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| Artist: | "THE ELEVATOR DROPS" |
| Title: | "PEOPLE MOVER" |
| Label: | Time Bomb Recordings |
| Available: | Most Major Music Stores |
| Reviewed By: | Dave Merrill |
| Rating: |  |
| Boston band, "The Elevator Drops," are Dave Goolkasian on bass
and vocals, Garvey J. on guitar and vocals and Scott Fitts on drums and
vocals. They released their first album "Pop Bus" just over a
year ago. The band wears garish make-up on stage, sort of like "David
Bowie" did during his Ziggie Stardust days. Real background information
on the band is hard to come by. Their story is different each time they
tell it. Their new album, "People Mover," was recorded in Detroit.
It's named after the monorail that circles that city. "Sentimental Love" opens with an eerie whistling synthesizer sound. It ends with a snap and quick guitar notes take over. The song reminds me of early new wave records I heard in the late seventies, like "The Vapors. (In case you don't remember them, and there's no reason you should, they did the song, "Turning Japanese.") Atmospheric synthesizer weaves in and out of the quick guitar strokes as vocal and backing vocals overlay. The chorus, "sentimental love," alternates with poppy sounding ooh ooh's. In the beginning, "Coke and Amphetamines" sounds like a "Beatle's" song on those drugs. It quickly shifts to something that sounds like "Yes" and dissolves into something entirely different. It ends with the "Beatles" sound again. "Right Back Home" is completely different from the first two songs. It has more of a straightforward rock sound to it. It's about being too tired to even make love. "Tokyo Techno" starts out all electronic and wispy. Crashing heavy metal guitar invades the quiet electronic sound, then alternates between the two. The song is all instrumental and less than two minutes long. "Proto" sounds like the first song. It's very early new wave, and sounds a little like "Devo" from their early albums. "Maybe, I Don't Know" sounds like surf music at the beginning, but soon lapses into the new wave sound. Other parts of the song sound a bit like "Jane's Addiction." It's a strange blend of alternative styles with some pop mixed in. With its fifties rockabilly influence and horn section, "Public Transport Authority. . ." doesn't sound anything like the rest of the songs. It reminds me most of "The J. Geil's Band." They sing, "Spend my days high on medication/ Hands in the pocket, waiting at the station/ Scoobie doo ah/ Watchin' all the girls go by. . ." "The Elevator Drops" has so many influences, listening to this album is like listening to a schizophrenic make music. There's no way to know what will emerge from your speakers next. "Space Song" sounds most like "Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark" from the early eighties. It's a good song. "$7 Single" has seventies pop rock at its roots, and this one sounds like "The Hooters." "The March of the Kraftwerk Replicants" is a strange song. It begins with eerie string-like synthesizer, quietly building to a crescendo and the sound of synthesized marching feet and drums. It's about a minute and a half long. "Rats" is indescribable, but I'll try. It's a very strange song. It's very soft with wacky strings and piano. The opening lyric gives an idea of what the song is like, "The rats down here are bigger than cats/ They'll bite your neck while you sleep/ With hypodermic heroin needles for teeth. . ." A pulsing synthesizer rhythm marks most of "The Theme to the Gary Newman Show." Atmospheric synthesizer weaves in and out of the beat. It's two minutes long and all instrumental. "Proto Eleven" echoes the earlier song "Proto" but the words and sound are completely different. This one reminds me of "The Boomtown Rats" (of "I Don't Like Mondays" fame). The song is more manic sounding than the earlier one. They lift the refrain from the Who's "I Can See for Miles." "Unibomber Vs. Hollywood" opens with soft guitar. It opens with the lyric, "Keep the devil down/ Hollywood, big fat whore/ Everywhere, shades of War/ Unibomber, PepsiCo/ Futureshock, none of it matters at all/ Keep a good man down. . ." After this the song gets loud for a moment, then returns to the soft guitar and lyric. It gets loud again with lots of distorted guitar, which changes over to drum and bass beats. This part reminds me of concert solos from the seventies. The song climaxes and goes into soft synthesizer. The vocal, "Thank you all for coming