Customer Reviews

Living With The Living

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

 

 

On Living with the Living, Ted Leo and his Pharmacists stretch out just enough to keep it interesting without endangering the classic sound developed on Shake the Sheets, Hearts of Oak, and Tyranny of Distance. Sure, some of the experimentation doesn't really work: the dub song is forgettable, and the extended ending of Lost Brigade is a tad overlong and boring. But neither of these quibbles diminishes the fact that Living with the Living is an expertly crafted collection of intelligent, politically conscious rock'n'roll songs, well worth listening to.

"`Cause we're not trying to change when you tell me that I change
and when I try not to change, well then you tell me that I don't change
And there's not much I can change about that, sir"
- Some Beginner's Mind, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Ted Leo makes music to set your life to. While other bands are content with introspective navel gazing, and still a few others deal strictly with the political, Ted Leo finds a comfortable medium between the public and private, and, ultimately, he shows us there's not a whole lot of difference between the two. Ted Leo attempts to wrap his arms around the immensity of our world. Leo's success is credited to his ability to make his politics seem about the individual. For example, on The High Party he lets it slip that 9/11 is his birthday while ruminating on the politics of propaganda, and on Living with the Living the most strident anti-war song, Bomb.Repeat.Bomb, is told through the eyes of a bomber pilot. His politics sound less like sleep deprived manifesto than the ruminations of someone walking around the city without a destination.

On their fifth LP Ted Leo and those irascible Pharmacists construct a musical diorama of all the styles that have informed their sound. While in his previous albums these influences could be heard through parts of his songs, a bass line here or a lyric there, on Living with the Living, Leo has adopted these styles whole instead of piecemeal. The album feels like he's making a mix tape of all his favorite styles but with his own music. Living with the Living runs through hardcore (Bomb.Repeat.Bomb.), Irish folk (Bottle of Buckie), reggae (Unwanted Things), and new wave (La Costa Brava) just to name a few. There are also genres you wouldn't necessarily associate with Ted Leo, like funk (Lost Brigade) and R.E.M. style jangle pop (Colleen).

I think the reasons behind these genre specific congs can be found in Some Beginner's Mind. The aforementioned quote shows the paradox of this album: Leo's sound is evolving by devolving his songs to their genre origins. It makes a kind of sense. I read somewhere that this song is referencing the Zen concept of shoshin, or "beginner's mind." I ran across this little quote by Shunryu Suzuki: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." By rediscovering the sounds that first made him excited about music in the first place, Ted Leo is actually uncovering multiple ways of songwriting.

The strength of Leo's political writing doesn't end with his ability to make the political personal. The political songs on Living also make great use of analogy to attack the current war in the Middle East. Nowhere does Leo mention the second Gulf War. However, he has called Bomb.Repeat.Bomb. a song about America's involvement in Guatemala, Annunciation Day/Born on Christmas Day references the Falkland War, and C.I.A. takes on our overly secretive institution. At the same time, the shadow of our current war can be felt throughout the album. Ted Leo is implicitly drawing attention to the fact our current war is not a finite problem, but rather a part of our systematic dealings with the rest of the world. His call for change is as far reaching as it is individualistic. Once again, Leo manages to wrestle a complex view of our world through seemingly disparate dichotomies.

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't even touched upon whether or not the album is any good. Ted Leo is such a natural songwriter that his albums are always good, but more than that, Ted Leo's work has become such a part of my life I'm less interested in the mostly boring question of quality, than I am interested in how his craft is evolving. Judging by Living with the Living I'm sure I'll be returning to Leo's latest album, whatever that album may be at the time, until he no longer puts music to disc.

If you've been a fan of the Ted Leo and the R/x for a while, then you should know what to expect from this album: a remarkably consistent collection of very good power pop and rock songs with two or three standout tracks that will become instant favorites.

If you're not familiar with Ted Leo, here's the quick synopsis: clever lyrics and musical experimentation reminiscent of Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, or the Clash mixed with the pop hooks and guitar licks you'd associate with Big Star, Thin Lizzy, or the Pixies.

As for the album: it's everything you can reasonably ask for from an album. Leo is one of the few performers in the indie world who's still making the unpretentious guitar rock that defined the early nineties underground scene. The most negative comments I've heard about Leo fall into two categories: either he's not original enough, or he never changes his formula. Both comments are true--Leo owes a lot to the great songwriters who preceded him. And though his influences are varied (albums often have rock albums, pop songs, and songs influenced by folk, reggae, and punk), it's true that his albums tend to be similar in style and structure and there's no real attempt to make a grand, artistic statement.

But it's really hard to criticize a guy for knowing his strengths and sticking too them. There aren't many lyricists today who can turn a better phrase, and nobody seems to write rock anthems anymore. This albums is filled with great tracks. Ranking it against his earlier albums, it's probably a bit beneath the level of "The Tyranny of Distance" and "Hearts of Oak," but it compares favorable to "Shake The Sheets." The album has a decent amount of experimentation and several laid back songs, so it's probably closest to "The Tyranny of Distance" in terms of structure.

