The Album of the Year

This is it. The Album of the Year.

The fourth studio album from California progressive/alternative rockers dredg, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion is easily the album of the year. While almost another six months of music will debut from now, this is a transcendental work by a rock band. Green Day is getting massive amounts of publicity for their follow-up to American Idiot, but their punk/pop rock 21st Century Breakdown doesn't shatter genre barriers like dredg does, and their pop opera loses itself in the story.

The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion, meanwhile, engrosses the listener with a mindset, and the struggle within to cope with that mindset.

The album was heavily influenced by Salman Rushdie's essay, "Imagine No Heaven", published here in The Guardian as a letter to the six billionth person alive in the world at one time. Dredg expanded on the concepts Rushdie puts forth in the essay, only instead addressing it to the 7th Billionth person, expected some time in 2012. YouTube videos appeared from the band showcasing their work on the album under the author tag "7billionth".

Now, we have the final work. This is an album that is not out for another month, so its immense impact will be fully realized at that point once the album art - always an important facet of dredg's music - is viewed alongside the music.

But, for now, a track by track breakdown of the album.

The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion opens up with, essentially, a title track. "Pariah" is a prog rock groove track enmeshed in feedback and reverb, with lead singer Gavin Hayes singing through effects in the verses before emerging clean and backed with harmony in the choruses. The riff is something that Tom Morello may have discarded as not being funky enough for Rage Against the Machine, but Mark Engles uses it to perfection, especially as the song enters the breakdown with Hayes chanting a variety of couplets, including "No more chaos, no more chaos, no more stress/No more addiction, no more addiction, no more mess." Finally, "Pariah" peters out with a chorus of children playfully singing along with Hayes amidst snapping fingers. Like the calm before and after a storm, it's an eerie presence in the midst of chaos.

"Drunk Slide" is one of many interludes on the album, some vocal, others instrumental. This is a piano driven interlude led by the rhythm section of the band - Dino Campanella on drums/keys, Drew Roulette on bass/moog synth/effects - and it symbolizes the journey down the rabbitt hole.

If you take the album as a person's internal struggle with religious evangelicalism - it doesn't matter if it is Christian, Islamic, Judaism, or one of the Eastern rites - then the "Pariah" is the overture and "Drunk Slide" is the beginning of the journey, the initial incident that forces the protagonist to examine life and religion.

"Ireland" is the initial refusal to accept much beyond the outside the world, as Hayes croons, "Because beyond these town limits, Even though I’ve never seen ‘em/There's really nothing else to explore, There's nothing more." But Hayes' performance as the protagonist belies his unique take in the verses of someone trying to pull the protagonist into the fray until, ultimately, the protagonist makes his first initial refusal. Of note is the slide guitar as the song heads into the bridge, an aching solo that leads into a juiced up music box interlude that propels the song into the final verse and chorus. "Ireland" debuted a couple years ago as a live track, and it's one of the songs that hearkens back to the old dredg from El Cielo and Catch Without Arms - driven guitars, soaring vocals, and ethereal elements to augment the listening experience. It's definitely radio friendly.

"Stamp of Origin: Pessimistic" is one of four "Stamps" throughout the album, and it takes the music box theme establish in "Ireland" and turns it into a haunting background as Hayes sings, "Pessimistic, yes, it may seem, But if you'd been there/You'd know what I mean/A struggle and suffering that won't go away." Dredg's ability to absolutely haunt the listener is uncanny, and Hayes has progressed so far as a singer from the band's original album, Leitmotif, a disc that unfairly slammed dredg into the prog-metal category. Tracks like "Pessimistic" won't be found on any metal CD, and indeed, belong more on a Pink Floyd album if the boys from Britain had ditched the guitars for a moment and tinkled with the keys.

"Lightswitch" brings out the organ and Wild West guitar riff. Picked over thudding bass drums, the riff belongs in one of Robert Rodriguez's Mexican action films. Indeed, the guitar riff is the main focus on the album. Hayes takes the viewpoint of someone brainwashed into believing that one thing is the only key to salvation. The vocals are especially of note, considering that they were recorded in the middle of a tunnel, lending an eerie echo effect to the opening lines, " I was put in a round room and told to sit in the corner/While they washed my brain with a dirty rag." Hayes' narrator eventually transforms into the person who claims that "I won't quit on you", even amidst everything else crashing down around the universe.

The beautiful thing about dredg is that everything molds together, whether it's the verse/chorus/bridge in a given song or the interludes sandwiched between two songs that serve as connecting tissue, or even the fade outs of one song leading into the next.

