#82
March 25 1985
Elliot Easton
Change No Change
3 out of 5
Highlights:
Help Me
Wide Awake
I listened to this once before, during my Cars retrospective, about 10 years ago. And then I forgot about it.
Listening to it outside of the Ocasek catalog it’s not as terrible in comparison.
But that’s the problem. I keep comparing it to the more famous band that he was in instead of just listening to it in it’s own right. And, were I to do that, I would have to say he’s a less interesting/less talented Rick Springfield.
This is Power Pop. In the tradition of Raspberries & Bay City Rollers and The Spongetones & Shoes & The Romantics & &&…just that the hooks aren’t there, just listen to “Help Me”.
It’s a record out of time. It’s not of 1985. It belongs in 1975.
Side Two is where the shit hits the needle and you start to wish you'd never heard this. But, you can't unhear the faux R&B, white boy soul and semi-rap of "I Want You". Which sounds like the Theme to Sanford & Son if written and recorded by Dee Dee Ramone.
But the album tries to right itself with the Country Rock, "The Hard Way", a song that suffers from mediocre lyrics & bad singing but has an easy, truck down the highway, big country sound, but is ultimately a failure.
The record fumbles around but finds it's energy towards the end. "Change" is a rocker, the kind we hope would come from the fingers of the legendary southpaw axeman.
No comments:
Post a Comment