Where was this enchanting little piece of 90s lounge music hiding all of this time? Out of the many bizarre music revivals, I think the Lounge and Space Age Pop revival in the 90s is one of the most intriguing. In my mind, it's the equivalent of Vaporwave before that was even a thought. This all sounds like a mixture of Exotica, 60s TV music, and, plunderphonics with a sinister undertone. Tracks run a bit long, but the atmosphere the album creates is great.
I've listened to a pretty good deal of vaporwave by this point, and I always keep coming back to this one. It's so fucking catchy. These tracks will get stuck in your head like none other.
Everything from "Attitude" to "Marble" is just perfect. I can feel the glitz and glamour of these tracks. In between brokering deals while talking on the car phone in my 1985 Lincoln MK VII, I'm listening to w o r l d c l a s s.
I'd like to start writing out the notes that will go on my overall chart in here instead of in the smol boxes on the chart editing page. Maybe it will make my thoughts a bit more cohesive. (Although I'm not counting on that). I'm not going in any order or anything, but I'll hopefully add one here every once in awhile.
Shoutout to my dad for making me realize how great an album this is. J Geils Band somehow created their most obscure songs and their biggest hits on the same album, and up until last year, I had only known the hits. Centerfold and Freeze Frame both have a certain commercial 80s charm (or smarm) to them that have given them their timeless classic rock radio status. But it's the other songs on this album that keep me coming back. First of all, let's talk about three things that make this album standout.
#1 Peter Wolf is a great frontman, and he always has a great delivery and charisma on this album.
#2 That bass by Danny Klein (I don't ever hear this guy's name brought up, but the bass on a lot of these tracks is killer.
#3 That overdriven and almost obnoxious Harmonica played by Magic Dick.
(Oh and the Blues Brothers horn players are on here too)
The J. Geils Band had been around for a long time at this point. They had scored a hit with "Love Stinks" on their last album, and it seems like that was partially the idea when they must have went in to record this album with the radio-friendly hits that I've already mentioned. However, with songs like "Rage In the Cage" "Insane, Insane Again" and "Flamethrower", it's clear that they also wanted to bust out their musical chops as well. It mostly sounds like they've been listening to a bunch of Devo and Oingo Boingo, because that's how those three tracks come off. They've got this undeniable and energy and manic sensibility to them that's just plain fun. Which is really what this album boils down to for me. It's a good time. I listen to a lot of esoteric stuff on a regular basis, so I deserve a chance to deflate and listen to something that is not exactly as challenging, but is still as exciting. "River Blindness" is probably the strangest of all though; it almost has some qualities of Wall of Voodoo or Yello. It's strange to me that almost half of this album is certainly against the same kind of songwriting of the two hits. "Do You Remember" and "Angel In Blue" are more on that poppy side, but the closing track "Piss On The Wall" was probably not meant for that. I could almost hear Ween singing this one. (Piss Up Rope is maybe a spiritual successor.)
Top Tracks: Freeze Frame, Rage in the Cage, Insane, Insane Again
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