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Rating: Eh yeah. Ok Go. Let's go. Towards where, no one knows. It could be an "Ok Go" aimed at conquering the coveted palm of the best alternative band. Or maybe not. After all, the ideas are there, the look too, adventure is always appealing, so why not set off. Let's set off. It starts with a couple of EPs: the first in 1998, the others follow. But just two or three songs, to practice. It's 2003, the year the real plea is heard: first self-titled album, gold, incense, and myrrh from the Three Magi of critique, with a positive reception from the public as well. But something changes. The naive boys lose a bit of their drive, realizing that, after all, the world is a bit too big to conquer entirely. And certainly, the music world does not help, not at all. The fact is, one day they find themselves in a friend's basement. They play with heart, with eagerness. But all around them, in full Vodafone style, music is made for bisnes (or business, depending on pronunciation). For money. For fame. For droves and droves of fans drooling, the kind who would build a palace with bare hands just for you. Well, not all that glitters is gold. And the boys must have been somewhat disillusioned, seeing the famous saying come true. And so, day by day, the band starts questioning what joy there is in playing when the music world isn't all the good everyone talks about. In these situations, friendship prevails. But despondency remains. The fact is, they get back to work, subdued yet determined. The album is ready, set to be released. But then, an unfortunate event: Bush gets reelected in the presidential elections. For them, this means one thing: damn it. In a hurry, the provisional album title is changed. And thus, the band led by Damian Kulash Jr. returns in 2006. Obviously, the album can't be called "Fuck", it's unsightly, vulgar (of course...), so they settle for a laconic yet powerful "Oh No".
Let's clear one thing immediately: despite the sudden dominance of harsh reality over false golden dreams, Ok Go haven't changed their sound even a bit from the previous album. The riffs might be a bit more mature, but the difference is practically negligible. All the songs are very easy to digest, a nice alternative rock occasionally tainted with a bit of funk or country touches. But let's take it easy and examine the album tracks. The second work from the Chicago band opens with a bang: "Invincible" (which opens with a fantastic noise of dragging amplifiers) features quite a freshness and originality in sound, coupled with a clever odd rhythm and high catchiness, making it the best track of the album. As if to say: to-create-a-good-song-do-we-always-need-complexity-super-sonic-riffs-or-other-layers? Absolutely not. Here the riffs are elementary, predominantly based on Timothy Nordwind's bass, yet from the first listen, they captivate and are easy to listen to. Really well done. The second track is titled "Do What You Want" and slightly deviates from the usual atmosphere of the band, as it opens with an anxious roll from Dan Konopka, followed by Andrew Duncan drawing inspiration from Seventies atmospheres (with rhythms easily referable to Led Zeppelin), producing fiery chords that make a great impression, accompanied by Kulash's voice, always adept at knowing the right moment to raise the vocal pitch and, consequently, the song's tempo. A very good composition, even if a bit disconcerting.
We arrive at the third piece, "Here It Goes Again": a slight misstep from the Ok Go. The song is indeed too light: the funk undertones, joint riffs with Kulash's monosyllables, or the overall choruses characterizing the refrain contribute very little. Something more would be preferable: as a commercial single, it's almost perfect, but in an album created for the alternative crowd, this seems a bit out of place. After three minutes or a little less, we move to "A Good Idea At The Time": another truly noteworthy piece, where Kulash's voice roughens and the background nods to the best Flaming Lips while maintaining a solid '70s orientation. The band's originality, in this case, lies in assembling these elements in a very personal way, creating a possible hit that doesn't disappoint anyone (also interesting is the muted trumpet ending the song). The fifth track is "Oh Lately It's So Quiet": it opens on Duncan's sweet guitar, followed by an almost R'n'B percussion background, and accompanied by Kulash's fantastic falsetto, who even indulges in having his fellow merry-makers do the choruses during a pause between verses. The song remains more or less relaxed throughout: notable is a very simple rusty-toned solo by Nordwind around two minutes in, adding a bit of motion to an otherwise uneventful and not particularly praiseworthy piece.
