BLINK-182 "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket"
Blink-182 “Take Off Your Pants And
Jacket” MCA
America’s favorite 20-something teen-agers are back.
“Take Off Your Pants And Jacket,” the latest from the
perpetually young pop punk group Blink-182, is a fun, if immature
and predictable album. It contains no surprises, but makes a few
contributions to their repertoire of mindless, catchy songs. In
fact, the album sounds like a revised version of the multi-platinum
“Enema of the State.” “Rock Show” and
“First Date” in particular are destined to join the
ranks of the popular “All the Small Things” and
“What’s My Name Again,” although they tend more
toward pop than their “Enema” predecessors. “Stay
Together For The Kids,” their newest radio single and the
best song on the album, is oddly reminiscent of “Adam’s
Song.” Both take a more serious tone than Blink-182 usually
uses, and the result is a song that goes a little deeper than the
superficial “First Date.” Another stab at seriousness
is made with the opening track, “Anthem Part Two,”
which complains about adults making decisions for teen-agers. This
stance is a little problematic, since the members of Blink are well
in their 20s, but it fits in with the juvenile perspective the band
traditionally takes. Though tracks in the second half of the album
tend to sound alike (a persistent problem with Blink-182), the
catchiness of songs like “Everytime I Look for You” and
“Please Take Me Home” makes this musical sin less
grievous. “Take Off Your Pants And Jacket” is what
everyone expects from Blink: good, not-so-clean summer fun.
Mary Williams  COLONEL LES CLAYPOOL’S
FEARLESS FLYING FROG BRIGADE "Live Frogs-Set 2" Colonel Les
Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade “Live
Frogs – Set 2″ Prawn Song Records
Several months ago, when “Live Frogs – Set 1″ was
released, Les Claypool ended the live concert disk by saying to the
audience, “We’ll be back in 20 minutes with more Pink
Floyd than any human should ever withstand.” With the release
of the second half of the now legendary concert, Claypool has
returned, as promised, enough psychedelic cover songs to make even
Pink Floyd bassist and songwriter Roger Waters go a little gaga.
The bass wizard and his jam band covered the entire Pink Floyd
album “Animals.” Considered one of Floyd’s most
underrated releases, “Animals” is a themed album that
compares humans to different species of animals. True to the
original album, Claypool kicks the set off with “Pigs On The
Wing 1,” and later ends with “Pigs On The Wing
2.” However, these two rather brief pieces comprise less then
five minutes of the 42-minute disk. Instead, the three songs
sandwiched between the quiet opener and closer are where the Frog
Brigade seize their audience. Each of these songs clocks in over
the 10-minute mark, allowing ample room for Claypool and his
entourage to improvise, as solos run rampant through the set.
However, despite the bands’ abundant jamming, the songs are
still recognizable, and Claypool and the band fare well in
recreating the vocals and solos as close to the originals as
possible. Indeed, even the acoustic instrumentation and quirky
synthesizer blips are placed in all of the original album’s
spots. The only exclusion from the original album that Claypool has
made is a small recited psalm in the middle of “Sheep.”
This was instead replaced by a rather stunning bass solo by the
colonel. If the band achieves anything new in their recreation of a
rock classic, it’s due to their energy. Never have Floyd
songs sounded so energetic, and clearly the Frog Brigade has given
the songs an extra bounce. Though Pink Floyd was more interested in
a more serious and hard-hitting sound, the danceable tracks are a
great reinterpretation of the work of an even greater band.
Antero Garcia  THE CRYSTAL METHOD
"Tweakend" The Crystal Method “Tweekend” Geffen
/ Outpost Records
Described as the United States’ answer to The Chemical
Brothers, The Crystal Method has brought its blend of
rock-influenced electronic music to the dance scene since the
1990s. The band’s new album, “Tweekend,”
continues its experimentation in this groundbreaking musical style.
The Crystal Method brought in the help of always cutting-edge
ex-Rage Against the Machine guitar master Tom Morello, who helped
produce the majority of the tracks for the new album. Stone Temple
Pilots’ frontman Scott Weiland also makes a cameo, providing
vocals for the song “Murder,” although they are mostly
hidden under effects. The first single from the album, the
danceable, bass-heavy “Name of the Game,” has appeared
on MTV as well as radio stations throughout the country, including
local station KROQ. Providing strange sound effects and interesting
rhythms, “Tweekend” is experimental in its diverse mix
of musical genres. However, it may be that it is just too far ahead
of its time because it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense
right now. There are however, a few bright spots on the album,
providing a glimpse into the group’s potential.
Chris Moriates