Geils, and the jack of many trades Seth Justman (keys, compositions, backing vocals), the Geils Band rips through some classic blues by the likes of Otis Rush ("Homework"), Walter Price ("Pack Fair and Square"), and John Lee Hooker (a slow-burning "Serves You Right to Suffer"), old Motown gems ("First I Look at the Purse"), and originals that stand up well next to the covers ("Wait," "What's Your Hurry," and future live favorite "Hard Drivin' Man"). Featuring the hipster jive of singer Peter Wolf, the amazing afro and harp chops of Magic Dick, the fret-burning work of J. Though it sounds a bit reserved in the light of the albums that followed, compared to the majority of bands on the scene, it was a nonstop blast of energy, fun, and sweat. Geils Band's self-titled debut serves notice that rock & roll wasn't dead in 1970 despite the best efforts of the singer/songwriter brigade. And so the hooks pound on, making the wordplay in the sex lyrics seem unnecessarily salacious and the poetry in the political lyrics seem unnecessarily overwrought.The J. This has always been an unnecessarily obvious pop group, and while fill-in vocalists Seth Justman and Stephen Bladd eschew illusions of grandeur, they're neither gifted nor skilled enough to dance that nuance. You're Gettin' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd But I guarantee you it didn't change the band's. If you're discovering the great audience these days it might even change your life for a month. C+įor me, their best since Monkey Island if not the debut divides neatly into three groups of three: slick get-me-off trash (hit single plus two music-as-escape songs), slick get-'em-off trash (opener, closer, and "Angel in Blue," a whore with a heart of brass that I'm just a sucker for), and slick get-offa-me trash (two throwaways at the end of side one plus "River Blindness," a more pretentious try at "Monkey Island," that album's sole bumout). But really, the rest is more overbearing white r&b-Seth Justman's organ blams, not to mention his furbelows on the endless-at-3:35 "Desire," are the work of a man who thinks "No Anchovies, Please" is funny. Just ask the uproarious single and title tune. Between the three cuts from Bloodshot, where they announced their arena-rock proclivities, and the two from Blow Your Face Out, where they reified them, "Musta Got Lost" is as well-named as ever. Here's where we catch up with their good moments, right? Wrong. I like the tender fatalism of "One Last Kiss" and the demented abstractions of "Sanctuary," but if they really want to be the American Stones they have to do something equally good every track. But the rest of this is more self-imitation-two shuffles, one diddy-bop, and a laugh to the bank backwards from Ladies Invited. Sure "Must of Got Lost" sounds great on the radio. Inspirational Title: "The Lady Makes Demands." B Still, a lot of the ersatz-funk macho has disappeared from the lyrics, Peter Wolf's singing has picked up several layers of sweetness and nuance, and a couple of times they even try a harmony-group move. So much better than Bloodshot that for a while I thought it was something special, and in a way it is-an r&b album that includes a song about wind chimes. Humor? Their idea of a funny is to rhyme"shiny" and "heinie." I hope they know where to shine this one. Resourceful material? The borrowed songs are almost as bad as the originals. Low-profile funk? Peter Wolf now shows off every emotional inadequacy of his phony growl. Tight arrangements? They boogie endlessly through riffs they were playing three years ago. Never has the mass audience blunted a group's fine points so quickly. Tight, funky, and what else is new? Well, three good songs: "Looking for a Love," "The Usual Place," and (especially) "So Sharp." All of which are old. But the vocals don't do much for John Lee Hooker (no surprise) and the two instrumentals hobble the album's build (also no surprise, since great r&b instrumentals are almost as hard to come by as great white blues singers). Side two pops out of the box with covers from Otis Rush and the Contours and then slows down in style with two originals that deserve to get covered back. I find this gritty Jewish r&b band from Boston fun but somewhat retrogressive, which is admittedly the way I once felt about Creedence.
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