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You Heat Me Up Cool Down
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Barnes & Noble
You Heat Me Up Cool Down
Current price: $17.99
Barnes & Noble
You Heat Me Up Cool Down
Current price: $17.99
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Size: CD
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's
is their second live album to be released within three years -- but frontman, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
didn't plan it that way.
were just kicking off a world tour to support the stellar
when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. They'd managed to get in just three shows -- two in Paris, one in Amsterdam -- before canceling the tour. The best music from these concerts was compiled for this document.
The tunes are drawn from
's somewhat small catalog -- a healthy portion from
and
, with a few faves from
. Frontman and songwriter
seemingly agrees with
's aesthetic when it comes to performing his own catalog: He rearranges songs constantly to keep them fresh.
Opener "Out Getting Ribs" (from
's related
project) registers as a laconic, emotionally intense ballad with droning saxophones, slowly plucked guitars, and kick drums, while
allows his lyrics to emerge slowly before the track explodes in conclusion. "The Ooz" commences as a soul ballad, but turns on its distorted bassline into something abstract, improvisational, and nearly dangerous. "Stoned Again" lurches forward with fuzzed-out guitars and loopy synth, with hovering deep saxophone and a kinetic drum kit marking a slow, shuffling processional.
urgently pushes out the words with a punk swagger as the tune gathers force and becomes a gnarly garage rocker. The knotty, razor-wire Anglo-soul in "Rock Bottom" delivers skittering dynamics and fist-pumping grooves to reveal the twin influences of
simultaneously.
introduces "Comet Face" by intoning "I don't have too much to say," before careening across garage jazz and post-punk, complete with an unhinged sax solo that recalls
. "Baby Blue" is as tender as it is desperate.
's words emerge hesitantly at first, almost mumbled as he sets out his sad truth: "My sandpaper sigh engraves a line/Into the rust of your tongue/Girl I could've been someone, to you/Would have painted the skies blue...." Problem is, she has no idea he's alive. A gritty, double-tracked tenor saxophone rebukes him and takes over after the bridge. Closer "Easy Easy" is an observation of working-class life as the protagonist struggles to accept the day-to-day grind without losing his mind. The crowd participation is full and enthusiastic, transforming the tune into a Cockney workers' anthem. Guitars blast across the refrain as the drums double-time
, who is at his honest, sometimes menacing, off-key best.
While
fans will readily consider
essential listening, there is a serious argument to be made for this as a fine introduction to the uninitiated. ~ Thom Jurek