The Western riff continues with "Gathering Pebbles", as Mark Engles picks out a clean riff to start, leads into some effects, and then hits the ominous "standoff" style guitar riff before Drew Roulette carries the weight on his bass through the first verse. This is 80s pop/synth rock that's actually good. It's a sing-song chorus from Hayes, with some nice harmonization, but it doesn't feel dated and cheesy. It's a Spanish guitar riff done via various tones and notes, matched with an uptempo beat from Dino Campanella, Hayes' layered vocals, and Roulette's underlying bass. Some may confuse this as a love song, but if it is, it's a love song done by the modern reincarnation of Pink Floyd (there's that comparison again). The bridge breaks drown - another underlying theme - with a wall of distorted guitars that screams The Wall as Hayes is practically begging in his chants that "We'll catch up". Already our narrator is trying to catch up with the machine that was supposed to be his salvation. If they can find a radio station to play it, this will be a huge hit.

Perhaps, in that plea to "catch up", our narrator has made a horrendous mistake. So suggests "Information," which is probably going to be the most familiar song to prog-rock listeners and dredg fans. First off, it's the first single. Enjoy the YouTube video.



If you recognize that piano, it's because the band used that piano theme for their score of the movie Waterborne and as part of "Matroshka", the closing song to their last CD, Catch Without Arms. This is the showcase for Dino Campanella. Not many drummers are true musicians, as evidenced by the pile of jokes about drummers, but Campanella is a wizard. He plays his kit and the piano at the same time live, showcasing an innate ability to carry a beat and augment the beat with a beautiful touch on the keys. There's little question why this is the single, at least in Europe. It's catchy, it's atmospheric, but there's enough of a sinister topic to it to make it very depressing despite the somewhat upbeat tone to the music. Hayes takes on multiple personalities, acting as the comforting form of salvation in the verses, the confused and frustrated narrator in the chorus, and as a third-person viewer of a suicide bomber in the interlude. Interesting to note that the suicide bomber viewpoint is not in the single release or in the video released above. It only exists on the album, and there's little question that this is the turning point of the album, plunging down into a pile of cyncism and doubt with the final stanza and chorus:

The air was heavy, he could feel it in his lungs
With every step he took, a prayer rolled off his tongue
They were prayers of forgiveness, and prayers of praise
And his actions a gift for a god without a name

Just a little bit, just a little bit, a little more information
To add to my confusion, to add to the frustration,
I don't need it, no I don't need it

The aftermath of the incident in "Information" begins in the "Stamp of Origin: Ocean Meets Bay" - as the supposedly benevolent comforter proclaims, "I am not the one to blame/We are all part of the problem" over a light piano piece.

Then "Saviour" cuts in with the purest rocker on the album, a head-banging effort augmented by a pure and deep performance on the moog synthesizer by Drew Roulette. Many bands would rely on the guitar to create the fuzz and distortion, but Roulette goes to the little used moog and creates a wall of sound that's both impressive and frightening. Meanwhile, Hayes is busy relaying the doubt and confusion that the preceding events have created in our narrator, frantically looking around for a "saviour", only in the form of retaliation rather than a rescuer. The breakdown, meanwhile, is something out of Muse circa "Knights of Cydonia" before Hayes picks it up acapella, with the rest of the band following swiftly behind. Another potential single and radio hit.

"R U OK" is a Drew Roulette showcase. One of the things Drew enjoys, and the band loves to include, is experimentation with strange elements to add to their music. Hence, the moog, or in this case, a Speak and Spell machine. Over a bluesy jam session, Roulette toys with the machine to give us a nice interlude where one can envision friends of our narrator swarming around after the nervous breakdown of "Saviour" and asking after his health. Dredg could easily fit into a Phish or bluesy jam session any day, and anyone with doubts should listen to this and other songs on the album.

"I Don't Know" is the beginning of an admittance that not all questions can be solved. This is the American lead single, and it's perfect for American radio audiences. Certain radio stations are already playing it, and its received quite the welcome. It's a more straight-forward rocker, and while it doesn't get as progressive as the other songs on the album, there are enough elements to clearly announce this as a dredg song. From Roulette's reverb on bass, to Engles' ethereal riffs, to Hayes' soaring vocals. This is dredg encapsulated in one song, with an incredibly catchy chorus that slightly obscures the content of questioning faith, the afterlife, and religion in general. Agnostics everywhere have their own theme song.

"Mourning this Morning" is one of the more obscure songs on the album, and by that we mean we are wishing the best of luck to anyone that can classify this song in a specific genre. Part U2, part the Police, part 80s pop, the song is driven by Roulette on bass and a string performance by the guys from Judgment Day. Oh, and there's the saxaphone as well that leads into each chorus. Our narrator is now making amends as the realization dawns on him that there is no advancement without sacrifice, whether it's life as a whole or something more specific. It's a take on the old philosophical notion that the whole point of the journey is the trip itself, rather than the end result. Remember our friend the music box? Well, now it's breaking apart. The idyllic notion of salvation has come apart at the seams at the very end of this track, springs popping out everywhere. Eventually a rumbling bass theme slowly sneaks in, along with a few other effects, including a crying child. In our descent into the rabbit hole, we are passing through chaos.

