Gatefold packaging
Includes lyric booklet
Includes 5 bonus tracks only available on vinyl
NO digital copy included
Audio Quality: 2/5
Song Quality: 5/5
Packaging: 4.5/5
***UPDATE: Andrew WK has linked to this review on the home page of his website. Thanks for the plug, Andrew, and please keep up the great music!!!***
Ready for a bold statement? I think that Andrew W.K. is one of, if not THE, most underrated individuals in modern music. You're skeptical... I get it. I can certainly understand how the "party all the time" persona found on his hit first release could be considered gimmicky and one-note. I admit that I was more than skeptical at first too.
But if you give the music underneath some attention, it's just so special that it can't possibly be ignored. His debut I Get Wet is undoubtedly one of the most fun rock albums ever created, and his follow-up The Wolf, though not nearly as exceptional, showed much more of what Andrew was capable of as a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist.
Tragically and predictably, due to a lack of mainstream success with The Wolf, Andrew found himself without label support when he created his third album. As it turns out, without their guidelines and big-budget studios, his explosive trademark sound suffered tremendously, but his songwriting stepped up to a whole new level.From the very beginning, Close Calls With Brick Walls is clearly a completely new direction for W.K. The opening "I Came For You" is a slow and aggressive ballad that's mostly just piano and vocals with some wailing guitar filling up the background. Then we get "Close Calls With Bal Harbour," which is the first of a couple bizarre interlude tracks, with "Golden Eyed Dog" and "Dr. Dumont" still to come. "Not Going To Bed," track 3, is the only track on the album that could be mistaken for old, I Get Wet-style AWK. Afterwards, it's a mix of great anthemic rock ("You Will Remember Tonight," "Hand On The Place," "Into The Clear"), unforgettable pop hooks ("One Brother," "I Want To See You Go Wild"), and experiments with completely new sound ("Pushing Drugs," "Mark My Grace," "Slam John Against A Brick Wall"). The album closes with "The Moving Room," a raise-your-lighter power ballad that brings the album to a feel-good finish. Originally, this album was only available in Japan, so when I was finally able to download the tracks to my iPod, I threw it on in the car with my friend Craig and we sat all day listening to it straight through. Then when it was over, we started it again. I think I listened through this record at least 4 times just on my first day exposed to it. Not a single album I've ever owned has taken such an immediately profound hold. It's an absolute masterpiece, and it deserves to be heard.
In America, this album was released exclusively on vinyl, which, on the surface, sounds like the greatest thing ever. However, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. The vinyl pressing was his way of releasing it through a loophole in a music distribution contract he was still trying to escape... it had nothing to do with a great vinyl experience, sadly. And on top of that, this album really shouldn't be heard on vinyl. It so pains me to write this because I love the album so much, but the vinyl quality here is pretty horrific. It's mastered way too loud, and the whole mix distorts on playback, even at low volumes. The instruments all sound like they're bottlenecking at my speakers, and rather than being separated and audible individually, they all seem to be forcing their way off the wax at the same time, which makes everything sound like a complete mess. In this sense, it reminds me a lot of the Beirut album I reviewed, though this sadly sounds much, much worse. As much as I love this album, listening straight through it on LP was an absolute challenge, and that's a true testament to how much of a bummer this vinyl pressing is. I just found out that this album is going to finally be released in America as a deluxe CD set that includes a ton of bonus tracks, including the 5 featured here. I don't know when I'll ever say this again, but seriously, do not buy this vinyl, and just wait for the CD to be available. That's a sad truth, but it's one you can take to the bank.
The package here is really nice, and for hardcore fans, it's the major selling point of the set. It's a gatefold package that's filled with tons of artwork and a very nice design, and the records themselves are colored transluscent blue and orange and held in generic paper sleeves. It comes with a booklet of lyrics (though, oddly, the lyrics for "Las Vegas, Nevada" are absent) and even more weirdo artwork and photography. The nicest bonus about this set is that Side D contains 5 bonus songs that are currently unavailable anywhere else. These bonus tracks are not nearly as amazing as the ones that came with the Korean CD version, but they're still excellent and a must-have for fans of Mr. WK. As I said earlier, the forthcoming American CD release will contain the bonus tracks from this vinyl, the Korean CD, and apparently even more. Though I haven't heard it or seen it yet, I'm still gonna tell you that's the way to go. However, if you're a serious fan, and you should be, this is a really nice looking set. Not nice sounding, but I can understand if you can't resist picking it up. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
I understand that nowadays Andrew is recording on a budget, so hiring a top-notch engineer for vinyl mixes is probably not at the top of his budget, but I beg him to step it up a notch for his next release. It doesn't need to be an analog recording or anything, but if you're gonna release an album on vinyl, at least make it sound like you WANTED it on vinyl, and not like you put it there just for kicks. And bricks.
Buy the LP at AcousticSounds.com
Next: The Streets - Everthing Is Borrowed
Posts
3 comments: