Customer Reviews

Bolts of Melody

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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...then you'll like this CD. Certainly the songs are not as driving as Last Train to Satansville or Son of Mustang Ford. To me, this sounds like some of the songs off Ejector Seat Reservation or 99th Dream. In short, it is fantastic.

I recently saw him play at the Empty Bottle in Chicago and he was AWESOME. It didn't matter that he didn't play 'Driver songs - his newer material was great. This CD is much closer to the classics of his old band, much more so than the Mark Gardener "ghosts" CD (which was great in its own right).

If you were into Swervedriver, feel confident that you will not be disappointed in purchasing this CD. If you've never heard them, this album is full of psychadelic, shoegaze-influenced, sometimes acoustic, melodic indie rock. Not fast or disco-beat utilizing like alot of stuff now. More standard rock beats.

Overall...this is AWESOME. Pitchfork gave this a 5.8 out of 10 - but then again, they are the same retards that think Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is a gift to modern music.

Nice stuff. Big, warm, gentle songs, with tons of great guitar sounds. There's plenty here to please the Swervedriver fan: "Seize the Day" and "Shining Somewhere" sound a lot like some of Franklin's old band's work. There's a lot of Toshack Highway here as well, though. "Song of Solomon" and "Theme from LSD" have the same electrocoustic sounds Franklin's been using the last few years in that project, and "Walking in Heaven's Foothills" uses a spoken haunted-astronaut radio transmission very much like Toshack's "Just Landed."

I really enjoy the two or three songs that are more straightforward than most of Franklin's older material: on "Canvey Island Baby", more restrained guitar playing than usual and just a few psychedelic touches make the song really immediate and lovely.

No, I'm not talking about the Gallager brothers or the Spice Girls. Artists on their own merit? Yes. But when it comes to thoughtful songwriting and complex musicianship, none compare to the legendary Adam Franklin. Being a die hard Swervedriver fan, you could say I'm biased towards Mr. Franklin's musical endeavors, but Bolts of Melody really strikes a chord! With its diverse approach to songwriting and eclectic mix of grassroot (Birdsong Moonshiner Version), dream pop (ramonesland), atmospheric (Rain returns) and more edgier, swervedriver reminiscent guitar playing (Seize the day/Shinning somewhere), Bolts of Melody is a great all around rock album. Bolts of Melody is gem of a record with lots of the great lyrical content and impeccable guitar playing; the sum of what we have come to expect from Adam Franklin.

If you get a chance to see this icon live, please do yourself a favour and do it. His guitar playing is unique! That maj. C chord in Ramonesland is eternal.

as others have said, this is definitely more on the track that was deviated from when swervedriver stopped recording. what would swervedrivers sound have evolved into? i would have to guess that toshack highway, although similar in some ways, really wasn't that direction. while there are many swervedriver cues, this record sounds more like a reaction to toshack highway and the guitar work with sophia then it does to the swervedriver sound. not to say that there is more "space-psychedelia" than "rock", that would be far from acurate. it is more of a rock record, with more identifiable pop "hooks" and melodies then the stuff adam has been recording for the last number of years. great record from one of the more inventive, always evolving (and most uncredited) artists of the last 13 years!

Ex-Swervedriver honcho Adam Franklin's Bolts of Melody is a great sounding album that honestly sounds like a more mature, updated version of his former band. Great songwriting, wonderful playing and lots of atmosphere. Hendrix fans will get a kick out of "Theme from LSD." I saw Adam live on this tour and noticed a distinctly jazzy feel to some of the new songs. Highlights include "Sundown", "Song of Solomon" and "Canvey Island Baby" although I really enjoy the introspective stuff too, like album closer "Ramonesland." If you dig fluid, effect-heavy guitar and laconic yet melodic vocals, you're gonna dig Bolts. Neil Young fans, I'm talking to you.