That leads us to "Stamp of Origin: Take a Look Around", a brief interlude of ideal serenenity that erupts into insanity. Once again, the light nature of Hayes' crooning and Campanella's light tough on the keys subtly obscures the dark lyrics. Envision a peaceful scene erupted by explosions, without the sound. This track, instead, is the soundtrack. The dichotomy is sickening. And then, much like the Captain's hearing in Saving Private Ryan, it all slowly comes back and the chaos sets in...

...Also known as "Long Days and Vague Clues". It is a frantic instrumental piece dominated by the guys from Judgment Day toting their strings once again. It's a symphonic masterpiece that belongs in a Tim Burton movie for all of its elements and insanity. We could easily see Burton using something similar is the piece played over his opening credits equipped with blood and various bits of animated goo splattered on the screen.

While "Long Days and Vague Clues" gives the emotion of the insanity, "Cartoon Showroom" is the step back in the aftermath. Yes, chaos has occurred, and while "we" must go our separate ways, it's for the best and we must "keep moving onward/run through that open door/consuming knowledge". Afer all, and this is the point dredg seems to be making throughout the album, "There is only so much we can do/only so much we can show to you/The rest is your choice." Hayes almost gets operatic with his vocals, and Engles' guitar performance is so subtle that it's a tremendously pleasant contrast with pieces like "Saviour". It's another Floydian moment for the band as a whole.

"Quotes" could end up as a single as well, and it's reflection piece of the album. The song title has nothing to do with the actual song itself, but what the song is supposed to represent. The song should be taken as a series of statements attributed to persons unknown, ways to escape and feel free. Hayes sings, "There's a way, A way to squash all of your fears/When everyone around you seems to be a stranger" and insists that one simply needs to "Just let go". Its the final temptation, the one last test of all that had just been revealed and understood in "Cartoon Showroom". Unlike "Cartoon Showroom" or "Mourning this Morning", "Quotes" is a more straight-forward song. There's some nice touches of original guitar work from Engles, a steady rhythm from Campanella, but it's as close to a standard rocker as this band gets. It ends with a bit of funk, bringing back some of the strangeness experienced at the end of "Mourning this Morning" signaling our escape from the rabbit hole.

And in the world of dredg, we leave our hole by heading "Down To the Cellar", passing through a jam session driven by the instrument wielding threesome behind Hayes, who picks up a guitar to augment Engles' work. It's the beginning of one last emulation of Floyd - fitting for a band that covered "Astronomy Domine" - an atmospheric, 3:41 instrumental that echoes "Comfortably Numb" and other portions of "The Wall". As a listener, you progress from bobbing your head to just leaning back in your chair and letting the wall of music wash over you, feeling vibrations from the bass in your toes and letting your hair tingle when Engles' mini solo hits.

It all quiets down as we emerge on the shore of some distant ocean, staring at the setting sun on "Stamp of Origin: Horizon" with soft organ keys playing as Hayes lulls us into deep relaxation.

Sitting in the sand watch the tide roll up
Take a deep breath in as your past fades out
Let everything else just fade into the horizon
When the planets stop spinning and the music stops
Take a deep breath in let your life fade out
With everything else you’ll fade into the horizon

The song finishes with the recorded playback of Hayes reciting lines from previous songs as spoken word and Engles softly picking at an acoustic guitar overtop of various effects.

It's a soft and magnificent end to the album of the year, a concept album that stands on its own and relies not on modern events to shape its story, but on theory and philosophy developed to stand the test of time. It is a revolutionary, refreshing take on rock music in a time when radio and culture is dominated by variations on the same party rock of Nickelback and Theory of a Deadman, and hip hop is dominated by a resuscitated Eminem donning fake accents spitting mediocre couplets.

In an era where nothing is new, everything is recycled, dredg brings forth an album so fresh and so invigorating that it is almost overwhelming. Take the time on June 9th to buy the album or download it from your favorite music service, turn out the lights, and absorb the 59 minute piece in sitting. You'll find yourself going back again and again.

Fool

This is out Tuesday. The anticipation and desire for more Moore has been incredible on my part. The fact that I'll be able to read new work from him (followed by Tom Robbins in a month or two) makes February a considerably more tolerable month.

King Lear, from the perspective of the court jester (or Fool), as written by the guy who gave Jesus Christ a best friend for his years from 12 to 30 as he traveled to the Far East for tantric sex tips, insane monks, weird demons, Indian goddesses, and egomaniacal boddhivistas.

Also gave us Lust Lizards, Coyote, books about whales as alien ships, and hot red-headed vampires sucking the life out of 19-year old writers.

Huzzah!

Winter Wanderings

In my dreams,
love reigns like a lion in the sahara,
majesty abound in all directions.

This is the time of year when whatever subtle magnetism I have towards the city is overamplified. I have an urge to watch the snow fall, first from my apartment porch, then as I coast through the various streets and passageways that make up Western Pennsylvania.

