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dld
06-23-2004, 03:46 PM
A Ghost Is Born has two. On is really good. One is really a long way from being good.

The Bad - Less Than You Think, at cut # 11, starts off innocently enough, with a mournful lament by Tweedy for a couple of minutes and proceeds to noise for about 12 mnutes after that. Really, noise. I'm not prog bashing here. If it were prog, I'd critique it as such. Just mindless electronic noodling thats seems pointless. I don't even think UnleashWhatever would go for this. I'd love to hear a contradictory opinion. Its a shame too, becasue up to here, the album has a lot of good points and the album closer, The Late Greats, is one of those tweedy gems that doesn't come up and bite ya right off the bat, but its got a sublety catchy melody that grows on you.

The Good - On the totally opposite end of the Good/Bad spectrum is a killer cut, timing in at 10:30 called Spiders (Kidsmoke) and man, does it smoke! Droning, hypnotic, almost unbroken (thru the length of the song) Bass and Drum tracks open this song. After a couple of minutes, just about when things start getting close to monotonous, Tweedy's vocal comes in, subdued, yet powerful, then the (first of many) guitar break starts. Then back to the Bass/Drum line, then more Tweedy vocals, and a stronger guitar break. We're talking a couple of minutes here. 60's psychedlic guitar, reminiscent of a Jefferson Airplane or some other 60's group's guitar solo break. This is a tight, no, airtight song, that builds all the way to its conclusion. Prolly 4 guitar breaks, each one more powerful and energetic than the preceeding one with the last one just just crunching and grinding away. Simply said, this is one of those songs that picks you up at the beginning, takes you on a wild ride, and drops you off, completely satisfied, at the end. No false turns. A great workout for my new Athena F2s on the big rig. This song may wear thin over time due to its droning hypnotic nature. but after five listens, I'm pretty sure I'm a long way from that point. But YMMV.

I can't really comment on much of the rest of the CD as I've been listening to Spiders constantly at the expense of other cuts. But cut five impressed on its first listen, a Beatlesque cut called Hummmingbird. Its got strings and is reminiscent of parts of Eleanor Rigby and or A Day In The Life.

Other than that, not a lot of comment about the rest of the album, yet. But it sure seems like a keeper and a good addition to their catalogue.

NP- Spiders (Kidsmoke)