Customer Reviews

Kids in Philly

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When you're sitting in your flying car watching VH1 2050 they'll still be talking about this CD. One of the most original things I've ever heard, Kids in Philly is my pick for album of the year. The songwriting is as evocative and moving as any I've ever heard. "The Catfisherman" is an instant classic. If you've heard comparisons to Springsteen or The Replacements, forget 'em. Marah covers some of the same territory - the landmarks are there - but they've created a whole new landscape. Less sentimental than Bruce and closer to Tom Waits than Paul Westerberg, Marah's work is raucous, celebratory, touching, unnerving, and downright beautiful.

"round eye blues is a masterpiece" ... great sound, haunting memories of the war that will not go away ... the rest of the disc is good-excellent, but this one song ... the detail, the feelings, the hurt, the fear ...

i have a 20 year old daughter, junior in college, that heard this song, looked at me, asked: "who is that?,... and play it again!"

i hear all the comparisons to springsteen, which, is, of course, fine and good. i heard a rockin' steve forbert ... that raspy/scratchy voice, ... great rock and roll ... marah, by the standard they set, are an unrecognized force ... these guys, on this disc, are too good not to hear and feel ... it is wondrous.

It's amazing that crap like Third Eye Blind or Lifehouse gets played on the radio, and smart, gutsy, honest music such as Marah is ignored. "Kids In Philly", while not quite the masterpiece it aspires to be, is one of the most ambitious rock albums in a while. Most of the all time great albums have a themetic unity that glues the songs together. "Born To Run", "Blood On the Tracks", "OK Computer", "London Calling" etc. etc. "Kids" biggest asset is the very same themetic unity, but it may also be the hindrance keeping the album from being an instant classic along with the above mentioned. "Kids" is a great leap forward from "Cut The Crap", their first album, much the same way that "Being There" was a leap forward from "A.M." for Wilco. The first album was a great collection of songs held together by everything except theme. This time they have tried for a concept album. Not an overblown and pretentious album like "The Wall", but an album about the streets of Philadelphia, like Springsteen used to write about Asbury Park. These guys are excellent songwriters, giving nearly every line and word the right detail so the listener can close their eyes and imagine being where someone has been killed, or fishing under a bridge, on in the middle of Christian St. I've been to Philly once in my life and I feel like I know the city like the back of my hand. The characters are ones we all know, and love them or hate them they keep it interesting. This is one of those albums that needs to be listened to straight through, unlike "Crap", where the individual songs may stand out more. That's not to say that their aren't great songs here. "Faraway You" kickstarts the album at a furious pace, and things hardly stop to catch their breath until deep into the second half. "My Heart is the Bums On the Street" is Philly soul with a heart, and "Round Eye Blues" is heartbreaking with its "please be my little baby" plea at the end. These songs, along with several others, stand out. Which means there may be a stray track or two here that keep it from classic status, which is the only problem. In making an arty "concept" album the band may have included one or two weaker songs because of theme, and left off great songs because they didn't "fit". "From the Skyline of a Great Big Town" is OK, with some nice lyrics, but falls short of the high standard set by "It's Only Money, Tyrone" and "Barstool Boys". "Point Breeze" may be the most instantly catchy song here, but gets annoying after a few listens, maybe because the guitar riff sounds like "Shiny Happy People" by REM. However, these rare missteps should not keep you from checking these guys out. If you're a real, serious music fan you should pick up this album. It's 10 times better than anything on rock radio, and comes from a band that will only get better.

This is one album that sure gets under your skin. I bought it because of all the good things I'd heard, but on the first listen, I wasn't that impressed. Sure it had a decent sound, but the songs don't have hooks, so to speak, so it didn't grab me.

That said, I put it on again for another listen. This time it was for the long drive home through traffic on a beautiful afternoon, and what a difference! Suddenly the tunes flowed together perfectly, and it was just like I was at the coolest party in town. I can definitely see why folks who are Marah fans love them live.

Sure it sounds like Springsteen and the Pogues put together. What a mix!

I cannot stop listening to possibly the most joyous opening cut on a rock and roll album in decades. Faraway You has some Boss, some Stones, some Mats, but in the end it's Marah, and it's exhilarating.

I also love the breathless move to Point Breeze, a great party record.

Round Eye Blues is pretty powerful, a song Phil Spector may have produced after watching ApocNow.

Philadelphia: Rocky Balboa, the '82-'83 76ers, Live Aid, the '93 Phillies, and Marah.

Believe the hype! Marah's energy is thoroughly infectious, it's lyrics throughly entertaining. Each song has certain degree of empathy for its main characters that betrays a certain generosity of heart, soul, and spirit in the Bielanko brothers. How many times have you driven by an urban riverside and completely ignored the guys with fishing lines dropped in the water? "Catfisherman" manages to make those guys come to life. We've all been lost in the melancholy of a recently-ended relationship, but how many of us afterward have had the wit to write a line like "my heart is the smell of the sewer," a rather rank metaphor that makes me laugh out loud everytime I think of it? Is it a bad thing that the Bielanko brothers have been compared to Springsteen and Dylan? Only if you don't like good writing.

Marah's second album "Kids In Philly" has to be the one of the greatest musical collections to be released in 2000. The rough vocals of lead singer David Bielanko bring you right into hear of the music and Philadelphia where this excellent band is from. The instrumentation on the album is very diverse and creative and gets you on your feet and moving around. Songs like "Faraway You" and "The Catfisherman" bring a sense of the old town bar blues to this collection of wild and suprising jam rock. The first single, "Point Breeze," throws hook after hook at you while telling a lyrically creative story. Some of the darker songs include "It's Only Money, Tyrone" and the ode to Vietman ditty called "Round Eye Blues." The lyrics of this song bring your gith into the heart of the battle in Vietnam. What is suprising is that the band members are too young to have been in Vietman but they tell the story so vividly and so well like they were actually their. Their 1960s and 1970s pop culture refertences give it a sense of credibility and their use of the slang of the time brings the lyrics to a broad audience. This CD will keep you jamming from beginning to end and you'll play it over again once the last song has stopped. despite its darker tunes, it's definitely the feel-good disc of the summer of 2000.

Along with Wilco, the Old 97's, Ryan Adams and Slobberbone, Marah helped me to reaffirm my faith in the power of rock music. Simply put, this is an amazing album, and I can't think of one that I've listened to more in the past few months. Many of the songs here should be instant classics...too many to list actually. Brilliant album, and I can't wait to see where these guys go in the future...

What a fun record. Yeah, I see the comparisons to Bruce, the E Street Band and others, but these guys have a unique sound that's all their own. Best of all they sound like they had a whale of a time in the studio ... their enthusiasm and exuberance is totally infectious. You'll tap your steering wheel a lot to this wall of sound, and sing at the top of your lungs too!

Just saw Marah again last night in Harrisburg, where they opened for Steve Earle and the (new) Dukes...Marah kicked serious booty! What a great live band! They have a forty-minute set down cold, that takes you on a ride of rock and roll urgency and never lets up. This is a good record, not a great record by any means, but a good record. If that urgency that they bring to the concert stage could be captured on record (a live album already?...hell yeah, I'd buy it in a second!) these guys might be the hottest thing around in a very short time. They rock! Like I said, I like this record alot, but the real Marah experience is up close and personal.