Customer Reviews

At Action Park

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Meant to be listened to on vinyl,and the cd says just that. For those who do not appreciate Steve Albini's disdain for digital, I reprint here what it says on the cd:"This was not mastered directly to metal or pressed into 165 grams of virgin dye blackened vinyl. There is, in fact, nothing at all special about the manufacturing of this compact disc." Regardless, the music on the cd is indeed special. Like a marauding dirge descending slowly from the sky to land on your car, "My Black Ass" menaces and mesmerizes you into realizing this will be no ordinary aural trip. Shellac is about repetition until a particular riff or measure is perfect, and then throwing little variations into it to muss you up. They, of course, never lose their timing or include inappropriate noise-all moves are planned, all things are considered. Not to say that this record don't have no noise-check out "Crow" and "Song of The Minerals", for monstrous, vicious rock. "The Idea Of North" develops like sunrise, and "Boche's Dick" is a tight, methodical near closer that is waay too short and way to good to be short. All in all, no misses here. Best tune: "Song Of the Minerals", featuring sustained, forearm destroying Albini harmonic guitar scrape, and a sad story about a girl who uses heroin and sleeps around, possibly the same protagonist of "Trouser Minnow"?"WHY? Cuz it makes you feel better-its your arms, its none of my business", he growls.Don't expect many messages here, though; this is not a record of syntax, its all about the music.Normally rock sounds stupid when it takes itself seriously; not here.

Just in case his work with Big Black and Rapeman didn't provide him with enough indie cred, in the mid-90's Steve Albini made a triumphant return with Shellac, a noise-rock agglomeration that continued Albini's exploration of the darker sides of both music in particular and human nature in general. In contrast to the compelling if diffuse rage and perversity of Big Black's legendary swansong Songs About F***ing, Shellac's debut At Action Park is a devastatingly precise and intelligent battering ram of an album. Coupling the raw, indie-centric ethic that made Albini notorious with tricky rhythms, mathy arrangements, and winding song structures, At Action Park is a prime distillation of the years of underground rock history that preceded it. Everything here is carefully measured for maximum visceral impact, with the end result being a lean, ruthlessly efficient piece of aural abuse that's as intelligent as it is abrasive.

The opener My Black Ass is a perfect summation of Shellac's musical mission, with the violent stabbing motions of Albini's guitar married to Todd Trainer's halting drumbeats and the doomy chug of Bob Weston's bass. The next track, the scathing, pseudo-industrial Pull the Cup, continues in the same vein, except the lack of vocals makes it sound like something Don Caballero's evil twins might do. The Admiral is a metallic, headbanging number that manages an odd catchiness, but as the rest of the album makes clear, Shellac were more concerned with gut-punching you than making you move. The Crow is a more typical piece: pure menace, Albini emotionlessly intoning his ominous vocals over a disemboweling rhythm section, with shards of guitar noise only occasionally intruding on its evil atmosphere. Another classic, Song of the Minerals, is built on a hypnotic, unsettling drone that burrows its way deep into your subconscious while Albini's vocals become steadily more unhinged before exploding into shouts of "It's alright if it makes you feel better!" The band does show some aptitude for the eerily minimal thing as well with The Idea of North, a (relatively) subdued mood piece whose guitar noise and drumbeats lull more than pummell. Of course, the band quickly returns to malevolence with the lurching metal-on-metal scrape of the delightful Dog and Pony Show. The brief Boche's Dick wavers and staggers like a drunk before kicking into full dementia mode about halfway through, while Il Porno Star is high-end musical math whose sparse guitar lines and steamrolling bass rhythms are augmented by the jazzy complexity of Trainer's drum work.

By the time the album ends with one of Albini's pointed screaming fits at the conclusion of Il Porno Star, it's clear he had another classic album on his hands. I'd even submit this album is superior to Songs About F***ing: smarter, more mature, and even scarier for it. I don't have the other two Shellac albums, but At Action Park has guaranteed them a spot at the top of my "to buy" list.

I had followed Steve Albini's Big Black quite closely, and they were good. I only listened to Shellac's material carefully lately, and I must say that I was amazed! Yeah, Albini's music has matured, if that could ever make sense at all. Terraform (1998 release) and 1000 Hurts (2000) are both really good albums, but this one, the first full-length attempt of Shellac, surpasses them all. The dark atmoshere, the mean bass, the merciless pounding of drums, and Steve's special guitar sound all add up perfectly. And they produce powerful music, both aesthetically (for fans of underground rock) and emotionally.

