Customer Reviews

The Go

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read a glowing review of this cd in Maxim of all places (and please, never EVER base a cd purchase on something Maxim says...), and I'm glad I did... actually they mentioned that Jack White had been in the band previously so I bought it just because of that. Compared to the White Stripes, the Go are definitely a bit more straight-up rock, and way less blues. Thats not necessarily a bad thing. I especially like Ain't That Bad, American Pig, Summers Gonna be my Girl (which has an awesome beat that stays in your head all day), and Hardened Heart Blues.

In all honestly what sets this album apart is that it actually sounds like the bands and the time period they are looking to emulate. If I had heard this cd and knew nothing about the band, I might believe this album is 30 years old. It has an authentic sound to it, I guess.

Upon repeat listenings though, the album on a whole is not a five-star cd. Its not consistent enough. Furthermore, I have to say I'd trade the whole band for Jack White in a second. The Go mesh together well but no one particular person in the band sticks out as being overly talented.

I also think I would rather listen to the Von Bondies 'Pawn Shoppe Heart' over this cd, but they are both good. If you like the Stripes and the Strokes and want to branch out into something similar that you won't hear on the radio... pick this disc up, i doubt you'll be disappointed.

I saw them in Indianapolis as well, and I must say they ROCKED! I wish they would have played longer because they blew our minds. I was there to see GBV(one of my favorite bands,but a very disappointing show out of the many I've attended in the past)and I think The Go stole the show. Come back to Indy!

This second album from the Go is a well produced 70's throwback Detroit Rock album, with hints of stones and T-rex. It stands alone well, with several strong tracks. It's too bad they don't have a record label anymore. Some of the bar-chord boogie is tiresome, but other tracks really carry the CD.

Capricorn is T-Rex reborn, with a loud punk punch

Come-Back/Blue Eyes Woman are acoustic infused lost love ballads ala Dead Flowers/Just Waitin' on a Friend

He's been lying, this tune just haunts me. RAWKS!

Comparing them to these bands could be demeaning to both The Go and their influences, but these guys wear their heart on their sleeve and put out a strong effort in the process.

If you are a hard-core Jack White fan buy the "Whatcha Doin" CD instead (or also), but the production is way better on this one, and the band has obviously matured as well. If you put strong songs from both CD's together you end up with about a 12 song killer set. The strongest song on both albums is "Keep on Trash" from Watcha Doin, but be warned the mix down/production on most of that album is real bad.

This is absolutely the most fun I have had listening to a rock-n-roll record. Although the Go's 1st album, Watcha Doin', set a high standard, this record tops that effort. The production quality is improved, but still retains that edgy Go feel.
Summer's Gonna Be My Girl has a great pulsing, ominous beat...It Ain't That Bad is catchy with a sound reminiscent of the Faces (Rod Stewart's old band)...
Listening to this album I felt like I was transported back in time to 1974...the golden age of rock.

Although they are on a small indie label without much publicity firepower, the Go's popularity is spreading like wildfire with every show. This latest recording is easily their best effort to date. With the rise of the Detroit-rock sound (see The White Stripes) big things are in store for this band. The sound, the talent, and the fun are all there.

True rockers will NOT be disappointed with this album!!!

Anyone can rock, but The GO really know how to ROLL. This album is easily better than their Sub Pop release (which is also pretty damn good!) Stand-out tracks are "Hey Linda", "Games", "You Can Rock & Roll (If Ya Want To)" and "Ain't That Bad"

This album is a bit "slicker" and more produced than the Sub Pop release, but it still sounds awesome, and their songwriting skills have reached the stratosphere! The GO are hands-down one of the BEST rock bands playing out and about today.

You won't be disappointed here.

