| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
$13.99 CD
$9.99 MP3
|
|
PIERCED ARROWS
Descending Shadows
(Vice)
 Preview Songs on Other Music's Download Store
It's hard, or maybe futile, to make a case for the music of Fred (and Toody) Cole; either you love it, with a passion that is overwhelming, or you don't connect on any level. You could never say that music this primal goes over a listener's head; raw and fierce, this is music that aims for the heart and the gut, not the brain. For the last 40-plus years, Fred Cole has been delivering some of the most impassioned and uncompromising punk rock ever made, fashion of the times be damned, and this latest album from his newest band, with wife Toody by his side, is one of the better and more unhinged records that he's created in quite a while.
The abbreviated résumé: in the mid-'60s Cole was the frontman for a Northwest punk band called the Weeds, who became the Lollipop Shoppe and in '68 released a killer full-length of raw psychedelia somewhere between Love and the Seeds (the single from that record, "You Must Be a Witch," turned up on the original Nuggets comp, and the album is back in print on both CD and LP!), followed by a series of equally great groups toiling in various degrees of obscurity. In the late-'70s he formed a punk band the Rats with his wife Toody (Mississippi recently did nice vinyl reissues of their records), and in the mid-'80s they started what became probably their best-known group, the incomparable Dead Moon, who never quite broke through in the U.S. but were huge on the European rock and roll scene (check out Sub Pop's great two-CD compilation Echoes of the Past for a stunning overview). All the bands have had a similar aesthetic: lo-fi, unvarnished, back-to-mono, wailing rock and roll, drawing on the garage and punk sounds Cole helped create, with a poetic honesty in line with more mainstream artists like Dylan and Neil Young. Most all of Cole's albums have been self-recorded and self-released on vinyl only (even cut on his own lathe), and in every way, he is an artist and a man who has done things his own way and lived by his own rules.
A couple of years back, somewhat mysteriously, Dead Moon broke up, and then, seemingly overnight, Fred and Toody (now in their sixties) launched Pierced Arrows. With a new drummer, Kelly Halliburton (the son of an old band mate of Fred's), the Coles have continued to release blazing punk, tour the world in a broken-down van, and wail at the top of their lungs to whoever will listen. The Pierced Arrows' debut Straight from the Heart, frankly, came off as a bit tossed-off, even from a band famous for shooting from the hip, but this new album, being released by Vice, is no doubt one of the best records that these guys have delivered in some time. The most amazing thing, however, is that this is perhaps the loosest, wildest, rawest taste of Cole's vision I've ever heard. Tempos shift and teeter, guitars buzz and howl, and Fred's singing, always an agitated wail, spits fire and venom. Add to that a couple of new Toody-sung classics and the jolt of energy they get from having the new kid on drums, and the end result is truly moving -- not just because of the history and inspiring perseverance that Cole has made his trademark, but purely on the power of the music alone. Cole's worldview, one man kicking against the pricks and fighting to keep his integrity and express his individuality, has defined his music and his life for nearly half a century, and in many ways defines the spirit of punk rock, which has been largely obscured by the commoditization of the counter-culture of the modern era.
From "Buried Alive," off the new album: "My spirit's in a ditch, a machine's replacing me. / They can make me even better, than how I used to be. / It doesn't make mistakes, it doesn't get confused. / It doesn't eat or drink or think or feel it's being used. / It's detection imperfection... I'm being buried alive!" [JM]
Order CD by Texting "omcdpierceddescending" to 767825 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
