, I did not listen to it on vinyl. I find it too difficult to jog with a turntable strapped to my back. The needle keeps skipping. Actually that sounds like a good Onion headline: "30-Year-Old Hipster Prefers More Intimate Sounds Quality While Training for the Chicago Marathon."

Overall, even though I feel I agreed with you on a lot of points like it was a 2nd presidential debate, I did enjoy the album. Lonerism is infuriating and messy and kinda exhausting, but I still respect the ambition and it has those two killer tracks that are still lodged in my shuffle playlist.

I really enjoyed watching you tear Tame Impala from limb to limb.

Thanks, Paul.

Brendan Shares Your Enthusiasm For... Beady Eye

Paul and the BE cover art. NSFW

Welcome to a new feature on Brendan Mackey's Blog called, "Brendan Shares Your Enthusiasm For..." where I discuss a topic that is near and dear to our guest expert's heart.

First up is Paul Snyder. He is a national magazine editor and runs the fantastic music site Transatlantic Modern. He also edits my ebooks.

Paul is a certified Oasis fanatic and today we will discuss the second post-breakup (between brothers Noel and Liam) album by Beady Eye (the yet to be released in the US) BE. 

The Cover

Brendan: First off, what more can be said for the cover image than a naked breast can't say for itself? Out of purely academic curiosity, I looked up the model and she is the wife of the fashion photographer who took the picture. With this knowledge, I can only come to two conclusions about the cover: 1. This proves you really do lose something when you just download only the MP3s and 2. Fashion photography is a desirable career choice.

Paul: Yeah I wonder why more of my high school and college classmates didn't become fashion photographers. Myself included. If the general thrust of the advice we were given on choosing a career path was "Find something you enjoy ..." I don't think there were many of us who would've said, "Well, I don't enjoy naked women." Suffice to say, I splurged on the imported vinyl version of album. Audio quality is one thing. That cover in 12" x 12" as opposed to a CD's 4.75" x 4.75" dimensions is another. Oh, and the vinyl version comes with a huge poster of the album cover. I'm trying to determine if I can hang it up in my new office without getting terminated for sexual harassment. I have a feeling Liam's argument of "It's definitely not sexist, it's sexy. It's a nipple you can bring home to your mother. It's not porn, is it?" probably isn't going to get me too far.

Flick of the Finger (listen HERE)

Brendan: The first track really announces itself with the heavy drums and a fat horn section. I listened to most of the album while running and this got me going. I think this was the first single or the first thing released, and it's a good song. Unfortunately, no discussion of this track can avoid the voiceover that takes up about of third of the back end by (Furious Google Searching) Kayban Novak, British sitcom star of Fonejacker reading a section from Tariq Ali's book about the 60s. On first listen, I guess it works, but it's hard to enjoy the song on replay a lot because of it. It seems like something Noel would throw on one of his Oasis demos.

Paul: Not to be all, "Hey, I graduated with a degree in Writing-Intensive English" (and not fashion photography) on you, but I think the speech is a modified version of something from Marat/Sade. I'm not saying a group of 1960s-philes didn't find the modified version in a book about the 1960s, but as is the wont of a writer, one gets persnickety about credit being given where credit is due. The speech threw me a little at the beginning too, and you're right about the Noel demo thing (callbacks to the "Go Let it Out" demo with "Austin Powers" dialogue), but it works for me now. The whole feel of the song to me is gladiators in the Colosseum and all that big cinematic "Gentlemen, this is our hour ..." stuff, so it blends in nicely. When all the "Dave Sitek," "horns," "cosmic experimentation" reports started spilling out back at the start of the year, I got very excited. I didn't expect this, but I wanted to be surprised and this did it. Might be my favorite thing they've done. Oh, and thanks for pointing out your exercise routine. I'm going to McDonald's now. I suspect you won't want anything?

Brendan: Sorry for depriving Peter Weiss of proper credit... and yes, I'll have a chocolate milkshake.