down. . ." reinforces the feeling of a concert being simulated. "People Mover" is a short instrumental piece with reedy sounding synthesizer. It's soft for a while, then goes loud, as though entering the monorail station. "Starlight" has a warm melodic feeling to it. The refrain, "Starlight/ Dancin' to the radio. . ." is infectious. It takes hold of you and won't let go. It reminds me most of the old rock anthem songs of the late seventies. "Morphiglobe" starts out as an acoustic folk song. Of course, that changes, as other instruments join in and the song goes loud. Then it's back to acoustic again. The song ends and there's silences for about ten seconds. Some weird synthesizer noises follow the silence - like an elephant trumpeting to a car alarm. "People Mover" is a wide ranging album. It's the history of rock music shaken and stirred into a heady melange that only "The Elevator Drops" could decipher or produce. You never know where the songs will go next. There's something here for every rock music taste. But by the same token, it's unlikely you'll like all of the songs. It shows the versatility of the band, but it makes the album somewhat inaccessible. As soon as you start to get into it, the album makes a major leap to something completely different. Even so, there are some very good songs here. It's worth a second look. |
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| Artist: | "JACK OFF JILL" |
| Title: | "SEXLESS DEMONS AND SCARS" |
| Label: | Risk Records |
| Available: | Most Major Music Stores |
| Reviewed By: | Dave Merrill |
| Rating: |  |
| In late 1992 Jessicka (vocals), "Agent" Moulder (Bass and keyboards),
Lauracet Simpson (drums), and HoHo Spade (guitar) formed the South Florida
band "Jack Off Jill." Their new album, "Sexless Demons and
Scars," was produced by Don Fleming, who also produced albums for "Hole"
and Sonic "Youth." Many of the songs on their new album are about self hate or hatred of everyone else, particularly the new single, "American Made." "My world is evil but American made/ Give me something easy that I an complicate/ Something healthy that I can infect/ Give me a mate in a crippled state. . .," sings Jessicka. "American Made" is heavy on deep bass chords in the beginning. Jessicka's high voice overlays the bass and contrasts with it. Soon, the guitar and drums join in. The song ends with a scream and some final guitar riffs. "Horrible" is much the same. She sings "I can't exist anymore/ 'til I destroy you/ I hate everyone. . ." Deep bass lines mix with raucous guitar as Jessicka screams over the music. "My Cat" has a more infectious bass line that dominates the song in the beginning. Occasional guitar riffs interrupt until the chorus of the song. At this point the guitar takes over, screaming behind Jessicka's voice. It's a funny tune full of innuendo. "My cat is amazing/ He can play the guitar/ He may not be an actor/ But he's a pussy superstar." "Super Sadist" is exactly what you'd expect. It's very repetitive. The word super appears twenty-eight times in the song. It sounds a bit like music from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" but not as good. "Devil With the Black Dress On" is a little more upbeat musically. It's more interesting than the other songs. Jessicka is "The Devil With the Black Dress On," and she sings, "Do you want to hate me, Angel/ Cause I ate you now you're gone. . ." "Girlscout" is about leaving innocence behind and hating it. It's also about being screwed by the world and hating to the point of screwing it back. "Fuck what I want/ Fuck what I need/ I'll sacrifice what I believe. . ." This album is not for the timid. The song is interesting in its viewpoint of the rock world and being a star. The heavy bass line persists on "Swollen." Jessicka screams about her swollen lips and pissing in her "chew head toy's" eyes and mouth. "Poor Impulse Control" is musically the most interesting song on the album. It also marks a shift in the album toward more thoughtful lyrics. The heavy bass line is here, but the chorus is infectious. The guitar solo is well placed with Jessicka moaning in the background. The other songs seem robbed of energy by comparison. "All that I'll ever trust. . ./ All that I'll ever see/ All that I'll ever abuse/ You can always cover it with makeup." "Lollirot" takes the view that we're all nice and sugar coated on the outside, while inside we're rotten and withered. "Evil boy still the best/ Peanut butter smeared on his chest/ get real close/ You'll get