enthusiastic welcoming than last time around.
That said, nothing on Only By the Night is bad per se. What’s disconcerting is the way the band has muted its energy and simplified its song structures while letting glossy production and effects pedals do the talking. The lead single, “Sex on Fire,” for instance, comes off as half-written, with a chorus that never quite connects. But, it’s got aural ammunition to rival any cutting-edge outfit.
Ironically, the band’s playing is most sophisticated on the uninteresting numbers. The opening track, “Closer,” dazzles you with bleeping synth and complex drums, but the song itself seems like boilerplate alterna-rock. Much better are the straight-up rockers “Manhattan” and “Notion,” which astutely mix classic rock melodies with danceable rhythms. Lead singer Caleb Followill’s voice and songcraft are at their best on the ballads, “Revelry” and “ Seventeen,” which also exhibit new maturity in their takes on male-female relationships.
Kings of Leon’s massive British success is probably what pushed them to move away from their old American sound. You can’t blame them for that. But, if they want to make a truly great album, they need to write the kind of songs that brought in listeners in the first place.
— Tony Sclafani
Sundazed (SC 6248)
This eponymous CD compiles 13 tracks recorded by singer-songwriter-guitarist Larry “Smokey” Mims and his sister, Vicki Mims, for Columbia Records between November 1966 and June 1967. Four songs were issued on two singles during 1967; the nine previously unreleased numbers were cut for a wondrous album that has materialized some 40 years later. A treasure for fans of baroque pop, Smokey And His Sister manifests the intricate delicacy of the Left Banke and the folk-guitar textures of Simon and Garfunkel, even plumbing the melancholy cello
passages of “Dangling Conversation.”
On the debut single “Creators Of Rain” and “In A Dream Of Silent Seas,” Smokey sings with a gentle, fragile voice and writes with a lyrical imagination likely inspired by Donovan. With bright horn charts and upbeat voices, the second single “A Lot Of Lovin’” is pure sunshine pop, and the recently uncovered “Please Stay Awhile” bounces with ’60s hit potential.
Lovely string arrangements enhance such troubadour ballads as “Losin’,” “Where There’s Fire” and “Don’t Sing To Me Of Pride,” while the brother/sister team show their natural folk roots on the acoustic “Ever Losin’ Lover” and “Come And Be Mine.” They even plug in for a vibrant folk rocker titled “A Far Better Thing,” and the liner notes helpfully outline the tale of this undeservedly obscure duo. www.sundazed.com
— Joseph Tortelli
Marillion Happiness Is The Road, Vol. 1 (Essence); Happiness Is The Road, Vol. 2 (The Hard Shoulder) MVDaudio (MVDA4814; MVDA4815)
With the two-CD set Happiness Is The Road, Marillion has taken a further step away from its prog roots and inched into a world of lush, dreamlike soundscapes — think late Pink Floyd meets Tangerine Dream. In the end, it’s Marillion, that uncategorizable quintet that writes music for itself, never knowing what the beginning or end result will be.
The music on Essence is a concept about the meaning of life and happiness, while The Hard Shoulder is an odds-and-sods mix of different sounds and ideas. Both discs are layered in sound and require a few passes to hear everything that’s going on. The recording, though, is superb and seems to open new doors with every new listen.
Vocalist Steve Hogarth has become a frighten-
DVD REVIEW
Rush
Snakes & Arrows Zoe/Anthem (01143-1124-9-RUSH)
Rush has long been known as a thinking-man’s band, and some thinking man mapped out a pretty good strategy for the band when CD sales crashed: Get back on tour and crank out concert DVDs.
And so, for a third straight tour, Rush
fanatics get a live concert DVD with the release of “Snakes & Arrows,” filmed in Holland near the end of 60-plus-dates 2007 tour that was continued with almost 50 more shows in 2008.
The band set a high standard with the award-winning DVD “Rush in Rio” in 2003, and the 30th-anniversary tour DVD in 2005 featured not only a concert filmed in Germany but also a pile of Easter eggs and bonus material dating back to the 1970s.
“Snakes & Arrows’” niche is in its sound and visuals, both of which exceed the previous DVDs by a large margin. Expecially in high def or on Blueray, this DVD looks as amazing as you would expect, but more importantly for fans, this is finally an audio mix that sounds like you’d like the band to sound live. Guitarist Alex Lifeson comes through loud and clear, which, depending on where you’re standing, isn’t always true in concert. And, as usual, he’s amazingly spot-on.
Highlights of the show include the second and third songs, “Digital Man” and “Entre Nous,” the former being possibly the best live performance the band has ever caught on tape. The lowlight is undoubtedly the audience. A “Valium in Holland” Google search netted no
ingly good lyricist, willing to expose every fiber of his being in song. In “Happiness Is The Road,” Hogarth relates a story of meeting a man who helped him cast off his baggage and realize that “Happiness ain’t at the end of the road. Happiness is the road.” It’s one of the band’s most powerful numbers. With “Essence,” Marillion has delivered another masterpiece: Listen as Hogarth carries the tune through its spiraling lyric and melody. If you blink, you also might miss the elegiac, two-minute instrumental “Liquidity,” a deeply moving track and superb band effort.
The Hard Shoulder opens with the rocking “Thunder Fly,” a sprinter and a song where guitarist Steve Rothery gets to spread his soulful wings. Amazing vocals, here, too. “The Man From The
leads, but I strongly suspect the crowd was either drugged or didn’t care that much who was playing, a real shame given the other sites on the tour that could have been filmed (The Gorge and Red Rocks in early 2008 come to mind.) The extras are not worth watching, either, with the exception of more concert video shot in Atlanta in 2008 added to the disc so all of the songs played live on the tour were represented.
Critics of the “Snakes & Arrows” album were not thrilled with the nine songs the band played from the new effort on this tour, and they may be skipping them on this DVD as well. That could be a mistake — the enthusiasm the band gives the new songs outpaces the older material. They absolutely attack “The Way the Wind Blows,” for instance.
This is a must-buy for Rush fans because of the sound and look. For the casual fan or as a gift to a casual fan, “Rush in Rio” and its crazy fans are still the place to start, and “R30” offers a better sampling of the band’s career, but almost any music lover will enjoy watching three of the world’s best musicians in a near-perfect performance.
— Rocky Landsverk
Planet Marzipan” has a distinctive Eastern vibe, with some exotic percussion, and it is the proggiest tune of the set.
“Asylum Satellite #1” is a beautiful, floating track that sounds great in headphones. “Throw Me Out” is a broken-relationship affair with a pastiche of instruments including strings, clarinet and accordion! And I love Hogarth relating an Englishman’s confusion over Major League Baseball on “Especially True.” Watch out for the unlabeled bonus track on Essence, the “Half Empty Jam” that follows a blank Track 11 on Essence. It’s one of the most energetic performances here.
— Todd Whitesel
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