It seems so simple, but there's is such a drastic difference between watching rain fall and watching snow fall.

Rain cascades down upon you, and the words we have for it are remarkable: drizzle, mist, downpour, torrential. Rain charges from it's clouded fortress, hurtling towards the earth with evil and death on its mind. Rain is out to drown you, suffocate you by driving you inside and away from the cold wetness.

Snow is softer. Snow - true snow - cannot cascade down upon you like a waterfall. Indeed, snow drifts to the earth, and no matter how many flakes there are, it's always at a drift. Sure, it accumulates quickly and it can be a hazard attempting to navigate in it.

But it is still tranquil. I could play certain selections from my back catalogs of music on a drive up to Mount Washington and the atmosphere would be perfect. Set the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Hey You" to a winter scene, including the required shot from on top of Mt. Washington, gazing at the city in the darkness. Watch as the neon, fluorescent, and halogen lights merge and play with the flakes as they tumble down to earth.

I feel that, should I at some point get married, I'd have to propose on a snowy evening on Mount Washington. Just to see that, to let the atmosphere wash over me like a warm blanket.

Arto

Neglect is a sign of love. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Yada, Yada. Enjoy the update with various clips from recent writings I've worked on...

• Simplicity is the key to life. An obstacle only becomes complicated when we make it so; each original item is simple in its own right and only becomes complicated when we add emotion, when we fail to see it as it truly is: an obstacle, and nothing more.
• Out the door I go - where am I? Here I am, back home, going through the motions of one relationship or another, one friendship here, another there. Conversations float in and out, memories of past and - somehow - memories of the future. I experience deja vu at least once or twice a day, if not more, because I have had the time to live out my life on at least three or four occasions.
  
• Erie doesn’t give you hope. Erie doesn’t give you happiness. Erie doesn’t make you feel content or calm or anything but alone, cold, and weary. But in the winters, when the wind blows especially harsh and the snow piles at the door, it gives you one thing, and if you miss it, you never get it again. It gives fathers the chance to bond with their sons, and it gives sons a chance to please their dads. And that’s more than most cities will ever give.
• She ripped the spoon from his grasp and padded back towards the stove, tossing the spoon into the sink to her right. She whipped an oven mitt from its holster, opened the stove, and bent to check the dish. James nearly choked on his own tongue. I see London, I see France, she’s not wearing any underpants, his inner 13-year-old chanted.

And finally (words in italics written by Tom Robbins):

"How do you make love stay?"

By throwing everything to the wind. By ignoring the sun and cherishing the moon. By looking at the person you consider the most wonderful one in the world and having no qualms about saying the three most dangerous words in the English language: "I love you."

All that other stuff, all of the other natterings that dulled your minds until you reached this point of the text...all that is shit. It doesn't mean one fucking thing. What carries so much more clout is being able to stand up and say:

"My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free."

If you can say that, then you're free enough to do anything in life. If both of you can say that, then it seems that love has found a way to stay.

Ash

Pulling empty, blackened hearts out

I am lonely in the cold

With no soul.

Even if I wanted,

I would never find my way home.

So alone.

In Satan’s den, I reside.

From the distant mountains,

I hear an ear-piercing scream

From a lost soul.

But there is nothing to it,

And the world’s made me cold

And enclosed.

In hell I stay, for all I’ll know.

I took a walk past the river Styx,

And sat there in the ash. It was black,

Like my heart was a while ago.

Who knew that you’d passed?

Who knew that I’d made you ash?

July 5, 2008

2008 In Music: Revolutionary, Revitalizing - Part 3

The final chapter, with the three biggest albums of the year so far. Since these are epics, a little more time and length will be devoted to them.

Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)
The kings of tongue-in-cheek pop-rock are back, with another self-titled album. It's no surprise that they refused to title this one, considering their best albums have carried the Weezer moniker, and this one fits in well with its Green and Blue brethren. "Troublemaker" is a bouncy tune to kick off the album but the real opener is "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived". It contains about 10 different styles of music in just under six minutes, including Rivers Cuomo singing in a rare falsetto. A snare comes in with a hymnal section at one point, giving the song its subtitle of "Variations on a Shaker Hymn", and eventually segueing into a punk anthem. The second most creative section has to be the 60s pop-punk, Beatles-meets-the-Ramones section beginning around 3:08. It feels like a brilliant, Weird Al Yankovic polka-party mash-up without the overt humor and cheese. There's even a Cake-esque spoken vocal towards the end before transitioning to what feels like a bizarre punk tribute to the Beach Boys and a bit of Queen. Bizarre, yes. But fun.