Soul Love

Paul: Then we move right into a mood piece. For every review I've read of BE so far, they all seem to have the "Wow, Liam's voice ..." (for better or worse) paragraph. He sounds fine to me, but I think he always has on record. I think what should be pointed out is how many notes Liam puts into the "Sou-ou-oul lo-ove, so-ou-oul lo-ov-ve" bits. His whole career, the talk has always been about how he can turn "shine" into a three-syllable word, but it was usually just a sneer. Here, it's actually a handy little bit of singing. Maybe not Pavarotti, but give it a little try yourself. It's not that easy. I think that little bit makes an otherwise uninteresting song kind of interesting. I can't pinpoint anything that really impresses me in this song, but that's not to say it's bad. It's fine to nod your head, purse your lips and bang your thumb on the steering wheel to whilst driving. It's just not a "Oh, dude, you gotta hear this one" kind of track.

Brendan: You're right about Liam. Whether he is a great singer or not is open to debate, but he's a great lead singer and frontman. And I think that's an even harder thing to be. As for "Soul Love" (nicely nicked from David Bowie), I like the searching guitar strumming and the aforementioned vowel-wrangling of the vocal. What I don't like is that it seems that the band and producer left the tape machine on and headed off the the pub. And isn't track 2 a little early for a "mood piece". I can't confirm that Liam wanted to mess with my momentum during my run, but I strongly suspect that might have been a motive.

Paul: Yeah, sorry you had to find this out while trying to improve your physical health, but in terms of how best to enjoy this album, I think "sit and listen," "drive and listen," "imitate Liam's singing stance, lip synch and listen" and "get stoned and listen" come pretty far ahead of "run and listen." I've seen a used CD of "Jock Jams 2" at Reckless Records for 49 cents, if you're interested in your next run's soundtrack. 

Face the Crowd

Brendan: This is pretty much what I expect from Beady Eye at this point. Straight ahead guitars, drumming, hand-claps, tambourines and Liam with his hands behind his back, leaning forward, braying into the microphone. I can see this one kicking off a show

Paul: Live, I’m sure this is fantastic and I’ll be jumping and singing along. On record, this is the album’s flattest moment for me. It’s a fine performance and Sharrock’s drumming can still wow me, but to go back to those mid-winter reports of “Sitek,” “horns” and “cosmic experimentation,” this is not what I was hoping for. I don’t think Beady Eye (or Oasis or Noel) could ever leave basic electric guitar rock behind, and I don’t want them to. But for dudes in their 40s to be writing songs about playing rock and roll shows to their aging fans … I don’t know. One wants to see their childhood idols avoid “The Heart of Rock and Roll” territory at all costs. I don’t think Beady Eye are there, but these kind of songs tempt it.

Second Bite of the Apple

Paul: The verses have an I’m-making-it-up-as-I-go kind of melody to it, which throws me a little. But the whole “the word is up if you’re tough enough” to “Come on, show us your love now” bit is great. The horns are great, the backing track is great and the groove is great. It’s a weird choice for a single, though. Listening to the whole album, this makes sense in the #4 spot. It keeps momentum and links the riffage of “Face the Crowd” to the more sparse “Soon Come Tomorrow” nicely, but to put it out as a single just seems to scream, “THIS IS DIFFERENT! SEE?! IT’S NOT ALL THREE-CHORD BEATLE RIPOFFS! WE CAN BE INTERESTING!” And screaming about how interesting you are seldom makes people go, “You know what? You ARE interesting.” Should’ve been a cool deep cut. 

Brendan: It is an odd track. I do love a good "Come on" in rock songs, especially Gallagher songs, but the lyric I'm more interested in is "Shake my tree where's the apple for me/Tickle my feet with the enemy". Is Liam asking someone to tickle his feet along with the enemy? Or does he want to be tickled literally WITH the enemy, like the enemy's hair for instance?" Is this the first perverse coded Noel dig? 

Paul: It might be the NME. Which makes it less intriguing.

Soon Come Tomorrow

Brendan: Another downbeat song, but mostly successful. Very Noel-like guitars on it. Though the producer's contribution seems to be pressing the "Space Effect" button on his Casio keyboard.

Paul: The directions on how to smoke a joint are a little superfluous (“Oh, DON’T drop it? God, I’m sorry. I had no idea …”), but it’s a good tune. I do like the line, “What kind of love burns holes in your heart?” The whole thing builds nicely. Solid mid-album song.

