Karmageddon by Dog goes around the table for its review.
http://www.myspace.com/dogmusic
Like any good music reviewer, I do my homework. So when I got my copy of Dog’s “Karmageddon,” I did what any other critic does: I went online to start stealing other people’s critiques.
(Okay, that’s not true. I went looking for Dog’s website so I could have a copy of the lyrics handy as I was listening. But since there’s no website, I just started trolling blogs and indie review sites that had already received a copy.)
What jumped up at me was the comparisons being made. I saw some heavy hitters being tossed around: Dylan, Neil Young, The Beatles, Phish, The Flaming Lips… so naturally, my first thought was, “I believe it would be difficult to accurately compare Dog to those acts.” Well, no. My exact thought was “My ASS he sounds like them.” But then I figured I wouldn’t be allowed to have the word “ass” in my review. Because my editor might not like the word “ass” showing up in his publication. I guess we’ll find out if he likes “ass” when we see whether the word “ass” shows up in the review. And if it doesn’t, the editor is an ass.
But I digrass. Err, digress.
When the first track hit my ears, I found my vocal comparison instantly. Not Dylan. Not Young. Nope. This is Joe Walsh’s secret attempt to get back into music, isn’t it? He’s trying to follow up on the monster success of “Rocky Mountain Way!”
But further listening tempered my opinion. Yes, Walsh was still there. But I actually DID hear other stuff. In “Second Chance” I heard shades of either The Kinks (“Lola”) or The Beta Band (“Dry The Rain,” the only song of theirs I know, courtesy of the scene in High Fidelity). The Beatles comparison came up in “Jam or Marmalade.” The Neil Young reference showed up in “Pluto” (when the first notes hit, I thought I’d downloaded a copy of “Cinnamon Girl” by mistake). “Air” was a Tom Petty ballad. It was a little bit like hearing “We Are The World” in album form.
In between, there were a couple of vocal-free techno-y offerings. The good news is, they’re only about a minute long each, which gives you time to go get another beer. Err, or it would. Hypothetically speaking. Because it’s morning as I write this, and I would certainly not engage in such behavior before noon.
Song you should pay $1 for on iTunes, rather than downloading for free: I got distracted when I saw the Randy Jackson/Paula Abdul single on the frontpage and had a brief aneurysm, but eventually found this album on iTunes. I’d suggest “Jam or Marmalade,” if only due to the trifecta of Beatles influence, jam-band sounds, and the fact that I had a PB&J for breakfast.
Rating: 3 Breathe-Right Strips, to help with the nasal sound.