The quirkiness continues with "Pork and Beans", the first single that has become a hit on YouTube because it contains all the popular YouTube stars of the past few years. It also contains an attack on the record companies, a popular stance for Weezer since they hate being labeled "commercial" despite their popularity. Besides Cuomo's subtle jabs in his lyrics - "Timbaland knows the way to reach the top of the charts/maybe if i work with him i can perfect the art" - the chorus crashes in with a wall of guitars reminiscent of "Hash Pipe" and "Say It Ain't So", two of their biggest hits.

"Heart Songs" begins as a soft ode to the band's inspirations - Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Stevens, John Lennon, Springsteen, and more - before getting to the section about Nirvana and rising into a chunky, groovy beast of praise towards all who came before Cuomo and company. The funk continues in "Everybody Get Dangerous", which as close to rap-rock as Weezer will ever get. Rhythmic vocals about refusing to tip cows because he feels bad for the cows, a litany of power chords, layered effects, and the occasional scratch from a DJ create a wall of fun.

"Dreamin'" is classic Weezer, a rhythmic rocker reaching epic status with a return to the vocal harmonies before breaking down to a soft guitar sonata with birds chirping and dueling vocals between Cuomo and his bandmates. It rises back up with low-end notes so deep they rattle your speakers (wear headphones and your chair will vibrate), before finishing with a crazy punk rock breakdown at the end. However, the end of the album drops off a bit. "Cold Dark World" is a simple rocker that leaves a bit to be desired, and "Automatic", while nicely covered with fuzzy and heavy guitars, contains some pretty unimpressive lyrics, a rare lyrical miss for Rivers Cuomo. Finally, the lyrical content retunrs on "The Angel and The One," but the instrumentation is lacking punch. It's more of a ballad, which is fine, but it's lacking an emotional impact. It might be weighed down by a sense of Weezer taking itself too seriously. That's the key to a Weezer album - are you having fun? Are the tongue-in-cheek fills and vocals making you smirk? If they are, it's a success. For much of Weezer, that's the case, but a lack of direction in the final few songs prevents it from being a contender for album of the year.

Ours - Mercy...Dancing For The Death Of An Imaginary Enemy
The lineup has evolved from album to album, tour to tour, but the focal point of Ours has always been the vocals and compositions put forth by frontman Jimmy Gnecco. After an initial hit with their first major label single release "Sometimes" off of the album Distorted Lullabies, Ours fought past mixed reviews to earn key touring dates and quick studio time to push out the acclaimed Precious in 2002. They haven't released anything since, spending six years to publish this album with super-producer Rick Rubin.

It's been worth the wait. Gnecco's trademark falsetto vocals rise and fall in the opening track, "Mercy", and it's always astonishing to remember that Gnecco has no formal vocal training. He croons like a trained stage singer, which is tremendous, but even more impressive is his ability to channel his inner Bono. The previous albums were marked by his falsetto, but now Gnecco begins in a tenor or baritone before letting loose, much like something Bono would dig up for U2. Indeed, while Coldplay might be the "next" U2, Ours sounds much more like the Irish supergroup on Mercy, especially on "The Worst Things Beautiful". You can practically hear The Edge inspiring the guitar licks, especially the bridge. What separates Ours from the biggest band in the world is the underlying anthemic presence of synthesizers and electronic effects that have pushed them from rock to progressive rock throughout their careers. It's no surprise that the track was the lead single.

There may not be a poorly written track on the album. "Ran Away To Tell The World" drops the pace down a bit from the first two songs, augmented by a set of strings underneath Gnecco's soft vocals until it rises into a crescendo in the latter third. "Black" practically disappears in the verses, held up by a light falsetto from Gnecco, a simple guitar riff, and a distant organ hit before erupting in each chorus as Gnecco wails away. "Moth" is a return to the simple, understated Ours present in the first two albums, highlighted by understated riffs, harmonies, and Gnecco soaring above it all. "Murder" relies solely on Gnecco, a light guitar touch, a horn section and clapping before erupting into prog-rock frenzy nearly 2:30 into it.

"God Only Wants You" feels like a Dream Theater ballad, and as Gnecco softly croons, you wait for it to crackle with an impressive rhythm section breakdown, but the guitar that came in to add atmosphere simply fades away the first time around. It finally hits the 2nd time in, around the 3 minute mark, and that bit of misdirection stamps additional originality to the album. If they had followed the pattern and established a similar build-up to every song, it'd get old. Enough variation keeps things fresh, especially when the tribal drumbeats of "Live Again" kick in on the next track, and despite some some quiet moments, this is one of those moments where Ours just grabs you by the, um, cajones, and rocks out.

Atmospheric guitar grooves are the norm on any Ours album, so it's surprising - and refreshing - to hear a low-end, almost funky groove carry "Willing" as we progress into the back-end of the album. The top layers are all typical Ours, but a lower register Gnecco and the groovy bass line add some interesting character, and the addition of the piano during the bridge is a fantastic touch. From groove to a love of the bass drum on "Saint", Ours goes from funk to a Keane-like beat, and where you might hear Keane stick to the ivories, Gnecco brings back the U2-inspired guitar tones. "Lost" contains a little bit of a softened Weezer feel to it, especially in the underlying guitar licks.

