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DVDfever.co.uk – Black Lips: 20 Million Thousand CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Vice Records
- Released: March 2009
- Rating: 6/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Rock? Not as you might recognise it.
God knows why, but sometimes you hear something that wouldnt normally register on your music radar. It really is inexplicable.
And so it is with Black Lips. These self-confessed flower punks from Atlanta Georgia now release their fifth album.Black Lips make me think of the band that reputedly created garage rock and punk, Detroits protopunkers MC5.Having recently, and for the first time, listened to one of the greatest live albums of all-time kick Out The Jams (1969) you can see where Black Lips are sort of coming from.
Their ruffnready swagger is reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones (still), though no direct musical comparisons exist. Theres also darkness to their mood that seems to emanate from The Doors.Released on Vice Records, 20 Million..brings a totally refreshing take on 21st century rock, despite being rooted in the 60s.In part, apart from an apparent sloppy attitude, their music has a naivety missing in todays rock. Dont be fooled these boys can play, even if the singers a bit, well, not that good, though in a wacky way, suits their ramblings.
If Black Lips could come up with consistently good songs they might make some serious headway. As they stand, they probably wont. Often shambolic – Big Black Jesus Of Today, The Drop I Hold, Body Combat, Elijah, I Saw God, and unnecessary final untitled track, they can counter this some decent rock.
It opens with freewheeling Take My Heart, and they soon find their mojo on a comparatively (lightweight by their standards) soft-rock tinged Drugs, though as with many of their songs, the lyrics are barely understandable. Starting Again is possibly their best organised song as they jangly guitar work owes much to late 60s. Pity the singers wailing destroys it.
They hit their peak on almost popified ballad Ill Be With You and riffy Short Fuse. Most interesting track ? The hippy styled Old Man is a classic, where they actually appear to be taking things seriously.Black Lips can be a very, very frustrating band. With some guidance they have potential be a really good band.
The verdict – 20 Million should have been cropped down to around nine or ten tracks.
Weblinks:blacklips.com /deadocenas.com
Radio: Hear tracks soon on THE PLUG atwrexham.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Take My Heart
2. Drugs
3. Starting Over
4. Let It Grow
5. Trapped In A Basement
6. Short Fuse
7. Ill Be With You
8. Big Black Baby Jesus Of Today
9. Again And Again
10. Old Man
11. The Drop I Hold
12. Body Combat
13. Elijah
14. I Saw GoidView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.