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| From | Shawn Huckaby <tikiking@att.net> |
| Subject | New fave rave: Ted Leo |
| Date | Tue, 07 Oct 2003 09:01:20 -0600 |
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Haven't heard this one mentioned here, but I am absolutely swooning over
the new Ted Leo & the Pharmacists disc, "Hearts of Oak".
I came to this CD completely ignorant of any of Ted Leo's former work,
though at least AMG seems to think at least some of it (in the band
Chisel) was pretty influential in the mod/punk revival of the early 90s.
I jumped solely based on an almost unqualified rave on the Pitchfork
site; and man, am I ever glad I did.
Imagine all of the best elements of every band you ever heard between
1977 and 1981 rolled into one supercharged bundle. Name checks are all
over the place, but I definitely hear a LOT of early-nervey Joe Jackson,
maybe some EC (esp. in the romantic yet snarly lyrics),the Jam, even
some Thin Lizzy (and I mean that in a good way!). My wife even thought
I had slipped in something new from Adam Marsland--a similar balls-out
approach to his falsetto I think.
God I love these bands that wear their hearts that far out on their
sleeve; this guy sings like he has something important to say, damnit,
and once you check the liner notes you see that there's a hell of a lot
going on there. Check out 'Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone' for an
unabashed love letter to the turbulence and (perhaps naive) idealism of
the 2-tone scene. Or 'The Ballad of the Sin Eater' which covers
T.E.Lawrence, Beau Geste, the road to Damascus, and the Manifestation of
Doubt all within 4 minutes!
Intelligent songwriting, plenty of hooks (and amped up guitars), and a
frontman singing like his life's in the balance. That's a trifecta in
my book. Suffice it to say that I didn't even make it throught the
entire CD before I was back online to snap up the rest of the
Pharmacist's catalogue.
Anybody else knocked out by these guys??
Best,
Shawn Huckaby
PS: an aside to Adam... have you heard this? His falsetto and total
investment in delivery really does remind me of you!
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