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- CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE
WEEK
- Rush "Caress Of Steel" 1975 (Canada)
Rush
is an iconic supergroup, very much progressive and heavy, though their
only record which might qualify as "psychedelic" is this week's classic
album. I think Rush's first two albums are pretty cool hard rock, definitely under the influence of Led Zeppelin, but then what hard rock band of the early 1970's wasn't? For their third album Caress Of Steel,
they got more ambitious, and the result nearly ended their careers as
the album sold poorly and the accompanying tour was sparsely attended.
Fortunately for them, their next LP 2112 was the hit record that established them in the pantheon of classic rock. So why didn't Caress
succeed? Listening to it 40 years later, it's pretty ridiculous and
probably sounded kinda cheesy and dated at the time: corny swords and
sorcery epics (Neil Peart's worst lyrics?) rendered by Geddy Lee's
notoriously shrieky voice, and most of the album consists of two epics
"The Fountain Of Lamneth" (20 minutes) and "The Necromancer" (12
minutes). Or as Lee explained in a a documentary of the band "we were
really high when we did that one" (huh, I always figured they were more
the sporty clean-living types). But as I have often said, goofy dated
records of the classic rock era are a big part of what the Kosmik
Radiation show is all about! Besides, this might be guitarist Alex
Lifeson's best work: he solos his butt off and often achieves Hendrixian
majesty. Following a 2015 farewell tour and 2016 documentary film, Rush
officially confirmed their retirement in early 2018, fifty years after
Lee and Lifeson started the band as teenagers.
And
now for something completely different! Lately I have become interested
in "J-pop" (Japanese pop music), or more specifically two particular
contemporary Japanese artists of note: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
has been called "Japan's Lady Gaga", except her sense of aesthetics is
much more unified (her songs sound like her videos and costumes), her
songs are better (catchiest global pop artist since ABBA?), and she's
pretty psychedelic! KPP has articulated an interesting theory of
"traumatic cuteness" which explans her bizarre mix of fluffly pink
sweetness with disembodied organs, weapons, death, and other references
you don't expect from girly bubblegum. Then there's BABYMETAL
who are pioneering a new genre called "kawaii metal" (kawaii=cute,
which is like an ideology in Japan): three adorable teenage pop idol
girls doing choreographed headbanging in front of a real live heavy
metal band. There's also something psychedelic about their odd mix of
teeny bopper melodies, death metal, EDM, rap, and reggae(!) and they
are arguably one of the top heavy bands gloabally right now, selling
out massive stadiums in Japan and headlining festivals around the
world. |
