We are currently in the summer doldrums, where the release schedule is pretty sparse as far as big releases to look forward to, but the fall has a lot of potentially huge albums (for me) lined up. Let's take a look at the new singles from three of them, plus the one that will be the biggest thing in rock.
Elvis Costello - Under Lime, Unwanted Number
Few musicians have been as important to me as Elvis Costello, who not only occupies a lot of space in my collection, but who taught me many valuable lessons about songwriting. He is preparing for his first 'traditional' Elvis Costello album in a decade, and these two songs show that he's..... once again playing with genre. These songs are hinting at an album like "Imperial Bedroom", where there is all manner of details and orchestrations being bolted to the songs, creating a sonic quilt. These are both solid songs that recall that era, but I think the melodies could have used some more of the time spent on the arrangements. These songs sound more like altered "Momofuku" (a good album, by the way) than a full-on return to the past. They are interesting, and curious.
Pale Waves - Eighteen, Noises
I don't listen to a lot of what gets classified as pop anymore, but Pale Waves has caught my attention, and this album is one of my most anticipated for the rest of the year. These new songs are the forth and fifth from the record to be heard, and they continue to do exactly what I would have expected. On their own, they are very solid and slyly catchy depressive pop songs. The only concern is that so far everything they have released sounds remarkably similar, so will a fourteen song album be too much of one thing? Maybe, but for now, they haven't hit the saturation point yet. Pale Waves is delivering great pop nuggets, and they do so again here.
Blues Traveler - Accelerated Nation
I'm still not sure what I make of Blues Traveler's last album, which was a collaborative effort between them and a host of pop musicians. It was interesting, but something I rarely return to, because it doesn't feel or sound much like them. The first single for their new album returns us squarely to where they were before that experiment. This song continues the band's fascination with pop music, continuing in the mold that was first started with "Truth Be Told". This one is a good effort, falling somewhere in between "Most Precarious" and "You Don't Have To Love Me". I have a feeling it won't represent the album as a whole, but it's a reassuring way to be introduced to the next chapter.
Greta Van Fleet - When The Curtain Falls
And now the big one. The entire rock world will be flipping out, one way or the other, when their first album finally drops, but we got the first taste of it. And..... it still sounds like Led f'n Zeppelin. I wrote about their similarities last week, so let's focus on this song instead. Yes, the guitar tone and vocals still sound exactly like Page and Plant, but they also manage to write a song that infuses more melody than their influence usually did. That's what makes them so puzzling to me. They write songs I like as much if not more than most Zeppelin, but it comes with so much baggage it's hard to enjoy. That is also the case here. By staying so far inside the box, the band hasn't let the light shine on them.
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