Tag Archives: Jukebox Medicine

Jukebox Medicine

8 Dec

So, having been told by several people that the EPs had been posted already, I was somewhat disappointed not to arrive home to my copy on Friday night. And yet, despite waking up to find it waiting for me on Saturday, it wasn’t until the early hours of Sunday morning that I finally found the time to sit down and give it my full attention. I suspect if it had arrived earlier in the week, my response might have been speedier, but after Friday, there wasn’t anything entirely new on it to motivate me to squeeze in the time to listen to it. Still, I was keen enough to stay up until 5am once I finally hit play, so I could give myself time to fully appreciate each individual track, as well as getting my initial thoughts in order while they were fresh. On the flip side, I’m not sure how much sense some of it makes, but I tried :P.

There seems to have been an unexpected amount of interest in my reactions on this one and having specifically promised Mike, Adam & Russ on separate occasions that I would let them know what I think of it, a blog on the subject was inevitable. In fact, I promised Mike that there would be one a couple of weeks back and he’s already chased up on it.

I’d originally intended to split this into two separate posts as I did with The Call Of ’56 (first reactions, with an extended follow up post a few days later), but my initial thoughts didn’t quite sit right on their own and the fact that the boys seem curious enough that they’ll presumably read this at some point made me hesitate to publish anything unfinished. No pressure or anything… ;). Although it is rather flattering that they’re acting so interested in my opinion – and here I was thinking no one gave a damn…

So… Aside from the fact that the title has left me humming Jukebox Hero for the past few weeks, I rather like the concept for this one. The artwork is based around something resembling a bottle of Jack Daniel’s (very rock ‘n’ roll) and even the actual disc design has an old school feel to it somehow. It reminds me of the CDs my Dad used to keep in the car when he drove me to primary school – back when having a CD player at all, let alone in the car, was quite the novelty and I still couldn’t get over the excitement of not having to rewind them (or fast forward in short bursts to try and skip a song without missing the beginning of the next one)… And now I’m making myself feel old so I shall move on. Point is, I like the artwork and the retro feel. It fits their sound well and looks impressive. Nice work, Mr. Lewis.

Of course, I’ve already heard four of the six tracks a dozen times before and the other two I heard on Friday, but the live versions are always different to the studio recordings so unsurprisingly I’ve still got plenty to say, especially about the new ones. My initial thoughts are from a single listen to each track on Saturday night (or rather, the early hours of Sunday morning). Lasting impressions were added later once I’d listened to the EP a bit more and given it a chance to settle.

And now, without further ado, I give you The Last Carnival’s Jukebox Medicine…

1. All The Dance Floor People

Initial thoughts: It’s got a very classic-y sort of sound to it that’s a little different from the live version, although don’t ask me what I mean by that. I’m really not very musical, despite my passion for it. It makes it rather hard to explain myself – plus I always think I’m getting it totally wrong… What I can say without doubt, however, is that I love the guitar (shocker). It’s clearer on the record than it is live, I think. It sounds awesome anyway and I also love the vocals. Russ’s voice really does seem to just get better and better. There’s a richer quality to it in this track that I really like. Although I’m still not quite sure what half the lyrics are…!

Lasting impressions: I’m still in the early phases with this record, which means I’ve not yet reached the shuffle stage. As such, I’ve been listening to it in order and I think this one is a really good opener for the EP. It captures their live energy pretty well and that’s what you want to start the EP off right. It also has a powerful intro that seems to tell the listener to sit up and take notice, so even with the whole thing on repeat, it acts like a sort of ‘back at the beginning’ flag. It’s never been one of my favourites live and it’s not my favourite on the EP either (not that I dislike it, I just like others more), but it’s a good dance track, plus I’m still loving Russ’s vocals on it. And the guitars. Obviously.

2. The Beat Inside The Body

Initial thoughts: I think I’ve covered this one fairly comprehensively already… click here to read it.

Lasting impressions: So, it’s slightly irritating that the picture that always pops into my head when I hear this is the shaking hips of the dancer in the video, particularly when I hear the drum beat early on in the track. Aside from that, however, I do think it’s a brilliant song. I’m still not going to go into any more detail on it, though. Again, I’ll refer you back to my video post in the link above.