Iz Rite

Paul: Well, first I want to say I’m glad I interviewed Edgar Jones last year so I was introduced to the titular phrase. One of the main things I’ve noticed in reviews or fan comments since the Oasis split—and I’ve made this argument myself—is that with Noel Gallagher, you have the big memorable choruses. But the problem with saying that is that it sells Beady Eye short, because “The Roller” had a catchy chorus and my indifference toward “The Beat Goes On” aside, that song had one too. This song has a pretty damn majestic chorus. Maybe it won’t remembered like a “So Sally can wait …” (and that’s not even my favorite part of “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” mind you) but when this song goes into that “When you call my name” bit, I think it’s fantastic. Maybe Beady Eye don’t rattle off the arm-around-your-best-friend choruses as naturally as Noel does, but it’s dumb to say “they don’t have choruses.” Lots of great songs don’t have choruses. It’s a lazy argument to make. OK. Just had to get that off my chest.

Brendan: Youz right. Iz rite is way cooler than Is Right. Though perhaps the label's copywriter is holding up the US release because of that issue. I like this song. Has a sunny AM radio vibe.

I'm Just Saying

Brendan: You can feel those old rock bones starting to loosen up on this song. One of the better rockers on this album. And (I'm sure it matters to you) conducive to my running. In this song Liam seems to be just saying that "this" is his time in the spotlight and his time to shine. As the frontman of a famous rock band (especially still in the UK) like Oasis, I find it pretty comical that Liam feels he's been shortchanged. I know he doesn't get any songwriting credit and he got cast pretty early as his older brother's drunk dancing monkey, but still, he's gotten plenty of shine and love from his lead singer abilities. I also want to point out that this song once again proves that counting off, "1-2-3" always works for some reason in rock songs.

Paul: Yes, as soon as Gem and Liam started their call and response game at the end of this song, I smiled. And I was trying to find parking on Division Street in Wicker Park, which typically is not an activity that’s particularly conducive to smiling. Love the counting. This soars where “Face the Crowd” kind of sputters. This is their wheelhouse, I think—proper rock and roll that doesn’t fall into the trap of being too self-conscious or self-aware. Twenty-something rock and rollers can do that no problem. It’s a lot harder to pull it off with any authenticity another twenty years later.
  
Don’t Brother Me

Paul: OK, we finally get the no-question-about-it song about Noel. Given Liam’s John Lennon complex and some of the things he’s said about big brother in interviews over the past 2 years, I have to hand it to him for not taking a blowtorch to a gas station and going down the “How Do You Sleep?” route. There are digs in here (and I do like the “Did you shoot your gun?” line), but on the other hand, the song doesn’t really say anything. He starts off taunting, then suggests they give peace a chance. Now, anyone with a sibling will understand that dichotomy, but I don’t know that it needs to be crystallized in song. So what’s the point? To start a song-about-you exchange with Noel? Cos for every quasi-interesting Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd-style exchange you get 10 other “fight” songs that make you just go, “Oh stop being a f*cking baby and sing about girls or some other cosmic nonsense” (off the top of my head … Roland Orzabal’s “Fish Out of Water” about Curt Smith, and his former Tears For Fears partner’s reply in the form of “Sun King” … is it embarrassing to know that?). Noel and Liam have never minced words about each other at any time in their public lives. Why do we need songs about it? And doesn’t writing a song about it just make every interview come around to more questions about Noel? Silly move. Nevertheless, quite a good musical backdrop. Love that bass. Don’t know that it needs to go on 4 minutes longer than it probably should, but for as “out there” as this album was supposed to be, this is really the only moment of gratuitous overindulgence. The end of “Soul Love” is a bit overindulgent, but not to this level. Eh ... after 20 years in the biz, I’ll let the guy have 4 minutes of gratuitous overindulgence. 

Brendan: Yes. As a diss track. Nas & Jaz-Z this isn't. I am curious that you'll forgive the four minutes of overindulgence based on 20 years of time served. Didn't the entire Be Here Now sessions punch every ticket on their overindulgence card for all time?

