THINK MAGAZINE • SOUNDS LIKE… Ol' School Rock List

Keith's Ol' School Rock List

AEROSMITH Just Push Play (Sony)
ERIC CLAPTON Reptile (Warner)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Live in New York (Columbia)
ROD STEWART Human (Electra)
JOURNEY Arrival (Sony)

There's bad karma, and then there's having releases by these old cash cows being dropped on your review desk simoltaneously. Like an HIV test I'm looking back on all the mistakes I've made over the years. Journey for example has ignored every advance in both aesthetics and technology over these long decades and have been prodded out of their 12 step programs, and adolescent relationships to push the entire western civilisation back 30 years. Lyrically it seems like they found a sad teenagers poetry book and set it to the same old verse chorus, solo schlock of old, leaving the poem about slaughtering their fellow classmates out of course. It's hard to care about this guys' female inspiration (Farrah Fawcet??) but even that is not as hard to swalow as his new found faith (yawn). Arrival at square one.
Rod Stewart, bless his good fortune to have accidentally made videos at the same time as the 'I want my MTV' campaign happened, or else Maggie would have been his end. Giving Jenny Lopez a run for her money, the prefab soul beats don't dominate as his hoary voice is still stronger that hers. That said, his lyrics still have a little English swagger to them in that Austin Powers meets Gary Glitter sort of way. The Macy Gray song is cool, the Charlie Parker tribute a stretch, and the Curtis Mayfield cover respectable. All told, The pick of the litter for your geriatric jones.
Some would expected Aerosmith to take the honors, and from the first spin the record certainly seems a cut above in both rockability and panache. Alas, there's not one soul who can put the image of them prancing around with N'Sync and Britany Spears during the Super Bowl halftime debacle out of their heads, and as much as their credibility rose with the Run DMC collaboration, it has diminished at least as much. With old timers like these, objectivity goes out the window, so despite the sophisticated production and enhanced Guitar sonics, there are too many soundbites in the lyrics, which Tyler has turned over to collaborators, and some straight rip offs of the the biggest rip off artists in the world...The Red Hot Chili Peppers! So it goes, til the major labels burn.
Over the course of fourteen tracks, Clapton blends virtually every style he's worked in during the past thirty-five years. Soft soul, classic blues, gutty funk, gospel, after hours piano and guitar excursions, lite jazz - it's all here and its all square. Since his best work with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers just after he left the Yardbirds, Eric has happily catered to his stock baby boom audience that appreciates 'talent' far more than risk in their tastes. This hodge podge showcases the various ways the blues can be used statically, and hurts the genre for younger music heads everywhere. To his credit, another version of Layla was deemed unnecessary after his ride on BB King's coattails last go around.

To be fair Springsteen's release is a live album of material he recorded on his emotional reunion with the E street band last year, and has some terrific moments, even if the song order seems abit thrown together. 'Prove it all Night' and the songs originally done with the group are the strongest, and highlight the lyrical craftiness of a guy who parodied american nationalism better than anyone with the hit I don't have to mention by name. The fans are stark rapid and the emotional interludes are a little much, but for fans this would serve you well.

Did I mention that I was also asked to reviews songs inspired by the Ally McBeal television sitcom featuring Robert Downey Jr.?