Customer Reviews

Like You Like an Arsonist

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

 

 

At long last the return of the most energetic and original rock band around. Scott Sherpe is the most compelling frontman since Diamond Dave. Obviously, PTX have spent the last few years polishing their sound and it has completely paid off...check out "Bombs Away" and "One Hot Coma" and prepared to be floored.

"Like You Like An Arsonist" is like a Hollywood drama, full of one liners surrounded by explosions. Lines like the chorus of "One Hot Coma" ("I want to live in one hot coma, so I can spend all my days and nights in bed with you") pretty well describe the collision course Paris, Texas leads on this record, taking the soft, poetic introspection of singer-songwriters and pouring gasoline and testosterone all over it. The result is a grungy pop record that's extremely difficult to nail down into any one category except "hard rock," and in my book, that's a sign of a great hard rock record.

The last band with this kind of grasp of rhythmic shifts and an undeniable underground appeal was Quicksand, but they couldn't be called contemporaries. You wouldn't find reverse guitar opening a Quicksand record, for instance, but "Bombs Away" blossoms from a reverse guitar line into an '80s style cricket dance symphony of guitar and finally into a thudding, bombastic singalong.

"Like You Like An Arsonist" is first and foremost about the guitar, but Scott Sherpe is possessed of the vocal tract to complete Paris, Texas's signature sound. His swagger on tunes like "Action Fans Help Us" and the driving-on-drugs heart-thumper "White Eyes" makes these songs something out of the ordinary; rock posturing is easy, but posturing in an original way isn't. Sherpe has a voice and he knows how to use it. One can easily hear influence from the past three decades of music acting on all the musicians in this band, united under the umbrella of energized rock 'n' roll and saying something new in a language the popular culture can still understand.

Lyrically, you just can't beat metaphors like "I feel like an arsonist, because you are my perfect match, and you light up everything around you," which help this band marry danger and infatuation in a way that hasn't been heard since Foreigner and the '70s. Sure, there are other bands around trying to pay homage to this sordid musical time period, but before you get left in The Darkness, take a trip to Paris, Texas, where decades collide.

Every song is excellent and distinct from the others. No lame ballads! I love to crank this disk at the gym. A solid rock disk.

I went looking for this album locally, when I was young and credit card-less. Thanks to the power of the Internet I've finally found a copy, and hit hasn't left my CD player since.

Listen to the samples Amazon has (especially tracks 7, 9, and 11). If you like them even the slightest bit, the full songs will grow on you quickly with repeated listens.

Oh, and there's only one left after I bought mine...so you might want to hurry!

Imagine if the musicians of Rush came of age in the 90's and listened to U2, Van Halen, and a steady diet of Punk & Grunge- oh without the Ayn Rand references and the castrato voice- this is the band you would have. They are like Bob Mould's Sugar on steroids. Bombs Away, Arsonist, and Hip Replacement are still in heavy rotation on my I-pod. It's all killer, no filler. The musicianship, song writing, & vocals are excellent.

great album. great band. scott is the shiznit. he should hook up with klueless though and make some great music.

I know this album has been out for years but do yourself a favor and buy it. Check out the price. Almost a giveaway. Never get tired of listening. Read other reviews. It's great rock and roll.

I own a lot of music. My CD collection is around 2,000. Beatles to Buddha Bar, Marley to Modest Mouse, Soul Coughing to Sinatra, Brubeck to BT, Zero 7 to ZZ Top, Kruder & Dorfmeister to Hall & Oates, blah, blah blah blah, blah. You get the idea. This is one of the best listening Cd's I own. It's not that I'm a die-hard PT fan. I'd like to be, but I have yet to be impressed by anything else I've heard from them so far. But, "Like You Like an Arsonist" is something special. It has heart-felt lyrics, great beat, great musicians, and is consistent from start to finish. This is a collection of songs that blew me away the first time I heard them, and still does. It is still, six years later, fresh and amazing. If you're contemplating a "Paris, Texas" CD, "Like You Like an Arsonist", is the one. If your thinking about trying something new, and you like good rock, "Like You..." will not disappoint. If you're reading this and you're with the band, listen to it again, remember why you made it, and do it again. Forget whatever anybody else is telling you, AND DO IT AGAIN. "Like You Like an Arsonist" is a masterpiece.

I had NO idea who this band was until i heard the song "bombs away" on the Blade: Trinity soundtrack, so i bought this album, it is amazing, buy it now