All of this leads us to "Get Up," an atmospheric finish for an atmospheric band. Effects drift in and out of the background, vocal harmonies lead us a light kick drum coming in around 1:50, strings carrying us into a rising crescendo as symbols and synthesizers rise around us with Gnecco's vocals rising above it all, simply building and building until you think it's all going to pop around 3:50...and then it just stops. Children's voices singing acapella and chanting "and the more you love, you love" carry us out with some layered vocal effects slowly fading out. It's one last curve on a breath-taking and innovative album.

Coldplay - Viva La Vida, Or Death And All His Friends
Much has been made of Coldplay becoming the next U2, an anthem-driven band existing on a higher plane with ambiguous lyrics centered on peace, love, and understanding behind an atmosphere of sound. In that sense, Coldplay has succeeded, especially with Viva La Vida. But in another sense, in the idea of reaching an understanding that subtlety creates so much more than direct impact for the listener, Coldplay has launched itself beyond U2 and into a new plateau. There's something about a piano and organ that can create a stronger bond for a group, and while U2 has used just about every instrument under the sun, Coldplay's love of the ivories - while less prevalent here - adds an added "whoa" factor to their songs.

Viva La Vida certainly begins with a "Where The Streets Have No Name" vibe as "Life in Technicolor" kicks us off, a rare instrumental considering the vocal power contained within Chris Martin. But the attitude and atmosphere (there's that word again) of the album is always established by the first song, and we get a groovier sense with "Life in Technicolor" that hasn't been felt elsewhere. It segues perfectly with a fan-like effect into "Cemeteries of London". I hear the comparisons to U2 in this song, but the key is the acoustic guitar strumming is so well-layered in with the understated piano that it's pure Coldplay. Martin keeps his falsetto contained allowing the band to own this song. The addition of hand-claps adds an organic touch, as well.

Throughout the album, one element of each song seems to continue in the next, from simple atmospheric touches, to the rhythm and hand-clapping from "Cemeteries of London" progressing into "Lost!" With church organ crowing underneath the kick drum and claps, Martin croons about running out of options. The ambiguous touch is nice, especially considering the jazzy short notes played on the guitar in the background. Emotion doesn't have to be specific to carry an impact, something that Coldplay figured out early in their career. While it's technically a ballad, "Lost!" has such an impressive groove that you can easily catch yourself bouncing along to it. It's that moving, literally and figuratively.

"42" picks up the charge, with a Phillip Glass-like piano combining with Martin's vocals to carry a "The Scientist" feel before the strings and bass guitar kick in. Then it all fades away at the 1:40 mark into something right off of Parachutes with stilted, layered guitars carrying the bridge into what feels like a completely different song as Martin sings "You thought you might be a ghost!
You didn't get to heaven but you made it close". The guitars drop into a decidedly jazz feel until we end up right back where we started, a perfect if disorienting circle formed in just a few tics under 4 minutes. The atmospheric effects continue in "Loves in Japan/Reign of Love", where a solid bass line drives a series of sitar-like strings. If there is a U2-comparison, it's here, the first part of a dual song giving a stadium-anthem vibe without the wall of guitars until late in the piece. As the first fades out, "Reign of Love" picks up as a sort of hidden track, Martin's fingers lightly brushing the keys with strings in the background. Martin's vocals are so soft that it feels like a lullaby, a delicate touch after the last few bouncy moments.

"Yes!/Chinese Sleep Chant" continues the Eastern vibe to the music, with squealing violins and other assorted instruments riding underneath a rare baritone from Chris Martin. The instruments are wonderful, but it's Martin's voice and lyrics that give "Yes!" its feel. Martin gets downright low with his tenor, and it's incredibly effective. Some harmonies underneath with his bandmates are doubly effective now that he's able to hit a different register. It's a stark contrast to the second half of the track, when "Chinese Sleep Chant" kicks in and Martin's vocals are washed out in a sea of guitars and effects. Both are effective, although "Yes!" is probably the better overall song, while "Chinese Sleep Chant" is the more atmospheric track.

If the first section of the album was impressive, it gets blown away by the last four tracks. The title track is all strings, drums, and electronics, and it's as catchy as they get. The vocals are pure Coldplay, something out of A Rush Of Blood To The Head, but the strings underneath with the various orchestra bits create an aural pleasure not heard often in music. It continues with the main single "Violet Hill", a jamband extravaganza rooted in pure rhythm and blues. You can almost hear Robert Johnson or John Lee Hooker ready to play something like the bridge breakdown. It's not just the guitars, but the pounding piano that kicks the track off after the effects bring us in on a wave. "Violet Hill" is majesty in music, a rare accomplishment and even rarer considering the impressive nature of the track preceding it.