If you want a good feel for the album check out "The Song of Cain," one of the albums best rockers, "La Costa Brava," a good pop song, and "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb," a more experimental track with an abrasive, DC-punk sound.

This cd is not nearly as good as TL's previous releases. The songs are just not as tight and memorable on this outing. His trademark inventiveness, soaring vocals, thoughtful lyrics, and powerful instrumentation are all present, but it all feels sort of pasted-together within each song. Each song has its moments, highlights in time where you feel the emotion, but they seem to be just that: moments-- the complete songs never really form a coherent and memorable whole. I also question the ordering of the songs- the album feels uneven and lurches from style to style in a way that doesn't flow at all.

The four stars are for the fact that this is still great music...but it just feels a bit more like generic indie rock, rather than the stunning and heartfelt music I've come to expect from Ted.

If you are just starting out listening to Ted Leo, I would steer you to Tyranny of Distance or Shake the Sheets, which are towering masterpieces of rock and roll.

A much less "poppier" album than his last but shows a wider variety of his playing style. A few reggae influenced songs and longer drawn out songs (ala Little Dawn live extended songs) with a sort of epic feel to some of them. However, unlike the last album, this one doesn't provide anything that will hit big commercially except for "Sons of Cain" but still another quality album that is another step in Ted Leo's musical development.

While this is not his best album thus far, it's still really, really good. I have had time to let it sink in. There is a great variety in the songs, from melodic punk to post-punk to reggae even (I must say, I did not like the reggae song AT ALL at first, but it has warmed on me).

Overall, another winner from this Jersey son. My favorite songs on here are: CIA, La Costa Brava, Sons of Cain, Some Beginner's Mind, and Army Bound.

Can't wait for the next one!

This is an echo of the other reviews. I liked it alot, but its no "Shake the Sheets". I guess Mr. Leo is trying to figure out a way to take his music in a more mature direction. I just wish he could keep the fire and urgency of "Shake the Sheets" and "Hearts of Oak". Don't get me wrong, this it still a great effort and a definite purchase.

As a huge fan of Shake the Sheets' power and catchy-ness, something is definitely missing here. The lyrics are superb but the delivery feels flat and monotonous.

Compared to most of the rubbish that's out there, it's really good yet several steps from great.

If you enjoyed Hearts of Oak (2003) and Shake the Sheets (2004), then you will not be disappointed by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists newest album. As usual, Ted subtly addresses current affairs with his creative lyrics, while delighting your ears with infectious tunes. They open the album with "Sons of Cain", which will certainly get you on your feet. The ongoing, unvalidated war is addressed in numerous songs, like "Army Bound" and " Bomb Repeat Bomb" (check out the new video for this single). The mood is lighten with "love" songs like "Colleen" and "The Unwanted Things". This album definitely makes me even more anxious for MORE TED LEO and the PHARMACISTS! They are on tour right now, so support TL/Rx and your local venues and buy tickets TODAY! They put 150% into every performance, and you will leave feeling invigorated by their energy.

Ted Leo is great at writing high energy, catchy rock songs, and he does not disappoint in this respect on this album. "Sons of Cain," "Who do you love," and "Some beginners mind" are all high energy and very good songs. He is also known for his political/social lyrics, and this album may be the most straightforward in that regard. I think there are only two songs on the album that veer from this. This album is not without its flaws, however, and could have benefited from a bit more trimming.

Some other highlights: "Bomb repeat bomb" is a fantastic song, but stands out a bit on this album. For one, it is incredibly high energy is stuck between to relatively subdued songs. Another reason it stands out is because the song is not as based in pop as the songs that surround it. Nevertheless, it is one of my favorites on the album. "La Costa Brava" is an incredibly catchy pop/rock song about the need to relax, and get away from the stresses in life. The theme is fitting considering the intensity of some of his songs, and the almost always serious political subject matter. "Annunciation Day" sounds just like a Minutemen song- its even that short. "The lost brigade" is a very good rock song with a great sounding opening verse, that would have been even better if the song wasnt over 7 minutes long.

As for the flaws of this album:
1. Many of the initially catchiest songs (e.g. "Colleen," "Bottle of Buckie") are a bit bland and uninteresting after the first few listens. This made this album a bit of a 'grower' for me.
2.The length. I think he overreached a bit for certain songs and the album as a whole. This would have been a better album at 45 minutes versus 60+. He could have left a couple of the songs off and trimmed a few of them.

All in all Ted Leo created another high energy political rock album that have occupied my CD player/mp3 player for the past few weeks. The great songs on this album will still be great years from now, but the weaker songs lost their appeal weeks ago.

UPDATE-
The only way to truly gauge the quality of anything is to look back after some time has past. And in retrospect this album was disappointing. This is a mediocre album for Ted Leo (although 4-5 songs on this thing are very very good), and I suggest 'Hearts of Oak' or 'Shake the Sheets' for anyone looking to hear Ted Leo for the first time. These albums are far superior.