Somewhat misleadingly named – neither a metal
band nor a parody act (!) – Taylor Hawkins’ new side project is a whole heap of
fun from start to finish. It’s carved
almost exclusively out of 70s rock, but within that basic template there’s
quite a bit of variety. It begins with audacious
prog: the 9-minute ‘The Ballad of Birds of Satan’, which has more ideas packed
into it than does an entire Taylor
Hawkins and the Coattail Riders album, and which amounts to a seriously
impressive start. But then there’s the frenetic
punk of ‘Wait til Tomorrow’ (the sort of song that leaves drummers with a
repetitive strain injury), bass-lead curio ‘Pieces of the Puzzle’ (featuring a
super sing-along closing refrain), the Emerson,
Lake and Palmer harpsichord and synth-dirge of ‘Too Far Gone to See’ and
the jaunty power-pop of album best ‘Thanks for the Line’. The whole record feels like a regurgitation
of Hawkins’ musical youth, but there are so many ideas here that it’s more than
just homage. My only real criticism is
that is comes and goes a little too quickly (7 tracks feels like a bit of a
short changing). Still, it’s a great
little record, and it notably beats the album by his day-job band by six
places…
sample
track: Thanks for the Line