My Amazon Reviews: The Romantics "The Romantics 2013 Reissue"

What We All Like
3 Out Of 5 Stars

They may not have been the most original of the skinny-tie bands of the era, but when it came to pure hi-intensity energy, few could beat the 1980 debut album by Detroit's The Romantics. Fusing bar-band guitar fury with power-pop, this album contained the now classic "What I Like About You." While it may not have broken the top 40 for The Romantics themselves, it's become something of a sports-staduim and TV commercial staple.

This was The Romantics' original lineup of singer/guitarist Wally Palmar, singer/drummer Jimmy Marinos, guitarist Mike Skill, and bassist Richie Cole. (Skill would exit after the second album.) This was an album that reveled in the period's quick and dirty recording methods, as the album took a mere three weeks. It made the sound quality a bit spotty, like the way the harmonica overwhelms the audio in "What I Like About You" or the flatness of the drums overall. Still, that couldn't hold back the energy of "When I Look Into Your Eyes" or a cover of Ray Davies' "She's Got Everything." Red leather suits and all, "The Romantics" remains one of the better calling cards in the American New Wave movement.

There are, however, some problems with the Culture Factory re-issue that are frustrating (and drop my rating from an A to a C). At the end of "What I Like About You" and "She's Got Everything," there's a digital hiccup of some sort that repeats a fraction of the second of the song's ending. I therefore can only recommend The Romantics to collectors and completists.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Undertones "The Undertones"

You Gotta Getta
5 Out of 5 Stars

This was a great blast of rock sugar from a bunch of teenage dreamers. They armed themselves with guitars, a DIY work ethic, and began bashing out three chord ditties about girls, cars, guys they were jealous of, girls and more girls. (And Mars Bars.) Whatever they may have lacked in experience, they more than made up for in exuberance. Feargel Sharkey had a voice that just boiled over with hormonal confusion and cockiness, and was so unique that no-one's matched him since. The rest of the band just tore into their instruments with all the speed that their systems' race through adolescent upheaval could keep up with. And while many slogged them off as non-political kids in punk's nihilist rage, The Undertones probably had a greater impact than most of the angry messengers of the era. Why, you may ask?

Because The Undertones inherently understood that "Teenage Kicks" and its never distant parallel of teenage pain never fade from the scope of human existence, but momentary anger of and rage at the times usually does. Well, then again, maybe they didn't at the time. But this music still means more today than most of, say, Stiff Little Fingers or Gang of Four's library. And let's face it, there was only one Clash. Seeing as most of The Undertones were under 18 at the time of their first album, "The Undertones" subject matter of "She's a Run Around" probably weighed in heavier on their lives than "Julie's In The Drug Squad."

It's that kind of joyous carousing that keeps "The Undertones" from ever once sounding like less than a rock and roll epiphany. My only real quibble is the cover art (I miss the colorful high angle shot; the drab picture used here siphons off the fun feeling of the album I originally owned). Along with the first three Ramones albums, The Undertones' first two albums are a cheering jolt of electricity from a period when you could still pick up a guitar and feel like you could say whatever was on your mind. Even if the priority topic was "Let's Talk About Girls."

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Undertones "Hypnotized"

It's Never Too Late to Enjoy Dumb Entertainment
4 Out Of 5 Stars

On their second album, The Undertones opened with what is probably one of the great self effacing songs of all time. An early criticism of the band was that they were lightweights in the shadow of punk's heavy political hitters like the Clash or the Sex Pistols. They countered with tongue planted firmly in cheek:

"So here's more songs about chocolate and girls.
It's not so easy knowing they'll be heard.
A lot less time but a lot more care,
so here's more songs about chocolate and girls."

Having taken all the starch out of their image, The Undertones then embarked on a rowdy record that pushed their envelope as writers and musicians. A year on the road (and a US tour) had sharpened them as a band, with John and Damien O'Neill becoming observant songwriters. The characters that fill the songs like "What's With Terry," "There Goes Norman" and "My Perfect Cousin" may not have been all that far removed from the debut album's "Jimmy Jimmy," but were a lot better defined. And that the songs still had the hooky charm and speed of the first record didn't hurt either.

