Review- Jesse Jones/ Jesse Jones

Jesse Jones/ Jesse Jones (Burger, 2015)

I am admittedly out of my depth reviewing this album. I picked this up because Bobby Harlow (of The Go, Conspiracy Of Owls, Magic Jake And The Power Crystals, etc.) produced it, buying it blind. Being more of a classic Rocker type, this left me scratching my head on the first spin. I always give an album three spins before I form an opinion, and I do this for two reasons. One, there have been albums that have bowled me over on the first spin but by the third I am yawning, and Two, there have been albums that went right over my head on spin one but by spin three I get it and realize what it was that the artist was trying to say and dig the shit out of it.

There are many textures and sounds that are pleasing to the ear. Jones' voice bends in a number of directions, my favorite being the Carole King direction. (Yes, I am so Metal that I can freely admit to owning Carole King albums.) Make It Spin is bizarre, bouncy and catchy while not being an obvious Pop song. It is though, at least in the traditional sense. I am sucker for Psychedelic music, and this is some trippy shit. Underneath all of the trippy table dressing you have to have songs or it is a waste of everyone's time, and this album does indeed have songs.

There are Indian or Asian scales in Prisoner's Cinema and Lady La De Da that sound very strange to my western world ears. My wife, who majored in music at one time (she has 2/3 of a music degree but switched majors way back when) was all over this album. Normally she rolls her eyes at most of what I play but dug this big time. All of this is sort of Avant Garde and a bit above my pay grade.

Twelve Hour Man is absolute genius. Think of the best big sounding early 1970s song. Pick anything off of the first Steely Dan album early Chicago, Carole King...this stands up to, if not surpasses, any of those songs. To call it bliss is an understatement. The song is a gift to the ears.

Again, I have no real reference point or a yardstick to point at for this type of music. Is it Rock? Pop? I have no idea what to call it, so let's just call it good.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into nitpicking aspects of physical media. iPod or mp3 folks can feel free to leave. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you around. For those of you still here, I am a square and so I bought this on CD, so that is what I am reviewing here. It comes in a trifold sleeve, with the CD sliding into a pocket inside. The lyrics are all printed on the foldouts as well as the album credits. Part of me wishes that I bought it on vinyl, and maybe I will grab it on vinyl too. Who knows. 

Review- THE GO/ FIESTA

Earth, the early 1960s. A quartet of time traveling space aliens come to the past from a post-apocalyptic future to stave off nuclear war amidst Cold War tensions. Armed with the greatest songs of the past 200 years, they set out to spread a message of peace and love. They called themselves The Beatles but failed in their mission to save the world, splintering and breaking up. The leaders of the parallel Earth in the dimension next door sent their musical ambassadors, The Go, into the past to mop up The Beatles' mess and try to save the world. The Beatles, evil Satanic time traveling sorcerer bastards that they are, used their futuristic alien technology to zap The Go, sending them spiraling through the timestream until they landed in Detroit in the late '90s. Stranded and with no means to return to their home dimension, The Go have decided to make this horrific divergent timeline their home.

John Lennon and George Harrison aren't dead, folks. They returned to the future. The reason that you don't remember that, or that my series of facts don't line up with your perception of reality, is because of The Beatles. They used their sorcery to wipe out everyone's memories. Using my crystal ball, I have been able to divine the truth and see past the smoke and mirrors. It's all in the 8s. You can't argue with science, man.

The Go come from a dimension where music never sucked and Justin Bieber never got a recording contract. There is no poverty or disease in their dimension, only Rock and Roll. Which brings us to this...

The Go/ Fiesta (Burger, 2013)

The further down the rabbit hole these cats go, the more the psychedelic elements become their dominant sound. There is a subtlety that requires repeated listening to grasp once you get past the choruses. Instruments fade in and out of speakers, EQs are different from song to song, etc. There are also funky and almost jazz-like textures in a few songs, which looks weird “on paper” but works in practice when you listen.

Being a double album, it would be easy to pad this out with superlong jams that fill up album sides in the name of “artistic experimentation”. Instead, we get 20 tightly arranged songs with economy in mind. I imagine that some of these songs were much longer and the fat was cut out with surgical precision. This is a filet mignon served on a paper plate.

