Solid Little Rock Jams

MV & EE with the Golden Road - Gettin' Gone

I heard some other album of theirs not too long ago. It was called Green Blues and was recorded with a completely different road. It sounded like some serious sleepy-time LSD droney folk jamz, that is what it sounded like. The one time I listened to it, I fell asleep on the train. Then I came home, listened to the rest, thought about the women in my life, and probably fell asleep again. So on that particular day and under those particular circumstances, it was just that kind of record album, it was.

Those days are no more, though, and now we have a whole new long-player from this happy couple that is a bearded woman and man, fighting together, I can teach you, teach you something, if you listen, man and woman. New Ween album, dudes. It's boss as shit. Obviously not as good as Strawberry Jam or whatever supposedly "subversive" bullshit the kids are digging.

This album is not like that other album I heard! There are SONGS here. Lots of 'em. Slightly over an hour of SONGS is what this album is. Maybe Green Blues had songs and I didn't notice them because I was asleep. This new album sounds like Neil Young. Neil Young and his rock band Crazy Horse. Don't pretend that it doesn't. Listen to that fucking guitar tone on "Mama My," holy shit. Who cares if it's "derivative," that cunt pummelin' Crazy Horse sound is as perfect as rock 'n roll gets. Why try to even deny that. My god. My fucking god.

There are two types of songs on here: the spacey acoustic songs that don't have drums, and the balls-out rockers that do have drums. And the drums are totally kickass. DID YOU KNOW that the drummer on here is J. MASCIS, well, I just heard that today. I believe it. These drums... they're heavy. They sound great. The whole thing sounds really good, yep. 'Twas obviously recorded to tape, all analog-like. And it totally sounds like a log cabin in the woods or something. You can taste the tree bark and bushy marijuana beard real good, yep.

So, yeah, the rockers. Either they're complete shit-stompers like "Don't Cry No Tears" or creepy thunderclouds drifting overhead like "Danger Bird." Jesus christ, Zuma is the Greatest Album Ever Recorded, right? Why did I just say that, I don't believe it for one second, save for the ones during which I think about just how fucking good Zuma is. That's it, I'm turning this new-fangled G.G. Allin with Paul Rodgers pile 'o 200+ kbps VBR mp3 files off... that's right, I'm listening to "Danger Bird" right now. This fucking song. Neil Young is as good as Paul McCartney. Not really as good as the Killers featuring Lou Reed, mind you. It's not like Neil Young and Paul McCartney were ever in the BEATLES, ha.

Anyways, the acoustic songs are good, too. "I Get Caves In There." Beautiful song. Check it out. Pretty sure that there are one or two totally all-out epic acoustic droners on here. There's that one near the end, I know that. They're great, of course, but I'm not so into them as I am into shit like tracks three and four and two and thirteen and a bunch of the other solid jamz.

A lot of people are saying "Neil Young and Royal Trux" when talking about this bad boy of an album. And they're right! Forget about the Stones and shooting up all the live long day and apply that sloppy rock 'n troll Trux aesthetic to the music of Judy & The Dream of Horses, and you, my friend, have some great fucking music. The two vocalizers on here are charmingly rough around the edges, but it all works. These folks are concerned with being long-hairs and smoking their minds up into the cosmos, and sometimes that results in some massively outward flowing shit, all psychedelic like. Wilco, this is not. The Magnolia Electric Co., this is ALSO not. Hell, I'm sick of that shit! Molina has been doing the same crap over and over. It was awesome the first time. Now it's just so TAME and played-out... give me MV & EE any day of the week. They have balls. And a vagina.

Rating: Fucking great record. Seriously, one of the best things you could possibly put in your ears this year. These fuckers have it. Beautiful production. Killer tunes. The will to make music that's exciting and inviting. Maybe you're annoyed with all the bearded forest dwellers of "indie" these days. As you should be. But Beck's Midnite Vultures and his lovely wife Ekkehard Ehlers are doing something that comes across as very genuine and fun. What's that totally kickass Unwound chord change in "Susquehanna"? And the guy just said, "This one's for Mike Watt" in "Coaled Out." Son of a martyr! Son of a father! You can look inside you? You can look inside ME!

HEY!!!! BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!!!!! I'm listening to "Pardon My Heart" from Zuma. MV is to Neil Young as Neil Patrick "Julie" Haggerty is to McJagger? I'd say so, yeah. Listen to this album, you will understand.

Song: "Mama My"... one of the best things you'll hear all year!