"Strawberry Swing" sounds strangely familiar, but it has no distinct reference points. It's like an amalgamation of the past 30 years in pop rock music, with a quietly picked guitar, a driving string section, tribal drums, an understated bass line, and a synth layered under Martin's vocals. It's the perfect understated performance that continues the groove line established by the last two songs but lowers the listener down gently instead of dropping down into a pure ballad. Coincidentally, the pure ballad is then able to kick in with "Death and All His Friends/The Escapist". The last track is another dual track, with "Death and All His Friends" a gentle lullaby with a softly picked guitar adding fills to a gentle piano track and Martin's hushed vocals. Then each instrument picks up, the guitar adding speed and changing tones and the piano moving up the scale and adding impact launching into a more driven song that fits the groove established by the last three songs.

Coldplay finishes the song with a harmonized chant of "No, I don't want to battle from beginning to end/I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge/I don't wanna follow Death and all of his friends." They haven't. They've created an entire new appreciation for quality songwriting, and it's only fitting that "The Escapist" is essentially a return to the same song as the intro track on Viva La Vida. Martin's said that the instrumental will be a major part of the next album, as well, which should be out within a year or so. He softly croons "And in the end/We lie awake/And we dream of making our escape".

Whatever Coldplay has escaped with will no doubt result in multiple awards. Not much stock is put into Grammy's or anything of that nature, anymore, but Viva La Vida is the best full album that I've heard in years from a major band. It's a true work of art, a sonic force that instantly has the listener ready to hear every song once again. There are so many layers to each song that each listen finds something new to enjoy. That's a hell of a feat.

2008 In Music: Revolutionary, Revitalizing - Part 2

As promised, here are the reviews of several albums that have helped make 2008 a promising year - albeit, still unfulfilled.

These are in order of "least amount of impact" to "most amount of impact", which coincidentally rides the wave of "least impressive, but still good" to "absolutely brilliant".

3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down
Let the power chords live on! I remember when these southern rockers first made it big with "Kryptonite" and thinking that they had it all figured it out. Simple song structures with clever lyrics, powerful guitars, and an entertaining frontman. They must've realized it, too, because they ended up getting too simple, even to the point of trying to win over more fans with the cliche power ballad. They've returned to their roots for their self-titled album, their fourth overall. "Train" leads it off, and while it's relatively unremarkable, two things stand out that suggest 3 Doors Down is heading down a different path: The opening riff is unusually heavy, and there is a simple guitar solo in the bridge. Solos were rare in other albums, so it is refreshing. Brad Arnold's vocals are a bit off - they've never been the same since that first album - but they're still solid as a traditional vocalist.

As far as individual songs, the clear single has been "It's Not My Time". It's a traditional power rocker with a sentimental tilt, but where other 3DD singles have dropped off and lacked cohesion, "It's Not My Time" is very crisp. Yes, it's still the simple formula, but it feels much more complex - the same formula that made "Kryptonite" into a winner. The problem with the album is that they drift into the ballads for too long. It begins with "Let Me Be Myself", a pseudo-country/pop-rock crooner that I could do without. "Pages" doesn't exactly pick up the pace, but at least they leave the orchestra behind and keep an underlying display of guitar picking in the quiet moments. Then "It's The Only One You've Got" kicks in and the band is in danger of losing the casual rock fan.

Indeed, interest drops in and out all the way up to "Runaway", the 10th track on the disc. It appears to have the same pattern as the songs before it, originally, but turns into much more energetic song with an abrupt ending, breathing some life into a very standard disc. The rest of the CD follows the same pattern established in the middle, where even the atmospheric effects of "She Don't Want the World" struggling to lift up the rear.

All said, the album offers early hope for a return to the solid rockers that used to dominate FM radio. But the lure of Top 40 gets in the way, perhaps a perfect analogy for 3 Doors Down's career so far.

Muse - HAARP (live album)
Live albums generally aren't worth mentioning unless new songs are debuted or the band does something peculiar with their setlist (Dream Theater covering Metallica, Metallica using a full orchestra for S+M, etc). But Muse is a particularly impressive live band - indeed, I first became a fan while watching a live performance of "Stockholm Syndrome" from Big Day Out 2004 - and they tend to add some impressive flourishes, especially if they know they're being recorded.

The show has two versions - the CD and DVD - and this review focuses on the CD version. It opens with a playback of "Dance of the Knights" by Sergei Prokofiev, a perfect opening considering that Muse now opens their shows with the galloping, rocking if-this-isn't-a-prog-rock-version-of-Bohemian-Rhapsody-then-I-don't-know-what-is massive hit "Knights of Cydonia". The groove established by "Knights of Cydonia" continues right on through the fat basslines of "Hysteria" and the Justin Timberlake-esque "Supermassive Black Hole", although the latter is covered in a bit of guitar-laden fuzz not heard on the album. Matt Bellamy's trademark falsetto is in full form, although the overall quality of the recording leaves a bit to be desired.