The seeds of experimentation were just beginning to take hold as well. What was side two of the original album contained the more sophisticated song arrangements of "Wednesday Week" and "Tear Proof," finding the band toying with sonics but not yet being spoiled by them. Feargel Sharkey had become confident enough to wade into a classic cover of "Under The Boardwalk" and make it his own. Unfortunately, this maturation would sap the band's charm by the next album. To that extent, much like their debut, "Hypnotised" is a marvel of adolescent randiness and joy. If you are a lover of the pure energy of the Ramones first three platters or even the Buzzcocks, then the Undertones' first two records are must haves.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Beastie Boys "Licensed To Ill"

They are Most Def
5 Out Of 5 Stars

One of my criterion for a five star album is that it bent the popular culture in a direction where everything afterwards changed direction. The debut from The Beastie Boys did just that. The mere fact that they became the first rap act to have a number one album alone makes them historic, but the album itself still stands the test of time from 1986 on. Made by a trio of well heeled inner city brats, "Licensed to Ill" was noisy, brash, snotty and made like a punk rock album. It rocked harder than many current rock albums of the period.

That came courtesy of the sampling. Among the usual array of funk samples were lifts from Led Zepplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Clash and others. These upped the volume and the more jagged feel of "Ill," spiking the sound to match the juvenile force of the lyrics. Those words centered mostly on getting high, loose women, and partying your brains out in the most politically incorrect fashion possible. To that extent, "Fight For Your Right To Party" may be as radical a single as "Anarchy In The UK" was for the Sex Pistols.

That the Beasties also were traditional song structuralists made them more accessible. "Party," Girls" and much of the album used traditional song bridge chorus structure that made the songs concise punches of aggression and teenaged snottiness. Nobody was going to tell them what they could or could not do, which meant that their raps were punctuated by the heavy metal of a Kerry King (Slayer) guitar solo for "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." This was the album that made rap creep into the suburbs. "Licensed To Ill" was so radical an album that The Beasties never quite could make another one like it, despite their continued success (and their more mature attitudes as their success grew), making it not just a great album, but a call to arms for plenty of musicians to follow.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Donna Summer "Bad Girls"

Toot Toot, Hey, Beep Beep
5 Out of 5 Stars

Disco was always a producer's medium. Most of the records were based on a single, often made by studio musicians and just as often, not being capable of following things up. Donna Summer was part of that machine for her first few albums, which often seemed lackluster in comparison to her vibrant, catchy hit singles. But then came "Bad Girls." Summer was still teamed with a simpatico producer (the trendmaking Giorgio Morodor), but she had become the closest thing Disco had to a reigning star (quick, other than Village People, name one disco act with a lasting and recognizable career), and for the first time, an album that hung together as an entire piece. And not just a single disc, either. "Bad Girls" roared out of the box as a double disc collection.

Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" took all the tropes of disco (throbbing beats, swirling strings, catchy hooks) and made it into more than just the hits. Summer also pushed the medium by going outside the dance floor with ballads ("On My Honor"), straight ahead pop ("Dim All The Lights") and electric rock meld with the dance material (Jeff Baxter's red-hot solo in "Hot Stuff," preceding Eddie Van Halen with Micheal Jackson by a decade). Tie it to a concept about creatures of the night and the whole city scene, and you had disco's first bona fide ground-breaker. Summer helped by having the chops to carry the album vocally, while Morodor jumped effortlessly from dance to his patented Euro-sound and the poppish ends of the album.

