Jet - Get Born

YOURZ

The deliciously derivative debut from Aussies Jet took the band to the metaphorical heights of the rock industry with tracks Are You Gonna Be My Girl and Rollover DJ.  As an album, it's further proof that the world loves and regularly needs big fat, classic-sounding rock to feed its insatiable, beer-swillling, devil-horns throwing hands-in-the-air needs.

Oh yeah, it sounds like just about any rock and roll outfit of the last 30 or so years.  And they haven't been able to repeat the success of this album.  But so what?  Who gives a fuck?  This is foot-to-the-floor, flatout rock except when it resorts to rock balladry.  But either way, it's well-played, well-polished and absolutely necessary.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

A few days ago I was listening to the radio when the announcer was sounding off about Jet's new release - which he said was the same as all their others - ripping off classic rock riffs.  He then played a few songs to prove his point.  I remember thinking at the time - bitter much?  I mean there he is, playing tunes on a Sydney radio station that less than five per cent of the city's population listens to (according to the latest Nielsen survey) and there they are, at the start of a 33-gig national tour supporting Aussie legends Powderfinger.  I know who I'd rather be.

But I'll concede the announcer had a point, after listening to this album all the way through today.  That's something I haven't really done, becasue I put most of it on the gymPod (a Shuffle) when I first got it so I've generally only heard the songs by themselves.

So let's play the game!  Well, you can see just from the album cover this band is screaming "rip-off", as it closely resembles the artwork on the cover of The Beatles' Revolver (reviewed just a few days ago.)  Last Chance is an AC/DC riff, we all know Are You Gonna Be My Girl is Iggy Pop, while I hear some Status Quo on Roll Over DJ.  Look What You've Done is very Beatles, but with a hint of Oasis (made a fool of everyone?) and then Get What You Need moves back to a Quo-ishness.  Move On is somewhere between the Eagles and Neil Young, while Radio Song confused me because I couldn't pin it down.  Get Me Outta Here and Cold Hard Bitch are AC/DC all over, Come Around Again has has a West Coast feel (Henley?) Take It or Leave It is sorta Zeppelin, Lazy Gun is weird because it goes between T Rex and Pink Floyd (who knew that could work in a mash-up?) and then Timothy is definitely Floyd.

Wasn't that fun?  Ah, come on, Jet are everybody's favourite covers band playing their own songs.  Don't you think?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.jettheband.com/

Easy Star All-Stars - Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band

YOURZ

They're clever fellas, those Easy Star All-Star boys.  First they tackled one of the pillars of psychedelia with Dub Side Of The Moon, a very faithful retelling in the reggae, dub and ska vernacular of the Pink Floyd classic.  They followed this up with a retelling of Radiohead's Okay Computer called Radiodread.

But it is this reverent reinterpretation of what is arguably The Beatles greatest album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, that is my favourite.  As Mine says, there is so much built-in recognition of the tracks, particularly as the All-Stars work hard to recreate the wonderful layers of sound and vocals.  It is faithful and infinitely likeable.  In fact, I think even a hardened Beatles fan couldn't help but enjoy this.

When I first heard this, I couldn't believe how easily some of the tracks fit the style.  For The Benefit Of Mr Kite perfectly suited the dub retelling while A Day In The Life sounded as powerful as the original ever was, with a killer horn section.

They could be viewed as a novelty act, simply using reggae.  But the reality of each of their releases so far points at something far more reverent, musically adept and attuned.  Can't wait to hear what they do next.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Well I'm really glad  the pointy stick landed on this album and not the others - as my complete lack of Radiohead appreciation is well known, and I prefer this album to Dark Side of the Moon anyway.

I know all the words to all the songs - it's like they're embedded in my DNA or something - and the All-Stars don't do anything too horrific to the tunes.  There's a great deal of respect for the tunes, which still stand and shine on their own.  I really liked the fact that they got a female vocalist to do She's Leaving Home (my favourite track on the album) because it really fits well with the feeling of the song.

Other cheeky changes include calling the cellophane flowers in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds "red, gold and green" (Rasta colours) rather than "yellow and green," and asking Lovely Rita to "smoke some tea with me."    Not one for the Beatles purists, but a fresh way to hear tunes that are essential in the soundtrack to my life.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/easystarallstars

In our collection, we also have: Dub Side Of The Moon and Radiodread

The Ramones - Anthology

MINE

From the first "Hey! Ho! Let's Go!" to the last fading away of that raw guitar sound, this anthology just leaps out of the stereo into my ears and keeps me humming snatches all day.  Which can be a bit dodgy when you're singing I Wanna Be Sedated under your breath in the break room at work.

I can say I've seen the Ramones, during a trip to Adelaide when the Formula One Grand Prix was still held there (1989) and we hadn't planned it at all.  We heard extra tickets were going on sale at the venue, and queued up for hours in what I recall was absolutely boiling-hot weather in a car park with no shade.  But it was worth it.

