Matthew Good – White Light Rock & Roll Review

These days, it’s becoming more and more popular to become critical of global politics, and to be ‘aware’ of the world outside of your own little suburban community. Criticizing a certain American president and his foreign policy has also become quite the topic du jour for artists the world over. Why not? Throughout history, it’s been shown that the artists have always been the individuals whose talents were the most feared. Dictators such as Pol Pot or Idi Amin found it in their best interests to eliminate such subversive forces, so as to maintain better control of the populace.

However, in this day and age where it seems as though Simple Plan is one step away from releasing a ‘protest record’, and where we are bombarded with ‘ere’body in the club gettin’ tipsy’, one might have to wonder what those in the ruling elite have to fear from the artists. After all, we all saw how effective ‘taking a stand’ works for artists such as the Dixie Chicks, and how it seems most people tend to value their chequebook over their own personal moral compass, so what is in the point in attempting to rely upon the artists to give us alternate, dissenting opinions, and to offer us challenges to our beliefs?

Which brings us to Matthew Good, former front man of the Matthew Good Band (MGB). The Vancouver native’s second solo effort is soaked in political vitriol. Good has become quite politically outspoken in recent years, becoming very critical not just of Canadian politics, but also turning a wild eye to the antics of one George W. Bush. White Light Rock & Roll Review is most certainly a reflection of this attitude, what with songs titled ‘North American For Life’, ‘Alert Status Red’ and ‘Poor Man’s Grey’, making references to the commercial tendencies of our culture, to how ‘George is teaching the kids to fight’. Good is able to come across as being very critical and biting with the commentary contained in his songs, and does not come across as some sort of Canadian ‘outsider’ to American politics, acting like some bad, nosy neighbor sticking his nose over the fence, something which lesser artists aren’t capable of doing, thus making themselves appear uncomfortable or clumsy with the subject matter they are writing about. Such is not the case with Good.

As for the sound itself, the record has gone back to a very basic, ‘bare bones’ sound, which is a bit of a departure from the thick and lush sound found on 2003’s Avalanche, which was rife with orchestral arrangements and acoustic sounds. White Light is far more of a ‘rocking’ album, and as such, sounds more like older MGB material. Also, White Light is a far more coherent album, as the meandering endings on a number of tracks on Avalanche are non-existant on this album, again show casing the ‘keep it simple’ approach that seems to have been taken on this record, also showing that Good has finally found his footing as a solo artist and, more importantly, is comfortable in the role of being such. That is not to say that Avalanche wasn’t a good record, but I happen to find White Light Rock & Roll Review to be a far superior record, simply because it sounds like Good is far more comfortable with what he is doing.

The big surprise for many people on this record would be the introduction of country music elements on the record. Several songs, such as ‘Empty Road’ and ‘Blue Skies Over Bad Lands’ employ pedal steel, giving a bit of a ‘twang’ to the sound. These songs also happen to be the better tracks on the record, giving fans the sound of older ‘quiet’ tracks such as ‘Apparitions’, ‘Suburbia’ and ‘The Fine Art Of Falling Apart’. Good has said numerous times that he never wants to become an artist that becomes pigeon holed into a very specific, predictable sound, and the continued experimenting with different sounds, arrangements and instruments show that this will never be the case.

This experimenting will sometimes have interesting results, as evidenced with the hidden track ‘Hopeless’, which to me comes off as being incredibly hokey, but also comes across as a song that’s also fun and is a song that shows that Good really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what’s expected of him, and, more importantly, that he’s having fun doing what he’s doing. In a radio interview that I had caught when Good came to town about a year ago, he made references that he was thinking about going to Nashville and making a country record. While I don’t know if the world is ready for a Matthew Good country record, it certainly would be an interesting listen, given what’s heard on White Light.

Track Listing (Links to online samples where provided)
1) Put Out Your Lights
2) Poor Man’s Grey
3) We’re So Heavy
4) Empty Road
5) Alert Status Red Video
6) Little Terror
7) In Love With A Bad Idea
8) North American For Life
9) Blue Skies Over Bad Lands
10) It’s Been A While Since I Was Your Man
11) Buffalo Seven
12) Ex-Pats Of The Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra (w/ hidden track ‘Hopeless’)

Jeremy Peeples review of Avalanche – here