Australia has produced no shortage of rock musicians over the decades, from those who epitomized classic hard rock (AC\/DC) to modern alternative rock (The Vines).\u00a0 In 1998, The John Butler Trio began carving out its own place in the history of Aussie rock.\u00a0 Five albums and twelve years later, you can safely say they\u2019ve succeeded.<\/p>\n
Listen to any JBT album (Sunrise Over Sea<\/i> immediately converted me to a follower), and you\u2019ll be hard-pressed to deny the musical talent and technical prowess of lead vocalist and guitar virtuoso John Butler, bassist Shannon Birchall, and percussionist Michael Barker.<\/p>\n
After exposing my ears to Grand National<\/i> repeatedly, I have absolutely no reason to question their talent \u2013 most of the jam sessions are exceedingly impressive, and the complex rhythms keep it interesting throughout. However, I can\u2019t help but be lukewarm about a handful of tracks, and these detract from the quality and continuity of the work as a whole.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m an optimist, so let\u2019s examine the high points first.<\/p>\n
Lead single and album-kicker-offer \u201cBetter Than\u201d represents why I love this band: VERY infectious chorus, subtle banjo-picking, acoustic double bass (which just isn\u2019t used enough these days), and a little something extra on percussion with the glockenspiel.\u00a0 \u201cGood Excuse\u201d and \u201cUsed To Get High\u201d are equally catchy.\u00a0 The latter points out the undeniable ubiquity of addiction in our society (\u201cSuper size, large fries, Big Mac, Coca-Cola \/ Go on, man, pick your poison \/ Speed, weed, ecstacy, LSD \/ Man, it don\u2019t bother me \u2018cause we\u2019re all on somethin\u2019\u201d).<\/p>\n
\u201cGov Did Nothin\u2019\u201d \u2013 the trio\u2019s best effort on this album \u2013 is a scathing criticism of the U.S. government\u2019s response to Hurricane Katrina, and it ponders the dire consequences of inaction when the next disaster inevitably hits.\u00a0 After the commentary ceases, you\u2019re treated with the album\u2019s most extended jam session, punctuated boisterously by N\u2019awlens-style horns and clarinets.<\/p>\n
\u201cDevil Running\u201d clearly emerges from the album\u2019s second half.\u00a0 Yet another biting criticism of a few select politicians, it somehow legitimately opens with a didgeridoo \u2013just in case you needed proof that, yes, these guys are Aussies.\u00a0 It then smolders through the opening verse before exploding into the chorus with distorted power chords, which had been restrained throughout the entire album until that moment.<\/p>\n
Grand National<\/i> seems to depend heavily on repetitive musical phrases and lyrics to hook the listener, usually successfully.\u00a0 Occasionally, however, it gets mildly annoying.\u00a0 \u201cGroovin\u2019 Slowly\u201d is the best example of this, as the same phrase on ukulele repeats over and over.\u00a0 And over.\u00a0 To a lesser extent, \u201cLosing You\u201d and \u201cNowhere Man\u201d use elements repeatedly, and it\u2019s difficult to ignore;\u00a0 they become boring a little too quickly.<\/p>\n
Also, the lyrics now and then lack creativity.\u00a0 For instance, in \u201cDaniella,\u201d they decided to fill a few seconds with Butler stuttering an \u201cm\u201d:\u00a0 \u201cThe same day I asked you be my wife to be \/ I said m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-marry me.\u201d\u00a0 They seriously couldn\u2019t think of anything better to fill that line?\u00a0 It gets under my skin every time.<\/p>\n
To me, it\u2019s obvious that most of the songs focusing on love as a central theme are far weaker.\u00a0 The lyrics lack the passion that is so salient in some of the other tracks with politically motivated motifs.\u00a0 Most of them seem forced and painfully unoriginal.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s coincidence or not, but the music on these tracks generally seems thinner and less appealing.<\/p>\n
It all adds up to a listening experience that boasts some stellar highlights, but inevitably you will find yourself hitting the \u201cNext\u201d button to get to that one good song about Katrina.\u00a0 Or that other track you heard on the radio once that you just can\u2019t get out of your head.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Grand National<\/i> is hit and miss.\u00a0 Sort of like those Foster\u2019s \u201cAustralian For beer\u201d commercials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7797],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-42152","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-butler-trio","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42152","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\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42152"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}