Mad at the World, Sittin' in a Chair, Singin' to My Dawg...
Written: May 18 '04 (Updated May 18 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Highly intimate, a couple moments of rare brilliance...
Cons: Maybe a little too intimate, and lots of moments of halfassedness
The Bottom Line: "Killers and Stars" probably shouldn't have been released, but it might make a nice collector's item someday.
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| plorentz's Full Review: Killers and Stars - Patterson Hood Movies |
Remember when you were a teenager (or if you’re a teenager now, remember when you were a pre-teen), and you would get angry at your parents, or your girlfriend, or boyfriend, or the cute social studies teacher who never gave you the time of day, but always gave you C+’s on your tests; and you’d take out your myriad adolescent (or pre-adolescent) frustrations out in your journal, writing hundreds of thousands of millions of lines of deep and meaningful poetry?
Ever find those journals five or ten or fifteen years after the fact, and simultaneously shudder to your bones thinking what your current boy/girlfriend would think if s/he stumbled upon this artifact of shame, and laugh so hard you pee yourself?
Musicians, of course, have a bigger problem. You see, a lot of times, instead of committing their bitterness to a private journal, they record their miseries in song, and then record those songs on acetate, and then take those acetates and have CDs pressed of them, and they take those CDs and sell them at live shows on “solo acoustic” tours, and then, maybe a couple years later, once they’ve built an audience on more substantial work, their record label gets a hold of those acetates, and says, “Hey, I bet a lot of people would love to hear this.”
Such is the case with Patterson Hood and the album “Killers and Stars”, which got it’s first legitimate release this week, after three years of “collectable” status. And I can’t help but feeling embarrassed for the guy.
Recorded in his dining room over two nights in 2001, when, according the Hood’s self-written liner notes, he was on the outs with his band The Drive-By Truckers, and generally p!ssed off at the world, “Killers and Stars” collects a dozen grueling, intimate performances of (mostly) unapologetically ugly, uncompromisingly bitter songs.
There are some wonderful moments here. Most notably, the sole cover of the album, a lovingly rendered version of Tom T. Hall’s “Pay No Attention To Alice”, which he introduces before he starts singing, resulting in a mental image of this lonely, be-flanneled guy sitting in a rocker performing the song for his puzzled-looking, but nevertheless faithfully attentive dog. And there’s the dark “Phil’s Transplant”, which, like Morrissey’s “Interesting Drug”, makes a clear (and clearly creepy) distinction between pre- and post-transplant Phil, without ever clarifying what exactly was transplanted.
“Hobo” is a simple, but surprisingly moving narrative about a guy who ends up following in his Grandaddy’s footsteps, instead of his more respectable father’s. And it’s perfect in this setting, Hood’s expressive guitar picking providing all the necessary drama – which most likely would have been lost in the studio.
Still, the bulk of these songs feel silly, unfinished, halfassed, or any combination of the above. Sure, the mercifully brief (and hilariously titled) “The Belinda Carlisle Diet” (“Cocaine and milkshakes, milkshakes, cocaine”) looks promising on the lyric sheet, but it’s nothing you’d really want to hear. And songs like “Uncle Disney” (as in “When they thaw out Uncle Disney”), “Fire”, and “Frances Farmer” all feel like they might have been worthwhile given a full band performance. Here, they just sound like interesting demos.
And then there’s the recording itself. The ever-present ambient buzzing, and Hood’s strained, twangy voice – sure, they add atmosphere, but after awhile it all feels grating. And worst of all, Hood seems completely self-involved here. These aren’t real performances, because that would imply an audience (the dog doesn’t count).
It’s more like when I’m all alone, and I sing really emotively to myself in the mirror. Funny, yes. Embarrassing, absolutely. Submitted for public consumption, no way.
Patterson Hood is an excellent songwriter, and I love when he sings and plays in the full-band, fists-in-the-air, Southern-fried arena rock context of the Drive-By Truckers. But “Killers and Stars”, despite moments of revelation, is mainly an interesting artifact – of no real interest to anyone who isn’t already a devoted follower.
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"Killers and Stars" by Patterson Hood
New West Records
Released 5/4/04
"Produced" by Patterson Hood
37 min.
SONGS: Uncle Disney - Rising Son - The Assassin - Pay No Attention to Alice - Belinda Carlisle Diet - Fire - Hobo - Miss Me Gone - Phil's Transplant - Frances Farmer - Old Timer's Disease - Cat Power
Recommended:
No
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plorentz
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Member: Paul Lorentz
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