looozer
12-04-2004, 02:38 AM
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Pedro the Lion – Control
Released April 16, 2002 on Jade Tree Records
Musicians
David Bazan (guitar)
Casey Foubert (bass)
I’m not sure which of them did the drums or keyboards…
I picked up this album in a Best Buy about a week after my friend William recommended it to me. He said that it was an amazing and powerful album and that I should check it out. Boy was he right. Pedro the Lion is a creation of David Bazan, a singer/songwriter from Seattle. Pedro the Lion might as well be a one-man band. While everything has changed around him, Bazan has remained constant. He writes all their songs, and is the only member on all their recordings. He is a Christian, and often draws skepticism from listeners because of the nature of some of his lyrics. The music is speculative and emotional. Control is a concept album of sorts, and if not, a story album. Some of the songs tell a story critiquing American love and marriage. The rest of the tracks assault various parts of the American lifestyle. Materialism, greed, poor child rearing, profiteering, objectification, and commercialization all get a bad rap on this album. A special bonus is that it has a cute little booklet with it that shows parts of the story unfolding in crude drawing form.
Options
A husband promises his wife that he will be faithful to her because, as the song implies, there’s nobody better. There is nothing uplifting to be found here, and little elsewhere in the album. I am not a fan of the instrumentation in this particular song. The guitar riff in the intro is poorly written and it seems to have no ending. The rest of the song is okay, however, and it does a good job of conveying the same emotion that the lyrics do. 4/5
Rapture
This starts off with a catchy, dissonant intro. I have no idea what chords David is playing, but it’s really bizarre. If you want to see Pedro the Lion perform this song in concert, bad news. Upon the request of his wife, David will no longer perform it live. Guess why… the narrarator has already begun his infidelity. Apparently his options have paid off, and the bizarrely sacreligious lyrics “Oh, my sweet rapture. I hear Jesus and the angels calling me home, to enter the promiseland” are rather clever. This is a rather enjoyable song, but nothing too spectacular. 4/5
Penetration
Forget about the guy for now, this is a critique of the recording industry. Bazan lashes out at record companies that put profits ahead of artistic merit. While some may literally accuse the industry of screwing artists, he only implies it. The simple instrumentation is rather dark, and once again bland. It is a well-conceived song, but could be better written. 3.5/5
Indian Summer
Bazan continues on his tirade. His satire extends to the point where corporations control the weather in order to encourage increased consumption. The keyboard line in the middle of the song is definitely one of the highlights of the album, and the music as a whole is extremely catchy. The funky keyboard (or is it guitar too?) riff at the beginning of the song is really cool. 4.5/5
Progress
Children are our future, and apparently there isn’t much hope there either. The vocals have a distant feel to them, and the music is rather subdued and distant. The best part of this song is Bazan’s subtle lament about how so-called progress cannot solve problems that are important in the world. 3.5/5
Magazines
This is about the shallowness and pretentiousness of celebrity and religious culture. It is rather cliché, and the chorus is boring. This is probably the weakest track on the CD. It isn’t bad, but there is nothing about it that makes it wonderful. 3/5
Rehearsal
The plot shifts back to our main characters. The wife is thinking about how she will tell her husband off. She is aware of his infidelity, and is out to get him. The lyrics are rather weak in this song, and the chorus seems to make little sense. However, as the wife reveals her plan, and the distorted guitars groan, the track is not an entirely lost cause. 3.5/5
Second Best
As the title suggests, this is the second best song on the CD. Actually, we get to hear more of the wife’s voice. She appears to have a slight change in heart from the last song. She has been wronged, but she tries to accept her new role. The intense psychological pain of someone cuckolded enters the foreground here. She runs through the past in her mind, picking out the signs that her husband is cheating. Meanwhile, they are trying to have sex. Perhaps it is normal for the husband (who doesn’t know that his wife has caught him yet), but it is an extremely miserable ordeal for the wife. “Second best, oh second best. I can learn to live with this,” Bazan half-sings until the guitars break into a riff so intense that it might shock Bob Mould. 5/5
