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Nirvana destroyed the careersof
countless"cock-rock" musicians
including Britton. Now that the shell
shock has worn offsome of them are
making comebackattempts.In 1997
Rock Harder appears on CD and this
time it is a "Collectors Edition."
"Bringon the body,bring on thebeat,
she's got you sittingon the edge of
your seat,1-2-3-4, Bringon the body,
bring on the beat," now that is an
impressivelyric! The song is "Bring
On The Body." Keyboards, anthemic
choruseswhere the wholeband joins
in,guitar solos,guitar solos,guitar
solosand Michael Brittonwailing.
Man!That is rockand roll! Rock
Harder ishighly recommended to
anyone who purchased the latest
Styx,Boston, Poison,journey and
CinderellaCDs.Apartment dwellers
are encouraged to considerit a
"headphone" album becausethe
neighborswill surelybelievea dolt
livesnextdoor if
the music pene­
trates the walls.I
can only smirk;
except...there is a
finalsong - "On
TopAnd Ready."
Checkout these
lyrics, there isn't a
lyricsheet and I'm
hoping I've transcribedthem
corredly."Hey
babe,
come on in,so niceto see you. I've
been told,you play it bold,and I'm
ready for a wild with you.You've
something to explain,about the
whips and chains.Tearit up,get lost,
don't letgo.On top and ready. Tie
me up, get down, let it flow. On top
and ready. On top and ready."There
is alsosomething about slamming it
in.That song was not on the original
LP. Due to the downright dirtyguitar
and the lackof keyboardsor backing
vocalsit is entirelypossiblethat
Michael Britton actuallycomposed
and recorded it in his home studio.If
Brittonhas more of those he's ready
fora careerscoringporno flicks or
working as the musicdirectorfor
AmericanBush.Sellthe cock-rock to
the sex industry.
-Emilio
the old CD spins away the disc
becomesa sliceof instrumental
I magic.It's all funkyand shit, it's like
watching 70s rerunson the USA
INetwork. It's like Hawaii Five-Oand
MiamiVice all rolledinto one nicelittleneat
soundtrack package.Big
'fros,big bellbottoms,bare mid-riffs,
hip huggers, the BradyBunch,my
God, Corduroy isso '90s.How come
Bootie Quake and Disco Drippers
don't do this shit?
Acidjazz sounds so
retro to me. That
doesn't mean I
don't eat up every
singledisc I .
encounter (Thanks
I Kate), but Ijust can't
I visualizethe music
as modem. I would
l certainlyrather lis­
I ten to retro acid jazz
• than some ridicu­
, lous, new,what-do-they-call-that-
I trash,contemporary instrumental
I recording. IfCorduroy ever came to
', town I'd be at the front of the line to
see them, excepthauling a
: Hammond B-3 around the world is
more work than the band probably
• wants to deal with. Dad Man Cat is a
! CD for pot smoking.Getsome
l exceptionally high grade pot, none of
I that hippie-bum-out skunk. Youpay
i for what you receive. Takeabout
three hits,ifit's high grade more than
that willcause a psychoticepisode
and hallucinations. Placethis CD in
your home unit and fly. The world
stood still,I swear. .
---eheeba-eoca?
Britton
, Rock Harder
M2Records
The firsttime (listened to ' .'
Rock Harder I couldn't believet1ie CD
was releasedin 1997. How could
anyone transport every imaginable
pop metal/cock rockclicheinto the
present?Is MichaelBrittonRip Van
Winkel? As it turns out he isn't.The
CD was releasedbeforein LPformat.
Brilliantine
Vainglory
Hepcat
Brilliantine's publicistis
another squeaky wheel getting the
grease. She's hounded me like
Gianni trying to get writing before
deadline. Brilliantine iscomprisedof
Dave Derbyof the Dambuildersand ly. Tum the discover and discover
some other people.The other people "produced by GilbyClarke." Okay it
aren't listedanyplaceand press must be a metal band.The Beat
releasesdisappear fasterthan beer Angels are none of the above.They.
around my house. "Goodbye to St. are in facta power pop band from
Bishop'sPark" isn't my favoritesong Phoenix.Cheap Trick is mentioned in
of the CD.That song opens things their littlebiography.but the Who is
and thereare timeswhen I don't also mentioned and that band is
make it past the firstsong.The second
song is much better. "At Least Beatles receive a mention,why I'm
nearly as relevant T-Rex and the
That's The Way:"begins the Sebadoh not sure. The T-Rex reference isprobably
directlyrelated to the glitter
tributewhich makes up the restof
the album. I happen to loveSebadoh aspectsof two song titles- "My
and Ican't find fault r--~~~=":":':":=':':":':'"=--....,Glum Sugarwith
a band wanting
to sound like
them, as longas .
they mix things up
with enough ereativityto
sound partiallyoriginal.
So
what if Brilliantine
has all the brilliant
pop songs and
. hooks.So what if
Brilliantine engages
in some guitar feedback and noise
when the mood strikesthem.So
what if Brilliantine has worked a 100ft
feeling into the production.When I
can't find the SebadohCDs in my
stacksI might run acrossBrilliantine
and that is the nextbest thing.
Withthe exceptionof the
opener Vainglory is filled with engaging
rockand roll. Darby, I',n assuming
he does the majorityof the vocal
work, is in superlativevoicethroughout.
Ifhe were femalehis vocals
would be describedas "breathy."I
don't know what the male equivalentof
breathy is. Ican always stand
some dissonancewith my hooks and
Brilliantine has plenty. The hit,as if,
would be "Mistake." or "Moving
Forward." It doesn't get much better
than those two. Bothtunes bring the
craftsmanshipof Beach BoyCarl
Wilson to mind. A band could do a
lotworse in the influence search than
Barlowand WIlson. There'syour
reviewMissPublicist. Nicedisc.
Now gotalkto the radio and retaiI
people and see how they're doing
with the corporatestructure responsible
forbreakingany band in America
today.
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