This band knocks me dead every time. I love them live and their albums are fantastic! Though, I wonder if they have rich parents or something because they seem as if they don't care about their own popularity. I say this for a few reasons.
They are impossible to find on the internet. They make albums that sound like the tape machines are breaking down. And they play for a total of 30 minutes, on stage, as they blast everybody in the audience. I was almost deafened, literally.
The last time I saw these guys the band looked totally subdued while the lead singer (Bobby) sliced himself open with a broken bottle and bled heavily all over the stage, during a slow song!!!! It was really hard to watch, super awesome.
I would think that, since they're from Detroit, people would pan them as Iggy and the Stooges rip offs due to the wild live show. That's the best part about it though. Their music doesn't sound like they're ripping any one band off. Sure there's obvious influence but they go from sounding like the Stooges to the Beatles and T-Rex all within 10 minutes. This album is pretty amazing. I have to admit my only complaint is that the production is odd. Where their first album "Whatcha Doin?" has a real dirty mess of a sound, this one is all over the place.
"Summer's Gonna Be My Girl" is, no doubt, the outstanding track showing off their Motown influence.
"Come Back" sounds like Lou Reed singing with the Rolling Stones.
"Capricorn" is an obvious T-Rex job but, no question, one of their best songs. "American Pig" seems like it ought to be an instant hit, although, I doubt it will have a chance with the current state of things in America. By the way, nice timing guys.
Even with a nutty production job this album still kicks ass. I have no doubt that the Go are for real and are as crazy as they seem. Wouldn't you have to be a little nutts to kick Jack White out of your band? I have a feeling that they don't even regret it. The world needs more rock and roll bands that go to extremes. Learn from the Go's example, take risks!!!
I have to say, well done! I've waited 3 years since their first record and the new one lives up to their infamous name.

"Pity the poor Go, whose timing was just a little bit off when they released their debut album, Whatcha Doin', way back in 1999. See, four years ago, the world simply wasn't ready for a retro-outfitted, greasy garage-rock band with a homebase of Detroit, the article "The" in its name, and a guy named Jack White playing a chinty, Sears-bought guitar. But it wouldn't be long before the zeitgeist caught up with the Go, when "The" bands like the Strokes, the Vines, and the Hives would have everyone obsessed with '60s riffs, '70s suit jackets, and, of course, Detroit's golden boy and the Go's aforementioned one-time guitarist, Jack White (who, in case you've been living in a Unabomber-style shack lately, has become an MTV superstar as the frontman of his own White Stripes and the on/off paramour of Hollywood screen-queen Renee Zellweger). Unfortunately for the Go, in the interim they lost their record deal, and now anyone hearing them for the first time on their self-released, self-titled sophomore album might mistake them for just another leather-clad gang of fringy-haired bandwagoneers. But hopefully The Go will give these Motor City underdogs the recognition they so deserve, for while Whatcha Doin' was a pretty bitchen slab of blue-collar Camaro rock, this second effort is a massive stylistic leap forward, a goatshead soup of Stonesy blooze, opium-den psychedelia, scraggly Southern rock, freakbeat mod grooves, glitter-rock sleaze, and Rick Springfieldian '80s powerpop that is markedly more mature and ambitious, yet still snotty and cocky in an endearingly Arthur Fonzarelli, brass-knuckled kinda way. And while Whatcha Doin' was perhaps the most lo-fi recording of the past five years outside of a random high school band's demo tape (the whole "production" sounded like it was recorded inside a tin can with a Radio Shack ghetto-blaster, a stack of 99-cent-store cassette tapes, and a Mr. Microphone--which admittedly was part of its ragged charm), The Go almost sounds like a downright professional, legitimate album, made in a proper studio with an actual producer and a bunch of equipment with cool blinking lights and buttons and knobs 'n' stuff. That's not to say that the album is at all slick, overly processed, or has had all its red-blooded rawness completely Matrix'd out of it--the Go have definitely maintained their no-frills, all-thrills approach here. But this is a record that would sound mighty awesome on the radio (particularly while cruising in a gas-guzzling red metal-flake convertible, or while making out in said convertible's pleather backseat), and that's where a band as flat-out rockin' as the Go deserves to be. Obviously these past four years have been well-spent. Now it's time for the world to catch up to this killer group once again. This time, let's hope people do not pass the Go." Launch.com, Jan 2004

Truely a great rock n' roll band from detroit. sounds like The Stones, The Kinks, The Ramones, Thin Lizzy. Worth the money. Buy this Album.

The GO are continuing on their national Record Release Party Tour in
support of their new album "Howl on the Haunted Beat You Ride". Fresh
from great shows the last few nights in Seattle and Portland, heading
through San Francisco and Oakland this weekend, they are on their way to
LA for two shows, including one at the Knitting Factory on August 21, 2007, a television appearance on M+TV and an interview on
syndicated radio network Westwood One early next week. Whew! Go to
www.myspace.com/thegodetroit for more details and cities.

When The GO returns to Detroit they will be headlining a special free
all ages show at the grand re-opening of the Royal Oak Music Theater on
September 6. Come out to see The
GO, welcome them home and bring the kids!

Finally, the July 24th international release of their new album, Howl on
the Haunted Beat You Ride has been met with critical acclaim and the
momentum is building. CD Baby, in sending me the following review, and
advising me The GO would be on its front page this weekend (August 17-19, 2007), had this to
say:

We're *really* picky about what goes on the front page. We get about
200-250 new albums a DAY coming in here now, (about 190,000 total), and
yours is one of the best we've ever heard.

