Albert Hammond, Jr. – Yours to Keep
New Line Records (3/6/07)
Indie rock
Albert Hammond, Jr. is the guitar player for The Strokes; many times when a guitarist tries his hand at a solo album it crashes and burns deep into the abyss of discount bins and “worst album of the year†lists. Fortunately, Albert’s album is far-and-away better than anything The Strokes have ever attempted.
This is a record full of soulful and passionate, yet playful, melodies that will force a constant, and unnecessary, comparison to The Shins. The lyrics are filled with inventive American imagery and personal soliloquies that one could actually equate closer to Fountains of Wayne. The lyrics invoke personal memories for the listener, making this an album that means something different for everyone who hears to it.
Yours to Keep is the perfect album for the winter blues—when you walk outside and the chill hits you deep and you mutter, “Christ, its March. Why is it so cold?†Songs like “In Transit” and “Call an Ambulance” will remind you that spring is right around the corner. Once the weather does change, put this on in your car with the windows rolled down and no specific place to go.
I have a sad feeling that this album is not going to make any waves at all. It will be called the album by the guitarist from The Strokes and be passed by with indifference. Then again, with the exception of Albert Hammond Jr.’s pocketbook, would that be such a bad thing? That we share this wonderful album that American radio didn’t get its grubby hands on? That it wasn’t featured on Grey’s Anatomy? That there isn’t three mixes and an acoustic version playing on every commercial? Buy this album, tell everyone, crowd around the stereo like Cub Scouts around a fire, and when that douche bag from down the hall asks what you’re listing to just tell him an album the guitarist from The Strokes made, he will shrug a rigid “Oh†and walk away. That’s when you glance to your friends, smirk, and turn it louder.
Rating:
(See Broken Dial’s review of this album here)
WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT…
Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers (2002)
Often, when I bring this album up in a conversation I am laughed at with a scoffing, “You mean that Stacy’s Mom band?†And yes, this is the album with the song “Stacy’s Mom” that you heard a million times in 2002. But I push; I insist that this album was one of the best of that year, and furthermore, one of the best albums in the past 10 years. Nine out of ten people that I tell that to comes back to me, usually after I burn it for them and force them to listen to it, and says that it is in fact a great album.
The album starts, “He was killed by a cellular phone explosion, they scattered his ashes across the ocean. The water was used to make baby lotion, the wheels of promotion were set into motion.†These are perfectly crafted pop songs about American consumerism and suburban living. It is almost as if Fountains of Wayne were using the safe-suburban music against itself. Bringing down the machine from the inside.
“America the Beautiful” – Neil Young, from the album Living With War (2006)
What a chilling yet triumphant way to end an album that tore the American government apart. Proving that just because many people oppose the war and hate the president it does not mean that they hate America. In fact, they are probably better Americans than those who follow our leaders blindly and without forethought.
