Customer Reviews

Let's Kill Saturday Night

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this CD based on "Let's Kill Saturday Night", which is a great, rollicking rock and roll tune. The entire CD is gem after gem, from the torchy ("Pretty Little Poison") to the twangy ("I Can't Win for Losing You") to the hawnky-tawnk sublime ("You Shouldn't Have"). The production is gritty, the writing is honest and Fulks' voice drips with vinegar - yummy!

This album deserves 3 stars only because of Fulks' consistently superior songwriting. As a recording, however, it is easily his weakest effort. He has abandoned his nostalgic-country sound for a nostalgic 70's-80's punk/pop sound...not really an upgrade. I'm not really a big country fan and I prefer my music to rock, but Fulks' vocals and songwriting are perfect for country and his first 2 albums were some of the best work in that category for the last 10 years. His incessant screaming and over-usage of the 80's guitar sound do not serve him well on this last album.

I bought this CD having only heard the title track, and I have no frame or reference of how this compares to other Fulks' CDs. But this one is great! It's a fantastic mix of styles from foot stompin' rockers to heart breaking ballads. I am a real fan of "story" songs, and "Night Accident" is one of the best I ever heard. I didn't catch it all on the first listen, but when I heard it again it sent a chill up my spine.

I heard an interview with this guy on NPR in San Francisco & fell in love with everything he stood for. This is like John Hiatt meets Johnny Paycheck with a touch of Eddy Cochran. Another real artist hits the scene. A must have in any collection.

Confession: I grew up on rock and roll, and I love it still, but much of it is boring and predictable. I often find a better "story" in the lyrics of folk and country music. Most reliably, I find the best musicality and lyrics in alt-country; you preserve a lot of the energy of rock, yet you get the nuance of acoustic instruments and lyrics that are both thoughtful and intelligible. Well, Robbie Fulks really fulfills on all of these levels. He's like Lucinda Williams (a natural partner) in that aspect; I hear a lot of Joe Ely in there too and a bit of Lyle Lovett. Fulks is more raw and more edgy than any of them, and it works most of the time.
Make no mistake -- this is a GREAT album. I listen to a lot of music, and Fulks is one of my finest discoveries in years; I wonder how he flew under my radar for so long. He should be a staple on college radio stations.

Robbie Fulks is one of Chicago's local heroes. In a town where alt-country doesn't exactly sell like hot cakes, Fulks has built a dedicated fan base by delivering a steady stream of quality tunes over the course of a decade. You can't rightly ask any more than that. "Let's Kill Saturday Night" is a great album in its own right, but its also a good place to jump in if you've never heard Fulks' music. Banjo twanglin' in some places, hard-core rockin' in others, its a CD worth adding to any collection.

I bought this CD mainly because I wanted to know how "Let's Kill Saturday Night" sounds in the original. I'd been introduced to the song through the Five Chinese Brothers (Let's Kill Saturday Night), and I have to say I prefer their cover: the song does better without Fulks' twangy voice and with more elaborate instrumentation. On the positive side, Fulks' enunciation is much superior.

The rest of the CD was generally a pleasant surprise, though not uniformly excellent.

Some songs ("Caroline", "Pretty Little Poison") are too tediously rock-derived for my taste. I suspect Fulks was pushing for a sound that's not his own. But others in a rock vein are interesting and melodic ("She Must Think I Like Poetry", "Down in Her Arms"). Some tracks sound like old folk tunes ("Bethelridge", "Night Accident"). Probably the most enjoyable tracks display their country roots openly ("Take Me to the Paradise", "Little King", "You Shouldn't Have", "God Isn't Real", "Can't Win for Losing You"). There's a lot of overlap between these categories, and perhaps with some tracks it's best not to try ("Stone River"). The lyrics are well crafted throughout and well worth listening to.

All in all, it's an eclectic mix, but worth a good listen.

Let's Kill Saturday Night is an amazing album. Song after song after song are winners with me. I loved 13 Hillbilly Giants but this one is even better. A bit poppier but nonetheless a must own.

this is a good album--funny, thoughful, angry, poetic. if anything important's going to happen to inspire people maybe artists like robbie fulks will be the ones who do the inspiring. in a tepid, mundane homogenized world, this guy's got a lot of edges and a lot of things to say. ill be there for the next one, for sure.

something completely different and stunnning. guarenteed to raise and lower your spirits in one sitting.