3. Days On Fire

Initial thoughts: If they ever make an 80s style sequel to Top Gun, this song needs to be on the soundtrack. I could just picture a young Tom Cruise (or similar), aviators, a motorbike, a pretty girl with her arms around his waist, hair blowing in the wind, a sunset, maybe a bit of a montage… with this track blasting over the top of the scene. Which all sounds rather cheesy, but holy crap I love this song. And to put the beginning of this paragraph in context, I’ve always loved the Top Gun soundtrack – I mean it as a big compliment. Anyhoo, aside from that, I loved the guitars (again, shocker), loved the slower rhythm of it and loved the simplicity of some of the music – I could individually pick out the sounds of the different instruments at times & it reminded me of a conversation I once had with Justin about AC/DC – rock music in one of it’s purist forms (I may have paraphrased slightly, but you get the idea). Adam was waxing lyrical about this one when I saw him on Monday and I can completely see why. It’s a real masterpiece. It gave me tingles just listening to it and I think it’s already a firm favourite.

Lasting impressions: The guitar intro is enough to give me tingles all on its own, then Russ starts singing and I go a bit swoon-y. It really does sound like it should be on an old school movie soundtrack. It’s a bit of power ballad this one and I frickin’ love it. So much. I love the ‘always dreaming, don’t know what else to do’ lyric (not that I can identify or anything… *coughs*), I love the guitar riff after each lyric in the chorus and I love the BVs on the latter parts of the song… As far as I know it’s a blend of Russ & Mike, which is obviously something that could never happen live when Russ is singing lead, but it sounds damn good. There’s also the guitar solo. The heart-eyed emoji sums up my reaction to that one fairly well, I think. Nuff said. Also, the intro really jumps out at me. Even if I’m not paying attention to the record, this one always seems to catch my notice right from the get go, to the point that I tend to stop whatever I’m doing/thinking about to listen to it properly. I can’t even get my thoughts fully in order, I just keep fangirling over it. And I really, really love the guitar riff… It is quite possibly one of my all time favourite TLC songs.

4. Love Motion

Initial thoughts: It sounds really different to the live version, although I’m not sure how or why. It just seems to have a different feel to it. The chorus is incredibly catchy and (wait for it…) I love the guitar solo. I think it sounds ever so slightly pop-ier than their other stuff, at least the chorus does. The rest still has that classic rock sound to it, especially at the beginning and end. I’m not sure where I’m going with this… I can imagine I’ll end up humming it a lot, which is not something that happened after the live performances. It stands out more as a recording, I think. Disclaimer: It’s getting fairly (read: very) late, I’m not sure how much sense I’m making at this point…

Lasting impressions: It really is such a catchy chorus. It’s almost pop, but then there’s the intro/guitar riff that’s all classic rock… I’ve caught myself humming this one already, which I suspect is more than just a self-fulfilling prophecy after my comments above. I also rather like the lyrics of the chorus. I don’t tend to pick up on the lyrics with these songs – to me the vocals are almost ‘just’ another instrument blending with the others to create the sound that is uniquely The Last Carnival’s. I like these though, they’re up my street, I suppose, and it’s nice to be able to make them out more clearly than I could during the live performances (although there are still a fair few gaps. A lyric book would have been nice!). And, ya know, I still think the guitar solo is fairly awesome… (predicable? Moi? In fact, I’m not sure if I should be worried or amused that more than one band member informed me I’d love the new stuff because there were loads of mental guitars…). I also had a random Footloose moment whilst listening to the bridge. I’m all about the old school films with this EP. I may have to have an old school movie marathon if I ever have a free evening ever again.

5. There Ain’t No Loving You

Initial thoughts: This track, to me anyway, is probably the one that sounds the most similar to the live version. It’s even more retro than the others and makes me seriously consider giving in to my sister’s nagging and going to another Lindy Hop class. In fact, I challenge anyone to listen to this track without at least tapping their foot along with the beat. My toe-tapping tended to go a bit jive-y without my consent. It’s got the same sort of dance-y rhythm as the Screamboy Shuffle, without sounding remotely like it.

Lasting impressions: Someone I was talking to in Haywards Heath mentioned that the venue made them feel a little like Marty McFly was about to burst onto the stage and this song has that same feel to it, which makes sense I guess – it has a 50s rock ‘n’ roll quality to it. To be fair, that’s hardly unusual for The Last Carnival (the call of ’56, no?), but I think this is one of the earlier sounding ones, as opposed to some of the others that have more of an 80s classic rock feel. How they manage to make it so retro yet not in the slightest bit dated, I have no idea, it just seems to work. Anyhoo, most of their stuff is pretty upbeat, but this is exceptionally so (although, side note, I’d best get a bit of Beautiful (or No Hero, but I’m beginning to suspect that won’t happen again…) on tour, else I may sulk. In fact, I’m still a tad disappointed Beautiful didn’t make the EP (not that it would have fit particularly well with the other tracks, but I need that recording in my life)). I still find myself considering letting my sister drag me out dancing every time I listen to it… Well that or I might just dig out my old jive routine and dance around the kitchen when no one’s watching… Incidentally I can also picture a heavily choreographed routine a la Grease’s high school dance (again with the movies…). I’m definitely getting a late 50s vibe from this one.

