The album opens with the soaring 8-minute "The Birds" which is an aural journey that only Elbow can lead you on with its moody guitar driven melody and Garvey's unmistakeable, usually restrained, crooning style that, given the extended length of the track, never feels boring or repetitive. "Lippy Kids," which comments on youth growing up too quickly and whose lyrics are used as the album's title, opens slowly with quiet bass and keyboard work to better emphasize Garvey's voice and his usual sharp lyric writing before layering on angelic choral backing (thanks to the Halle Youth Choir) and an orchestral sound to create a very sweeping track. This contrasts well with "Jesus is a Rochdale Girl" which simply employs an easy acoustic guitar melody with sporadic electric keyboard outbursts throughout the entire song.
With Build a Rocket Boys!, Elbow not only announces they haven't lost a step since 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid but also they are one of the best alternative rock bands releasing music today. The album is especially deep both in the lush and well layered tunes the band creates and in the complex stories they tell in their songs. Like their previous albums, Build sucks you in with their tender and subdued music but it's the lyrics with their unique combination of deep meaning, well metered structure, and seductive word choice that will have you coming back for repeated listens. They don't produce music that will be universally appreciated by all audiences but they have created their own niche of alternative rock that has it own flavor not commonly found on other bands' releases and it is a flavor they do better than anyone else.
Score: 9.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "The Birds" [sample it below] and "Lippy Kids"
"Incomplete" leads off the album which has an eerie resemblance to Elvis Costello's music from the 90's plus echoes of the band's past hits. "Shave It" gently sweeps you along in what turns out to be a fun summer song with a jangly pop melody. "Baby Don't" has a fun and energetic rockabilly slant with a simple but catchy melody. "Hour of the Idiot" is the song most reminiscent of their past style with their staple rollicking electric guitar licks and a dual vocal harmony that is present on some of their best work. Afterwards that there are four songs with a strong country skewing that didn't really appeal to me. "Way That it Are" saves the second half of the album from being a complete downer with a quick tempo song with its feet firmly in the roots of rock in one of their best songs in over a decade.
Long removed from their days as a punk band, the music Meat Puppets gives us on Lollipop starts to show the band's age with more pop heavy songs that often have a strong country twang. The change isn't that surprising though once you take into account that the Kirkwood brothers are both now over 50-years old and nothing is worse to see and hear than an aging punk rocker. This is not to say that older rockers can't still make music (the duo from Steely Dan were approximately the same age when they released their beautiful, multiple Grammy winning Two Against Nature album a decade ago although they were a rock band and not a punk band originally) but it's usually wise for them to naturally tone down their sound. There are a couple of individual songs on Lollipop that echo band's sound from the mid-90's and those tracks are standout songs but the album as a whole falls flat more often than not.
Score: 6/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Way That It Are" and "Shave It"
The album opens with "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" which I found slightly odd for a disc released mid-April. The song itself is an upbeat folk-pop song with an extremely catchy hook that speaks about exactly what the title says. "The Afterlife" and "Dazzling Blue" have quick tribal/World music influenced beats and creative songwriting to create two enjoyable tracks. "Rewrite" is one of the real standout tracks with its sweeping Spanish-influenced acoustic guitar intro and a rhythm and vocal style that is very reminiscent of his past Top-20 hit "Me and Julio..." Unfortunately, the album does lose some of its steam when the ballads roll around. Tracks like "Love and Hard Times" and "Question for the Angels" aren't horrible songs by any means (the line from the latter track about the commercialization of Jay-Z is a pretty great reference) but it steals from the vivacity the previous tracks built. However, the eponymous, blues-heavy closing track helps restore some of the luster.
So Beautiful or So What is Paul Simon's best album in years if not decades. The music presented on the 10-song album is an amalgamation of all the styles Simon has given us since he went solo. Most common is the familiar folk-pop/rock style that Simon seems most comfortable with but you can still find the African and World music influences that powered Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints mixed in intermittently on tracks. Longtime fans will be absolutely thrilled with this release and even casual fans will find a handful of songs that they can tap their toes to. The entire album is not perfect with some of the slower ballads seeming to drain some of the life and momentum the previous tracks have built but the good songs on the album far outweigh and outnumber the bad ones. Easily Simon's most enjoyable album since The Rhythm of the Saints was released over two decades ago.
Score: 8.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "The Afterlife" [sample it below] and "Rewrite"
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