Joe Lally - "Sons And Daughters" (mp3)
I'm starting to develop a penchant for noticing similarities in vocal timbres between musicians and non-musician celebrities (you may remember the Tego Calderon = Ernest Borgnine episode from a few months ago), so feel free to disregard this as just one of my crackpot theories. But Joe Lally's recent solo album There To Here gave me a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I knew the voice from somewhere other than the handful of songs in the Fugazi catalog he'd sung lead on, and on my second listen it hit me that it was David "Squiggy" Lander. Of course, I never really watched Laverne & Shirley, so my familiarity with his voice is owed mainly to his portrayal of Doc Boy, Jon Arbuckle's brother, in the Garfield Christmas Special, the dialogue of which is practically tattooed on my brain from countless childhood viewings.
As for the album itself, it's kind of hard to listen to even without that comparison entering my head (and I may have already ruined the album for Jess when I revealed this theory on ILM). I was thinking about checking out Lally's show at the Ottobar this week, but in light of my experience with the album, I don't think I'll bother (although I am kind of curious what his touring setup is). As I mentioned in my 2006 wrap up, I was rooting for it to be better than The Evens record before I'd heard it, if only because I love underdogs and tend to have a lot of love for bands' 2nd or 3rd most prolific songwriters/vocalists (see also: my Lee Ranaldo obsession). But unlike the Jarvis Cocker record, this one wouldn't have made a dent on my '06 list even if I had heard it in time. It's weak in pretty much the way you'd expect it to be: a lot of meek vocal performances over strong basslines that would sound badass in the context of a Fugazi song, but kind of go nowhere here. If I were gonna post one of the best songs I'd probably go with "All Must Pay," but "Sons And Daughters" is a cappella and therefore the most cringe-inducing and the track where the resemblence to Squiggy is most evident.
I'm starting to develop a penchant for noticing similarities in vocal timbres between musicians and non-musician celebrities (you may remember the Tego Calderon = Ernest Borgnine episode from a few months ago), so feel free to disregard this as just one of my crackpot theories. But Joe Lally's recent solo album There To Here gave me a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I knew the voice from somewhere other than the handful of songs in the Fugazi catalog he'd sung lead on, and on my second listen it hit me that it was David "Squiggy" Lander. Of course, I never really watched Laverne & Shirley, so my familiarity with his voice is owed mainly to his portrayal of Doc Boy, Jon Arbuckle's brother, in the Garfield Christmas Special, the dialogue of which is practically tattooed on my brain from countless childhood viewings.
As for the album itself, it's kind of hard to listen to even without that comparison entering my head (and I may have already ruined the album for Jess when I revealed this theory on ILM). I was thinking about checking out Lally's show at the Ottobar this week, but in light of my experience with the album, I don't think I'll bother (although I am kind of curious what his touring setup is). As I mentioned in my 2006 wrap up, I was rooting for it to be better than The Evens record before I'd heard it, if only because I love underdogs and tend to have a lot of love for bands' 2nd or 3rd most prolific songwriters/vocalists (see also: my Lee Ranaldo obsession). But unlike the Jarvis Cocker record, this one wouldn't have made a dent on my '06 list even if I had heard it in time. It's weak in pretty much the way you'd expect it to be: a lot of meek vocal performances over strong basslines that would sound badass in the context of a Fugazi song, but kind of go nowhere here. If I were gonna post one of the best songs I'd probably go with "All Must Pay," but "Sons And Daughters" is a cappella and therefore the most cringe-inducing and the track where the resemblence to Squiggy is most evident.
This entry was posted
on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 6:50 PM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment