The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

Citizen of Legoland said:
The swearing must be a generational thing. We all do it but when it's done to excess it gets annoying. In the TV thread earlier someone posted a clip from Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is brilliant, but if there's one character that annoys me it's Leon because it's f-this, f-that every other word, it's not even being used in conjunction with another word for effect, it just seems to replace what would be normal spaces between spoken words. And yet people seem to love it but it detracts from what he's saying to me. And it's the same in music. That said I notice my kids and their mates are always dropping the f-word in randomly, they don't even realise.
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I completely get your point on the swearing and generally I would just think it is done for shock value (as that isn't really my bag whilst I obviously curse myself).

However, I do the think the style and timing is poignant with this band (literally taken 8 attempts to spell this word correctly).................
 
Might seems strange coming from somebody that has just selected a piece of classical music as his choice but I like it. I liked it the first time I heard it and despite not having listened to it for many years, I still like it.

I can't really explain why but perhaps it's because it stirs something within me (again not sure what). It also has some nostalgic value for me and brings back memories of a very happy period of my life. I used to own the album and it was good to hear it again.

As previously mentioned, the profanity is over the top, though I don't recall it bothering me much all those years ago. Must be part of the ageing process.

I've added it to one of my play lists and will look forward to fairly regular listens. Just not when my mum or children are within earshot though!

Solid 9/10 for me.
 
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BlueHammer85 said:
this is an unexpected pick when you look at the review and bashing @Onholiday(somemightsay) gave to Pantera
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Gave Pantera another flick on the way home from work - there is nothing I can gravitate towards and to me the similarities are very few and far between.

At times, the bounce in the backing of Rage's music is almost to a dance type beat - they're about 2 steps away from being a heavier version of the Happy Mondays (that's a joke but you see what I'm getting at). ;-)

To me there are also actual guitar riffs on this album coupled with the rap sat on top (obviously until he shouts).

But to be fair BH, we were never all going to agree on this band (partly why I was happy to select it once I had stumbled across a motive for picking it).............
 
Not an easy one to score.

I'm not a RAM fan but I do have one live album by them that features half the tracks on their debut. Can't say that I have played the live album many times.

I'm also not sure if some of the tracks sounded familiar because I have heard live versions of them or because Morello lifts his riffs from other people. Sadly the Kashmir rip off is not on the live album as it was - somewhat inevitably - the track I liked best.

I do like the music on the whole but I am very fussy about vocals and these are not the kind that I like.
 
I was a little surprised that this was Mr Holiday’s pick, based on my admittedly sporadic perusal of the many musical threads up till now. I was expecting some obscure Neil Young whimsy or some such and secretly looking forward to it.

However; “Bullet in the Head” I’m familiar with, it used to be covered by one of our local bands in Macclesfield back in the day, a band who mainly did their own stuff and were more Zappa and Beefheart in style than anything. I did used to look forward to them playing it though and listening again can see how much they would have enjoyed it.

There are some great riffs on this album and I like a lot of the bass work although sadly some of the intros are somewhat misleading in terms of what follows.

It’s never going to make one of my playlists and as others have noted the vocals and the profanity and the prosetsalysing can get a bit wearing. 20 years ago it would have probably resonated more with me but I’m a limp wishy washy liberal version of the revolutionary I used to be and it sounds in places naive and immature to these jaded ears.

I can appreciate the musicianship and the passion though. It’s a bit more than the shouted slogans of someone like Discharge.

Not ready to score it yet, it deserves at least one more run through, will need to be either in the car or accompanying some vigorous DIY, couldn’t listen to this while working or doing some of the more sedentary chores
 
journolud said:
I was a little surprised that this was Mr Holiday’s pick, based on my admittedly sporadic perusal of the many musical threads up till now. I was expecting some obscure Neil Young whimsy or some such and secretly looking forward to it.

However; “Bullet in the Head” I’m familiar with, it used to be covered by one of our local bands in Macclesfield back in the day, a band who mainly did their own stuff and were more Zappa and Beefheart in style than anything. I did used to look forward to them playing it though and listening again can see how much they would have enjoyed it.

There are some great riffs on this album and I like a lot of the bass work although sadly some of the intros are somewhat misleading in terms of what follows.

It’s never going to make one of my playlists and as others have noted the vocals and the profanity and the prosetsalysing can get a bit wearing. 20 years ago it would have probably resonated more with me but I’m a limp wishy washy liberal version of the revolutionary I used to be and it sounds in places naive and immature to these jaded ears.

I can appreciate the musicianship and the passion though. It’s a bit more than the shouted slogans of someone like Discharge.