It picks up again with "It's A Disaster", a lively piece with vaguely swing rhythms that relies on the alchemy between solo voice and collective choirs. The chorus is truly beautiful, dominated by the voices of Nordwind, Kulash, and Duncan, irregularly punctuated by Konopka. No room for virtuosity: a song that reaches the listener directly with an extremely simple rhythmic scheme, a brief solo that adds nothing to the band's potential but confirms all the good impressions from the previous tracks. We arrive at the first official single extracted from the album, the already historic, the cult "A Million Ways". A very pleasant song, opened by a solo guitar and followed by Damian Kulash Jr.'s hushed voice often falling into sporadic falsetto. Especially appreciated is the delightful funk contribution from the bass, which is at its best and the well-marked rhythm that entices the public to hit the dance floor to move those flabby cheeks. A slight slip in style is noted -and it's worth mentioning the band, has got style to sell- towards the song's midpoint, when a background chorus gives way to a vocal part without instrumental accompaniment, a bit raw. But overall, who cares: "Oh darlin', you're a million ways to be cruel..." The eighth track is "No Sign Of Life": interesting opening, with an acoustic guitar soon fading to leave space for bloodier riffs by the inspired Nordwind. Kulash, however, is less inspired this time: his voice struggles to stand out over Konopka's rhythmic accompaniment and is often drowned out by overly aggressive and slightly reckless chords from Duncan. It's somewhat disappointing not to feature any guitar solo in this piece: only the closing partly satisfies, but it's not a true solo since the band sings over it. The ninth composition is "Let It Rain": another slowly progressing song, with slightly gospel influences, where the guitar harmoniously fits with a revitalized Kulash (the "Hallelujah, hallelujah" was missed in this album : D). The drums focus on bolstering parts that are overly sugary or unnecessarily repetitive, but they are sweet and highly listenable. And here comes, for a slow song, another decidedly lively one: the shortest on the album, "Crash The Party", two minutes and twenty-five seconds of pure diversion, with the guitars roaring back to life and the band members, freed from the slightly ungrateful task of turning an alternative rock band into a minimalist band, exploding in choruses with an almost circus-like flavor. The whole reveals to be a bet won ahead of time.
The next track ("Television, Television"), however, is decidedly subdued, a fairly fast song with prominent drums and slightly washed-out guitars, that truly stand out only in the refrain (sung, as usual, by the whole band). The twelfth song, titled "Maybe, This Time", starts with a vaguely ominous progression, with Nordwind's bass ruling solo, rarely interrupted by sporadic guitar chords and overshadowed by Kulash's subdued voice. Keyboards also appear in this piece, sharing the background with Nordwind (notice the "pla-pla-pla"?). Different than usual, somewhere between a happy song and a slow song, a hybrid perfected in the album. Everything closes with the somber "The House Wins", significantly infused with electronic samples intended to distort Duncan's and Nordwind's riffs, with the drums marking the tempo like a band and Kulash's voice sounding despondent. A good idea is incorporating a piano in the middle section of the song.
Well, I've finished my description of the album. If you want to listen to something different from the commercial crap labeled MTV, and something not too complex at the same time, this album is for you. Otherwise, patience. Re...
No, no, wait a moment. The requiem can wait. I forgot something that theoretically should have been the centerpiece of the review. Or maybe I left it for last on purpose... The videos. Ladies and gentlemen, anonymous and registered users as well as editors, no one, I mean no one, and I reiterate no one, can claim to listen to Ok Go if they have never seen a video from the group. One word: unforgettable! Unforgettable! Unforgettable both for a 4-year-old and a 90-year-old (I feel very much like Wanna Marchi at this moment). Why? Because the videos contain the essence of the band itself: their way of presenting themselves, their way of being, their personality. And whether this is conveyed traditionally (as in "Invincible", where the group sings and plays as various objects explode) or in a less orthodox way (in "A Million Ways", a video costing more or less 20 dollars, where the four engage in a dance in a garden, or in "Here It Goes Again", the most hilarious, adopting the technique from "A Million Ways" by running and doing stunts on treadmills), the message always hits the mark. And it doesn't even take too much effort. Want a fact to understand it? I'll give you two: the video for "A Million Ways", which started as a viewing strictly reserved for friends, received approximately 700,000 downloads from the band's official site in one week, but also the downloads of other videos, which are among the most downloaded on YouTube. And since you can't miss them, and since I want to make your life easier, here are all the links to the official singles:
VIDEO OF "A MILLION WAYS"
VIDEO OF "INVINCIBLE"
VIDEO OF "HERE IT GOES AGAIN"
Well, requiem.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Invincible (03:30)
When they finally come to destroy the Earth,
they'll have to go through you first.