6. Jukebox Medicine

Initial thoughts: Guitars! And guitars. And did I mention guitars? Also guitars. *ahem* so, I quite like the guitars on this one… And I know it’s cheating a bit to mention this here, but seeing the joint solo (is it a solo if there are two of them? Guitar duet doesn’t sound quite right though…) that Russ & Justin played on Friday… I must have looked hilarious, I felt my jaw drop & I think my mouth must’ve been hanging open the whole time. Anyway, I couldn’t hear that section of the track without remembering seeing it live on Friday night and it’s still a bit wow even without the visual. Not that I really know anything about guitar, but it sounded pretty fast and fiddly to me.There was also some distinctly awesome keyboard that I managed to pick out in it. The focus seems to be the complexity of the music and the lyrics appear to be fairly simple in contrast. I didn’t actually pay a huge amount of attention to them, focussing instead on the guitar for the most part (did I mention I liked the guitars on this one?!), which as I said, is fairly normal for me when it comes to this band, but despite all that, the lyrics seem rather catchy. Doubtlessly I’ll be randomly humming this one in no time, just as soon as I stop humming Jukebox Hero instead (it’s even worse when that becomes a mash-up with I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll – the film’s Dennis & Lonny just don’t cut it). Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to seeing this one live again, hopefully when I have less of an aversion to watching a certain area of the stage (if I ever publish Friday’s blog, this might make a bit more sense – depending on how much of it gets cut. At the moment I don’t think there’s more than a paragraph or two with even a hope of being posted), although I think I’m past that now, after some good behaviour… I hope. Tour will suck slightly if I’m not.

Lasting impressions: So that guitar solo… I don’t even know who’s playing it; if its just Russ or both of them, but bloody hell! I know it’s a recording, but I’m sure it just keeps getting better…! (I should probably add here that I’m still loving the piano part of the solo too, just not as much as the guitars – sorry Kieran :P). Even aside from the solo, I love the guitars in this one – it often makes me feel like playing air guitar, however I wrote this particular section whilst on a fairly busy tube train, so was forced to refrain… The guitar hook also reminds me of something else but I can’t seem to put my finger on what. I’ll get back to you if anything springs to mind. Anyhoo, aside from the guitars (they really weren’t lying when they said I’d like the guitars on the new stuff), it’s got a sort of ooh-ooh bit that recalls Luisa Rey to my mind, only I was never a huge fan of Luisa, whereas this one I’m rather keen on. And finally, I do like the ‘pour some sugar’ lyric. Nothing to do with the Rock Of Ages interval music selection, of course. *coughs*.

And that, as they say, is that. I hope it was of interest to some of you at least *peers archly at various bands members*. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I think I’ll go and listen to Days On Fire a few million times…

Peace, loVe loVe and rock ‘n’ roll kick-assery,
K xx

PS. I was looking for lyrics on the TLC site (which was a somewhat wasted effort*) and came across a few photos from the Beat Inside The Body video shoot that I hadn’t seen before. These two in particular grabbed my attention, so I thought I’d share in case I wasn’t the only one to have missed them. In fact, I’m not even sure how they slipped under my radar. I may have been exceptionally quiet lately (whilst slowly & somewhat unsuccessfully attempting to come to terms with wherever my head needs to be with regards to them from now on in order to keep me at least faintly sane and unbroken), but I’m still lurking. I’d be surprised if I’ve missed a single post of theirs…

* Pretty much every trace of their old music has vanished off of their site and all but the new video & the live sessions have been removed from youtube… it was quite the surprise when I realised. It looks like No Hero really is no more. You can’t even buy The Call Of ’56 CD now unless you know where to look & I’m not entirely sure if that’s intentional or just a bug… I know they’ve got their new sound and I suppose their older music doesn’t fit with the vision they have going forward or some such, but, but, but…! I suppose it’s just weird that the music I fell in love with is no longer part of who they are. It’s fortunate I like the new stuff, really…

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