Wow! And here's the review:

Do you love The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Harry Nilsson,
but lament the fact that you only appreciate their recordings from the
60s and you've listened to those until you wore the record flat? The GO
is here to offer you a damn fantastic and brand new record that blends
up all of the afore mentioned sounds and provides song after song of
hook-piled guitar pop that's more psychedelically suited for a
transistor radio in Golden Gate Park circa 1967 (plus a little bit of
Detroit blues) than it is for modern rock radio. A really remarkable
thing here is the production; it's one thing to write songs that sound
like they could be from the 60s, it's quite another to have a recording
that sounds like it was recorded in the 60s. Word around the campfire is
that these guys approach every album from an angle they haven't tried
before, so this is likely to be the only one we get that's so perfectly
planted in psychedelic rock. It suuuuure makes me curious about what
their next project will sound like. Pamela, CD Baby

GO to http://cdbaby.com/cd/thego2 for more reviews and to buy a CD!

But....I can't help but add that our brethren in England love the album
as well. Amazingly, here's what the BBC has to say:

Home to the sound of Motown, Eminem and The White Stripes
- Detroit's knack for producing great music uncannily precedes it. The Motor City has again come up trumps with another musical force in the shape of four-piece rockers The Go, fronted by Bobby Harlow - a gifted singer-songwriter who is the chief architect of their sublime fifth album Howl On The Haunted Beat You Ride.
The Go's concoction of psychedelic rock, infused by guitar and piano
arrangements and upbeat vocal harmonies has given birth to an album that
could be a lost 1960's masterpiece catapulted into the heartbeat of
2007- thanks to the countless influences evident throughout such as The
Kinks John Lennon and Lou
Reed.
The imaginatively titled "Yer Stoned Italian Cowboy" lives up to its
name; the country flavour made tastier with guitar riffs that smack of
Neil Young's Buffalo Springfield days. "Down a Spiral" is a pop triumph with its Beatles-esque melodies whilst the juxtaposition of "Mercurial Girl" provides an insight into how Lennon's solo efforts also influence them.
"She's Prettiest When She Cries", is a tender haunting ballad about a
lost love that showcases the versatility of Harlow's songwriting prowess
and emerges as the most mature song on offer.
Whilst The Go's influences are integral to Howl On The Haunted Beat You
Ride's appeal, what makes it such a magical proposition, is that they
have sprinkled the songs with their individual style and originality.
One could say that their commercial appeal is weaker than that of their
Detroit counterparts The White Stripes, but who cares? They may just
have created an ageless classic.

David Aaron (2007-08-10)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/9rmq/

More to come (wait until you see the upcoming video for You Go Bangin'
>On). See you on September 6, 2007 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre!!!!!

Howard Hertz

"****. Polished garage rock from Jack White's ex-bosses. The Go's Bobby Harlow reckons that rock'n'roll was crap after 1973, so why try to improve on that? Good plan. The Detroit trio's UK debut takes in all the milestones of trashy garage rock history: The Fugs, Exile-era Stones, the Ramones' three-chord tricks and even the hint of a Bolanesque wobble in Harlow's voice. Games and He's Been Lying are glorious pop songs that would do Teenage Fanclub proud while, as if to pay tribute to their former member Jack White, the bluesy Summer's Gonna Be My Girl sounds like it's been recorded at the bottom of a particularly choppy ocean." Q, May 2003

"Rock'n'roll redux from Jack White's former band, full of chugga-chugga tunage and downtown dirtbox disco. These Detroit dudes keep Motor City's wheels spinning round like an old 78."
Sleazenation, May 2003

"A record that merges old-fashioned soul, sweaty blues-rock and an unapologetic pop sensibility. With its fuzzy, 60s-style production, its heady scent of The Rolling Stones and whiff of Motown soul, The Go is a delicious retro-flavoured album. Intense, pummelling drums, Beach Boys-esque harmonies and scuzzy, frenetic garage are all ingredients in this high-octane cocktail. Never lingering on any style long enough to sound derivative, the band flit effortlessly from grinding, sexy and lo-slung psychedelic jams to sunny, reverb-ridden rock and camp glam numbers. And to top it off, frontman Bobby Harlow sings their socially-aware songs and unsentimental heart-breakers with a voice that simmers with enough groin-aching seduction to make even the toughest swoon."
X-Ray, May 2003