I bet they won't be expecting that.
When they finally come to destroy the Earth,
They'll have to deal with you first,
And now my money says they won't know about
The thousand Fahrenheit hot metal lights behind your eyes.
Invincible. You're invincible.
That crushing, crashing, atom-smashing, white-hot thing... It's invincible.
When they finally come, what'll you do to them?
Gonna decimate them like you did to me?
Will you leave them stunned and stuttering?
When they finally come, how will you handle them?
Will you devastate them deliberately?
'Cause I'm gonna guess they won't be prepared for
Thousand-Fahrenheit hot metal lights behind your eyes.
Invincible. You're invincible.
That crushing, crashing, atom-smashing, white-hot thing... It's invincible.
So, please use your powers for good. You're invincible.
03 Here It Goes Again (02:59)
It could be ten but then again
I can't remember half an hour since a quarter to four
Throw on your clothes the second side of Surfer Rosa
And you leave me with my jaw on the floor, hey
Oh, just when you think you're in control
Just when you think you've got a hold
Just when you get on a roll
Oh, here it goes
Here it goes
Here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known
Should have known
Should have known again
But here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
It starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy
Something inching past the edge of the reserve
Now through lines of the cheap venetian blinds
Your car is pulling off of the curb, hey
Oh, just when you think you're in control
Just when you think you've got a hold
Just when you get on a roll
Oh, here it goes
Here it goes
Here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known
Should have known
Should have known again
But here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
Oh, oh, here it goes again
Oh, oh
Oh, here it goes again
Yeah, oh, here it goes again
Oh, here it goes
I guess there's got to be a break in the monotony
But Jesus, when it rains how it pours
Throw on your clothes the second side of Surfer Rosa
And you leave me
Yeah, you leave me
Oh, here it goes
Here it goes
Here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known
Should have known
Should have known again
But here it goes again
Oh, here it goes
Oh, here it goes
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known
I should have known
But here it goes again
Oh, here it
Oh, here it
Oh, here it
Oh, here it
Oh, here it
Oh, here it goes again
I should have
I should have
I should have
I should have
I should have known
Oh, oh, yeah
I should have known
Oh, here it goes it again
Oh, here it goes it again
05 Oh Lately It's So Quiet (03:00)
(oh no) Oh lately it's so quiet in this place
You're not 'round every corner
(oh no) Oh lately it's so quiet in this place
So darling, if you're not here haunting me
I'm wondering...
Whose house are you haunting tonight?
Whose sheets you twist,
Whose face you kiss?
Whose house are you haunting tonight?
I don't think much about you anymore
You're not on every whisper
I don't think much about you
But if you're not lurking behind every curtain
I'm wondering...
Whose house are you haunting tonight?
Whose name you hiss,
Who's clenching fists?
Whose house, are you haunting tonight?
Now whose house are you haunting tonight?
Who can't resist,
Who's cryin?
Whose house are you haunting tonight?
Whose name you hiss,
Whose sheets you twist?
Whose house are you haunting tonight? (oh no)
06 It's a Disaster (03:21)
Crash and burn, crash and burn, crash and burn (crash and burn)
Patience is the hallmark of the old and the infirm
Lived and learned, lived and learned, lived and learned
Out lived theer lust and traded want in for concern
Singing that's all right
Yeah that's all right
Aw that's all right
So come on down, come on down, come on down (come on down)
Get out our pestilence and vice and pass them around
And blow this town blow this town blow this town
Jump off this ship before the shit just runs aground
Singin' that's all right
Aw that's all right
Aw that's all right
It's a disaster
It's an incredible mess
But it's all we've got now
Yeah it's all we got
Howling with laughter, panic
alarm, and distress
But it's all we've got now
Yeah it's all we got
Head or tails, heads or tails, heads or tails (heads or tails)
Are you dumb enough to break the mold
or smart enough to fail?
