FEATURED REVIEW............................................................12 JUN 2006
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Artist:
THE BOTTLE ROCKETS |
The pride of Festus is back with their eighth full-length release. Equal parts Crazy-Horse-inspired snarl and acoustic, front-porch alt.country, Zoysia is the band's strongest work in years.
Among our favorite tracks on the album, "Happy Anniversary" [REAL AUDIO CLIP] is a Drive-By-Truckers-esque slow burn of a song, and contains some of the album's cleverist turns of phrase (i.e the evocative "plastic plate of sorrow from a buffet of regret").
The laid-back picker "Blind" [REAL AUDIO CLIP] is equally enjoyable, with its potshots at polite bigotry and American Idolatry.
Naturally, it being our job to call bullsh*t on needless cheeze, we'd be shirking our duties were we to ignore Zoysia's few choice nuggets. Foremost among the offenders is "I Quit," an unmitigated hunk of cheeze funk, complete with overblown backing chorus. Expanding one's musical horizons is one thing; this is something else.
"Mountain to Climb," [DOWNLOAD mp3] meanwhile, sounds for all the world like the Bottle Rockets are launching into a cover of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," given the opening riff. The song resolves itself into a reasonable rocker, but is marred nonetheless by superfluous handclaps. If you're not playing an instrument, boys, keep the meathooks in your pockets.
"Align Yourself" [REAL AUDIO CLIP] has launched a debate here at the home office. Are megaphone vocals cheezy, or aren't they? Your thoughts? Clearly Henneman is being clever here--the megaphone connects nicely with the song's commentary on Americans' penchant for jackboot conformity. Still, we're not convinced it entirely works. (And the fact that the song's chanted litany is reminiscent of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" doesn't help things, either.)
They last mite-o'-cheeze we must mention shows up in the otherwise superb title track, "Zoysia" [REAL AUDIO CLIP]. For whatever reason, some sort of flange effect has been applied to the vocals on the chorus. Why, pray tell? Was producer Jeff Powell trying to salvage scratch vocals? We'd love to hear a rough mix of the song, pre-flange. Still, we dig the instrumental outro.
In summation: A solid effort that harkens back to the Bottle Rockets' salad days. A smattering of cheeze and the lamentable "I Quit," however, earn the boys two-and-a-half cheezeballs.
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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