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Rating:
"All Hands On The Bad One," class of 2000, was among Jerry's most played listens for a month.
The month is the sunny and rainy July of a gray-green Dublin, and Jerry is the mentor, the undisputed boss of the shop where contractually he would be just a simple clerk: in his fifties but looking far worse, exaggerated bags under his small, greenish Irish eyes; skeletal, hair dyed a never-seen-before red and styled à la Johnny Rotten, to add a good fifteen centimeters to a stature already exaggerated as it is. Tie, black shirt tucked into a studded belt, pants really too tight, shabby: shiny Italian shoes, the touch of class. An inexplicable Yankee accent.
A mythological character, in short, a misfit veteran. As for musical culture, a spiritual father to all. Discs of Japan, Talking Heads, Siouxsie And The Banshees, and other New Wave wonders play in the shop under his careful supervision.
Among 77, The Queen Is Dead, and various institutions, almost daily, the fifth album by the Portland trio known (not too much) as Sleater-Kinney carves out 40 minutes of glory: and it deserves it, this attention from Jerry. It deserves it because in "All Hands On The Bad One", Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, vocals and guitars, and Janet Weiss on drums, supported by an already established formula and a mature and absolutely distinctive sound, reveal a depth in songwriting that had been only partially expressed until now: while not giving up the garage edge of their beginnings, especially in tracks like Ironclad, the wild Youth Decay and The Professional, and socially engaged themes with a particular focus on gender equality, Sleater-Kinney manage to infuse the songs with a pop breath that fits perfectly; thus, relentlessly easy listening tracks such as Ballad Of A Ladyman and You're No Rock'n'Roll Fun, barring prejudices, wouldn't make even the most sophisticated listener frown. Not a small quality, among so many trendy revivals and similar sycophancies, and Jerry knows this.
The influences are multiple, and make themselves heard: garage punk, starting with the cover, the Breeders in the pop of Leave You Behind, Kim Deal and her slightly dissonant harmonizations throughout the album, Siouxsie Sioux in Tucker's vocal style, references to Television in the guitar parts, a bit of healthy noise à la Sonic Youth; heavy influences, yes, but perfectly synthesized in the sound of Sleater-Kinney, which manages to sound fresh and original, certainly more offspring than emulator, with their guitars tuned a third below E to compensate for the lack of bass.
Not a masterpiece, it pays for an excessive 'softening' towards the end, perhaps intentional or perhaps due to a suboptimal distribution of the more spirited tracks, but an album to be re-evaluated from a now ex-trio of angry feminists that certainly deserved more fortune, if not with Jerry, the master, the reference point of a multi-ethnic group of inexperienced youngsters, in that happy shop of Ireland.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Ballad of a Ladyman (03:10)
Eye cream and thigh cream
how 'bout a get high cream?
Nothing I do smoothes out the feelings
of being used
The Ballad of a Ladyman
Freak that I am
Live in Japan
Let's rock with the tough girls
in this part of the world
Take a photograph
Portrait of a Ladyman
Are we holding on to our pride a bit too long
Are we breaking on guitars
Are we breaking you apart
They say I've gone too far
with the image I've got and
they know I'd make a mint
with new plastic skin
and a hit on the radio!
Oh, temptations of a ladyman
I could be demure like
girls who are soft
for boys who are fearful of
getting an earful
but I gotta rock!
I'd rather be a ladyman
Are we holding on to our pride a bit too long
Are we breaking on guitars
Are we breaking you apart
How many times will you decide
how many lives will you define
how much control should we give up of our lives
(You sit at home with an alibi
in case they call and ask you
why all you do is go
"ooh ahh ohh"
you're out of control but saying
"ooh ahh ooh")
Are we holding on to our pride a bit too long
Are we breaking on guitars
Are we breaking you apart
How many times will you decide
how many lives will you define
how much control should we give up of our lives
(You sit at home with an alibi
in case they call and ask you
why all you do is go
"ooh ahh ohh"
you're out of control but saying
"ooh ahh ooh")
Ballad of a Ladyman
02 Ironclad (02:34)
You went down in the very first round
sitting ringside in a tiny town
Knock out, knock out
First round, first round
When you call you will call the loudest
When you fall you will fall the hardest
This could be our very last stand
The Monitor and the Merrimac
too bad, too bad
You're ironclad, ironclad
When you call you will call the loudest
When you fall you will fall the hardest
Who do you love, who do you love, who do you love?
What would you kill, what would you kill, what would you kill?
to make a heart stand still, heart stand still, heart stand still?
What would you pay, what would you pay, what would you pay?
to make the hate go away, hate go away, hate go away?
When you call you will call the loudest
When you fall you will fall the hardest
Why battle-cry, dry your eyes
no one can hear you
Once iron made heart or spade no one can steal you
04 Youth Decay (02:30)
Acid tooth
It's got nothing to do with you
but if you wanna watch me chew
my teeth are cutting you out
Stomachache
Well it must be in your head
It must be something that I did
Food just doesn't seem to work out
Am I rotting out?
Daddy says I got my mama's mouth
I'm all about
a forked tongue and a dirty house
Mom has said
yes this happened to me long ago
But no one would believe me when i said:
Close my mouth
Was I born to accommodate
I'm so good at playing dead
words just don't seem to come out
Should I eat something sweet instead
wash away all those things we said
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
how many doctors will it take
Oooh Oooh befoe i disintegrate
05 You're No Rock n' Roll Fun (02:37)
You're no rock n' roll fun
Like a party that's over
Before it's begun
You're no walk in the park
More like a shot in the dark
With clues left for no one
All the boys in the band
Know how to get down
Fill our Christmas socks
With whiskey drinks and chocolate bars
When the evening ends
We won't be thinking of you then
Although the best man
Won't hang out with the girl band
The girl band
You're no rock n' roll fun
Like a piece of art
That no one can touch
Your head's always up in the clouds
Writing your songs
Won't you ever come down?
