Mr. Kirk pictured here in casual Venusian garb.
Also, per the request of Mr. Kirk, this blog will be fueled not by alcohol, but by caffeine. I started my night with soda and will be moving on to coffee for the rest of this endeavor. We will see how my mind fares with jitters rather than haze.
The "bollocks" here meaning my blog.
Get ready for the most coherent-yet-scattered blog yet. On to the review!
Album:
Caffeine:
"Holidays In The Sun" comes in with a clap/stomp beat and builds with guitar before ripping in with a nice little riff. Then settles into a driving punk feel. Bouncy and actually better production than I was expecting. I like the added guitar licks the before the bridge part. Johnny Rotten's voice is wonderful. The mess that is the instrumental break is phenomenal. Beautiful end.
Into the building "Bodies". Drop out into a break-neck punk feel. It's definitely easy to hear how Rotten's voice has influenced current punk voices. The writing in this is nice as well. And the abortion reference makes for an interesting statement for the time. Definitely a cool tune.
Keeping up the pace is "No Feelings". A straightforward punk track about narcissism. And they make it sound so appealing. The song as well as the act of. I love how they can stretch three chords to a full song without feeling like there is anything lacking.
"Liar" comes in with what may be considered almost new wave by today's standards, but definitely has a harsher edge. Out of the second chorus comes an abrasive guitar solo that makes me smile. I'm starting to here general messiness that the Pistols are known for, and I'm liking it.
"Problems" is another driving tune, and I'm really loving Rotten's vocal stylings here. The building chorus is cool and the soloing on this album so far is cool as hell albeit rather simple. Everything comes out as a wall of aggression but yet has a surprising amount of depth, and the bits of lyrics I've been able to catch-Haha! The "Problem" refrain at the end is wonderfully awesome.
As the familiar "God Save The Queen" comes in, I'm discovering that coffee makes me fiendy for cigarettes SO much more than booze. I love this song for so many reasons. The first being the complete disregard for holding rhyme schemes. Not too mention the social context of when it was released. So abrasive yet it remains catchy. Great tune.
"Seventeen" comes in with a cool little guitar intro. Lyrically, I'm loving this one. "I'm a lazy sod!" Beautiful. The best messy drum fills I've ever heard. Feedback ending.
And the pinnacle "Anarchy In The U.K." Interesting that the songs that would live on from this album find them selves right in the meat of the album right where things start to settle. In a manner of speaking. The songs still stay driving, but feel more subtle or at least accessible. That makes sense, I suppose. Good tune still.
"Sub-Mission" opens with some held out chords and reveals itself to be the slowest moving song on the album thus far. This speaks volumes as the song is still upbeat and driving. Rotten's lackadaisical vocals are great here. And the chirps? I don't know why they're there, but I like them. It's hard to approach this after hearing years of music that this album help to inspire. You can definitely draw lines back to many of the songs on this album from current punk music.
"Pretty Vacant" may have the most "poppy" sound on this album. Definitely the most catchy track thus far. Good tune, but rather static. I do like that chorus though. Sooo many cigarettes thus far.
"New York" comes in a little heavier with a nice build intro. I really love the use of guitar fills all over, but over the course of a full album, the lack of instrument knowledge is really starting to show. Not that I mind a whole lot, that's part of the Sex Pistols' charm. I dig this tune. Guitar fills into the end.
Closing us out is "EMI". If I'm not mistaken, this song is a shot at the label who almost signed the Sex Pistols before doing everything they could to distance themselves from the band. As it goes on, I really enjoy it as a closer. It's hard to put a finale on an album that has so much energy throughout, but I feel like a good ol' fuck the music industry song is perfect. As was the end to this song and the album.
Final Thoughts:
I have discovered coffee doesn't get my fingers flowing as freely as alcohol, but I will take jitters (I've got 'em bad) over the in ability to walk straight at the end of a blog. That being said, there is a reason this is Albums and Alcohol. As for the album, thoroughly enjoyable, and although it featured little variance, it managed to not once loose my interest. Perhaps it was my sobriety or maybe the face that I have enough focus from coffee to hold my interest on a metronome for hours right now, but I'm gonna go with the fact that this is a solid punk album, and I'm glad to have not gone longer in my life without hearing it in its entirety.
So, until next time, fuck the man, or if you aren't so rebellious, fuck your lover.
-Badhorse
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