Paul: I’m the wrong person to ask. I bought Be Here Now the day it came out in 1997. I was 14 years old with a Liam-in-“Wonderwall”-video haircut (and I STILL wear it well). I believed it then and I believe it now: IT WASN’T LOUD OR LONG ENOUGH!!!!!

Shine a Light

Brendan: Somewhere in Manchester, Noel listens to this song and says, "Oy, shining is MY thing. I write fookin' songs 'bout shining and lights. I'll show him." Then he quickly books studio time to record three unreleased albums about nothing but shining lights on souls.

Paul: … but they’re all midtempo dirges until they get to the chorus and Jeremy Stacey whacks the snare on every beat of the 4/4 rhythm! And that, kids, is how to make a Noel Gallagher-post 2005 song. At least Sharrock gets to unleash Bo Diddley’s old “patted juba” rhythm, which is fun. Actually, this song feels like it’s longer than it needs to be to me. Maybe because Bo Diddley didn’t often crack 3 minutes, and when I hear that rhythm, I’m trained to think, “Cool. This’ll be short and sweet.”

Ballroom Figured

Paul: I like the title, and this is a fine little song, but it just feels out of place to me. You got the nice closing ballad up next and if you look at the second half of this album, it’s actually dominated by acoustic guitars. I know that’s another sign of rock-star aging, but these guys banged out “I’m Just Saying” 3 tracks ago and it hasn’t been THAT long since “Four Letter Word.” I feel like there should’ve been a proper cosmic stomper here to lead you into the sweet finale that follows. Since it’s not, it feels like an incidental prelude to the finale instead of a song that stands in its own right. 

Brendan: Yes. At this point the depression sets in that we're not going to at least get another "Roller" or "Millionaire" on the record. Great title. Any info on what's a Liam song or one of the other band members?

Paul: I think “Soul Love,” “Don’t Brother Me,” and “Start Anew” are Liam’s.

Start Anew

Brendan: Liam's voice sounds particularly sweet in this song. Did he swear off cigarettes for a week prior to recording or is there a new Nicotine-free app on Pro-Tools? Nice capper, and like most Oasis albums, it sends us off on a magic carpet ride to a place of cosmic peace and love... or the pub. Either works. 

Paul: His voice is working better with acoustics these days. Well, it always has really. Watch some early Oasis acoustic versions of “Live Forever” and compare those to the acoustic session Beady Eye just did for Oui FM. I think he thinks he has a better rock voice, and maybe he does, but when he pulls back, it’s great. And yes, this is a great capper. Aside from “Better Man” off Heathen Chemistry, I think every song Liam’s written that’s closed an album (“Soldier On,” “The Morning Son,” “Start Anew”) have all been great ending notes. He knows how to seal the deal. This is fantastic.

The Extras …

Paul: Another pretty solid set of B-side material. “Dreaming of Some Space” is just an old Stone Roses trick and “The World’s Not Set in Stone” tries to punch a little above it's weight. But “Back After the Break,” “Off at the Next Exit” and “Evil Eye” are all incredibly solid. I’d have swapped “Evil Eye” for the “Ballroom Figured” spot on the album.

Brendan: You didn't mention "Girl in Uniform"? I think that was my favorite of the bonus tracks. I detected a very Kink's influence I figured you'd appreciate. Perhaps "Nothing in this World Can Stop Me Worrying 'Bout That Girl".

Paul: Ah, I did forget "Girls in Uniform." You're right. It is Kinks-y, but that outro got me. That's the one that made me say, "Enough. Stop tape." I'd have really adored it if it was a 2-minute-ish allusion to a Kinda Kinks-era track.

Overall

Paul: It’s solid. It’s not perfect by any means, but I think it’s a definite advancement on Different Gear, Still Speeding, and I think it stands up to Noel’s album very well. The problem is I think most people have made up their mind about Beady Eye and won’t give it too much of a chance, now that the general public media has determined Noel the elder statesman of rock and the recipient of all the post-Oasis goodwill spoils. But I’m interested to see how this album gets reassessed 10 years or so down the road. I honestly see a lot of parallels to McCartney’s Ram, where, when it came out, a lot of critics were like, “What in the hell …” but fans held to it and spread the word. Now it’s kind of revered as the birth of indie. I don’t think BE is the rebirth of indie, but I do think it’s going to fall into that “This is actually pretty amazing” spectrum of reverence. It's an underdog album, and a damn good one at that. Music fans have a tendency throughout history to find those albums and give them the belated praise they deserved in the first place. The only problem (or maybe it's a benefit, depending on how you look at it) is all the songs that could be on the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition are already on the Japanese version. Here’s hoping Beady Eye can jump right to a Band on the Run next instead of taking an ill-advised Wild Life detour. 

