Customer Reviews

Viva Satellite

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

 

 

This is Todd's most mainstream-type album. It is more rock and roll than his others, without as much variety in the songs. I did like his cover of The Joker, and his spiritual songs are excellent. He sounds like Tom Petty in Out All Night (at least at the beginning of the song). If you are looking for a fast-paced, rockin' album, this is the one. overall a very good album. much louder and faster than his others.

"Viva" was the finale of Todd's three-CD deal with MCA and is the most rockin' of all his albums. For my dough it is less interesting than any of the other four. I own them all, and saw Todd live one time, and I view him as a fine songwriter, guitarist and singer (skills in that order) who crosses several categories. To me, he is a witty guy with an appreciation for the tragedies of life that all great comedians have had. He is a storyteller who writes as if his grandfathers were Tom T. Hall and Buddy Holly, and he adopts almost a punkish persona at times which masks the great sensitivity which he isn't quite mature enough to reveal. He obviously loves rock, but I just can't see that the hard-rockin' aspects are nearly as successful as his songwriting/social commentator/joke telling abilities. If I wasn't right about this, perhaps his two CD's for the "Oh Boy" label would have sounded more like "Viva Satellite" than they do. If you are new to Todd, my advice is buy all the other discs first. "Viva" just does not work as well, overall, as the others, despite two or three good tunes.

Another exceptional CD by Todd Snider. "Can't Complain" is a reality check, fine tuned with his signature twist on dark humor.
I first heard "Doublewide Blues" sung by John Prine as his encore performance song, and did not learn until later that it was written by his opening act, which was Todd Snider, alone, without back up, and an all around surprise. Anyone who has lived in a mobile home park, or had a "first apartment" that was not exactly a dream home, can identify with it. When playing this song for my friends there was a lot of comments along the lines of: "Oh, I remember some one like that!" or "Been there, done that".
From our then neighbors so our own self-doubt regarding our ability to handle our own then futures. Todd has a grip, he may speak more plainly than we would ourselves, but he still gives voice to a lot of us "Uncommon commoners".
Thank you for your gift, Todd, and tenacity in getting your talent onto CD's for the rest of us to hear.
"Can't Complain" doesn't begin to cover it.
~mariance

My criterion for 5 stars is every track is memorable. Well, every track on this one isn't memorable, but there's a lot of tracks and enough are...so, hey, give'm that last one. Some great lines "I wanna hit this town 'til its teeth come out," an inspired cover "The Joker," a gospel song that works "Once He Finds Us," gentle humor "Doublewide Blues," some really tasty slide work by Will Kimbrough (and a nice rocker "Godsend" by Kimbrough too). But it's the songwriting that really puts this one over the top. Not generic -- behind 'em is a real person with a keen eye for detail and more than one pitch. Put 'im in the game, coach.

Todd Snider emerges as the best of the next generation of musicians that place the art above the business. In the vein of Dylan and Petty, Snider releases a set of songs as diverse as the history of rock and roll. From gospel ("Once He Finds Us") to straight from the hip rock ("I Am Too"), he covers it all. From the sentimentality of "You Never Let Me Down" to the humor of "Doublewide Blues" he plays with our emotions. After the last chords of the hidden song "Nervous Wreck" stop echoing in your ears, you are left wanting more.Snider's band "The nervous Wrecks" are one of the finest bands around today and soon they will all explode onto the mainstream music scene with all the force of a runaway freight train. Expect great things from this band in the future. From alternative country to roots grundge to solid rock and roll, there is something here for every music fan. BUY THIS ALBUM>

In what could very well be the best album of 1998, Todd Snider finds the perfect medium between his country roots, his bluesy swagger, and his rocking tendencies. Backed by one of the best live bands around, the Nervous Wrecks, Snider's third album does have a little more of a rock twing to it. The first single, "I Am Too," is a top down, volume up rocker that can't be turned off. THe lead off song "Rocket Fuel" sets the tone for the album, with a little bit of country and a loud sound. "Yesterdays and Use To Be's" is as good a song as Petty has ever put out, and the hidden track, "Nervous Wreck" rocks hard. Snider doesn't forget his roots, however. The soulful Guaranteed" and the social commentary on "Can't Complain" highlight the slower parts of the album, while "Neevr Let Me Down" is one of the most beautiful love songs I've ever heard, even if it is a love song to God. A Chicago newspaper said Todd Snider was our generations Mick Jagger. Maybe a little too much praise, but his is the best singer/songwriter around right now. A great album with great songs from a great artist. Buy this album and you won't regret it.

I agree with several of the other reviews on here. This is Todd's weakest effort; although there are just enough outstanding songs to merit it's purchase. The overall tone of this album is too frantic and rocks too much to suit Todd's best musical stylings.

Having said that....... you should definitely discover Todd Snider if you haven't already, because he is a true genius at crafting words to invoke memories of both pleasant and unpleasant episodes in our daily lives.

So please do, go get a Todd Snider CD to enjoy, just maybe, start with one of his better efforts. I rate them in descending order of brilliance as follows:

1) Songs For The Daily Planet

2) Happy To Be Here

3) East Nashville Skyline

4) Step Right Up

5) New Connection

6) Viva Satellite

Todd's done it again! His latest album is another one that seems to be glued in my cd player. I love the way he reworked "The Joker." I gave it four stars because I still think his first record was his best, but this is still a great collection. From the acoustic gem "Can'[t Complain", to the rocker "I am Too" to the very mystical "guaranteed", (my favorite track), this is a record you'll listen to over and over again. I know I do.

and the last good Todd Snider album, in my opinion, before Todd became a full-time folk musician and a caricature of himself, surrendering completely to his current almost-too-spaced-out-to-perform persona. (Actually, I ran into him a few years ago at the Boonville Brew Pub during the Wild Iris Folk Festival, and it may be more than a persona.) Anyway, this album has some of Todd's most rockin' tunes, including "Rocket Fuel", "I Am Too", "Out All Night" and "Yesterdays and Used To Be's", the latter two reminiscent of Tom Petty's best work. I remember seeing Todd perform a couple of these songs on Late Night with Conan O'Brien back in '98 and thinking that he just might be ready to bust out as sort of an American version of Mick Jagger. The music rocked and he had that sort of charisma. Instead, after the MCA deal expired, he decided to go solo and began churning out a series of redundant, gimmicky folk songs ("Happy to be Here", for example, is just "Can't Complain" reincarnate). If you ever saw Todd perform with the Nervous Wrecks, you know that his current solo performances are just a tease and yearn for a reunion. The last thing the world needs is another folk musician - they're a dime a dozen. Now a good rocker, that's another story...

Do yourself a favor, see Todd Snider live before buying this, as it does not do justice to the music that he produces. Todd Snider laid an egg, for the most part, on this album. Many of the songs are sung in a nasaly voice which makes him sound like he is trying to be Tom Petty. For instance, on my first listen, I thought "Yesterday's and Used to Be's" WAS a Tom Petty song. And not one of Petty's better ones. Snider's unfortunate decision to include an awful rendition of Steve Miller's "The Joker" makes it all but impossible to recover on a straight-through listen.

However, for Todd Snider fans, this is a must have for some absolutely indispensible songs. Songs like "Rocket Fuel", "Can't Complain", and "Doublewide Blues" salvage this otherwise underwhelming album. Snider seems to be a pretty lazy singer in the studio, which works very well on the latter two selections, though it keeps the hard-driving "Rocket Fuel" from being all that it could be.

This is an album to buy if you are looking to complete your Todd Snider collection. If you are looking for a first Snider album, I recommend "Songs From the Daily Planet" or "Happy to Be Here".