Customer Reviews

Rocket House

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was so blown away by Chris' debut that I've somehow managed to hang on as a fan throughout the ensuing ten years, despite a series of releases that haven't managed to create nearly as much of an impact. "Din of Ecstasy" was a slap in the face to fans who had waited five years for a followup to "Living With The Law," but with "Terra Incognita," you could see the beginnings of an emerging pattern. Now, after a four-year detour that saw the release of "Dirt Floor"--a sort of quickie "Living With the Law II"--and "Live at Martyr's," not to mention the tossoff covers collection "Perfect Day," Chris is back with unquestionably his best album yet. Far from being an album that requires multiple listens to reveal itself, "Rocket House" grabs the listener from the first track and only gets better as it goes on. Trixie Whitley's guest turn on "Chain" is haunting and ethereal. Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby are far from the marquee distractions you'd fear on "Radar." and ex-Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin pops up on quite a few songs in a backing role. It's telling, then, that the star is indisputably Chris Whitley throughout. His songwriting, never suspect, has improved by leaps and bounds. The production is full-bodied without being intrusive. All in all, a masterpiece.

That's right, I almost hated it when I first heard it and now I love it. Rocket House can turn you around that totally, and is worth the effort of repeated listenings. Chris is a musical visionary - let him share his vision with you. The DJ feedback loops may sound harsh at first, but they will caress you if you let them. The best cuts are #3 Chain (featuring his daughter), #4 Say Goodbye, #6 Rocket House, #10 Vertical Desert and #12 Shadowland. But there is no #12 Shadowland on the song list! You have to listen to #11 "Seems Like Something Shines", possibly the worst cut on the album, then wait through one minute of silence. Then, at 4:51 into Track 11 - voila! - there is Shadowland waiting for you, and it is one of the best, with a strong beat. It was very perverse of Chris to hide this song. Chris' strengths are his blues-rooted guitar and his evocative voice, but most of this is not blues. Listen carefully to #6 "Rocket House" - it is long and repetitive, but completely facsinating, anchored by a repeating guitar phrase that seems almost to massage the mind. The piano forms a creative and integral part of this music - soft and melodic in the swirl of electronica. Then suddenly it is the lead instrument on "Vertical Desert". Along with the technical wizardry, Chris displays a very raw, stripped down and unpretentious emotion with his voice. Listen to him sing "Meet me on the other side of the world" (track 5)or "Don't let these changes run you down" (track 4). You'll get chills.

Chris Whitley's Rocket House was a complete departure from his prior work and remains the most challenging album of his catalog. Up until this point, Whitley's music had resembled the first part of Neil Young's solo career in that his albums would bounce between ragged grunge rock (Din of Ecstasy, Terra Incognita), laid-back acoustic music (Dirt Floor, Perfect Day), and the album oriented rock of his debut, Living With the Law. With Rocket House, Chris jumped headfirst into synthesizers, drum loops, turntable scratching, and other instruments that while accessible to the current musical climate would seem out of place in his music. However, unlike Neil Young, whose musical experiments of the 1980's would range from brilliant to embarrassing, Whitley would create in Rocket House an album that would tread unfamiliar territory but still stay true to his vision.

One listen to the Indian sounds and the turntable scratching of "(To Joy) Revolution of the Innocents" showed that Chris was willing to pull out all the stops musically. While certainly one of his strangest songs, his unmistakable voice and banjo licks still carry the track. "Radar" is much more somber with its piano and only gets loud during the choruses. One thing worth mentioning here is the unconventional hooks that encompass the songs. The best example of this is "Chain", one of the album's best tracks, where the hook is provided by Chris' daughter Trixie repeatedly singing the "Round and round, it goes round" lyric. "Say Goodbye" is another great track that would have been a hit if given a chance. "Solid Iron Heart" starts out as a typical acoustic tune but its backing vocals give it a more spiritual feel. In retrospect, its lyrics, which often repeat the line "Meet me on the other side of the world", seem very eerie, as though Chris knew he didn't have much time left. The title track is very good with the repetitive drumbeat providing the hook amidst all the chaos. While the album's first half is very joyful, the mood becomes much more solemn on "Little Torch", originally titled "Firefighter" on his live album, Live at Martyrs', "Serve You", and the melancholy "From a Photograph." The next track, "Vertical Desert", continues the moodiness and features a passionate vocal from Whitley while a sad piano line complements the driving beat. The closer "Something Shines" adds R&B horns to Chris' falsetto during the choruses. After the track fades out, it returns as a different tune with an industrial beat with Whitley adding his distinctive lead guitar to the mix. Having been a fan since his debut album, Living With the Law, I didn't care for this album at first, I thought it was his worst actually. However, the album really grows on you with repeated listens and is definitely worth checking out.