All the boys in the band
Know how to get down
Fill our Christmas socks
With whiskey drinks and chocolate bars
When the evening ends
We won't be thinking of you then
Even if your song
Is playing on the jukebox
The jukebox
You wanna party with the lights on
Come on I like the dark
You always wanna hear the same old song
Come on play another song
Coz you're no rock n' roll fun
Like a party that's over
Before it's begun
You're no walk in the park
More like a shot in the dark
With clues left for no one
You're no rock n' roll fun
(repeat x4)
07 The Professional (01:31)
There is a sound
they don't want you to own
Arrest every word
that escapes from your throat
They hand you the world's smallest microphone
It's still too loud and you're asked to go home
She can stay as long as she swears
that when she breathes it will be
her own air
She'll state her case and take up space
and that suffocates-
The professional
There is a sound that they want
you to hear
To drown out the voice
that plays in your ear
They hand you the world's biggest razor blade
an amateur bleeds
but she hardly gets paid
She can stay as long as she swears
that when she breathes it will be
her own air
She'll state her case and take up space
and that suffocates-
The professional
You better watch what you, you better watch what you say, no way
They're coming after you, they'll get in your head, your head, your head, head
She can be mad but they'll let her know
the scorched earth
allows nothing to grow
and she'll be blamed but feel no shame
'Cuz she'll have stopped-
the professional
08 Was It a Lie? (03:15)
The yard was cold and dark
The tracks were clearly marked
But she was tired/she didn't see
She was just out alone
She wasn't going home
She was going somewhere far away
The train was moving through
As we know the world has to do
Everyone will say it was her fault
Somewhere a camera is placed
Inside this awful place
The accident is about to start
Was it a lie?
Did it fill your head
Did it entertain?
Will you feel alive
at the end of it?
When the collision came
She died right away
Her body flung almost sixty feet
And as she split in two
Was she coming straight for you
And do you have a camera for a face?
Was she your TV show
Was she your video
A woman's pain never private, always
seen
I want to close my eyes
I want to cut the wires
I want a day not made for you to see
When you play it back to me, it feels more
like a parody
And that's all I will ever be, it's all I will
ever be
I really don't care about it, I don't care if
it's cold
I really want to be the prettiest wreck
you've seen
(You broadcast it in 50 states
Looped her death on the internet
And a woman's life got cheaper that day
A woman's life got cheaper that day)
09 Male Model (02:32)
He's got a perfect face
Turn away before you go
and turn me on
I cannot look away
I'm stunned
it's that Je ne sais quoi
uh huh
He talks to me in my sleep
Does he write my songs for me?
Should I try to play just like him?
Kick it out, could you show me your riffs?
You always measure me by him
Don't get me wrong
I'm not opposed to something big
I'm so sick of tests
Go ahead and flunk my ass
You don't own the situation, honey
You don't own the stage
We're here to join the conversation
and we're here to raise the stakes
Now do you hear that sound
as the Model breaks
Take the stage!
Let the image of him fade away
Go back and tear the pictures from the page
It's time for a new rock n' roll age
History will have to find a different face
and if you're ready for more
I just might be what you're looking for
You don't own the situation, honey
You don't own the stage
We're here to join the conversation
and we're here to raise the stakes
Now do you hear that sound
as the Model breaks
Take the stage!
10 Leave You Behind (03:27)
I wonder how you looked the day you were erased
To look down at your heart and watch it fade
Did you disappear or were you just misplaced
Left behind with no one else to blame
It's all gone but something lingers on
a place i used to call home
Now me, you, and the ghost
Looking for thing we lost
Laughing at the way it was,
Looking for the one we lost
(are you letting go?
Thinking clearer now that it's over
There's no one to blame
As we walk away
Why is it I just feel so heavy
What do I take away?)
When you're in a room
it's all that i can feel
Get so used to loving
what's not real
There's nothing I can hold,
No real tears to cry
You can't breath life back into lie
11 Milkshake n' Honey (02:54)
14 Rue de Savoy
that's where the flat was let
We shacked up in Paris two days
after we had met
Eighteen bars of the sonata
and you were mine
This music gig doesn't pay that well
but the fans are alright
Darling come home
I can't take the apartment alone
You left your beret behind
and your croissant is getting cold
Visa, Mastercard, discovered
that I was spent
Took my heart, my best jeans, and left me
with paying the rent
A user, abuser, a loser
but I didn't care
I've always been a guy with a sweet tooth
and that girl was just like a king-sized candy bar
Pick up the phone
Meet me at the Sorbonne
You keep turning me on
With those French words I can't pronounce
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Milkshake n' honey yeah
Ma petite, comment ca va?
13 The Swimmer (03:46)
The swimmer is so far from the distant shore
The only time she never feels alone
On the land her body distorts
In the water lines are true to her mind
I can hardly see you now
Are you getting closer and
Do you know you're the one?
They will never understand
How washed up you feel on land
The spot light of the sun, it shines on
The Swimmer knows she'll never touch the floor
She can float unharmed by murky wars
And the land is as plain as her skin
But the water shines like the star in her mind
I can hardly see you now
Are you getting closer and
Do you know you're the one?
They will never understand
How washed up you feel on land
The spot light of the sun, it shines on
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