PopTodd Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 The lyrics to "Liar's Club" totally and completely evoke (for me) the time, immediately following college graduation, when my friends and I would hit the bars, looking for fun, women, and just good times. We thought it was everything that life was supposed to be and was going to be. And then, reality hit as hard as this song. If that was the only song on the album, it would be enough. But the damn thing keeps going on just as strong. For 45 minutes or so. So, so great. Have they done anything else recently? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 So... ANYONE familiar with/a fan of this record? Ever even hear of it? It's Jimmy Webb's kids, and they do their daddy proud. Wow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 Listening again and I'm surprised that none of you have picked up on this yet.It shouldn't come as a surprise that the sons of Jimmy Webb ("The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress") have an affinity for emotional bombast and Baroque flourishes. Their second album is full of soaring choruses and orchestral backdrops that might as well have been inspired by Tunesmith, Webb the Elder's giant treatise on the art of song. Less predictable are the steps the brothers take toward forging their own distinctively contemporary voice. Their subject matter is the lifestyle of carefree (and careless) swingers, and they capture it in spare, acidic lyrics that are almost the opposite of their father's grandiloquence. "Fluorescent Lights" is typical: "It's three in the morning she's lovely/But ugly to me/In fluorescent lights we'd be sickening to see." "All the Cocaine in the World" takes the strategy to an extreme. It's built on a single line, repeated in pretty harmony: "All the cocaine in the world/Can't bring back the girl." While the themes remain constant, musical styles fly fast and furious. Jangly guitar and kitschy synthesizers power "Summer People," horns and rolling piano take over for the cha cha "Intermission," and "Fluorescent Lights" is a strings-heavy waltz. The eclecticism, along with the jaded, wasted character of the lyrics, makes Maroon a cousin to Rufus Wainwright's Poses, another breakthrough album by a second-generation songwriter. The marriage of sophisticated, catchy melodies and cynical sentiments also brings to mind the work of Joe Pernice. That's impressive company for a couple of young talents still skulking in the shadows of "MacArthur Park." Please folks, I urge you to pick this up!Especially for a group of Wilco fans... this is a perfect record. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmait Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 >The lyrics to "Liar's Club" totally and completely evoke (for me) the time, immediately following college graduation, when my friends and I would hit the bars, looking for fun, women, and just good times. We thought it was everything that life was supposed to be and was going to be. And then, reality hit as hard as this song. I don't know anything about the record, but you are right. The period post-college until about age thirty is great age. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Synthesizer Patel Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 it's not a bad album. i'd be urging people to buy land's end, and so on, letters, el mirage, and words & letters, by their dad, long before i'd worry too much about this, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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