The album starts rocking from its very first song. "My Black Ass" is a very fine moment sonically, although its typically sarcastic drop-dead-b**ch lyrics add nothing new to poetry. Still, one of the best moments here. "Pull the Cup" is a tough instumental, and by listening to it we realise that Albini is one of the main influences of the irish band "Therapy?" (to their credit!).

The next three songs are the absolute highlights of the album. "The Admiral" and the "Song of the Minerals" are the closest that Shellac come to a pop-song form in this album, and it really works. These songs are an excellent introduction to Shellac, also revealing how much Steve, Bob and Todd must be missing the great Husker Du (we all do!). After listening to them, lyrics like "It came as no surprise (that) he was taken by surprise" and "You picked him out but he's a total stranger!/ Why? Because it makes you feel better/ It's all right if it makes you feel better" are never leaving you head again. "Crow" talks about another tormented relationship, "time flies, as a crow flies- through you, not around you". The bassline of this one reminds me strongly of David Wm Sims' playing, which suggests that the song was written during the time Albini was still a member of Rapeman.

Moving on, "A minute" and "The Idea of North" are the weakest moments of this album, if only because the rest of the songs are so good. But the "Dog and Pony Show" takes the album back to the right track. "Boche's Dick" is another instrumental that would have served well as the intro of this whole album. Then comes "Il Porno Star" to finish you off. A strange story (well, all of their stories are kind of strange) about a guy who knows no English, but has ..er.. a stallion and determination. But you 'd better listen to the story yourselves!

As other reviewers have also pointed out, the personalities of all three musicians come forth in these songs, and that's what makes Shellac different to Big Black or the Rapeman. Beats alternate, basslines rotate, guitar riffs rise from obscurity, attack, mature, and disintegrate in front of our very ...ears. This is not music with high probability of air-play time, and if you try to get an idea from the music samples above, I suggest that you listen to the cut from "the admiral". If you already know Albini, then buy this, this is as good as he ever got.

Although no song here surpasses the genius of their first singles (ie Wingwalker, Doris, Billiardplayer Song, etc.), this debut album is a great introduction to the band. The production is (of course) flawless and everything about the music seems pointed towards focusing on and concentrating emotion into spare, forceful lines. Albini & co. aren't just perfectionists when it comes to their instruments; the lyrics also reflect an attention to minimalism, saying exactly what needs to be said in as few words as possible. Take "Dog & Pony Show" for example, with its lines like "I attach no importance to it," spoken/sung in Albini's trademark growl. Coupled with the music and the phrasing, this otherwise archaic-sounding declaration evokes something much more complex than simple anger, disgust, or indifference.

As other reviewers have noted this is THE Shellac album. The other two albums, though they have their moments, aren't even a quarter as good as this and i can't see any other future Shellac album (the new one is due sometime in 2007, i believe) coming anywhere near this.

When this came out it blew people away as it there had been nothing quite as monolithic as this in underground rock before. Two brilliant singles had preceeded this that hinted at what Albini, bassist Bob Weston and drummer Todd Trainer were capable of but i don't think anyone quite expected anything this gargantuan and brutal. It's the sound of Albini's skronked out guitar duelling with the hugest locomotion of a rhythm section you've ever heard in yer life in total synergy. Sound hitting sound, ricocheting and reverberating into negative space only for another jagged guitar skree stab to rip the air apart and that dense, hypnotic juggernaut of a rhythm section to come rumbling out of thin air and floor you again and again and again. My god, it's beautiful, in a pummelling, menacing, neck snappingly dynamic and propulsive kinda way BUT it's not just a relentless pursuit of velocity vs. mass/time as, beneath that guitar and intertwined in those bass and drums, are truely great songs, something the other 2 Shellac albums have lacked at times. After "spiderland" this has to be the best album Touch And Go have ever put out.

I don't really have anything to add to this that hasn't already been said. The main reason i wrote this review is in the hope that someone from Touch And Go reads these reviews. Dear Corey Rusk : PLEASE put out a mini album of the two Shellac singles that came out before this album as well as their AC/DC cover. Thanks.

All of Shellac's Albums are worth owning. All have a different character, Terraform's grueling monotone like a teenagers first (successful) attempt at c____lingus, 1000 Hurts' outright songs, from which you can get a more lucid glimpse of Albini and Weston's sense of humor, and, of course, At Action Park, which of the three I agree is the best because it is the most buoyant and dense of the catalog. At Action Park keeps the rhythm going throughout, sometimes even maintaining a sense of catchy-ness, like on The Admiral, a marching, face-punch dictum, "It comes as no surprise he's taken by surprise.." Shellac, and particularly this album are pure rock on par with Crass, The Ex, or even ZZ Top, though you'd be hard-pressed to find influences amidst the brilliant signature sword-clangs of Steve Albini's guitar.

