Monkeys cd reviews [Archive]

Monkeypunch

11-17-04, 12:49 AM

Okay, I loved Frank's cd review thread, and I LOVE music, so I thought I'd write up some cd reviews of my own. hope this is cool.

May as well start off with the last cd I bought...

NOFX - "The Greatest Songs Ever Written"

Five out of Five stars

NOFX have been one of the best punk rock bands around for 21 years now, and yet they've never had the success that their peers, like Green Day and Rancid, have achieved. You won't see a NOFX video on MTV or hear them on your local alternative station, but they have persevered, much like other great punk bands of the past, through word of mouth, relentless touring, and releasing consistently great albums. "The Greatest Songs Ever Written" is a collection of their best songs from their 12 previous albums as well as a new song, "Wore Out the Soles of My Party Boots."

NOFX is not a band for people who get offended easily. They wear their anti-authority politics blatantly on their sleeves, as in the songs "Idiots Have Taken Over," "Separation of Church and State," their classic,"Don't Call Me White," and the newer "Franco Un-American." Then there are the songs that are just there to provoke. "Murder the Government," "Kill All the White Man," and the deliriously sick "Party Enema" are both hilarious and shocking. There really isn't a single weak song on the entire cd. NOFX portray themselves as the last sane people left on earth, the keepers of punk's dying flame, and as angry young(ish) men standing up to the government. Frontman and primary songwriter Fat Mike is also a political activist and a strong voice for independant record distributors, with his Fat Wreck Chords label, and his 2 volume Rock Against Bush cd series.

If you've never listened to NOFX, "The Greatest Songs Ever Written" is a great starting point. One complaint, and it is a minor one, is that it doesn't have their hilariously raunchy single "Liza and Louise" on it. That's the first song of theirs I ever heard and that made me a fan for life.

Monkeypunch

11-24-04, 02:19 AM

Nirvana - With The Lights Out

5 out of 5 stars. (highest possible recommendation!)

Finally, the cd box set that was meant to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Nirvana's breakthrough album, Nevermind, finds it's way into the hands of fans around the world. After much, much hype, I have to say it was more than worth the wait. Three discs worth of unreleased demos, b-sides and live performances truly capture, in my opinion, what Nirvana really was like. I hate to sound like one of those snobs who are like "you had to be there to understand," but seeing Kurt Cobain being filtered through the Jim Morrison "young, sexy, and dead" youth messiah mold sickens me. This cd set sets the record straight, however. If you think that Unplugged In New York is Nirvana's best album, and is representative of their work, prepare yourself to be disabused of this idea.

Disc one offers up early recordings of a teenage Kurt Cobain and Krist novoselic (and their never ending parade of drummers) bashing out sometimes silly, sometimes great punk/metal hybrids as well as some really unique covers. The set opens with a sarcastic attack on Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker," played to a crowd of less than thrilled frat boys at Nirvana's first show, a house party in 1987. From there we get oddball songs like "Help Me, I'm Hungry," "Mrs. Butterworth," and the screamingly awful (and hilarious) "Raunchola/Moby Dick," a Cobain original that culminates in probably the worst drum solo ever recorded. The highlights of disc one are three Leadbelly covers recorded under the name "Jury," with Mark Lanegan and mark pickerel of fellow seattle scenesters Screaming Trees on Guitar and drums. Kurt sings in a low drawl and the band sheds the feedback and metal riffs in favor of an almost countrified rockabilly sound on "They Hung Him on A Cross" and "Aint it a Shame." the real shame is that "Jury," later renamed "Lithium," only recorded three songs, and not a full album.

Disc 2 covers the pre-Nevermind, post-Bleach Nirvana, and supplies many early versions of soon to be famous songs, as well as b-sides and a few covers, most notably, "Here She Comes Now," a noisy, messy , groggy Velvet Underground cover, and the full out punk blast of the Wipers' "Return of the Rat." Also of note are a mumbled, barely coherent version of a song that was later given to Courtney love and Hole, "Old Age," a much more sinister version of "Sliver," early cuts of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," and "Breed," and two seperate versions of Nirvana's most famous song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." A rough demo recorded on a boom box buy Kurt and Krist, and the original Butch Vig (Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins) mix, before it was sweetened by Andy Wallace's more commercial production.

Disc 3 has a lot of In Utero outtakes, songs forced off the album by a wary Geffen Records, like "I Hate Myself and I want to Die," which was not actually about suicide, and "Moist Vagina," a song that both glorifies sex and marijuana use in just over a furious and funny three minutes. One of the disc's highlights is a demo for "Rape Me" which features unintentional vocals by Kurt's infant daughter Francis, who can be heard wailing in the background. The disc ends with songs that were being recorded for what was meant to be the follow up to In Utero in 1994, a raw version of "You Know You're right," a new song "Do Re Mi," and an early demo of "Jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam."

Finally, Disc 4 is a dvd of the band's home videos and scattered live performances from 1988 all the way until 1994. Krist Novosellic and Dave Grohl have chosen entirely amatuer footage, instead of professionally shot performances from Mtv or SNL, and I am grateful for that. I don't ever want to see the truly depressing MTV new years eve concert ever again. in it, Kurt looks listless and bored, annoyed by the intrusive set dressing of fake trees and angel statues, and at the end, destroys them in a rage. Plus, the phot of Kurt with angel wings...yeah, i can do without that image. Let the mopey teens who didn't grow up with this and worship the superficial image being marketed to them in the Nirvana's Greatest Hits CD have that one. I'd rather have the wonderfully silly and strangely poignant cover of "Seasons in the Sun" that closes the DVD, with a smiling Kurt flatly singing barely remembered words while playing drums, Dave playing bass, and Krist barely keeping up on lead guitar. It's a brilliant moment that really brought tears to my eyes.

to sum up, Nirvana - With the Lights Out goes a long way to make people remember how Nirvana really was, not the way books and the inevitable movie would have you believe. They could be silly, they could be juvenile, but they were always riveting and they will always matter.