SEE Magazine
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Music
HMV Spins - CD Reviews
BY SEE STAFFLess Than Jake Hello Rockview (Capitol)
Less Than Jake’s fifth CD in seven years by no means sounds like a hurried label release. Hello Rockview captures the rare combination of diversity and widespread energy most punk/ska-core bands only hope to achieve. Ska melodies are smoother, hipper and more intense than ever on songs like Danny Says, Theme Song for H Street and Scott Farcas Takes It On The Chin but the band manages to change pace throughout without struggling. Nervous in the Alley has a slower, melodic feel, while Motto and Big Crash feature straight-ahead punk harmonies and choruses recalling more standard punkers from the ’80s, like Down By Law and Descendants. Although the horn section has become more of an additive than a feature attraction, it continues to round out a solid and impressive product. Less Than Jake is at the Bus Barns March 9 with ALL, Good Riddance and Limp.
– Shelli Carder
ALL Self-titled (Owned and Operated Recordings)
A long time coming, this is a perfect compilation of ALL’s greatest pop rhythms without the diversion of some of the band’s more experimental attempts. With songs from all albums and all past front men (Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds and Chad Price) this is the quintessential collection for ALL/Descendants fans. Better yet, the remixing and remastering makes for pure audio pleasure. Older songs, from Allroys Revenge, Allroys Saves and Allroy for Prez, now offer the same fine musical clarity and harmony as some newer releases. Fan approval is also guaranteed because the tracks here were voted for on ALL’s website. And for those who like to follow the tracks of the punk pioneers involved in Descendants, ALL, Down By Law and other connected bands, you’ll also want to check out the Descendants/ALL Family Shrub. Better yet, catch them live at the Arts Barns with Less Than Jake, Good Riddance and other guests, Tuesday, March 9.
– Shelli Carder
Marvelous 3 Hey! Album (Warner)
You probably haven’t heard of Marvelous 3, but you will soon enough. This power pop trio out of Atlanta’s first major release doesn’t disappoint as they belt out some catchy pop/rock. Their Boston-esque happy sound is very radio-friendly, so look for them soon on your FM dial. Which means there’s nothing revolutionary here; their cookie-cutter cheese sound isn’t anything special. It looks like they’re catching onto the ’80s nostalgia wave that’s being carried by movies like The Wedding Singer and 200 Cigarettes. All that’s missing are leg warmers, Ronald Reagan and Alf. It’s not that this album is bad, it just brings back memories we’d just as soon forget.
Marvelous 3 opens for Collective Soul Sunday, March 7 at Shaw Conference Centre.
– Aubrey Chau
Wide Mouth Mason Where I Started (Warner)
What came first, chicken or egg? Should a record convince you to buy tickets to a concert or should a concert convince you to buy a record? With Wide Mouth Mason, everything points to the concert. Concerts convince you to go to more concerts because they rock so hard. Discs like their sophomore effort, Where I Started, convince you to go to concerts because they provide enough of a hint of blues/rock guitar prowess and a tight, tight rhythm section that listeners know there must be more where that came from. I’m here to convince you that Where I Started presents a welcome diversion from the Canuck alt-rock hordes and a wonderfully fresh approach, by three great young musicians, to some old-time rootsy grooves. It rolls and boils, then soothes and sweetens. But it comes nowhere near the power and emotion of a Wide Mouth Mason live gig.
Where I Stared hits store shelves March 9.
– Stew Slater
Holly McNarland Live Stuff (Universal)
For the most part, live albums are never meant to open new ground. They just keep a door open and, for fans, they’re like that tattered concert T-shirt – a nice souvenir. Plus, it’s an energetic way to reintroduce an artist to an audience that may have missed them the first time around.
In this case, it’s all of the above. If you’re a fan, Live Stuff is great stuff. Sure, it rehashes tunes off of her début Universal album, Stuff, with a couple of treats. But caught live, her performance has all the energy of the original, with the added butt-kick bonus of crowd noise, the fans singing along and Holly doing that MC5 kicking-out-the-jams thing. Plus, it’s a refresher course. McNarland’s songs haven’t withered with age – Elmo, The Box and Numb are still great tunes that will age well in the new millennium.
– Warren Footz
Big Rude Jake Self-titled (Attic)
– "Canadian music" icon
He’s been called everything from Crude Jake to sexist and something foul. But unlike many, Big Rude Jake’s lead singer knows this swing/bop stuff has grown from a genre where the sexy double-talk and innuendo was part and parcel of what was being laid down. It’s all in fun, it’s of it’s time and it just has to sound right.
This label début does that – it sounds right. While this white man’s jazz isn’t for all tastes, it will attract fans of that Untouchables/Cotton Club feel, swing freaks and those wondering what this jitterbug fuss is all about.
The tunes that work well are those that swing fast and then run away. The slower tunes sort of get lost in a smoke-filled speakeasy way, but perhaps they’re present on this dance card to let the dancers catch a breath.
– Warren Footz
Sleater-Kinney The Hot Rock (Kill Rock Stars)
Fair to middlin’ pop punk songs, thin production.
Lyrics like "our love is the size of these tumors inside us" are pretty good, but who can take an album’s worth of those wiggly Dickies/Belinda Carlisle-inspired vocals?
Bigger fans might like it more. Newcomers should start with Dig Me Out.
– Craig Elliott
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