Back in 1992, when I was sent
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i> from L7, a female punk quartet, I didn’t
\nget it. In a sense, I still don’t.<\/p>\n
Donita Sparks and crew showed from time to time they could write
\ndecent songs and execute them in the studio well. But
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i> is an album you either get or don’t… and
\nI’m one of those in the latter category.<\/p>\n
The quartet – guitarist\/vocalist Sparks, bassist\/vocalist
\nJennifer Finch, guitarist\/vocalist Suzi Gardner and drummer\/backing
\nvocalist Demetra Plakas – enlisted the help of wunderkind producer
\nof the moment Butch Vig for this one. Mistake number one, in my
\nopinion; Vig’s style just isn’t the correct sound for L7, but you
\nat least have to give him credit for trying.<\/p>\n
When the songwriting and performances are on,
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i> works on many levels. The single from this
\nalbum, “Pretend We’re Dead,” is an enjoyable number that combines a
\nsolid beat with good riffs and a catchy chorus that you’ll find
\nyourself humming at inopportune times. Likewise, “One More Thing”
\ncaptures almost a passive L7, and creates one of the more enjoyable
\nsongs on the album.<\/p>\n
Of course, the band has lots of time to show off the pissed-off
\nside of punk. “Shitlist” is a prime, and enjoyable, example of
\nthis. “Wargasm,” the lead-off track, is a little too political, but
\ngets its message across with plenty of intensity.<\/p>\n
The remainder of
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i> is either just average or just plain
\nforgettable. Songs like “Scrap,” a ditty about a paint-sniffer, is
\npretty much a waste of time (and the ending sound montage of the
\nsong’s subject in the act of sniffing is a bit unsettling), while
\n“Everglade” and “Slide” aren’t bad songs, but they just don’t
\nmotivate me one way or the other.<\/p>\n
And in the end, this is the biggest problem with
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i>. I always thought that punk rock was
\nsupposed to challenge you to think about the status quo. The Sex
\nPistols did; the Dead Kennedys did; Black Flag… nah, they were
\njust fun to listen to.
\nBricks Are Heavy<\/i> neither is always fun to listen to nor
\nchallenging to the listener. In the end, it’s just a rock album,
\nand a moderate one at that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5781],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-39285","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-l7","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39285","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39285"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}