Grindhouse Double Feature: Taylor-Taylor and Robinson/Robinson

THE DANDY WARHOLS - WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE (2003)

I was introduced to Monkey House in two separate routes. The first was from the British TV show Brainiac: Science Abuse. Track 5, “I Am a Scientist” used to play at certain points in fragments throughout the show, although at the time I was not aware that weird little song was by the same guys who did “Bohemian Like You” back in the day.

So it took me until sometime last year before I was properly introduced to the album. There’s a great American detective show called Veronica Mars that was tragically cancelled after only 3 seasons a few years back. It’s a brilliant piece of neo-noir, well-written, well-performed, and deserved a much larger audience than it garnered, but I’ll leave that for another rant. The show’s theme tune was “We Used to Be Friends”, track 2 on Monkey House. THIS is how the album came to my attention.

Eventually I bought it on the increasingly-archaic Compact Disc format, and found it to be a surprisingly strange, yet enjoyable package. It’s rather pop-infused at times, borrowing some synthy 80s-y new wave-y sounds, and yet working them into a quite unique, modern sound. And Courtney Taylor-Taylor (born with just one Taylor...) is a pretty dynamic vocalist, offering a wide variety of sounds, from the falsetto highs of “Plan A” and “The Dandy Warhols Love Almost Everyone” to the droning lows of “I Am Sound” and “I Am Over It”. Backing vocals are pretty cool too, and that always helps increase my opinion.

Definitely worth a shot for anyone who likes weird, retro, new wave, kitsch stuff.

THE BLACK CROWES - THE SOUTHERN HARMONY AND MUSICAL COMPANION (1992)

Rockstar North’s Grand Theft Auto series has long been known for its extensive, varied and generally excellent soundtracks, featured across a range of in-game radio stations. In GTA IV, the classic rock station plays some awesome stuff, some I already knew, some I didn’t. Genesis, Black Sabbath, the Stooges, David Bowie, Queen, and R.E.M. are just some of the stellar names included.

With somewhere probably over 100 hours logged on GTA IV, I’ve had plenty of time to appreciate these tracks, and one that sticks out is “Remedy” by the Black Crowes, from their second studio album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. Which, naturally, I bought on the cheap (in the new-fangled MP3 download format).

The result was another pleasant surprise. The album features a wonderful mix of various styles, and draws influences from a range of great artists. The overriding style is one of hard southern rock, reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 70s and 80s efforts. The saxophones and trombones and violins are gone, though the upbeat piano remains, and in their place is a much harder drum sound, and lead guitar pieces that seem to have been inspired by the legendary work of Angus Young for AC/DC. Add to that the gruff, powerful vocals of Chris Robinson (backed with the stirring, gospel-esque female backing vocals), and the interesting lyrics of the Robinson brothers, and you get a fantastic album that could have come from any point in the last 4 decades. 

Expect more random album 'reviews' in the future.