a taste of lollirot. . ." "Covet" is about rape and its consequences, the hate that it represents. It's also about embracing that hate. The song "Working with Meat" perhaps sums up the whole album. "We are desensitized/ Shove comfort up my nose/ I feel dysfunctional/ But numb enough for two. . ." "Cumdumpster" sees Jessicka viewing herself negatively, as a cumdumpster, a cunt. But the view came from after school specials. I'd like to think these two songs are critiques of television and American society, showing what it does to women. But that isn't clear here. I may be thinking too deeply about what is written. If I'm not, the two songs are quite good. "Everything's Brown" is another song about innocence lost. At first "everything was clean. . .," then ". . .everything's brown." Jessicka sings, "You can't erase what you are/ So don't even try/ And how can I be truthful/ When everything I am is a lie. . ." At the end of "Everything's Brown," the CD player jumps to "song" 53 and runs through to song 99, which is a bonus track called, "Fuck Angels." At 99 the CD counts a minute backwards before the song actually starts. It's one of the better songs on the album sporting the line, "When angels fuck/ and devils kiss. . ." The song closes with piano and Jessicka screaming, "It will always hurt, you Fucking asshole." It's a fitting ending to the album. "Jack Off Jill" left me feeling as though I may have missed something, like there's something below the surface here that they aren't showing us yet. Are they just heavy metal babes with an attitude or are they trying to say something else? Only time, more albums and more shows will reveal the truth. |
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| Artist: | "ERIC CARMEN" |
| Title: | "ERIC CARMEN: DEFINITIVE COLLECTION" |
| Label: | Arista |
| Available: | Any Major Music Store |
| Reviewed By: | Marlene Taylor |
| Rating: | |
| I have to admit that when I was asked to review this album I choked down
a laugh. Well, was I ever wrong! "Go All The Way" is the first
song on this album. Ok, so this song hit the charts 25 years ago. I still
remember it. I know I'm showing my age, but I like it! After all, this IS
the "Definitive Collection." "I Wanna Be With You" is the next song up... very very upbeat and, well, it reminds me of the way I felt on a lonely night when I was a teen. "Let's Pretend" is a dreamy song. It's a fantasy, one I'm not in on, but it's not my least favorite! "Tonight" is an ok song, but not one I'd fight over to buy at the record store. "Overnight Sensation," which was a hit record back in 1974 is a good listen. It definitely gave me hope, which is a hard thing to do. "All By Myself" is next up on this album. I think we've all heard it and more to the point, I think we've all felt it. Eric Carmen expresses it pretty well in this tune and it's a lifelong keeper if you are perpetually unhappy. "Sunrise" is a tune that has lots of potential. It's one of those songs that keeps you going and going, continually waiting on the climax. It's a very good listen. But, I'm always looking for a little sunshine. "That's Rock N' Roll" is nice. A little predictable, but hey, aren't we all? "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" is the next tune. And haven't we ALL said that one time or another? This just reinforces it. Now if we just could keep our promises to ourselves . . . Ah, but if we did, we wouldn't be able to cry over this song time after time. "No Hard Feelings" almost reminds me of the Beatles. It's got that pop beat. And I hope there are no hard feelings about that. Other songs include: "Boats Against The Current," which is a great slow dance song. I know from experience. "She Did It," and I guess she really did. This song is OK in my book. "Change of Heart" is a little sad for me, though. "Hey Deanie" is pretty cool, actually. Lots of clapping in the song, especially in the beginning and a definite beat you can dance to if you want! "Desperate Fools" is a soft and slow song. Emotional highs and lows are thrown in as well. "The Way We Used To Be" is one of those tear jerker songs that always make me cry. "Hungry Eyes," you should remember from the movie "Dirty Dancing." Any explanation needed there? Yep, I love the song. "Make Me Lose Control" is the last song on this album. Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I do still like this song! Take me over the edge and make me lose control. Gotta love it! |
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