Bill Callahan – Vicar Street – Live Review – 29/09/19

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/30/bill-callahan-vicar-street-live-review-29-09-19/

Chastity Belt – Chastity Belt – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/30/chastity-belt-chastity-belt-album-review/

Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam released their (to date) only self-titled album in 2006.  It was an album that came out four years after their previous studio album, but very much 'after their moment had passed'.  And on the first few listens it really makes little impact.  Shouty songs like Life Wasted and Worldwide Suicide just show that Eddie Vedder can still shout but little else.  Parachutes, which arrives six tracks in, is a jaunty strum that sounds nothing like a Pearl Jam song.  At this point, you begin to worry for this album.

But from here on the album improves distinctly.  Unemployable is definitely Pearl Jam doing The Who but it really works, while Gone starts off all pouty and broody but turns into a big old PJ rabble rouser.  Penultimate track Come Back is a sparse soulful ballad of reaffirmation which would have been a good note to end the album on.  However the actual last song, Inside Job, is nothing like the rest of the album.  It feels like a throwback, all the way to debut album Ten.  Vedder sings "how I choose to feel is how I am", he means it, just like he sang on Black or any classic Pearl Jam ballad.  

So an album unlikely to be any Pearl Jam fan's favourite, but given time and persistence, not a bad album by any means.

DIIV - Deceiver - Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/27/diiv-deceiver-album-review/

Boduf Songs - Abyss Versions - Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/26/boduf-songs-abyss-versions-album-review/

Wives - So Removed - Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/24/wives-so-removed-album-review/

Veruca Salt - Resolver

Veruca Salt's third album, released in 2000, saw Louise Post go it alone, without Nina Gordon.  After a piano opening (The Same Person), the album kicks into gear with the heavy guitar grind of Born Entertainer.  The song appears to be directed at the departed Gordon, with Post singing unsubtle lyrics "she didn't get it so fuck her".  The album is a bit of a mixed bag.  There are 'Alanis-Morrissette-goes-heavy' tracks like Best You Can Get, Wet Suit and the pointed Used To Know Her.  There are plenty of heavy pop songs like Officially Dead, and slightly generic ones like Only You Know.  We also get whispery, brittle pop in the shape of Imperfectly and slow burn blowouts Disconnected and Hellraiser.  The album is a bit long and all over the place to really connect, but not a bad effort.

Steve Gunn – Lost Lane – 16/09/19 – Gig Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/17/steve-gunn-lost-lane-16-09-19-gig-review/

Iggy Pop – Free – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/09/06/iggy-pop-free-album-review/?fbclid=IwAR31-7-cQEqvFQsA666Ny5OdnwO4bQoVjeAlwmrrO2KOLQJOoGE2cjURU3M