Little Lies and Massive Dreams

My name is Bear. I play in a band called Talking About Commas and live and work in Providence, RI. I like music.
Free Hit Counter
Free Counter

Nov 8, 2006

Album Review: The Slip's "Eisenhower"



After years of waiting, The Slip (www.theslip.com) finally released their new album in to the world. Even though Eisenhower is the first studio release by the band in over four years, it has hardly any new material on it. The band has been road testing the bulk of this album since as far back as 2003, but even the oldest songs sound fresh on the new disc. Eisenhower is a cohesive collection of staples from BAM’s current live repertoire. In fact, "Mothwing Bite" is the only song fans haven’t (supposed to have) heard yet. This record, to me, has a feeling like a new home. What I mean is that when you move into a new house, you have all your old stuff with you, but the you get to set it all up in a different place. Something old, yet with a new style.

The album starts with perhaps the band’s two most famous songs. "Children of December" won best rock song in a Boston-based contest years ago and "Even Rats" has been featured on the popular playstation game "Guitar Hero" for about a year. So the first "new" recording I heard on the disc was the elegant piano intro to the amazing ballad "If One of Us Should Fall". This song was also released on the band’s 2003 release Alivealectric (which proves it was written before M. Ward’s song "Post War" which has an almost identical feel) but fans will love the slick and properly arranged studio version. Next comes the Marc penned (when this song first appeared live it was known as "Marc’s new tune", I assume he wrote the main riffs at least) "Airplane/Primitive". Although similar, the studio version doesn’t compare to what this song does live, which is definitely a good thing. The Slip are one of the best live bands in America and cannot be contained in a studio setting.

"Suffocation Keep" makes a glorious return on the album. The song, once played frequently, has been shelved (aside from a few bust outs) from their live shows as of late. Brad has ditched the old timey vocal effect for the soft, raspy approach and with the addition of a cello and Nellie Fleischner’s siren-like backing vocals, the song makes a nice transition into the studio world. "Life in Disguise" is the eighth track on the album, and possibly my new favorite. Co-written by Isaac Taylor (James’ son, mmm... Jameson), this sweet acoustic tune shows how far Brad Barr has come with his vocal abilities. (Funny story: One of the first times I ever heard this song Brad Barr was playing it on a rooftop in San Francisco after a show at the Hotel Utah. Drunkenly, I started to accompany him with the best knee/thigh slapping ever, or so I thought. He was so cool about it that he even gave me a knee slap solo mid song. What a champ that guy is.)

"Mothwing Bite" is the only song on the record that has yet to be performed live. It is perhaps the most poppy offering on the disc as well. Let’s just say it’s really polished. The song’s refrain contains the album’s best line too, "Boom, my lord, if you ever get back to Little Compton". That’s right, my hometown (which the Barr Bros. frequented many summers in the past) gets a shout-out in a Slip song. ‘Bout effing time. A great, well produced but not restrained version of "Paper Birds" closes the album. This song has perhaps the hottest intro going (which is separately tracked and named "The Original Blue Air") and proves that although The Slip may sing a lot more, they haven’t forgotten how to write groundbreaking, multi-part, musical masterpieces.

Rating: Grand Slam

key tracks: "Even Rats", "Suffocation Keep", "Life in Disguise", "Paper Birds"

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home