Artist: The Afghan Whigs
Album: Do to the Beast
Source: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/
Pre-listening Notes: I was never a gigantic Afghan Whigs fan, but the album Gentlemen is an outstanding record. This is the first album the band has put out in the last 16 years, most of which was spent while broken up and with the members working on other bands. They are an alternative rock band that came started hitting it's stride somewhere around the rise of alternative rock in early to mid 90's. Take that for what you'd like, but they never quite fit in with that whole scene, at least as I saw it. They definitely had some punk roots and they were influenced by R&B a little for sure. Like I said, I was never a huge fan, so I'm not going to be able to go on and on gushing about them here, but maybe this record will make me want to go back and really get into their back catalog more than I have.
Initial Reaction: After some technical difficulties getting the album up and running, I am now listening. The album starts off with drums and some sporadic guitars. Greg Dulli's vocals kick in and it's got a dirty, sexy vibe to the song. It's got a nice driving rhythm and hits on pretty much all points. The music is good and Dulli's vocals are strong. The song is filling the headphones real nicely and I'm glad I chose to listen to it this way.
Random Thoughts: This has an almost dancey vibe to it. Or maybe it's not so much a dance vibe as they just write songs that they think people would want to have sex to, that's another feeling I get from it. The third song, It Kills, starts off with some piano and some mellower singing. It picks up a little after the intro section, but it's still the most subdued song of the first three. Dulli has some range vocally on this song, there is a point where he sounds almost like Prince. Great song. Algiers, has a bit of a country vibe going on, and the pace is slower, but it's another good song. At first, I thought the song Lottery might have been the first miss on the album, but all of a sudden, I got a sense of this is awesome. Royal Cream is another one of the more sexier upbeat songs. The album ends strong with These Sticks. Nice driving, slower song.
Final Reaction: I don't know if this will hit with the long time fans, but I liked this a lot. It's got a pretty decent variety to it. There are upbeat, sexy songs. There are slow tempo songs that would sound pretty great in an altered state of mind. The pieces all work well together, which I'm sure has a lot to do with Dulli writing all the songs and for all intents and purposes is a great songwriter. His voice still sounds great as he is pushing fifty. I enjoyed each song on this album, including a few that I found myself singing lines to the song after it ended and before the next one began. It also has done what I had hoped, I now want to go digging deeper into the back catalog.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Album: Do to the Beast
Source: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/
Pre-listening Notes: I was never a gigantic Afghan Whigs fan, but the album Gentlemen is an outstanding record. This is the first album the band has put out in the last 16 years, most of which was spent while broken up and with the members working on other bands. They are an alternative rock band that came started hitting it's stride somewhere around the rise of alternative rock in early to mid 90's. Take that for what you'd like, but they never quite fit in with that whole scene, at least as I saw it. They definitely had some punk roots and they were influenced by R&B a little for sure. Like I said, I was never a huge fan, so I'm not going to be able to go on and on gushing about them here, but maybe this record will make me want to go back and really get into their back catalog more than I have.
Initial Reaction: After some technical difficulties getting the album up and running, I am now listening. The album starts off with drums and some sporadic guitars. Greg Dulli's vocals kick in and it's got a dirty, sexy vibe to the song. It's got a nice driving rhythm and hits on pretty much all points. The music is good and Dulli's vocals are strong. The song is filling the headphones real nicely and I'm glad I chose to listen to it this way.
Random Thoughts: This has an almost dancey vibe to it. Or maybe it's not so much a dance vibe as they just write songs that they think people would want to have sex to, that's another feeling I get from it. The third song, It Kills, starts off with some piano and some mellower singing. It picks up a little after the intro section, but it's still the most subdued song of the first three. Dulli has some range vocally on this song, there is a point where he sounds almost like Prince. Great song. Algiers, has a bit of a country vibe going on, and the pace is slower, but it's another good song. At first, I thought the song Lottery might have been the first miss on the album, but all of a sudden, I got a sense of this is awesome. Royal Cream is another one of the more sexier upbeat songs. The album ends strong with These Sticks. Nice driving, slower song.
Final Reaction: I don't know if this will hit with the long time fans, but I liked this a lot. It's got a pretty decent variety to it. There are upbeat, sexy songs. There are slow tempo songs that would sound pretty great in an altered state of mind. The pieces all work well together, which I'm sure has a lot to do with Dulli writing all the songs and for all intents and purposes is a great songwriter. His voice still sounds great as he is pushing fifty. I enjoyed each song on this album, including a few that I found myself singing lines to the song after it ended and before the next one began. It also has done what I had hoped, I now want to go digging deeper into the back catalog.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
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