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Rating: Rock is not dead, but it’s not doing very well either; it’s kept alive by the musical machines of a certain Jason Forrest a.k.a. Donna Summer, so what do we do? Do we pull the plug?
I’d say no, because this little fellow revives what we love most about rock by changing the way it’s presented to the audience. The structures are the same as we would expect from a good rock album, but the sounds are different, the main reason for the incredible freshness of this album: drum machines and other electronic tricks but also lots of electric and classical guitars, brass, piano…
This wizard Forrest doesn’t just resonate rock in 2005 but offers a very pronounced mix of genres. Take, for example, the second track “New Wave Folk Austerity”, which starts with a chill-out piano that leads into a flashy-electronic-metallic riff. Just when the fun begins, here comes a flamenco-style guitar that seems straight out of “Innuendo”, but the calm doesn’t last long, and here’s the riff again, making us nod along until the end…
Doing a track-by-track of this album would be too demanding because there are so many references, and I’m sure I haven’t caught them all yet. There’s punk, blues, soul, prog, and a sprinkle of jazz, but they are not just exercises in style; it’s a game of citations, 50 years of music history summarized, compressed, and updated.
The album ends with two gems like “War Photographer” and “Evil Doesn’t Exist Anymore”, with hip-hop drums, big band brass, and guitar as the protagonist in the former, and funky guitars, hard-rock inserts, and a vitaminized popular lullaby for the latter…
After listening, the urge to hit play again is strong, keeping this rock on life support…
Tracklist and Videos
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