Brendan: It is solid, but I don't know if I didn't prefer Different Gear, Still Speeding and the extra production and tender loving care given to this album wasn't a misstep. I know artists love when critics offer their opinion on what they "should have done", but I thought or was hoping that Beady Eye (formed out of the ashes of Oasis) would dig further into their 60s roots and put out one of those old school 60s Yardbirds-type albums with some rockers and some covers. Take advantage of their strengths of a good rock lead singer and a tight band, and not try to out Noel Noel.

Thanks Paul for sharing your enthusiasm with me!

Who's up next?

If anyone out there wants to share their enthusiasm (be it music, movie, book, food, beverage, sport, activity etc.) with me, email me or write in the comments field or just say "Hey, Brendan. I really want to talk in detail about this (fill in the blank) but no one else is interested."

I'm here for you.

Beady Eye Music, Mate

Going to the rock show! Time to put on my rock clothes. I look in my closet and ask my wife, “Where’s my skinny jeans? Where’s my belt chain? Where’s my poly cotton blend Spoon t-shirt? Where’s me fit trainers?”

I swear I had cool rock clothes, where’d they all go?  I find my skinny jeans (which used to be my fat jeans) and squeeze into them. My god these are tight. “Did you leave them in the dryer too long?” I accuse my wife. She looks at me sadly and goes back to concentrating on finding her own cool rock wardrobe.

Instead of cool rock clothes, I settle on my suburban-dad-attending-a-barbecue-after-hitting-a-bucket-of-balls-at-the driving-range-clothes. Only driving in the car to the venue do I realize that the shirt has some sort of baby-related stain on it (Vomitus? Mac & Cheese residue?).  Damn it, I’m dropping coolness points left and right! Was I ever cool? Maybe not if we’re using sabermetric (CPAR? Cool Points Above Replacement?) to judge my entire career, but I swear I had a few hot weeks back when I was around 23 or 24-years-old. But those days are apparently in the rearview mirror.

We have tickets to Beady Eye’s first show in the US and we’re meeting up with my friend and frequent collaborator Jeffrey (who is a drummer in a couple bands and still has rock clothes) and his wife. Beady Eye is the band that Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher formed with the rest of Oasis after one final row with his brother guitarist and main songwriter Noel that finally broke up the band after twenty years.

Though I believe that it is in every long-running band's financial interest to at some point break-up, just to enable them to cash in on a reunion tour sometime in the future.

The brothers have been famously fighting for the entire history of the band, but apparently Liam attacked Noel backstage with both a plum and a guitar and Noel said he’d finally had enough and left the band.

You DO NOT attack the man that wrote “Wonderwall” and “Supersonic” with any pitted fruit. There are some things you just don’t do.

With Noel Gallagher packing up his songbook and going home, we’re left with Oasis without any of the songs that they’re famous for. No matter how much the crowd pleaded, there would be no “Wonderwall”, no “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, no “Champagne Supernova”, no “Cigarettes & Alcohol”, no “Shakermaker”, not even “Little by Little”. I’d even settle for “Hindu Times”.

What was on our prix fixe menu for the evening was a steady diet of the most dreaded words in rock concert history, the words that no concertgoer ever wants to hear. That’s right, I’m talking about the dreaded “new material”. Egads.

Now, to be fair, Beady Eye’s debut album, “Different Gear, Still Speeding” is surprisingly solid. It’s a fun little straight-ahead throwback rock n’ roll album. The band was tight and I thought that Liam’s voice sounded more engaged than it had in years. But it’s not even definitely maybe on par with “Definitely Maybe”.

