Don't you hate it when a band you love creates a song that you just can't stand? It happens. Sometimes the musicians have an idea that they think is unique and cool and "Why not?". This can work sometimes, but there is always the potential for it to crash and burn. The worst is when you are enjoying an album by your favourite artist and smack dab in the middle of that glorious set of music is a song that makes you cringe. And you've just gotta skip that track - upon every listen, because it's so insufferable.
For example, for me, The Beatles were and still are the primo rock-pop band of all time. I love a lot of their music and like pretty much the rest of it. But there's the odd song that brings a frown to my face. Why Don't We Do It in the Road? Why did you guys have to record such an awful tune? There are hardly any lyrics at all... just the song title repeated over and over and over, with a few other words thrown in for kicks. Sounds like an improvised goofball lark... which never should have made it onto any proper album. Droning, unimaginative, plodding piano and drums do nothing for me. The quiet out-of-tune-sounding guitar noodling in the background does nothing to help. I normally like McCartney's singing voice, from full-bodied crooning to powerful screams, but on this track, he just sounds like an angry drunk howling for change on a street corner. In my opinion.
The next song is Neurotica by Rush. This tune doesn't really stick out much within the context of the Presto album, since pretty much the whole record is so low-key and unimpressive. It's a shame, since there are cool little touches here and there. But this track is so completely forgettable that it barely registers at all when you listen to the album. Nothing special going on instrumentally, and Geddy sounds like he's dialing in his vocals, bored with the whole affair. Plus some awkward transitions, especially to the bridge section. And Alex's solo, while usually a spine-chilling foray, feels like a slap-dash effort just patched in at the last moment. It's bland beyond belief. Even Neil's lyrics are repetitive, inane, and uninteresting on any level. Ugh.
Van Halen must have completely lost their minds in a chemical haze when they thought it was a good idea to include a cover of a moldie oldie from 1924 called Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) on their Diver Down album. The album is, of course, packed with cover songs, but at least they're all rock or pop or something in between. But Big Bad Bill brings the album to a grinding halt in the midst a bunch of fun, up-tempo rockers, the preceding track being the crunchy melodic Little Guitars. It's old-timey music to its core, with light shuffle percussion, dad Van Halen on clarinet, and Dave doing his best vaudeville-style hammy vocals. Silly and maybe a little fun if you've got nothing better to do, but plunked into the middle of an album by the world's greatest rock band (at the time), this kills the mood. Not a terrible song by itself, but it doesn't belong here and I have to hate it for ruining the flow of an album that is pretty darned good despite its fractured conception.
Back when I gave punk music a passing interest, I sort of liked Anarchy in the U.K. by the kings of spit and safety pins, the Sex Pistols. But in the hands of the mighty Megadeth, it becomes a wet noodle... a true weak spot on the band's otherwise tech-thrash reputation. Even the obligatory addition of a metal guitar solo and some double bass fills can't save this poor attempt. How was this ever considered a good decision? Why cover such an already hackneyed song? Mega-Dave and Company injected no suitable energy or snarl (for which Dave is famous, too) into this cover, just dialing it in, I guess, as a last minute addition to meet the album length requirement. A head-scratcher, for sure.
Black Sabbath took some chances during their Ozzy years, and the Technical Ecstasy album drew divided opinions. I haven't even heard the album more than a few times in my life, but I was sort of turned off from first listen. I think I'm appreciating more and more of it as time passes, but the track She's Gone is a tune that feels completely out of place here. Tony plucks acoustic guitar over symphonic strings, while Ozzy emotes on this ballad that robs the album of energy. Five minutes of nothing special just to interrupt a set of blistering rockers. Bah!
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Post # 495 - Countdown to 500!
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