Not ready to score it yet, it deserves at least one more run through, will need to be either in the car or accompanying some vigorous DIY, couldn’t listen to this while working or doing some of the more sedentary chores
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Fucking hell - I thought it would have been far too predictable to go Neil Young or CSN-(Y) or the like ;-)

To be fair, I was stewing on what to pick for quite a while and then got a bit of inspiration out of Foggy's post so decided to run with that.

Good to know I won't get universally slaughtered when I do eventually revert to type............ :-)
 
Onholiday(somemightsay) said:
Fucking hell - I thought it would have been far too predictable to go Neil Young or CSN-(Y) or the like ;-)

To be fair, I was stewing on what to pick for quite a while and then got a bit of inspiration out of Foggy's post so decided to run with that.

Good to know I won't get universally slaughtered when I do eventually revert to type............ :-)
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I should like Neil Young, given that a lot of my favourite artists mine a similar vein - Springsteen, Mellencamp, Petty, John Hiatt etc. I do own a couple of his albums, but I just can't get into him to the same level as the others mentioned.
 
RobMCFC said:
I should like Neil Young, given that a lot of my favourite artists mine a similar vein - Springsteen, Mellencamp, Petty, John Hiatt etc. I do own a couple of his albums, but I just can't get into him to the same level as the others mentioned.
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Let's see if we can't change that outlook somewhere down the line......... ;-)
 
Onholiday(somemightsay) said:
As I notice at least one noticeable album has been positioned in the Top 1000 lower than that Joe Jackson effort, I may have my next pick in sights.............
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Luxury - a few of my favourite artists don't even feature in the list at all, and it's not like they aren't household names either.
 
It’s a little hard to imagine that this was the stuff of revolution in the early 1990s, but RATM took the rap/metal/funk/punk fusion that grebo bands (like my beloved PWEI) were fooling around with, winnowed it down to its crystal-clear essence, turned the guitar amp to 11, and super-charged it all with searing leftist politics. The result is missile fuel -- fuel that definitely sputters once in a while, but much of the time drives right through the thinking and/or dancing person’s core.

Comparisons to other metal bands are rendered absurd if you’ve heard Public Enemy, one of my favo(u)rite bands, and quite obviously an influence here. This, to me, is hip-hop with a metal/funk underpinning, not the other way round. But lyrics and style aside, musically this is almost too aesthetically pure (no surprise given the straight-edge punk some of the band was involved in before RATM). I can hear the complaints about sameness, but Tom Morello’s riffs are spotlessly clean and peppered with enough distortion to render them interesting and offer distinction song to song. The rhythm section is way underrated; timing is critical when trying to lay hip-hop lyrical turns on top of tunes, and I love how Tim Commerford’s bass funks things up sometimes and other times sits directly underneath the lead guitar giving it an even heavier impact.

This has plenty of flaws. The tempos bounce about in that start/stop way I like, but overall could use juicing in some cases (“Fistful of Steel” e.g.) and “Settle For Nothing” is soft, weak and out of place here. But there are some monster blowouts -- starting with absolute masterpiece “Killing In The Name” (in my top 20 songs of all time), but including “Bombtrack”, “Take the Power Back” and “Know Your Enemy”. “Freedom” (you can almost hear the chains break) is about as far as they can go without devolving into the primordial ooze that birthed Pantera et al but it’s a pretty vicious closer too.

And always there is Zack De La Rocha’s message -- he of Mexican/black/white/Jewish heritage, the ex punk guy-turned-rapper. What we hear is REAL rage, wielded like a sledgehammer, if a bit fuzzy, general and indiscriminate in its targets. You can question the words but can’t belittle the impact. From “Take The Power Back” – “The present curriculum / I put my fist in 'em /Eurocentric every last one of 'em / See right through the red, white and blue disguise/ With lecture I puncture the structure of lies / Installed in our minds and attempting / To hold us back / We've got to take it back.” This is anger DIRECTED, not cynically used to scare and rile up. If it’s anything, this record is an invitation to MOVE – in the surging crowd at a show, or into the street to protest.

7/10, leaning 8 rather than 6. A great choice.
 
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FogBlueInSanFran said:
It’s a little hard to imagine that this was the stuff of revolution in the early 1990s, but RATM took the rap/metal/funk/punk fusion that grebo bands (like my beloved PWEI) were fooling around with, winnowed it down to its crystal-clear essence, turned the guitar amp to 11, and super-charged it all with searing leftist politics. The result is missile fuel -- fuel that definitely sputters once in a while, but much of the time drives right through the thinking and/or dancing person’s core.

