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This Week: uninspired protest rock, merely good DBT, and Sally in the world of men

Various Artists
Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 (Fat Wreck Chords)

Last year militant San Francisco Bay area rapper Paris released his fifth LP, Sonic Jihad. The disc was a fiery indictment of the second Bush administration’s policies. From the cover’s photograph of an aircraft racing towards the White House to an assassination fantasy and assertions that Bush planned 9/11 to further his own political agenda, Sonic Jihad is a furious, if not paranoid, assault on this nation’s 43rd president.

Few other musicians could get away with such stinging criticism of a sitting president. Hell, the Dixie Chicks barely survived merely being ashamed of one. It’s not surprising, then, to find just how underwhelming the music on Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 is.

Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 is the second of two low-priced compilation albums designed to drum up unlikely voter support in November. A variety of top-tier rock and punk players contributed songs, many of them rare or unreleased. Bad Religion, Green Day, No Doubt, Operation Ivy, Foo Fighters, Sleater-Kinney and Dillinger Four are among the 28 bands present. In that respect this is a fine assortment of music; if you’re into these bands, you’ll be into this album by default.

The problem, however, is just how little these bands have to offer on the state of Bush era politics. Many do, of course. But I expect a lot more from the tradition of musical outrage responsible for The Clash and The Sex Pistols.

If you must, pick Rock Against Bush up for the cheap price tag, the Greg Palast and Robert Greenwald political shorts, or the smattering of decent pop punk. But if you’re looking for real sonic socio-political angst, hold out for Paris or Steve Earle.

—Lloyd Babbit

Drive-by Truckers
The Dirty South (New West)

The Drive-by Truckers aren’t exactly underdogs anymore, but that doesn‘t keep them from making records like they still are. In the time it took them to find a decent distribution deal for the breakthrough Southern Rock Opera, they’ve released two more records, apparently afraid that either the muse will dry up or their audience will forget them. The addition of guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell was supposed to reinvigorate a band that’s been hauling around the South in a van for 10 years, but they keep sounding like this is their one last shot.

The desperation shows on The Dirty South, in ways both good and not so good. Good: the ferocity of “The Day John Henry Died,” “The Buford Stick,” and “Lookout Mountain,” each one played as if it’s the last song the band will ever record; and the sad, sad ache of “Tornadoes” and “Danko/Manuel,” which both sound like the last songs anybody will ever play, ever. Not so good: after 70 minutes, even the most stunning guitar solos can feel redundant; front man Patterson Hood’s already ragged voice sounds positively worn out in many spots; and I have a nagging feeling that maybe The Dirty South is just too much of a rehash of last year’s Decoration Day.

But that’s a minor complaint compared to the high points on The Dirty South. The underdog narratives by Hood, Isbell and Mike Cooley are refreshingly ambiguous, and the constant touring has refined the band’s chemistry to something almost dangerously explosive. Plus, even when they tread on familiar ground, the Truckers are probably better at skewering received wisdom than they are at supporting it.

—Matthew Everett

Sally Timms
In The World of Him (Touch and Go)

As a member of the Mekons, Sally Timms’ role seems pretty straightforward: sing. She doesn’t play any instruments or write any of the songs, yet somehow has become one of the group’s most integral parts.

On her first solo album in five years, she shows why that is. She’s a great interpreter of other people’s songs, something of a lost art in pop music.

Although her previous solo work had a country flavor to it, In The World of Him blends rock, folk and some mild experimentation. She covers work by the Mekons, Mark Eitzel, Johnny Dowd, and Ryan Adams, among others, but her voice and perspective shine through on each of them. As the title suggests, many of the songs are male views of women—Adams’ “Fools We Are As Men,” Dowd’s “139 Hermansler Gurtel,” and Coyne’s “I’m Just a Man.” Other songs protests against a male-dominated world, nightmare visions teeming with the nihilism at the heart of that world.

Perhaps most affecting tune of the bunch is the one Timms penned herself, “Little Tommy Tucker.” Based on the nursery rhyme, Timms turns it into an elegy of boys who will never become men: “go buy a piece of linen/ and make yourself a shroud/ to mourn those hands/ to mourn those hands/ you’ll never know/ bind weeds and daisy chains/ none shall be married.”

—Joe Tarr

September 23, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 39 © 2004 Metro Pulse