5.14.2006

Wolf Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to dedicate a review of the self-titled debut from the Australian trio, Wolfmother. Doesn't quite seem like your typical choice for a maternal appreciation, but perhaps this sheds some light on how unique of a woman my mother is. You see, I was not raised in a Beatles house. By the time I hit college, I felt quite the outsider for having my only real exposure to the Liverpool quartet being several songs from Revolver and a few spins of Sgt. Pepper's.

My house was one of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Queen, and The Who. (And yes, there was Yanni and many lesser known Greek pop artists, but that's besides the point.) I could be bending the truth, but I swear I once heard my mother say that "The Beatles are for pussies." My mother, bless her soul, does not have that dirty of a mouth, but my memory instinctively tells me this phrase was uttered from her mouth sometime during my college years.

With that said, I have all intentions of getting my mother a copy of the new Wolfmother album, stat. Though she's never claimed to be a Black Sabbath fan (another one of the record's blaring influences), I think she will find elements of her favorite classic rock within the twelve flawless tracks that make up W-Mom's debut.

Another thing about this Wolfmother album: I've had it for ages, but was so hung up on Wolf Parade, Wolf Eyes, Guitar Wolf, or nothing at all that I just hadn't gotten around to it. After several positive review headlines and a CMJ cover passing my eyes, I decided to give the album a listen. Opening with "Dimension," I lunged for my volume knob as I was thrown off-guard by Andrew Stockdale's rock 'n roll holler, not expecting to be greeted by a banshee of a Black Zeppestones nature, followed by a Sabbath-esque fuzz. Not a trace of tongue-in-cheek. Not a slab of meat left lying around. This is not rock on 'roids, but an invocation of all things that classic rock meant to pass on with the unavoidable genres that were to come and obliterate its mainstream existence (i.e. new wave, goth, hair metal, grunge, electroclash, hip hop, and so on).

And I'll say this, too: Jack White proclaims that The Raconteurs is THE rock band he's always fantasized about having (go read the NME interview). He said it with such confidence, and such fervor, but I can only wonder...Jack, darling, how hard did your bite your lip when you first heard this Wolfmother album?

Because I know you did.
Especially...when you heard "Tales."


And maybe that says it all.




With that, thank you, Mom, for being so rock 'n roll, and not making me listen to "pussy music" as a kid. Happy Mother's Day.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude... the beatles are not for pussies. trust me. the beatles were some serious tripped out shit in the end, and there is no music that came after them that hasn't been heavily (if only latently) influenced by something that they or their producer george martin did first.

seriously.

Anonymous said...

well Suzan..I don't know how old you are but I was around in the 60's for the Beatles, the 70's for the Stones-the Who-Zepplin-etc. and you can't say that songs with lyrics & tunes like "She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah" (yeah yeah yeah etc.) rocked. They seriously tripped right out of the music scene. But these other bands are still ROCKIN'. Let's not forget Tina Turner now..right up there with them .

robbie dee said...

i just noticed that when their CD was released overseas last year, there is a different running order of the tracks, looking like this:

1. Colossal
2. Woman
3. White Unicorn
4. Pyramid
5. Mind's Eye
6. Joker & The Thief
7. Dimension
8. Where Eagles Have Been
9. Apple Tree
10. Tales From The Forest Of Gnomes
11. Witchcraft
12. Vagabond

think that makes a difference in the album?

glad to see you blogging o'er here, btw!

Anonymous said...

oh, no, vicki, am i allowed to get in a music argument with your mom?

"she loves you" was hardly indicative of the entire catalogue of the beatles... it was released in the united states on the beatles' second album, in 1964, officially considered the year the beatles invaded america (and, i might add, the first year that anything by the beatles was released in the US).

if you want to compare the stones to the beatles, its a pretty well known fact that the rolling stones copped their style from the beatles' days in hamburg, down to the working class leather pants-- ironic, considering that mr. jagger was born in knightsbridge to a well to do family, while the beatles' were all working class heroes.

did "she loves you" rock? one could say no. however, would zepellin have rocked were it not for "tomorrow never knows," "helter skelter," or "she's so heavy"? would either zeppelin or the who have experimented with heavily conceptual albums had the beatles not set the precedent to do so?

also, stating that the beatles tripped right out of the music scene is ridiculous. they broke up. they realized when their time, as a band, was over, and quit (unlike certain rolling stones i could name) while they were still ahead. their output as individuals is questionable, i'll readily admit, but there isn't a single band that came after who can claim to have escaped their influence... it was just too pervasive.

(and i'm all of 25-- and the child of a giant beatles' fan, not to mention an astute listener of rock music and an avid reader of ethnomusicology. was i there? no. but i also lived in atlanta for two years and i don't know anything about the atlanta rap scene. birthdates and places do not experts make.)

Laura said...

Vicki,

I love your mom.

Vicki's mom,

Happy Mother's Day!


Laura

Dany said...

The Beatles are boring. They have one good album.

Anonymous said...

Nice! Where you get this guestbook? I want the same script.. Awesome content. thankyou.
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