Tuesday, June 26, 2007

What's Rickey Listening to on his Way to Work?

In this column, Rickey will periodically update you on what music is revolving in his car’s compact disc player as he navigates his way to the office. Some material may range from noteworthy to foot-stompingly awesome, while other material Rickey may have blindly downloaded and listened to for the first time this morning. It’s a mixed bag of good and bad which Rickey will listen to and report in on periodically. If being hip is your thing, then proceed onward and feel free to adjust your musical tastes to align with Rickey’s.

To kick off this column, we’re starting up with a mini-review of Paul McCartney’s “Memory Almost Full.” Rickey downloaded the album after a family member recommended it to him, and it’s safe to say that aforementioned family member is now in the musical penalty box for the duration of the summer. Consider the fact that from age 56 to age 66, Bob Dylan gave us “Time Out of Mind,” “Love and Theft,” and recently the brilliant “Modern Times.” And then on the other end of the spectrum is Paul’s “Memory Almost Full.” Here’s the cold hard truth: no other musician could get away with making an album like this and having it reviewed so kindly by so many. Simply put, it’s painfully mediocre.

Now Rickey’s a Beatlemaniac, and he was mildly interested in hearing what Paul McCartney (“Macca” for those in the know) had created here. You’d think that with the recent shakeup in his personal life involving the peg-legged woman there would be decent fodder for something more original than what he gave us with “Wings.” Yeah, not so much. Overall, the album’s main problem is that all the lyrics are syrupy pabulum, the melodies are unoriginal, and you’re left with the overall effect of listening to a 60's bubblegum band. Needless to say, this does not make good driving music for Rickey on his way to work.

There’s just not much to any of the songs, nothing memorable whatsoever. The best track on the album is “That Was Me,” but frankly, that’s not really saying a whole heck of a lot. The tune itself sounds like classic McCartney but the lyrics are tired and unoriginal. “Dance Tonight,” is decent, but it’s also the most indicative of McCartney’s shortcomings as a musician. The song features mandolin strumming, rampant foot tapping, and some whistling by Paul. It’s pure fluff. But then again, no one ever accused Paul of being the deep thinker in the Beatles.

The rest of the songs follow in the footsteps of “Dance Tonight”: they’re compact, contain simple ideas, carry pleasant melodies, and feature underdeveloped choruses. For lack of a better word, they’re very “meh.” Skip this album unless you’re dying to listen to something mindblowingly derivative and whimsical. And let’s be honest now, if Paul McCartney was your favorite Beatle, then you’re kind of a pussy. In summation, we’re now pissed that we took the time to write a musical review on this.

Rickey awards this album 2 stolen bases out of a possible 10.

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12 comments:

Ryan said...

Are you a fan of Ryan Adams?

His new disk came out today, and it's probably his most solid work yet. I'd tell you to give it a listen but I don't want to be in the musical doghouse, even if the dotson play drums...

Rickey said...

Rickey's actually a Ryan Adams fan, but hasn't kept up with the breakneck pace at which he's been releasing albums recently.

Indeed, we'll be checking out that album in the very near future.

Anonymous said...

Rickey, get an iPod.

Egan, out.

Rickey said...

Ah, you're wondering why this wasn't labeled "What's on Rickey's ipod"?

Well, Rickey had an ipod (a 60 GB video one no less) but it was stolen by some evil fucker. Very saddening.

Can't seem to summon the will to replace it, you know? But if you want to buy Rickey one, feel free.

Isaac Carmichael said...

I'm a Beatlemaniac as well, and it shames me to admit this, but here it goes:

Every solo album he ever did gets great reviews (his best album in 20 years!), so I'll buy it, and it sucks. Then he goes and releases and other one, it gets great reviews (his best effort in 25 years!), I go out and buy it, and it sucks.

I feel like Charlie Brown, Paul is Lucy, and his new albums are those damn footballs. This time, however, I'll take a cue from Rickey and steer clear.

Anonymous said...

Amy Winehouse & Lily Allen (so cliche, I know) are my personal favorites right now.

Oh, and as for "rodrigo" — ditto.

Rickey said...

Amy Winehouse is good stuff. Never heard of Lily Allen, Amy, Rickey will check her out sometime.

Also, Sideshow Bob, did you know that in German-dubbed episodes of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob is called Tingeltangel Bob ("honky-tonk Bob")? Just read that somewhere... funny stuff.

Toasty Joe said...

Everybody gonna dance tonight
Everybody gonna feel alright
Everybody gonna dance around tonight

Everybody gonna dance around
Everybody gonna hit the ground
Everybody gonna dance around tonight

Wow. He didn't mail those lyrics in at ALL. That's poetry, baby.

Isaac Carmichael said...

Tingletangle...that's going right in the ol' lexicon!

Rickey Jr. said...

Rickey, from Rodrigo's it seems that you've gone international. Congrats!

And for the record, Rodrigo is Portugeuse and was saying that he found your blog on google and likes your writing. He links his own website which specializes in making customized t-shits. Yes, I translated.

Rickey said...

Is that what language he was shilling in? Portugeuse? Strong translation work--Ricky had assumed it was a Spanish spammer. Still, its too odd a post to delete. Plus, I want to see if he can make me a t-shirt with a Portugeuse water dog on it.

Noah said...

Everybody gonna dance around
Everybody gonna hit the ground
Everybody gonna dance around tonight


That song makes Smitty want to punch himself in the nuts.