This Tuesday, the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords are set to release the soundtrack to their HBO series, and folk-punk icon Billy Bragg releases his 11th studio album.
Here’s a look at both.
Flight of the Conchords, self-titled, (Sub Pop Records)
The guys from Flight of the Conchords write lyrics that sound like stand-up routines.
On the Marvin Gaye send-up “Think About It,” Bret McKenzie tosses off a Steve Wrightian one-liner — “At the end of your life, you’re lucky if you die” — and his partner-in-crime, Jemaine Clement, sings a fleshed-out bit.
“They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers, but what’s the real cost, ‘cause the sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper,” Clement wails. “Why we still paying so much for sneakers when you’ve got them made by little slave kids? What are your overheads?”
For fans who geeked out on the comedy duo’s HBO series, this album is both a must-have and a bit extraneous.
Why extraneous? Well, almost all of the songs are taken from the show — this is a soundtrack after all — so they’re also on the DVD, which a true fan already owns.
Still, these recordings feel like required listening.
The pair go far beyond the acoustic styles they already claim as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo.” We also get Bowie-inspired space jams, French-styled samba pop and a spoof of Sean Paul’s reggae rap.
Unlike, say, Tenacious D, Clement and McKenzie never ham it up or fall on stoner jokes for a laugh. Each song gets delivered with a straight face, and is better for it.
And, while fans might recognize the jokes, these CD versions improve in small ways on the TV show, benefiting from the production of Mickey Petralia, who worked on Beck’s “Midnite Vultures.”
The song “Robots” gets to run its full course, instead of having its binary solo spliced over the show’s end credits. And “Business Time” — “Girl, tonight we’re going to make love. You know how I know? Because it’s Wednesday” — benefits from Clement’s throaty delivery, done a la Barry White.
Most of this album’s quotable, most of it’s funny and, best of all, it all sounds good.
Billy Bragg, “Mr. Love &Justice” (Anti-Records)
Is it because I just finished listening to the Flight of the Conchords’ soundtrack?
Is that why Billy Bragg’s new album, “Mr. Love &Justice,” sounds so horribly earnest?
With song titles like “The Beach Is Free” and “O Freedom,” the 50-year-old British icon delivers a dull album, filled with preachy lyrics that benefit little from a penchant for acoustic arrangements.
The album includes songs such as “The Johnny Carcinogenic Show,” a pop number with female backing vocals that criticizes companies that sell cigarettes to children.
“Look, I’m not responsible for the lesson’s children learn,” Bragg sings sarcastically. “I’m just responsible for giving my investors some return.”
Yes, yes, we know, cigarette companies are evil and their executives have forked tails. We’ve seen thetruth.com commercials, too. Bragg’s message, hard to fault, also feels a bit ham-fisted.
When he plugs into an amp for “Something Happened,” he sounds like he’s ready to flex his muscles. But leaden lines weigh down the song: “Do you know what love is? Love is when you willingly place someone else’s priorities above your own.”
Rock on! Or wait, no, don’t.
He also weaves in some philosophical musings on “You Make Me Brave.”
“What’s to come? No one can know,” he sings over an acoustic guitar. “But I fear for the future, what it may hold. ¿ Live for today.”
Um, OK — so be worried about what’s going to happen, but not too much, because no one has a crystal ball. Also, carpe diem. Check.
From an album title that feels inspired by a sailor’s tattoo to lyrics that drip faux-philosophical earnestness, Billy has little to brag about on his latest.
Columnist Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com.
Listen up!
Hear songs from the Flight of the Conchords and Billy Bragg at www.heraldnet.com/popsecrets.
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