Chris Whitley's music was one of a kind. Rocket House is one of the best. Rest in peace, brother.

Chris Whitley has always sought new sounds on his albums, and on this one, he continues his quest for innovation, and as usual, succeeds. This is a weird and unique album, that commands attention without falling into cliches. That means that you need to listen to this album with an open mind. The closest comparison to previous albums here is with Terra Incognita in that it is an odd assortment of sounds, both electric and acoustic, but with two new bits. First, he has added electronic sounds to the backing music, which work in contrast with the organic sounds of his National steel guitar to create an aesthetic similar to Beth Orton (if you like her music, you'll like this album, otherwise, stay away). This album will probably also invite comparisons to Beck (I am actually not a fan of Beck, though, but I still like this album). Second, he has added an R&B flavor to the songs, which are more rhythm-driven than on previous albums. Despite these changes, you can be assured of consistently high-quality song-writing and musicianship, and this may be a bit easier on the ears for those put off by the microtonal bends and dissonance of some of his recent albums. Then again, for those who don't like inorganic sounds, this album will be much more difficult on the ears, and acoustic purists will definitely want to stay away. This is, again, a very weird album, and will require some listening to get it, but I'm fond of it so far. Why not 5 stars? It just isn't as emotionally intense as, for example, Dirt Floor. It is still well worth owning, though. Further listening if you like this album: Beth Orton, Latin Playboys, and more recent albums by Los Lobos (e.g., Kiko, This Time).

rest in peace, brother...you did your thing like nobody else did. 'livin' with the law' and 'rocket house' were your masterpieces...you shall be missed and remembered fondly...

Whitley had me puzzled with this. It had been billed as scratchy blues, with electronic drums. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe something like kid rock (?), I just didn't know. I was disappointed when I first heard it because it was difficult for me to access. After some listings I started to like it and that was it - I put it away. Whitley is usually difficult for me to penetrate at first. I loved "living.." from the outset, but more because of the feel of the music and the poetic catch phrases. It took me 10 years to fully unravel the brilliance of the poetry on that album, especially in "long way around", which is still more like a journey to wrap yourself around. Anyway, something about the rocket house stuck inside my head, like there was a brilliance there just waiting to penetrate and understand.

Some months later I put the album back on and have had it on ever since - it is unravelling slowly, phase by phrase, the music is so layered that only now it is starting to become coherent.

Think about that, who else can do this? Who can put so much value into an album. A few names come to mind - miles davis; bartok; dylan; hendrix. The thing about chris whitley, which I have to keep reminding myself, is that he is a genuine artist.

This is a great album, buy it and unravel it!

Words cannot explain the musical phenomenon that is Chris Whitley. When purchasing a Chris Whitley album, one can always do so knowing that the are acquiring a song collection that can and most likely will be life changing... This album is most certainly a prime example of what an outstanding and gifted creator Chris Whitley is. There are a variety of styles showcased on this record... When listening to this I cannot help but be taken away into his amazing world... Every aspect of songwriting and production is so fabulous it is truly eye opening. Every song on this record is beautiful, but I must say, Vertical Desert sends shivers up my spine.

This album is a treasure... I highly recommend it to the true music lovers our there...

I wasn't born when Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band came out, but everybody knows what happened there. Suddenly the Beatles were using studio trickery to generate "weird sounds." It was a polarizing thing, this, and marked a definite turning point in the band's career. This type of thing has happened with Miles Davis (see In a Silent Way for example), U2 (Achtung Baby, Zooropa), Los Lobos (Kiko, Colossal Head) and probably others. Arguably the new Teenage Fanclub album (Made-Made) fits in that category too. Notice that typically, the shift actually brought the artists new (or younger) fans.

So here's Chris's input into the whole idea of shifting from a more organic sound into something more electronic, where the studio is as much an instrument as anything else. For the most part it works very, very well, because the soul of the music remains intact. The occasional slip-ups towards the end of the album are forgivable- some flat songwriting, that is- because the first five or six tracks are absolutely monumental, revolutionary and comfortingly familiar at the same time. The whole R&B thing is what does it for me, it adds real power to the mix. But the thing is, every time I listen, I pick up on something new, some additional facet of the music that I hadn't really noticed before. This is truly exceptional music.

By the way, this music has nothing to do with Dave Matthews beyond the disc being released on his label and his guest appearance on one track. So if you're a Dave fan looking for more Dave offshoots, keep lookin'.

Epic sounds. I couldn't get it out of my head.... I thought it couldn't get any better than "Living With the Law" but oh man this one's good!