Lee
Ranaldo & The Dust
Last Night On Earth
Matador
The Grateful Dead as rather mellow
noise rock, with jams built in?
That is Last Night On Earth. Lee and his band, which includes Steve
Shelly, does a mighty good take on both Mickey Hart and Billy Kreutzmann. Alan Licht does his best Bob Weir and bassist Tim Luntzel takes Phil Lesh’s part, and craft an album that honors
the Dead. While there are very few
ways you can play the Dead at this point, Lee and his band manage to find a new
one.
The jams are not over extended,
which is one of the biggest irritants of the jam band scene. Instead, they fit into the overall
songs and stretch them out so Lee and Alan can show their considerable skill. Lee, whose guitar playing I've always
preferred over Thurston’s, is much different here than Kim's with
Body/Head, even though Kim has the chops to match Lee. This is his chance to carve out a
legacy and sound of his own, especially now with Sonic Youth scattered for
good.
The lyrics are just what Lee always writes: thoughtful
mediations on life and relationships.
I've always liked his writing, and always wanted to hear more on any SY
album. Now we get two albums'
worth, counting Between The Times and Tides, and that’s extremely welcome. Put it all together
for an album that matches Body/Head, and that makes me hope that SY doesn’t
reform. Both solo projects give us
more of Lee and Kim than SY ever did.
No comments:
Post a Comment