Oh happy trails happy trails oh happy trails
Can't beat a little bit of envy in your sails.
Singing that's all right
Yeah that's all right
Oh that's all right
But it's a disaster
It's an incredible mess
But it's all we've got now
Yeah it's all we got
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress
But it's all we've got now
Yeah it's all we got
07 A Million Ways (03:13)
Sit back, matter of fact
Teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming
Hissing, playin' the crowd
Play that song again
Another couple Klonopin
A nod, a glance, a half-hearted bow
Oh such grace
Oh such beauty
And lipstick and callous
And fishnets and malice
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
I should, I wish I could, maybe if you were I would
A list of standard issue regrets
One last eighty proof, slouchin' in the corner booth
Baby, it's as good as it gets
Oh such grace
Oh such beauty
So precious, suspicious, and charming and vicious
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
Oh darlin'
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways
Oh darlin'
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways
Oh darlin'
Oh darlin'
You're a million ways to be
Oh oh oh oh oh
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
You're a million ways to be cruel
(One zero zero zero zero zero zero cruel)
Oh darlin' you're a million ways to be cruel.
10 Crash the Party (02:24)
You're not the prettiest girl in town
I'm not the only boy with sullied clothes and a sullen frown, so
To hell with Valentine's, to hell with perfume
To hell with chocolates and picnics, and Sinatra tunes
'Cause while the rest of the girls are drowning in roses and songs he composes
And while the rest of the guys are all trying, all trying so hard
Oh girl, let's crash the party
El Dorado on the lawn (hey, hey, hey)
Let's burn holes in the carpets
Kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables, all night long
I'm not so good with subtlety
You wouldn't say that I'm the picture of urbanity
Never put much stock in suavity, courtesy, chivalry, gallantry, all that useless jewelry
But while the rest of the girls still sigh for the night, he was smiling politely
And while the rest of the guys are all trying, all trying so hard
Oh girl, let's crash the party
El Dorado on the lawn (hey, hey, hey)
Let's burn holes in the carpets
Kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables, all night long
Oh girl, let's crash the party
El Dorado on the lawn (hey, hey, hey)
Let's burn holes in the carpets
Kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables all night long
(Oh girl, let's crash the party)
All night
(Let's burn holes in the carpet)
All night long
11 Television, Television (02:39)
Look at the hottie in the tight jeans
Look at the pipe dreams
Look at the fat man burst at the seams
Look at the captain with the galaxy, right off his balcony
Look at the science and the alchemy
Look at the sirens on the cop cars
Look at the pop stars
Look at the convicts filing the bars
Look at the wife
Look at the knife
Look at the pom-pom prom queen scream and scream and run for her life
It's always right, the perfect light in the dark of night
Give up the world, give up your life, 'cause you cannot fight the television
Television, television
Television!
Look at them trying to get the flag higher
Look at the quagmire
Look at the tread separate from the tire
Look at the junky trying to get a gram
Look at the betting man
Look at him folding on a better hand
It's always right, the fearless light in the dark of night
Give up the world, give up your life cause you cannot fight the television
Television, television
Television!
Look at me hypnotized and half alive, maybe it's four or five
Some parts are sleeping, some parts are paralyzed
Just one more minute, just one more minute, I think I'm almost in it
Television, television
Television, television
Give me tits and politicians (Television, television)
Give me death and demolition (Television, television)
Give me glamour and sedition (Television, television)
Television!
12 Maybe, This Time (03:15)
Having spent your entire life exactly where you are tonight in the valley between intent and deed, you
must have mastered this, the fragile art of a good excuse, the little things that get you to believe.
That get you to believe.
So listen, I'm not trying to prove anything at all here, but don't you think that maybe, this time, you were wrong?
You've spent your entire life quick-tongued and always right.
Hasn't being right just let you down?
Right just lets you down.
So listen, I'm not trying to say anything at all here.
There isn't much left, anyway, that hasn't been said.
But don't you think that possibly, this time, it's different?
Don't you think that maybe, this time, you were wrong?
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