Quick N' Dirty Reviews

Bloc Party/ A Weekend In The City
Bloc Party’s debut, Silent Alarm, was the best album released in 2005. It was an adrenaline shot of indie rock that updated the angular guitar sounds of post-punk for the ‘00’s but at the same time was unafraid to tone it down with a mellow track from time to time. As such, A Weekend In The City was highly anticipated by many who were anxious to see how Bloc Party would follow up their masterpiece debut. The verdict is in and… it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. In any other band’s hands, A Weekend In The City, would be a triumphant album but the bar for what Bloc Party can do was raised so high with Silent Alarm that anything less is comes across as a mild disappointment. A decent bit of the repeat value of Silent Alarm is missing here, as is most of the energy that blazed through their debut. A Weekend In The City is a much colder album and is similar to the change in mood from Coldplay’s debut, Parachutes, to their sophomore release, A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Ostensibly examining the titular two days in London, the album runs the gamut from drug use (“On”), to empty, meaningless sex (“Kreuzberg”), to hung-over time wasting (“Sunday”), but despite its ambitions the album never really gels. The standout tracks really jump to the forefront but everything else tends to blend together. There are some surprises like “I Still Remember” which at first listen sounds like a crass attempt at a radio-friendly single until its lyrics about schoolboy-on-schoolboy love reveal themselves. Lead single “The Prayer” is oddly reminiscent of TV On The Radio’s “Wolf Like Me,” only not nearly as good. Just about everything else on the record stands as merely alright. Fortunately, the standouts are good enough to warrant a recommendation of the album, but a case could also be made that A Weekend In The City falls victim to a bit of the proverbial sophomore slump, mainly for having the misfortune of following Silent Alarm. On the bright side, their third album will only have to follow A Weekend In The City, which is a much less daunting task.

Dirty Rating: 80/100

Bloc Party On MySpace Music
Bloc Party's Official Site


Fountains Of Wayne/ Traffic And Weather
There’s often more to one-hit wonders than simply that one shining moment when everyone stands up and takes notice of their work for the first time. Sometimes these bands have been slogging away for decades before they are able to gain any measure of recognition. Fountains Of Wayne is one of those bands. I’ve been on the bandwagon since their debut way back in 1996, so seeing the band break through with a fairly mediocre song in “Stacy’s Mom” was a little disheartening. Little did I know that was only the beginning. After hearing Traffic And Weather, I’ve jumped off of the bandwagon so quickly that I’ve fractured both of my legs. This is such a uninspired and lazy album that it makes my parts hurt. The endearing quirkiness that fueled their early work has turned stale and grating on Traffic And Weather. There’s not one song that’s able to make its way out of this mire of crap: “Someone To Love” was a limp and illogical choice for a first single; “’92 Subaru” is basically an unfunny (and one would hope unintentional) reworking of Adam Sandler’s “Piece Of Shit Car;” “Yolanda Hayes” and “Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim” are attempts at character sketches that just fall completely flat; and “Planet Of Weed” is simply the worst song that the band has ever written and/or recorded – period. Co-songwriters Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood think that they’re being clever by attempting to pack in a variety of pop culture references (The King Of Queens, Coldplay, Dockers, and Doritos all make appearances), but their efforts end up feeling incredibly dated and desperate. Traffic And Weather, simply put, is a very disappointingly bad album from a band who really should know (and can do) much better.

Dirty Rating: 33/100

Fountains Of Wayne On MySpace Music
Fountains Of Wayne's Official Site


Rob Crow/ Living Well
It’s hard to tell where Pinback stops and Rob Crow begins. Much of Living Well, Crow’s fourth solo album, on the surface sounds like a logical progression from Pinback’s last stellar outing, Summer In Abbadon. After a while, though, one major difference pops up – Living Well really isn’t much of a finished album. Crow is a very, very prolific artist playing in no fewer than four bands, not to mention countless other projects so maybe he didn’t, you know, have time to put the finishing touches on this one. That’s not to say that there isn’t some worthwhile stuff on Living Well – quite the contrary, actually. “I Hate You Rob Crow” in another life could have been the radio hit that Pinback has never had, while “Taste,” “Up,” and “Focus” would have fit nicely on the Pinback’s upcoming Autumn Of The Seriphs. In the end, though, Living Well suffers for feeling like close to 75% of a really good album.

Dirty Rating: 74/100

Rob Crow On MySpace Music
Rob Crow Fan Site