Comparisons to other metal bands are rendered absurd if you’ve heard Public Enemy, one of my favo(u)rite bands, and quite obviously an influence here. This, to me, is hip-hop with a metal/funk underpinning, not the other way round. But lyrics and style aside, musically this is almost too aesthetically pure (no surprise given the straight-edge punk some of the band was involved in before RATM). I can hear the complaints about sameness, but Tom Morello’s riffs are spotlessly clean, but peppered with enough distortion to render them interesting and offer distinction song to song. The rhythm section is way underrated; timing is critical when trying to lay hip-hop lyrical turns on top of tunes, and I love how Tim Commerford’s bass funks things up sometimes and others sits directly underneath the lead guitar giving it an even heavier impact.

This has plenty of flaws. The tempos bounce about in that start/stop way I like, but overall could use juicing in some cases (“Fistful of Steel” e.g.) and “Settle For Nothing” is soft, weak and out of place here. But there are some monster blowouts -- starting with absolute masterpiece “Killing In The Name” (in my top 20 songs of all time), but including “Bombtrack”, “Take the Power Back” and “Know Your Enemy”. “Freedom” (you can almost hear the chains break) is about as far as they can go without devolving into the primordial ooze that birthed Pantera et al but it’s a pretty vicious closer too.

And always there is Zack De La Rocha’s message -- he of Mexican/black/white/Jewish heritage, the ex punk guy-turned-rapper. What we hear is REAL rage, directed like a sledgehammer, if a bit fuzzy and indiscriminate in its target. You can question the words but can’t belittle the impact. From “Take The Power Back” – “The present curriculum / I put my fist in 'em /Eurocentric every last one of 'em / See right through the red, white and blue disguise/ With lecture I puncture the structure of lies / Installed in our minds and attempting / To hold us back / We've got to take it back.” This is anger DIRECTED, not cynically used to scare and rile up. If it’s anything, this record is an invitation to MOVE – in the surging crowd at a show, or into the street to protest.

7/10, leaning 8 rather than 6. A great choice.
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Lovely writing as usual......
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
It’s a little hard to imagine that this was the stuff of revolution in the early 1990s, but RATM took the rap/metal/funk/punk fusion that grebo bands (like my beloved PWEI) were fooling around with, winnowed it down to its crystal-clear essence, turned the guitar amp to 11, and super-charged it all with searing leftist politics. The result is missile fuel -- fuel that definitely sputters once in a while, but much of the time drives right through the thinking and/or dancing person’s core.

Comparisons to other metal bands are rendered absurd if you’ve heard Public Enemy, one of my favo(u)rite bands, and quite obviously an influence here. This, to me, is hip-hop with a metal/funk underpinning, not the other way round. But lyrics and style aside, musically this is almost too aesthetically pure (no surprise given the straight-edge punk some of the band was involved in before RATM). I can hear the complaints about sameness, but Tom Morello’s riffs are spotlessly clean, but peppered with enough distortion to render them interesting and offer distinction song to song. The rhythm section is way underrated; timing is critical when trying to lay hip-hop lyrical turns on top of tunes, and I love how Tim Commerford’s bass funks things up sometimes and others sits directly underneath the lead guitar giving it an even heavier impact.

This has plenty of flaws. The tempos bounce about in that start/stop way I like, but overall could use juicing in some cases (“Fistful of Steel” e.g.) and “Settle For Nothing” is soft, weak and out of place here. But there are some monster blowouts -- starting with absolute masterpiece “Killing In The Name” (in my top 20 songs of all time), but including “Bombtrack”, “Take the Power Back” and “Know Your Enemy”. “Freedom” (you can almost hear the chains break) is about as far as they can go without devolving into the primordial ooze that birthed Pantera et al but it’s a pretty vicious closer too.

And always there is Zack De La Rocha’s message -- he of Mexican/black/white/Jewish heritage, the ex punk guy-turned-rapper. What we hear is REAL rage, directed like a sledgehammer, if a bit fuzzy and indiscriminate in its target. You can question the words but can’t belittle the impact. From “Take The Power Back” – “The present curriculum / I put my fist in 'em /Eurocentric every last one of 'em / See right through the red, white and blue disguise/ With lecture I puncture the structure of lies / Installed in our minds and attempting / To hold us back / We've got to take it back.” This is anger DIRECTED, not cynically used to scare and rile up. If it’s anything, this record is an invitation to MOVE – in the surging crowd at a show, or into the street to protest.

7/10, leaning 8 rather than 6. A great choice.
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I enjoyed reading your review as usual, even if I didn't agree with all of it.

In order to further broaden my musical knowledge:-
1. What's a grebo band?
2. What's PWEI?
 
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