Violent Femmes - Freak Magnet - 2000 (Amazon) Not Available for digital download.
Right off the bat, with "Hollywood is High" and it's screechy electric guitars, I got the sense that the Femmes were BACK in 2000. I hadn't been this excited by a Femmes track since "American Music", in fact, it's without a doubt their catchiest opener since that record. The wordplay is terrific and clever. (Hollywood is high, Sunset's low--true, Hollywood Blvd is north of Sunset and the double meaning isn't lost)
The 60s groove of Freak Magnet should get you up off your feet, shake your go go boots and hit replay so you can sing, "Seems like a, Seem like a, I'm a freak magnet!". B52s WISH they could still write this well.
So, what happened? First off, this isn't 1991. The world had moved on. When Freak Magnet came out, Britney & the boy bands were ruling the day. The legacy of the Femmes hadn't yet taken hold, there were no bloggers to hawk true indie folk punk. The vegas schmaltz of Michael Jackson acolytes was ruling the airwaves. There was no room in our hearts or minds for new Femmes.
I was guilty of it, too. I BOUGHT the freaking album, listened to the first two tracks, forgot about it in a haze of...something, (who can even remember 2000?)
I should have listened.
I don't think I can recall screechy, retro, roots rock electric guitars on a femmes record before. It might have been a new direction or an attempt to freshen up the sound but, whatever the case, it works. When this record rocks, it rocks hard. (I have a soft spot for the Esquivel-esque "In The Dark". I know it goes on forever but I dig it.)
This album mines just about every musical territory the Femmes have traveled to in the past but somehow, unlike ROCK!!!!! never sounds like retread. Just like a band writing a new record. There are misfires, (Mosh Pit) but many more winners.
I'm glad "I Danced" was resurrected from ROCK!!!!! for this record because it's not that bad. But I have no idea what to make of the closer, "A Story" except that it reminds me of that spoken word track that we all loved by J. Geils Band, "No Anchovies, Please". But it's not as much fun, and it's sounds like it Gano and Richie were listening to too many Residents records.
Like most albums of the CD era, it's heavy with filler to pad out the available disc space and, I guess, give consumers enough songs to warrant the sticker price.
Too bad. If you chop out about 12 minutes from this thing (4 songs, maybe) it would be a pretty tight Violent Femmes record.
The real tragedy is that, because of the poor sales the Femmes never put out another Official album. Richie continued to release niche recordings and there was a special rarities record for eMusic. Gordon Gano released a collection of songs in support of an Indie film that the husband of one of the ex-backup singers in my band directed called "Hitting the Ground". But I haven't heard it. He has a new project called Gordon Gano & The Ryan Brothers
Make of it what you will.
Grade B+
A Side: Hollywood is High, Freak Magnet, I Danced
BlindSide: Sleepwalkin', All I Want, In the Dark
DownSide: Mosh Pit, When You Died
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