Customer Reviews

Sparkle in the Finish

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A couple of years ago I spotted a CD called "Salesmen and Racists" in Amoeba Record Store in Berkeley. The title was good enough to make me pick it up and look at the back. A song titled "Commie Drives A Nova" sounded clever enough to make me pay the $2 necessary to take it home. Such a deal. I was hooked with the first listening to "Hip Hop Thighs" about the singer's girlfriend getting hit on by Joe Strummer. Although it was slightly uneven, overall the CD made a big dent on my listening ear and I continued to listen to it more frequently than almost anything else. But I never heard anything about Ike Reilly out here on the West Coast and could only follow him loosely on the internet at an apparently defunct website. This summer I noticed a new website with news of an appearance at a total dive bar in San Francisco. I arrived early and saw the band debark from a van apparently borrowed from a Chicago-area old folks home. I was able to meet Mr. Reilly and talked for a while about topics such as Dusty Baker. He was a genuinely nice person and we learned that we both had daughters of approximately the same age. I requested a couple of songs from Salesmen and Racists, one for me and one for my daughter, and he played both of them in his set. I went to buy the new CD when it was due to come out and could not find it anywhere in the Bay Area. I ordered it from the band's website and want to state that it is not just the album of the year but of many years. Every cut is tight, incisive, powerful and honest. Each song seems to find its way into my brain at some point during the day and I hope that they stay there. Please listen to this and help good music overtake bad.

It will be one of the great tragedies of modern music if the sun does not one day shine on Ike Reilly, and dolts like Ashlee Simpson are recording millionaires. The record (and all of Ike's records) are chock full of intelligent and quirky rock songs. I saw Ike a few months ago performing at Arlene's Grocery in NYC to an audience of about 20 people. And that's just wrong!!!

Ike Reilly delivers another outstanding set of well crafted tunes and continues to impress. An excellent follow up to Salesmen, which is Sparkle's biggest challenge - it's impossible to replicate the feeling you get from the first dozen spins of Salesmen and the discovery (or re-discovery) of Ike's talents. That said the album rocks from start to finish and puts a smile on my face every time.

Ike is one of those artists that I find myself unable to explain to people with words. I invariably give up and just play the music for them, letting Ike do the telling himself.

I've had the privelege to see him twice, once in college (as Ike Reilly & Community 9) and again following the release of Salesmen & Racists. Both were outstanding shows, if you ever get the chance to see him live - do so.

Note on Ike Reilly; Community 9 - a cd that still made it to my player until it made it to my IPod - a great view into the early formation of Ike's unique songwriting stylings - standouts include "Way Down", "President of the World", "Real Tears", "Falling Into Happiness". The album is likely for diehards only as it lacks the polish/tightness of his two recent efforts, but it's still Ike rocking out.

This album is better than the first, which is saying a lot. He is the best songwriter working today, bar none. I've heard him described as Bob Dylan played by the Clash, but he's better than that. You have to hear for yourself.

If there was a better album released this year, I'd love to hear it. I buy a lot of music, and this CD hasn't left my player since I got it at one of his shows in October. (By the way, he's incredible live. Check out IkeReilly.com for his schedule.) I bought one for my car too.

This CD is so well written, so much fun and rocks so hard, that I could not recommend it more highly!

I just read that after putting out their last CD, Ike Reilly got "Wilco'd" (apparently the new term for a major label screwing up by dropping a great band). Well, if that's true, Ike Reilly pulled another "Wilco" by signing with a small label and putting out one of the best CD's of this year!

That's where the Wilco similarities end. While Tweedy writes beautifully painful songs about his own struggles, Reilly spins fantastic tales about the demons, hopes and secrets in all of us (or at least people we know). The songs are filled with wild characters, wild times and wild guitar riffs.

I have a feeling that you will be hearing much more from this band. Get in on The IRA early and enjoy the ride!

Ike Reilly returns with a musical masterpiece. Now the Ike Reilly Assassination, Reilly mixes punk, folk, blues, country, and rock together to make a beautiful political record. Reilly is a great songwriter and will be a big name in music history someday. Though the lyrics are not as good as his debut, they are still better than half of what is out there. Favorites include I Don't Want What You Got (Goin On), Holiday in NY, Whatever Happened to the Girl in Me?, The Boat Song (We're Getting Loaded), Garbage Day, Our Lady of Arturo, Ballad of the Choir Boy Band Robber, Waitin' For Daddy, and The Ex-Americans. Highly Recommended.

I bought this cd at the suggestion of a friend a few months ago and I can't stop listening to it. Reilly's an incredible lyricist and the music rocks. The songs hit your soul and mind and make you want to listen to them again and again until you're addicted. I'm not even sure how to describe it. I just read an article about IRA in the March issue of Time Out New York and the writer summed it up better than I can. Joe Angio writes "Dylan and the Clash - Reilly's high priests - provide clues to the terrain he maps out in his songs, but his music resists easy classification, finding rare common ground between rockabilly and hip-hop. He packs a tackle box full of hooks when he writes, and his songs have a knack for lodging immediately - and permanently - in your brain". So true!

I've since bought Reilly's first release "Salesmen & Racists" and the two cds are continually slipping back and forth from my living room stereo to my car stereo. At my last party I played both cds in their entirety and everyone was floored. Everyone who appreciates good music needs to buy this. You won't regret it.

They're incredible live too, so if you ever get the chance go see them. I just saw them perform in Chicago in February to a packed house and they rocked!

I am a huge fan of The Ike Reilly Assassination. I cannot wait for their next full CD to come out. Why he/they are not stars is beyond me. I suppose it could be because of thier "explicit lyrics" that the band does not get airplay and without being on the radio much, they're relatively unknown. I went to see the band based upon a review/suggestion. I'd never heard of them until that day. It was definitely worth it and I bought all of their CD's after that. I get to listen to my choice of music all day (I work out of my home) and I own over 800 CD's (plus 700 vinyl albums) and Ike Rielly is a regular part of my rotation. I've seen hundreds of bands in concert and Ike Reilly fits in their with some of the best. My suggestion is buy their music and see the band live ASAP. It will be worth it.

Lock up your women and children. Get on board now, cause this baby is gonna pop big. NY Times, Maxim, LA Times, Blender,MSNBC, Billboard, Village Voice, the list goes on. National press just getting started. Call your local radio station and request a song. How about "The Boat Song", "St. Joe's Band", "Garbage Day", "Whatever Happened to the Girl in Me?"

Buy a copy of "Sparkle in the Finish" and "Salesman and Racists" today. Find out what ya' been missin'. It's not to early to stuff those stockings. Ike needs our support and radio play to show the world what a select few already know about this band of killers and hired assassin's of indie rock. Heck, this hard core rocker has four kids to feed. Check out his website www.ikereilly.com to get on the mailing list, press, tour info and some great short films.

Be the one on your street to say "I used to see this band when..."

his was my most eagerly awaited album for 2004, and it didn't disappoint. Everything that made Salesmen and Racists such a tremendous
record is in this one in spades.

Reilly's voice has an amazing rousing, soaring quality (case in point "Waukeegan Illinois" from "Ex-Americans"). The music here is wonderfully
complex (the chord change under the same "Waukeegan"). The songs range from poignant to raucous, and the ensemble is tight. They effect a
bluesy edge that Jack White can only dream about.

I haven't played anything else since this showed up in my mailbox last week. It's gotten better with each listen.