Customer Reviews

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

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

 

 

This is a must have recording for the die-hard ted leo fans. However, if you're reading this you probably aren't one so let me explain my 3 star rating. This cd is a dub/over edit of ted leo songs which he wrote in his post-Chisel post-Sin Eater days of a solo musician. For those who have recently seen Ted play, he didn't always have the Pharmacists backing band (yet still used the name in the studio). The cd is a mixture of audio samples (from the Crass to the Fugees, go figure) overlayed on studio compositions and some full songs. I do say SOME, and I mean it. The cd seems to ramble on aimlessly at points, and even includes a track of Ted singing excerpts of the songs in the shower!!! These moments detract from the 5 star rating it would have received if only he cut out the crap and released the truly brilliant songs on the album. However, there are plenty of good songs in the cds 19 tracks. It just takes some patience in finding the gems in the filler. For first timers, I highly recommend the later album "The Tyranny of Distance" or the ep "Treble in Trouble." And if you don't own the Chisel albums, by all means buy "Set You Free" and "8 A.M. All Day" immediately. Both are essentials in melodic indie music/mod pop of the 90's.

Ted Leo, known to legions (?) of fans as the angsty guitarist & vocalist of the now-defunct band Chisel, goes a bit experimental and discovers the fun of tape loops, samples, and just plain noise. Fans of Chisel's combo of pop-punk and mod may be turned off by this CD, which does not really highlight Leo's great lyrics & songwriting (although you'll still find it in a few tracks, especially "The Nice People Argument"), but rather, how he's been spending his days cooped up with the MIDI machines. In fact, the last track contains some humorous tape loops from Chisel dating from their infancy at the University of Notre Dame in the late 1980s. Leo has always exposed himself to almost every style of music imaginable, and his breadth of exposure really shines through here. This seems more like a Ted Leo retrospective on all the music that has influenced him over the years, and amidst all the noise and stuff, a few pop gems shine through. Would I put this CD on in the car for long trips? No. Leo forces you to listen closely to what * he * has to say, not what Chisel has to say.

This CD requires infinite patience to get through. What's unfortunate about it is it sounds like Leo won some studio time in a raffle drawing and didn't know how to spend it. Why not an endless tape loop of the sounds of Rice Krispies loosing their crisp, sped up to 78 rpm and fed into an 18 track processor, backwards? Awesome! Don't get me wrong, "Shake the Sheets" and the brilliant "Tyranny of Distance" certainly make up for this self indulgent stoner noise. But this is a tremendous skip even for the die hards.

Terrible production + inane lyrics = 50 minutes I will never get back. Please stay away from this abomination of an album.