There was much more than the classic singles. "Sunset People" would have been a hot had the times been concerned about over-exposure for albums (same with "Walk Away," a minor hit nonetheless), while closing the album's concept about waking up on the strip and seeing a new day dawn with promise. "Dim All The Lights" continued the new idea of starting a dance-floor smash with a slow into and hitting the meat of the song with a blast (think "Last Dance" and "On The Radio"). "Like everybody else," she belts on the title track, "they want to be a star." So did Summer, and "Bad Girls" said it all across two long players. Perhaps her artistic peak as a singer and writer, it's also her best album overall.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Adam Lambert "Tresspassing"

Border Smashing
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Adam Lambert is the real thing. He is charismatic, flamboyant and sings his @ss off. He isn't here to make you like him, he's here to make you pay attention. He's not just there to shock you, he's here to make 100% certain that he was all everyone talks about afterwards. And they do. For days. Lambert laid it all on the table; from his sexuality to his theater background, all so you'd take notice. There hasn't been someone so blatantly lunging fists first at rock stardom since Billy Corgan smashed his pumpkins. And his new album is even better than the debut.

"Trespassing" quits the all-over-the-place song-styling of "For Your Entertainment" and concentrates on dance-rock. He cuts right to the chase on the title track and opening song, where he pounds out a drum/bass line worthy of Queen and states up front "No Trespassing, yeah well my *ss, wait till you get a hold of me." Make no mistake, Adam is out to make you dance (Nile Rodgers and Sam Sparrow guest on the slinky "Shady") while "Pop That Lock" trades on both dance and EDM style without giving up an inch of Adma-style. That may be because this time, Lambert has songwriter's credit on almost all the disc's tracks, as opposed to "FYE," where almost every song was outsider composed and usually by a star/stunt guest (Pink, Weezer, Justin Hawkins of the Darkness, etc).

Even the outsider songs have punch. "Better Than I Know Myself" continues the formula of the ballads like "Whataya Want From Me" from the debut. There's a cathedral of multi-tracked Lamberts and a climaxing production. Same with "Never Close Our Eyes," a Bruno Mars song that has a plenty of soul. Lambert explores both his vocal range and his emotional one on "Trespassing," with two ballads, the interesting "Underneath" and the stunning closer "Outlaws of Love." Without saying it explicitly, it's the main exploration of Adam's out-ness, (or the night after the party ends, you choose), but is sure sounds like a defensive pose in favor of relationships.

The funny thing is, "Outlaws" may be the album's most restrained performance. Adam maybe be the kind of man for whom over-the-top is merely a barrier to be conquered as often as possible, but when he "they say we'll rot in hell, well, I don't think we will. They've branded us enough, Outlaws of Love." As stunning as he is when he's glamming it up on the dance floor, Adam can be more effective when he's pulling back on the reins. He'll be doing some dates as Freddie Mercury with Queen this year, but the Adam Lambert of "Trespassing" is his own man now.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Darkness "Hot Cakes"

Seas of Sleeveless T-Shirts
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Cheesy, Sleazy and Tongue in cheekily, The Darkness make their return with their third CD, "Hot Cakes." (No, not the Carly Simon album from 1974...). From the pseudo-seventies sexism of the cover art to the glammy Queen-sized vocals and AC/DC guitar chunks, they sounds like they've not missed a beat since "One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back." They're half hard rock tribute and half inside joke, with the terrific part that Justin Hawkins knows that they can rock as hard as they wannabe and that they're 100% cool with being in on the joke.

Take the opening track, "Every Inch of You." Telling a semi-autobiographical tale of a "English man with a very high voice" who discovers Led Zepplin who went from "loser" to the man for whom all audience members want to suck in a protruding body part...wailed in that very high voice. Then you get the total Queen ripoff, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" and the Angus slamming guitars of "Everybody Have a Good Time." Derivative stuff all, and every inch of it pure fun. Even the hoary power ballads come off with a wink. The Darkness are smart enough to know that they possess about as much menace as a litter of puppies and subtlety of any given British Tabloid.

It's that they have this much obvious glee in doing what they do that makes them so likeable. "Hot Cakes" won't break any new ground, but don't let that stop you. I'd take the self-informed fun of The Darkness over the parodied self importance of a cookie-monster vocal-led rock band any day of the week.