This was a really hard recording to peg even after a month of
\nlistens. An odd mix of hard rock, funk, R&B and the occasional
\nhard-edge techno pop, these genres are all mixed together
\nhaphazardly on this disc which features, no kidding, a bunch of
\nguys who are California surfers and sky divers. Or so their p.r.
\ndepartment has claimed to date.<\/p>\n
There’s a definite nod to the seventies running strong through
\nthis disc with influences as varied and diverse as Hendrix, Sly
\nStone, Earth, Wind and Fire and the more contemporary Red Hot Chili
\nPeppers at their rock\/rap blended best.<\/p>\n
I usually complain that bands have too little musical variety to
\ntheir sound. The Flyz achieve a decent amount of diversity on
\nHoliday Man<\/i> but sometimes they sacrifice quality in the name
\nof sound originality. Certain songs are too similar sounding such
\nas the title cut “Holiday Man” and “Groove Is Where You Find It,”
\nwhich blend aimlessly into the other as tracks 5 and 6. Even worse
\nis track 7, “The Gods Of Basketball,” a musical throwaway which I
\ncan’t believe made the cut for this disc. In their pseudo techno
\nsplendor, these songs are too simplistic to the point of being just
\nplain stupid.<\/p>\n
The band breaks out in a really cool, pop tempo number in “Girls
\nAre The Cruelest.” In the tradition of most male contemporary pop
\nvoices today, women are the root of all evil. Ignoring women seems
\nto be the only valid response as lead singer Adam Paskowitz
\ncries:<\/p>\n
“Don’t dignify their hatred\/<\/p>\n
With any kind of response at all”<\/p>\n
The battle of the sexes in modern rock is littered with men
\neither hitting the road or acting passive aggressive through their
\nnon-responses. Commitment, love and marriage seem to have only a
\nsmall hope of survival according to all our modern rock voices, the
\nFlys included.<\/p>\n
“The Family” emphasizes that family in the traditional, nuclear
\nsense is now replaced by the family of band members, roadies, and
\nloyal supporters. In fact, the live intro to this song suggests the
\nnotion that friends and bandmates or coworkers are the family of
\nthe nineties. This song best incorporates the R&B influences of
\nthe band with James Book’s funky bass riffs and some rattling
\npercussive work by drummer Nick Lucerno.<\/p>\n
The best cut on the disc is the oft-played alternative hit, “Got
\nYou (Where I Want You)”, which follows the trials of Joe Average
\ntrying to pick up a woman with all the cliched pick-up lines tried.
\nThe light, self-deprecating humor in the lyrics are balanced by
\nBook’s booming bass line. It’s the bass line that completely makes
\nthe song great instead of good. What works with the apparent
\nmachismo mindset here is the wounded and self- critical lyrics and
\nPaskowtiz’s ability to make fun of himself.<\/p>\n
A less successful but appealing song is “Take U There” which
\nreinforces the alienation of modern man and his ability to accept
\nthat he doesn’t have all the answers. I liked the fact that
\nthroughout this record the men admit to being weak, silly, and
\nsometimes clueless. Who isn’t, man or woman, these days? This
\nalienation is further emphasized throughout the disc with
\nPaskowitz’s vocals being filtered to sound as though he’s inhuman
\nand at times unreachable.<\/p>\n
Another strong cut is the closing “Sexual Sandwich”, introduced
\nas “this one’s for the ladies” as Paskowitz does a mean Philip
\nBailey imitation, the falsetto lead singer of Earth, Wind and Fire,
\nwhile playing on the old Marvin Gaye classic, “Sexual Healing.”<\/p>\n
With such seventies superstars as a basis, the woman is placed
\nback into the traditional role of an object of sexual desire and
\nnot much more. I would normally find this offensive were it not for
\nthe band’s transparent tongue in cheek approach to life and their
\nsense of humor on the entire disc. Nothing here is too serious or
\nheavy. Hey, if they can make fun of themselves, can’t we laugh
\nalong as well? And this politically correct crap of the nineties is
\ngetting awfully boring.<\/p>\n
The Flys seem to be saying don’t take life too seriously, have
\nsome fun, and in the meantime, to use a seventies phrase, get down
\nand boogie. Good advice in these oh too serious times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":24942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6060],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36147","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-flys","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36147"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36147"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}