The true highlights are later in the album, beginning with "Butterflies and Hurricanes", and specifically the guitar solo that ends with Bellamy walking over the piano and continuing the solo there. It's an element that's on the album cut, but it's always amazing live, with some added flair to the guitar before he sits down and begins the classical neo-romantic interlude that has been a trademark of the song. Crowd participation is always fun, but it's most impressive in "Time is Running Out", where the crowd sings the entire pre-chorus.

Bellamy's dancing classical piano returns in "Newborn", an extended version of the song that stretches from the 6:00+ album cut to over 8 minutes live, with an extended jam session in the latter third of the song filling up the time. And most fitting, "Stockholm Syndrome" is the final piece before "Take a Bow", with an extended jam finishing it all off.

Disturbed - Indestructible
A love for the toms and bass drum, chant and rhythm driven vocals, and a classic guitar sound have combined to make Disturbed into one of the modern metal powers. They've progressed into a more diverse sound, though, in their last two albums, willing to embrace more than just one brutal 3.5 minute track after another. Like Metallica with The Black Album, Disturbed have become more melodic, and that continued evolution is shown with the two singles so far from this album. "Inside the Fire" has metal's version of a sing-a-long chorus, well-placed synthesizers adding layers, and a riding series of guitar solos that add some character. "Perfect Insanity" is a bit less diverse and more reminiscent of the band's early days, but there's enough layers within it to catch your attention.

The problem with Indestructible is that every song begins to blend in with the others. They're all melodic head-bangers with a similar pace and vocal style. Even those that have little interludes where the pace picks up or drops down are only brief respites, as the familiar sound comes charging back in all too soon. Most disappointing is that David Dramain doesn't challenge himself vocally, stretching his lungs out like he has on past hits like "Remember" and "Prayer." Also disappointing is the absence of a song like Believe's "Darkness," a lighter-raising whisper of a song that is a fan favorite.

For all they do to keep metal alive in the general public, Disturbed still isn't doing enough to advance it.

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Everyone's heard this bizarre group's first hit "Crazy". They rushed out their second album but they've lacked the impact single that brought them fans in multiple genres. Rockers liked the layered guitars. Pop fans loved the catchy choruses. Hip-hop heads loved the grooves. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse, as Gnarls Barkley, had become the first major cross-genre appeal in a long time.

The elements established in the first album are all here in the second, although there is more of a futuristic R&B element. "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" sounds like it could belong on a Marvin Gaye record and "Would Be Killer" could find its place onto an Outkast disc. But the biggest chance is the leash on Cee-lo's vocals. He seemed to stretch his crooning ability into uncharted territory on the debut album and he comes off much more restrained here.

That's disappointing, because as fun as Danger Mouse's production skills can be, Gnarls Barkley is all about Cee-lo's vocal ability. The one time he stretches his chords out, "Neighbors", he's covered with filters and effects. The amazing vision is there, which is why this otherwise disappointing album is on the list, but the execution falls short.

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things
The son of Bob and founder of The Wallflowers is using that band's hiatus to channel his inner Bob and drop this solo album. Pure folk isn't exactly around much anymore, but The Wallflowers had kept it alive by masking it as alternative pop rock. Dylan eschews his backing band for a trusty acoustic guitar and layered vocals to go with his top-notch lyrics. The taste of the album is clear from the start. "Evil Is Alive And Well" is a richly performed folk tune that could easily fit with the Wallflowers, while "Valley of the Low Sun" is more subtle. It's also vintage Dylan - Bob, this time. The younger Dylan catches a few of Bob's vocal tones when he lets his voice go a few times. It's a beautiful ode to soldiers everywhere and a showcase of Dylan's talents.

The middle of Seeing Things feels very much like Johnny Cash. You can practically see the upright bass, the light drum taps keeping time, and Dylan-as-Cash out in front keeping time on his guitar, with a second guitar set-up next to him picking away for fills. "Will It Grow" sounds like Dylan cast over a Cash instrumental and should find it's way to an independent film soundtrack in the near future. In that same vein, "I Told You I Couldn't Stop" sounds like it was left of the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. The entire album is very much a southern folk rock strummer, and while it's not quite country, it certainly evokes images of barren wastelands and dry, dusty front porches.

It should be no surprised that Rick Rubin is behind the production of Seeing Things. Rubin produced the final several albums for Cash, all stripped down pieces that endeared Cash to a new generation; less country and more folk/alt-rock, Cash became a symbol for new musicians and new music fans alike. Dylan isn't nearly as much of an icon - he'll be hard pressed to even escape his dad's shadow, especially with an album that fits with 60's era Bob - but Rubin's production and Dylan's musical modesty have created a fantastic album that gives hope for all true songwriters everywhere.

That's all for now. The final part will come tomorrow, with Ours, Weezer, and Coldplay.