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Album Review
by SashaS
2-7-2003
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| Electric Six: fire, inside & out, disco! |
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Electric Six: 'Fire'
(XL Recordings)
Electric Six – white punks on ‘dope’
Musicians’ reaction in time of global crisis has certainly shifted over the past thirty-something years; in the revolutionary 1960s they used to protest, demo, make music that opposed injustices and (inter)national aggressions but nothing changes like a mass public opinion. With pictures of military actions filling in all frontrooms via tele-images that are vindication by misinformation, pro-propaganda, the truth entropy, lead to sanitization. Our troubled reality has become a time in which substance is constantly overwhelmed by tsunami of fun and mindless trivia saturation.
The public enragement in the West didn’t need musicians’ reflections to 9/11 American Tragedy and the subsequent Iraqi occupation was therefore largely ignored, with certain notable exceptions that were like a handful of sand against the oceans. The emphasis has been on feelgood, light entertainment, escapism but, above all, distraction. Nothing wrong with it; the Western civilisation is too used to its faux-sybaritic ways. That’s the background to the success of Electric Six.
This doesn’t take away from their two excellent smash hits, ‘Danger! High Voltage’ and contagious-crazy-singalong of ‘Gay Bar’, that provides spirit elation at the fatally depressive time. ‘Fire’ is their long-delayed album that sees only half of the band that recorded it still employed. Although, after having seen them live, there is little difference, men in suits and sunglasses indoors look very much the same…
‘Fire’ is a feelgood album made by people who like to dwell on the sunny sidewalk. The upbeat tempo and mood is kept funkily rocking on ‘Electric Demons In Love’ (the B-52’s echo detectable), ‘I Invited The Night’ (an example of restrained rocking that is almost emo), ‘Getting Into The Jam’ displaying a more mature rock-take of a crooner fronting MC5. But then, their third single and the album’s opener, ‘Dance Commander’, employs the same riff as ‘Danger!’; curio, man!
Dick Valentine lyrics are delivered in his shouty, riot-inciting fashion, that can express some probing imagery, such as ‘Let’s start a war/ A nuclear war/ At a Gay Bar/…/ I’ve got something to put in you’, although generally are intentionally trite about the most crucial things that matter in human life: drugs (alcohol included), disco and dancing (clubwise or horizontal). There are snatches of social and political comments but they are as important as Paris fashion in Australian Outback.
‘I’m The Bomb’ and ‘Synthesiser’ at the end demonstrate that El.6 have few other aces up their sleeve but the major vibe is – The Tubes without naked ladies! (Given time and resources…) There is an overall sense of this having a potential to be a Rock’n’Roll circus! We’d like to suggest they start covering, instead of Queen’s ‘Radio Ga-Ga’, The Tubes’ ‘What Do You Want From Life?’; it would beautifully round up their ‘dumb-ass’ rock presentation. Less punky, more pop-funky, infectiously infuriating tunes for every occasion.
Ours is a troubled reality in which substance is constantly overwhelmed by a tsunami of trivial and bland pop. Let’s party!
8/10
SashaS
2-7-2003
Electric Six’s album ‘Fire’ is released 30 June 2003 on XL Recordings
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