The boys delivered a blistering set, at such volume I recall I actually moved to the back of the venue fearing I'd suffer permanent hearing loss.  This from a girl about to sit trackside at a Formula One meet for four days.  What was I thinking?  I scored one of my most treasured merchandise purchases therre - my Ramones shorts, which were admired by many over the next several years.  Unfortunately these went missing in our last move (sulk).  (YourZ sez: I'm still convinced they're in a suitcase under the bed)

Re-listening to the tunes, what surprises me is that they're a lot slower than I was expecting.  Is this because they were faster played live, or because my memory of the recordings is faulty?  (YourZ sez: I'd love to say it's your memory, honey, but I know it's because they played everything way faster live)  (We only recently added this CD to our collection, thanks Col!)  Whatever, it's a great way to start or end your day, or for any time in between.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP fun, fun... oh baby

YOURZ

This collection came to us by way of my Dad.  We were at our favourite mega-store, checking out cheap music and looking at new laptops with my folks.  I'd wandered off to look for something and Dad followed.  I was poring over the CD racks (heh, heh, he said 'rack') and Dad was standing in the aisle, ogling at the sheer number of CDs.  I was wearing my much-loved but falling-to-bits Ramones tshirt and he pointed out this collection and asked if I had it.  When I said no, he offered to buy it as a gift for Mine and YourZ truly.  He wouldn't take no for an answer, thankfully.

To top it off, when we got home later, both he and my Mum wanted to hear it.  I wasn't sure about this but not only did they stay and listen all the way through the first disc, but they both said they actually liked it because it reminded them a lot of the 'old rock and roll' tunes they loved when they were young.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  (Scary, ain't it?) 

The only other anecdote I have about them is the one where a friend overheard a young woman talking to her friend about his tshirt.  He had to correct her after she pronounced the name as The Ram Ones.  This still makes me giggle.

Anyway, I feel like I'm gonna make a big hypocrite out of myself, particularly after the way I carried on about the Pink Floyd compilation yesterday but I'm gonna plead ignorance and damn the consequences.  (Mine says: Blame youth and inexperience tempered with long and faithful service)  This is, hands down, the best fucking collection we have.  The booklet and rare photos that accompany it are superb and the track listing includes material from their entire career.  There are no exceptions or fillers on this - every track is a killer. 

Thanks Dad, you old punk-rocker, you!

VERDICT: TURN IT UP gabba, gabba, hey!

For more information: http://www.last.fm/music/Ramones

In our collection we also have We're Outta Here

Pink Floyd - Echoes

YOURZ 

When we first started this project, I wanted to exclude best of CDs.  Mine argued against it mainly because I couldn't, at the time, come up with a satisfactory reason.  She is a girl who likes to know why, dammit all. (Mine says: I wonder why that is? hee hee)

Well, this CD is the best of reasons.  While the individual tracks are outstanding, their context is completely lost.  And Pink Floyd, for all they're known as, are big on context. Floyd releases weren't just a date, they were an event.  Conceptually one of the most ambitious and successful bands in the world, they continue to delight and inspire generations of fans, like very few others bands can do.

But if I've got to do this review, I'm going to have to talk about my favourite Floyd album.  For most, it's a generational thing.  If you're older, like me, it's Dark Side Of The Moon and if you're younger, not like me, it's The Wall.  But not to be difficult, my favourite is neither of these (although both these albums are in my favourites of all time list).  Mine is Wish You Were Here.

I remember buying the album and playing it non-stop, only pausing to turn it over.  I was living by myself in a single room (at the time I was in the defence services - the less said about that the better).  This music took me to places I'd never been before even though I was straight, sober and very, very green.  I loved this album so much.  I still have that copy even though we don't have a record player.  I will never part with it.

As far as Echoes goes, I will take my lead from Mine.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT and buy the box set

MINE

When the pointy stick landed on this YourZ was a bit surprised to find it in my collection - and I explained it was a radio-industry freebie.  I've mostly ignored this CD because the mere concept of listening to a bunch of Floyd songs NOT in the order they were originally presented - i.e. not on the original albums - seems to me somewhat distasteful.  An opinion I know is shared by the band, whose efforts to stop the single-sale of songs via download has been taking up lots of time in various courts.  I think they won - but who knows?

Anyway, it's kind of strange to listen to Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 when it's not followed by Mother, or to not hear the chinks and chimes of Money following The Great Gig In The Sky.  But what listening to this album made me realise is that I absolutely frakkin' LOVE Pink Floyd.  Me.  The person who turns her nose up at anything remotely prog-rocky in today's music.

Floyd were a large part of my teen years and in fact formed an integral part of my introduction to.... you guessed it... marijuana.  I had a group of friends (Hi Kathy, Joy, Bernie and Cheryl!) and we used to have one afternoon off school each week for sport.  Like we ever raised a sweat.  Anyway our sport consisted of sitting at somebody's house passing the bong, and very often listening to Dark Side Of The Moon.  When we weren't listening to Black Sabbath or Kiss.  Positively stereotypical for the late 70s, don't you think?

But my best Floyd memory is of The Wall and listening to it in the home of a friend (male, not my boyfriend) soon after it was released - late '79.  He put it on the turntable and we lay on his sofa and listened to it.  I think the only thing he said was "Other side?" when side one ended, and all I said was "Yes, please."  I remember walking home afterwards, with the songs reverberating through my head.  So my vote for Echoes shouldn't come as a surprise.

PS I never knew it until we saw a documentary show on the band but Dave Gilmour was a real SORT, wasn't he?  He's aged well, too...

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT and buy the box set

For more information: http://www.pinkfloyd.com/