Why the excitement over a band that really isn’t all that exciting? The reason is seeing Liam Gallagher in a small venue (the Metro, basically an oversized bar), the type of which he probably hasn’t played since the band hit it big. Liam Gallagher, one of the last great cock on the walk, petulant, bratty, obnoxious, bigger-than-life lead singers in rock n’ roll without his big brother, without those great songs to sing, with a fraction of the audience and armed only with new material and the other members of Oasis, of which only hardcore fans can name (Andy Bell & Gem Archer for the record). What would Liam do? Was there a chance this would be a debacle and we’d all end up on YouTube?

My father still talks about the disaster of a Kinks show he saw back in the day. Would this be my disaster story?

Alas, as much as it would have made a better story for the show to have ended in riots and/or pitted fruits hurled at the band while security beat the crowd back with pool cues, the show was pretty good and the band played well. Liam strutted out in a ridiculous Union Jack waistcoat that looked like it weighed a hundred pounds causing the hair dye in his trademark Beatles moptop/mullet to run down his neck (Okay, maybe that didn’t really happen, but in my mind it did).

In between verses during guitar solos, he did his trademark move of standing in front the stage to survey the crowd and folded his arms as if to say, “I conquered the world in 1995 and even if you don’t believe it anymore, the truth is I still own you. Worship me and receive nothing but my cool indifference in return.”

While Liam was doing his Liam thing of sneering, preening, and mumbling incomprehensible words to the audience in his thick Manchester accent, the bassist (who wasn’t an official member of the band and probably just a session guy) stood next to him looking absolutely coked out his mind, his eyes wide, ringing slot machine cherries, his hands independent from his brain haphazardly strumming his instrument. It looked like Liam gave the newbie a bump of rock star coke a minute before they went on stage. “Here, mate. Try this.” The good stuff, the stuff reserved for only the most decadent rock stars, the medical-grade-Merck- puffy-cloud-type coke that Keith Richards went on and on about in his autobiography and attributed his superhuman stamina to in the 70’s.

And while the musicians were on stage, what where the nostalgic aging Gen X-ers in the audience doing? Well, the music really didn’t necessitate any real dancing or deep shoegazing or moshing, so I kinda lightly tapped my hand on my thigh to the beat.

To my left, a guy lifted a girl on his shoulders. “Show us your tits!” a skinny fellow in a Pulp t-shirt shouted then looked away pretending that someone else had said it. The girl bowed to pressure and lifted her shirt and flashed her… bra. Those around her made it clear that they were of the opinion that she should perhaps show a tab more skin, and the poor girl who had no intention of showing any more quickly realized that she gotten in over her head and wanted out the situation and motioned for the guy to let her down. At that exact moment a meaty security guy wearing a black shirt appeared flashing a penlight telling them to break up this spontaneous display of rock clichés.  The girl yelled at the guy on whose shoulder’s she sat to let her down, but he was too busy texting on his cell phone.

Standing in front of me was a couple in their mid-to-late- fifties. The guy looked like he owned an independent record store specializing in vintage vinyl and the woman was probably an adjunct professor of Victorian literature at DePaul.

While Beady Eye played, the guy accompanied them by playing a mean air guitar, and the woman was so admiring of her man’s invisible ax-work that she was helpless when he dropped his “instrument” and dove in for a serious make-out session.  They were going for it. Their eyes were closed, their tongues were slipping and sliding, and their hands were everywhere.

And I was about three inches away from the whole thing.

Usually in floor seating-only shows, the crowd condenses itself into a tight pack and everyone tries to get just a little closer to the stage, so I was pretty pinned in my spot. All I could do was watch the action like I was Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange”. Is that what kissing really looks like up close? Are they doing it right? Am I doing it right?

It was the final song of the night, the guitars swirled, the crowd cheered, the couple kissed like they were the only two people in the world as a movie camera tracked 360 degrees around them like at the end of a romantic comedy.

Then I realized that this show, this moment was not about my nostalgia for a time when I went to tons of shows and wore rock clothes, or the audience’s nostalgia for the mid-90’s when Britpop ruled the music world for a few minutes (Blur versus Oasis!) and people actually purchased music (Sam Goody! Tower Records!), or even for the band itself trying to reestablish themselves with a new name and new songs. It was about Jane Eyre and Air Guitar, nostalgic for each other.

And I couldn’t look away… even if I really wanted to.