John Krautner was a teen idol in the 1966 that The Go come from. Remember that episode of The Flintstones with The Way Outs? In their home dimension, Beyond the Beyond was on that episode, and The Go played the part of bouncing tire-body characters. Hire A Navy was a staple at high school dances and Can't Rely On It was performed on American Bandstand.

On the Bobby Harlow side of the coin, A Dot In Place is one that haunts me as I walk down the street. For Me Alone and No More Stars are also pure genius. I hope that the fellas didn't rupture something singing that high on the harmonies. Mere Earthlings don't sing this way in this time continuum. Tease My Ears is the best song that The Association never wrote.

I Fear To Think I'm Here could have been an early James Gang song, it's that awesome. Ya Gimme That Feeling has a funky, Motown vibe to it. If you listen closely, John's spleen ruptures hitting those high notes. Marc Fellis uses a cowbell on that one. Saturday Night Live and Blue Oyster Cult jokes aside, cowbells are awesome.

There are so many truly great moments on this album, and sadly, most of humanity will miss out on this album. Don't let this happen to you. If you don't own Fiesta, the Mothership won't permit you entrance to return to The Go's home dimension with them. I know that I don't want to stay in this crappy, fucked up timeline where America is going down the toilet. Don't be the only kid on the block without it. Fiesta.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

Reviews: Eerie Archives Vol. 3; Black Summer; Magic Jake & The Power Crystals

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Dark Horse, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Eerie Nos. 11-15 (cover dates September, 1967- June, 1968)
Another stellar collection of black and white old school Horror comics by the all-time greats. Too numerous to name, suffice it to say that I have named them all in previous reviews of the Creepy and Eerie Archives. I am thrilled to death (pun intended) that Dark Horse keeps cranking these deluxe hardcover editions out. My wallet (and my bookshelves...and my wife) are quite terrified by the number of these that have been released in such a short period of time. Boo! These puns are getting downright scary.
I hope that once the dust settles and the entire series has been reprinted that Dark Horse sees it fit to re-release these in a series of affordable phone books for the masses.

BLACK SUMMER (Avatar, 2008; softcover)
Collects Black Summer Nos. 0-7 (cover dates May, 2007- July, 2008)
If it has the Avatar Press logo on it, you can rest assured that the comic book will meet the following criteria: Adult-oriented topics with excessively high levels of violence and high quality writing, artwork and coloring. Black Summer follows suit and is a fun read for those looking for a 'real world' take on superheroes a la Watchmen. I myself would totally sell out and cash in if I had super powers.
The artwork by Juan Rose Ryp is just fantastic, and the coloring by Mark Sweeney and Greg Waller is equally stunning. There is so much going on in each and every panel, a real eye candy feast here. Warren Ellis always has characters smoking cigarettes and dropping F-bombs in his stories. I have no idea why. This story was obviously very topical during the George W. Bush administration but holds up well. Recommended reading for those that like their comics with "Mature Readers Only" labels on them.

Magic Jake and the Power Crystals/ Magic Jake and the Power Crystals (Burger Records)
All Rock and all fun, Magic Jake & The Power Crystals waste no time. There are no lengthy guitar solos, no slow songs, and no filler. This is all meat kids, and it's well done. Bobby Harlow's vocals sound like he was inhaling helium while recording them, and I mean that as a compliment. I have always been a sucker for higher register vocals (i.e. Robert Plant, Rob Halford, etc.) Loving Knife is pure Rock 'N' Roll and is my favorite of favorites on the album. These songs are very punchy and very catchy, and there isn't a second wasted on the entire album. Normally when I listen to music I dissect songs, thinking "oh, that wasn't necessary" or "that section was a total Prog-Rock waste of time" or "they should've chopped that in half and made two songs out of it". I didn't do that once here. My opinion of albums being over 40-45 minutes are a waste of time still stands. My only gripe is that there is no CD available, only vinyl and limited edition cassette (mine was 205 out of 250, hand numbered). Maybe someday...