Calling
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i>, the most recent album from the Jon Spencer
\nBlues Explosion, chaotic is sort of like calling a Diamanda Galas
\nalbum “difficult listening”. It’s a sonic mess that sounded like it
\nwas recorded in the damp basement of one of the members apartments
\nafter a bottle of Wild Turkey, a case of beer and various other
\nsubstances.<\/p>\n
If you can tolerate the screams and the feedback shellings you
\nget with the opening track, “Skunk” and “Identify”, you begin to
\nsee some structure form towards the end of the album. But it takes
\na whole mess o’ listens to the album before you reach that point.
\nFor a while,
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i>, is noise, drenched in old-style blues, new
\nstyle funk and a brash attitude to boost.<\/p>\n
Imagine Junior Wells, the Wu-Tang-Clan and Ministry having a
\nrecording session together and you get a sample of the Blues
\nExplosion sound. Once you get through the initial difficult
\nlistens, however, and
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i> is a great work that stands on its own
\nmerits. Lead singer\/preacher Jon Spencer is no stranger to
\n“unstructured” sounds. He was one of the founders of the art-noise
\nband Pussy Galore. His love for the blues was one of the reasons
\nthat the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion came to be. And with artists
\nsuch as Justin Berry and Thermos Malling, his love for the blues is
\ngenuine and not some white boy novelty act.<\/p>\n
Russell Simins improves on the grooves that helped make their
\nlast album
\nOrange<\/i> an essential buy. Judah Bauer refines his guitar
\nwork, effortlessly jamming with Spencer, making the two an awesome
\npair of ax-wielders. Highlights of their work can be found on
\n“Chicken Dog”, “Love All Over Me” and the instrumental, “B.L. Got
\nSoul”.<\/p>\n
While Spencer’s blues-lovin’ fixation is indeed genuine, he’s
\nnot above trying to perpitrate the bad-ass-mutherfucker stereotype
\nala Dolemite. In “Wail”, he lets loose an Elvis like croon,
\n“owwwwww…sexy-funky”. On “Dynamite Lover”, he postures about,
\nwell…look at the title and you get the idea.<\/p>\n
For rhythm lovers, the entire middle of
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i> is like KFC gravy. The groove gets offset by
\nthe explosively charged, “Firefly Child” and “Eyeballin”, where the
\nbands punk roots surface. The rather poor sound quality of some of
\nthe songs enhance the spontaneous energy the band has so well
\nutilized. On
\nOrange<\/i>, that energy was toned down a bit to make way for a
\nmore radio-friendly album.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly,
\nOrange<\/i> is the album that is easier to like from the band. If
\nthe psycho\/punk blues sound is up your alley, check out
\nOrange<\/i> first. However,
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i> is a more rewarding buy. The looseness of
\nthe album will sound too sloppy for most listeners. But, the album
\nis full of rewards. Those sloppy guitar scratches seem more and
\nmore like painful recreations of the energy that past blues artists
\nrelied on making their sound so vital.<\/p>\n
Part of being a music lover is possessing a passion for a sound
\nthat sometimes can’t be justified by logic. Given enough listens,
\nalbums that once appeared to be the equivilant of a middle finger
\nto the fans sound as good as their other albums. Other debacles
\nsuch as
\nVan Halen III<\/i> and
\nRe-Load<\/i> can only be appreciated by fans who are willing to
\nput their children in front of a tour bus to get a chance to meet
\nthe band.
\nNow I Got Worry<\/i> falls into the former category. It
\nstubbornly avoids the in-your-face funk and groove of their earlier
\nalbums. But they made an album that was meant to be appreciated by
\nletting it seep in listen after listen. If that’s too difficult for
\nlisteners, they would be better off obeying the words of Mr.
\nSpencer, “Kiss my ass, ’cause your girlfriend still loves me!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7430],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39057","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jon-spencer-blues-explosion","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39057","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39057"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}