Album review - here goes nothing

I've been avoiding this for weeks, because I don't express my emotions/feelings well, verbally or in writing. I get complimented all the time on my business/technical writing, because I speak English, which for most people is a welcome change from "out-of-the-box thinking to utilize our core competencies" bullshit. Try to express something real, though, and I go all Billy Budd.

Anyway...

Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious

(links are to the lyric sheets)

Fort Hood
“Fort Hood is the Texas Army base that has lost the most troops in the Iraq War,” Doughty says. “I visited some of the wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. and wondered what was going through their minds. When I first thought about using ‘Let the sunshine in…’ as the chorus, I thought it would be funny, but when I sang it, I felt myself tearing up. [‘Let the Sunshine In’] draws an obvious parallel to past quagmires, and all the vets who are suffering from PTSD. Once again the damage being done will not only be in lives lost, but in how those losses affect family, friends and society as a whole. The bridge laments the fact that instead of going to the prom, they’ve been given a burden they’re going to have to live with forever.”

“I'm not going to try to add anything to that," said Angelos, to no one in particular.

But then he went ahead and decided to snip this lyric:
I see them coming back; they’re motionless in an airport lounge

I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing
Guy's playing a bar, a party, any small, crappy gig. It's cash, and you do what you gotta do. 90% of the people aren't paying attention. But there's always that girl up in front, dancing like inhibition isn't in the dictionary. This is a love song for her. An affair of the imagination, about 3 sets long, every night.

Blue girl, dance for me
The empty floor, and I said (ba-rum-pa-tum-pum)

Put it Down
Cut by the thorns, oh I must loosen my grip
Got to let the flower fall from my hand

and

My mind’s aggrieved and my belly’s ablaze
I have swallowed all the words that you said

Time to end it, girl. Typically, one does not feel the urge to do the butt-dance in one's chair while listening to a break-up song. But Doughty can do that to you.

More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle
Um... this is a toughie. I, as a hard-core fan, get it. I've seen him live once (twice, come April 12th), and have 6 or 7 live shows downloaded, as he allows taping. To a Doughty noob, or a reviewer who was just randomly assigned this album, yeah, I see your "WTF?" and grant it to you. Basically, what started as a joke (FIRETRUCK!!!!!) has, over the years, morphed into a fantastically entertaining jam. Doughty has this keyboard where all the keys play pre-recorded vocal bits, and he just goes apeshit, with the drummer McNeal driving the pace. It has to be seen to be believed.

27 Jennifers
An oldie, from his solo acoustic demo days, reworked for a band. Funny, and true. Hell, my workplace of 26 people had 4 Jennifers at one point.

“When I went to high school everyone was named Jennifer, Michelle or Heather,” Doughty explains. “This is a salute to them.”

Fun groove, another total dance-in-your-seat song.

The nerd in me hates this line though:
You might be the one that I’ve been seeking for

"seeking"? Really?

I Wrote a Song About Your Car
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.

Dogged up by the rain
And at your door again
Seeking anything
I’m a roustabout
And I’m bound to roust you out


I Got the Drop on You
I won't even to pretend to figure this one out. Sounds cool, though.

Sorry isn’t good enough.


Wednesday (Contra la puerta)
A day in a lost life? An ode to the city?

Beep Josh on Sunday
Charm him into driving in from Queens
Coming up the staircase
Bringing tiny envelopes to me

Like a Luminous Girl
Another song of unrequited infatuation. Or is it? Is she really just the model in the big poster, or is she real?

Saw you in the subway station
Shining with a strange light
Girl, you’re like a weird vacation
How am I gonna make you mine?

Nectarine
My favorite of all themes. "Let's you and me get the fuck up out of here." Pretty much Born to Run, but 107 strangely twisted words instead instead of 3000 (OK, 302, I checked). And funky. Don't forget funky.

Navigating by the Stars at Night
Ennui. Depression. Shallow people. A touch of 'get the fuck out of this place.' And gimcrackery. Don't forget the gimcrackery.

Medicating in a minivan
...
Roll the road alone.


OK, I need to go to bed now, but I will continue this tomorrow, with a discussion of the overall feel of the thing, and I will try to explain how/why it means so much to me.

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuce!

I've been listening to Magic the last few days. I "borrowed" it, so to speak. Let's just say I'll be plunking my money down for the CD. Not only is it the right thing to do, the rip I got sucks.

There are 2 songs that are generically Brucy, as in "eh, not bad, but I already have something like this on a different album." Still solid songs, don't get me wrong, but not overly compelling.

As for the winners? In no particular order:

Radio Nowhere - Rock the fuck on. This demands volume, demands head-bobbing, and you'd better be watch your speed on the highway if it's on in the car. Anthem.

Long Walk Home - I can't listen to this without at least getting choked up. I was actually crying on the way home from work today.

Last night I stood at your doorstep
Trying to figure out what went wrong
You just slipped something into my palm and you were gone

I could smell the same deep green of summer
'Bove me the same night sky was glowin'
In the distance I could see the town where I was born

It's gonna be a long walk home

And it's downhill from there. I may be a sap, but you can't be human if you're not touched by this song.

Last to Die - An excellent anti-war commentary

A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die...

You'll Be Coming Down - Someone's a little too full of herself? There's more here, I'm just not the best at analyzing meaning. It may take a few epiphanies to really get this, and the meaning may change from one listen to the next, but I love it.

Easy street, a quick buck and true lies
Smiles as thin as those dusky blue skies
A silver plate of pearls my golden child
It's all yours at least for a little while
You'll be fine long as your pretty face holds out
Then it's gonna get pretty cold out
An empty stream of stars shooting by
You got your hopes on high

Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Just a story. Some nostalgia, some reflection, some pining, some regret... beautiful poetry.

Magic - Again, I haven't figured out quite yet what I'll be taking away from this song yet, but it just sounds right.

Devil's Arcade - Ditto.

I'll Work For Your Love - Um, it's getting dusty in here again...

Pour me a drink Theresa in one of those glasses you dust off
And I'll watch the bones in your back like the Stations of the Cross
'Round your hair the sun lifts a halo, at your lips a crown of thorns
Whatever other deals gone down, to this one I'm sworn

I'll work for your love dear
I'll work for your love
What others may want for free
I'll work for your love

The dust of civilizations and love's sweet remains
Slip off of your fingers and come driftin' down like rain
The pages of Revelation lie open in your empty eyes of blue
I watch you slip that comb through your hair and this I promise you

I'll work for your love dear
I'll work for your love
What others may want for free
I'll work for your love

Well tears, they fill the rosary at your feet, my temple of bones
Here in this perdition we go on and on
Now our city of peace has crumbled, our book of faith's been tossed
And I'm just down here searchin' for my own piece of the cross
In the late afternoon sun fills the room with the mist in the garden before the fall
I watch your hands smooth the front of your blouse and seven drops of blood fall

4.5 stars.

Rolling Stone gives it 5. Oh, and they know how to write.