The noise-rock project Shellac is perhaps the pinnacle of Steve Albini's career and the "Touch & Go" sound pioneered by labelmates Slint, Don Caballero, and The Jesus Lizard.

And this 1994 album is their finest hour, full of bulldozing rhythms courtesy of Todd Trainer (drums) and Bob Weston (bass), screeds of metal-on-metal guitar clang that sound like nobody else in the business, and of course Steve's caustic, hateful voice. Needless to say, if you're looking for pretty melodies or other embellishment, At Action Park will be anathema to your John Mayer-loving ears while the resident noise junkies and rivetheads (raises hand) will have our colons stomped and relish every bloody minute of it. Of course, with maturity comes some refinement, and while this isn't the vengeful Roland-powered killing machine of young Albini's Big Black, Shellac comes up with more creative and tighter songwriting and minimalist grooves, mixed with the perfect production clarity. Think Slint, if they rocked harder.

Now for the breakdown. My Black Ass kicks the album off perfectly with a chugging, brutal rhythm and wall 'o' feedback squall. Pull The Cup is a brief but catchy math-rock instrumental. The Admiral has a damned catchy refrain ("it comes as no surprise that he was taken by surprise")--radio-friendly? Nah. Crow is a menacing rant that aims straight for the throat. Song of The Minerals is anchored by a seriously addicting macro-dub bassline and Steve's nihilistic declaration that "It's your arms, it's none of my business/It's alright if it makes you feel better." A Minute is a short, punky track with an awesome revolving riff that resolves in a killer, headbanging conclusion. The Idea of North is a short, blissful Slint-like reprieve with Albini's gentlest vocal delivery (which is merely quietly spiteful). The Dog & Pony Show and Boche's D!ck return to the prior cynical, white-hot grinding fury. Closer Ill Porno Star has Steve recounting the tale of an individual with an unusual physical "talent" over even more six-string abuse.

The other Shellac albums (Terraform, 1000 Hurts) are great, but At Action Park is the best and most consistent, without question. If your idea of indie rock is closer to Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi than Neutral Milk Hotel and Bright Eyes, you can't live without this one. Crank this bad mofo 'till you shred the wallpaper.

If you're reading this, you either own this album and have too much spare time, or it's got something to do with Steve Albini. Shellac's basically where Steve and friends ease up on his stock in trade persona (non grata) and have some fun. It is, at its best, imaginative and thrilling rock music, and at its worst, horribly self-indulgent. It's surprising to read so many reviews praising something which half the time is practically mocking you for listening to it. If you need some Shellac, the first couple of singles are ace. Hunt them down because it is the best and most consistent work they have done.

At Action Park is (as always) lovingly packaged and I still can't help buying this band on vinyl even if I buy everything else on cd. That said, the album's patchy, as are its successors. Songs often start promisingly but end up running out of ideas and the fantastic production can't cover up their shortcomings. When it works, though, this really is a bunch of talented people. 'Crow', 'In a Minute', and particularly 'Boche's Dick' are thrillingly dynamic workouts which alternate space and power and are pretty much up there with anything they've done. On the down side, alot of what's left is really quite average and (whisper) could even be considered filler. Now, that's not what punk rock is all about.

On the other hand, of course, these aren't a bunch of young bucks and I guess you have to outgrow punk rock at some stage. Shame, though.

I don't mean to be negative, but, hey, I'm English. If you want the true Shellac experience, I can unreservedly recommend them live. Even with the full thirty minute bass intro to the first song off 'Terraforma', the live Shellac is so strong on charisma that you won't be disappointed. Better hope they play near you soon.

What can I say? Words fail me. Big Black has matured in Shellac - I would even venture to say that they've become more accessible, although they've compromised nothing. I can think of no other band more original and talented than Shellac, not a one. If you haven't heard them yet, all I can do is shake my head in sympathy. As you can see, I'm a rabid, drooling fan - an experience I have never had with any other musical artists. Listen to it. Maybe it'll make a junkie out of you, too.

Steve Albini's Shellac is one of the most intense, powerful, bitter, darkest, meanest, rock acts ever with a sound so harsh you feel like your listening to a party band in a post-nuclear winter. Their first full length album, At Action Park is also their BEST, most accessible album. From the mathrock instrumental "Pull the Cup", to the almost whimsical "Song of the North", the blugeoning "Crow" and the all out kick ass rock of "A Minute" Albini actually creates a vast and far reaching song list. And despite all the bands spitting, snarling and sneering, it's noisey claxon-like guitar squall, it's pounding rythmic aural assault, At Action Park ironically turns out to be one of the most catchiest, killer records of all time.