roger - backing off is for the other band
ok, with the first roger album the whole concept of an outer space entity, called roger, coming to the planet to save us with his trademarked brand of fonk and fighting the forces of evil, 'george w', may have been a little to fucking weird for most folks to really feel, but surely the whole 'concept' wasn't that messed up. after all, if gurner justin hawkins can bring the most reviled form of rock music back, and make people smile, then surely a bunch of musos under various pseudonyms (i could tell you who this is by, but then they'd kill me. fact), can do the same for george clintons outer space funk.
too damn right say i !
too damn right.
this time, the concepts are put aside, slightly. their is none of the unsubtle political leanings, instead this is a party album. the action is all about the groove. as is to be expected, the music is an updated hybrid of what clinton was doing back in the 70's, mixing up wild guitars with wobbly booty shakin' bass lines on top of which are the vocals, straight, sped up, slowed down vocals - urging people to convert to the power of roger. or something like that, i can't quite figure it all out as i just wanna dance too much.
as before, the band cannot help themselves with the homage paying - the hard right panning of the rap on album highlight 'this is serious' is pure bootsy collins, making the track a direct descendant of his decade defining appearance on dee-lights classic 'groove is in the heart'. love it.
the album isn't a classic from start to finish - the hard core jimi hendrix guitar excess of 'weaselbrain' spoils the flow when not in the right mood (basically there is no bass line !), add to this that it is then followed by a weird tuneless flute filled drift of a track called 'kingdom of roger' makes a section of the album non essential. also, the 9 minute guitar workout at the end of the album that is the title albums track, is not easy to reconcile with the same band that has a gift for prince-esque pop perfection. but hey, full on guitar solo freakiness were all the rage for pariliament/p-funk, so i guess it's only right that the band drop such an extreme track at the end of the album.
thankfully, once we get past these mid-album hiccups, we get back onto the hard-n-heavy beats that is 'u know what roger likes', well from the sound of this, he sure like a lot of guitar effects pedals and a hard hitting rock beat. minimal in its lyrical content (guess what is repeated throughout the 3 minutes!) , the track is a monster. from hereon, the bass line kicks back into touch on tracks such as 'nasty dawg' and 'go roger', as do the atomic grooves. taking the sonic blueprint from songs that have provided the backbone for the whole gangsta hip hop genre, roger reclaim the barking madness of the 70's rump-a-licious loops and make them all their own.
while the band talk up the fonk side a lot, this album is actually very much a rock album. none more so than on the slow and low pounding of 'spacepussy', where the phased psychedelic excess is all underpinned by a rather welcome bubbling synth line, while the backing vocals do their 'spacepussy' chorus thing to primal effect. then just as you begin to get used to the heaviness, a change of direction, the heavy drums are cleaned away, and a lighter drum and bass groove is brought in, teasing the listener into hoping that the band are going to give us a full on rave beast. go on, there must be a 20 minute version of this on the cutting room floor ?
'for every action' revisits the bad assed demon 'george w ' and tells it straight to the beast that he's going to get whats coming to him, to another hard groove. glorious stuff, and one that is hard to shift from your grey cells in the early hours, as is the stripped down raw 'freaks make the world go round', a track that proves just how far off the mark the red hot chilli peppers are when people use them as an example of good funk-rock. pah. they have no idea.
as is the way, this band will not get the attention that they deserve, too many people are scared by the deepness in the bass and the weirdness on offer. especially as it's all about the treble these days. woofers hardly get a wobble going with most of todays nme-sanctioned bands. they have no idea what they are missing, after all as renegade soundwave once said, women respond to bass. something that i suspect that roger knows all too well.
so, if you fancy listening to something that, rocks out, may make you laugh a little, will make your stereo tremble under the excess, then i urge you to have a word with roger, he's a bloody decent chap you know, once you get used to him.
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