■ CD review
Moody Blues turn to country gold on new tribute album
Meanwhile, the debut album from The Futureheads
mixes their musical influences into catchy pop rock
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
So what does an album by a British
post-punk rock band have in com
mon with a collection featuring the
songs of a popular 1970s prog-rock
band performed bluegrass style?
Nothing, really. Except for being in
this review together.
The first of those albums is the self
titled debut from The Futureheads,
which functions as a basic collection
of catchy pop rock and not much else.
On that level, it works brilliantly. The
songs are short, smart and listenable,
never overstaying their welcome.
While the band has its obvious influ
ences (The Jam stands out in particu
lar), they distill them into a cohesive
sound made up of angular guitar
chords, uplifting vocal harmonies and
bouncy rhythms that never get
bogged down in the trappings of the
already tired dance-punk movement.
The album mixes songs from the
band’s earlier singles and EPs with
new recordings, so it is easy to see
that the band is already beginning to
make advances in their songwriting
abilities. Early singles, such as the
pop-rock gem “Robot,” sit alongside
the doo-wop based “Danger of the
Water. ” At times the band sounds
like the Kinks circa 1966-68, when
they were moving away from the
straight-ahead rock sound and on
the verge of making “The Village
Green Preservation Society. ” If this
analogy holds up, good things can
be expected from the Futureheads.
And now for a complete change in
mood. If I told you that a group of
Nashville session musicians got to
gether to make a tribute album to the
Moody Blues, you would probably
think that the result would be some
kind of ultra-cheesy piece of culture
fertilizer, right? That just goes to prove
what an idiot you are. Produced by
mandolin player Dave Harvey,
“Moody Bluegrass: A Nashville Tfib
ute to the Moody Blues” is a well
thought out, wonderfully realized
piece of music, which re-imagines the
songs of the band that at times per
sonified all of the worst indulgences
of progressive rock.
By streamlining the songs into the
bluegrass format, the performers find
what made them so interesting in the
first place. The instrumentation is
beautiful, with some of the solo work
surpassing the original material (the
banjo truly is the most divine sound
ing instrument in the entire canon of
music). It might come as a surprise
that songs like “Ride My See-Saw”
and “The Voice” make great country
music, but it actually makes sense
once you hear it. They even add a
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Photos by. Chris Callis
MOODY XI
BLueGrassp
\ Nashville hibuldolht \loo<l\ [Miles
Courtesy
'Moody Bluegrass:
A Nashville Tribute
to the Moody
Blues,' takes the
songs of the 1
970s rock band
and turns them
into some of the
best country music
to be released
this year.
sense of urgency to cuts like “I’m Just
a Singer (in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band).”
While tribute albums are usually
(and rightfully) condemned to a musi
cal ghetto inhabited by Christmas
albums and easy listening records,
“Moody Bluegrass” stands as one of
the best of its kind.
ryannyburg@ daily emerald, com
IN BRIEF
Col. Claypool's Bucket
of Bemie Brains
Col. Claypool’s Bucket of Bemie
Brains, an all-star collaboration put to
gether by bassist Les Claypool, will be
performing in Eugene Friday as part
of its first-ever national tour. The
group features the legendary Les Clay
pool on bass and Buckethead on gui
tar, as well as former Primus drum
mer Brain, and Bemie Worrell, the
original keyboardist and primary col
laborator with George Clinton in both
Parliament and Funkadelic, who has
also performed and recorded with
Talking Heads.
Originally assembled as a one-time
only, improvisational performance at
the 2002 Bonnaroo Festival in Ten
nessee, Col. Claypool’s Bucket of
Bernie Brains went on to play a few
exclusive club performances and
record a live album. On Sept. 21, Clay
pool released a full-length album on
his own record label, Prawn Song.
Claypool describes the album as “a
traveling, oversized sock-puppet
show spawned by the characters of a
Tobe Hooper film and scored by Dan
ny Elfman on bad acid.”
Col. Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie
Brains will perform tomorrow at the
McDonald Theatre. The doors open
at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8
p.m. Tickets are on sale online at
For the week of November 4th!
Sign-up for our weekly WebPage Update!
www.biiou-cinemas.com
*A w©U-<les«rved 2003 Oscar nominee tor best foreign-language film *■
Rulhe Stein. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
In Czechoslovakian.
Russian and German
with English subtitles
IZELARY
ONE WEEK ONLY!
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SPANKING THE MONKEY
Along with f feme/ Suneh/ne of
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—e«»ra Rvtgal ATLANTA
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McDonald Theatre Ticketing and at
all Safeway Tickets West outlets for
$18.50. If not sold out, tickets will
also be available at the McDonald
Theatre Box Office on the day of the
show for $20 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
/... And You Will Know Us
by the Trail of Dead'
The Austin, Texas, post-punk
group “...And You Will Know Us by
the TYail of Dead” will be playing its
first-ever Eugene performance this
weekend. The show is part of a tour to
support its upcoming album, “Worlds
Apart,” set for release in January.
The band is known for explosive
live shows, which regularly involve
manic stage antics and overwhelming
energy. According to the band's
record label, “...And You Will Know
Us by the Hail of Dead” has been
barred from a number of Austin ven
ues for showering audiences with
shards of smashed-up guitars, as well
as a number of other performance-re
lated offenses.
“...And You Will Know Us by the
TYail of Dead” will be performing at
the WOW Hall on Sunday. Doors
open at 8 p.m. and the show begins
at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for stu
dents and $14 for the general pub
lic and are currently available at
the WOW Hall and the University
Ticket Office.
— Ryan Murphey