Priests and Paramedics
We learn that the wife has been successful and the husband has died. This is the only track on the CD that features clean, undistorted guitar throughout its entirety. The simple melody and timbre set an eerie backdrop for what I would consider to be profound lyrics. Normally priests are supposed to comfort audiences at funerals when reading eulogies. This priest is different. “You're gonna die, we're all gonna die. Could be twenty years, could be tonight. And lately I have been wondering why we go to so much trouble to postpone the unavoidable and prolong the pain of being alive,” Bazan croons. “Second Best” gets a 5 because of its sheer intensity, but this gets a 5 because it is a beautiful song that explores the nature of life and human interactions. 5/5
Rejoice
Desolate-sounding guitar dominates this track. It starts off as a quiet song, and Bazan spends about a minute singing “Wouldn’t it be so wonderful if everything were so meaningless, but everything is so meaningful and everything turns to ****.” He then encourages us to rejoice, and the guitar turns into a downright eerie wail. 4.5/5
Overall: 86/100 B
Musically, this album is no masterpiece. Emotionally, it is. The album is rather simple. I won’t complain, because I love lots of simple music. In some places, this is extremely potent and effective. In others, it is not. The album is rather monotonous because of the lack of vocal dynamics, and the lyrics are somewhat self-righteous. The vocals almost always sound distant, detached, and disengaged. It’s amazing that an album can be simultaneously passionate and dispassionate to the extent that this is. Anyway, this album likely has one of two destinies; personal treasure or record store re-sale. If you’re a fan of lyrics and concepts, then you can form a deep emotional connection with this album. If you’re primarily into music for the notes coming from the instruments, this likely won’t be your cup of tea. That’s all there is to it really. I wouldn’t say that it is essential, because only some people need to have it. It is a personal favorite of mine though. If you don’t entirely trust my review, and you shouldn’t, there are free samples of “Rapture” and “Penetration” on http://www.jadetree.com It’s free and easy, so go ahead and check it out. Don’t decide to ignore this album simply because you’ve read too much into my preconceptions contained in this summary. Perhaps you could enjoy this album as much as I do.
Pedro the Lion – Control
Released April 16, 2002 on Jade Tree Records
Musicians
David Bazan (guitar)
Casey Foubert (bass)
I’m not sure which of them did the drums or keyboards…
I picked up this album in a Best Buy about a week after my friend William recommended it to me. He said that it was an amazing and powerful album and that I should check it out. Boy was he right. Pedro the Lion is a creation of David Bazan, a singer/songwriter from Seattle. Pedro the Lion might as well be a one-man band. While everything has changed around him, Bazan has remained constant. He writes all their songs, and is the only member on all their recordings. He is a Christian, and often draws skepticism from listeners because of the nature of some of his lyrics. The music is speculative and emotional. Control is a concept album of sorts, and if not, a story album. Some of the songs tell a story critiquing American love and marriage. The rest of the tracks assault various parts of the American lifestyle. Materialism, greed, poor child rearing, profiteering, objectification, and commercialization all get a bad rap on this album. A special bonus is that it has a cute little booklet with it that shows parts of the story unfolding in crude drawing form.
Options
A husband promises his wife that he will be faithful to her because, as the song implies, there’s nobody better. There is nothing uplifting to be found here, and little elsewhere in the album. I am not a fan of the instrumentation in this particular song. The guitar riff in the intro is poorly written and it seems to have no ending. The rest of the song is okay, however, and it does a good job of conveying the same emotion that the lyrics do. 4/5
Rapture
This starts off with a catchy, dissonant intro. I have no idea what chords David is playing, but it’s really bizarre. If you want to see Pedro the Lion perform this song in concert, bad news. Upon the request of his wife, David will no longer perform it live. Guess why… the narrarator has already begun his infidelity. Apparently his options have paid off, and the bizarrely sacreligious lyrics “Oh, my sweet rapture. I hear Jesus and the angels calling me home, to enter the promiseland” are rather clever. This is a rather enjoyable song, but nothing too spectacular. 4/5
Penetration
Forget about the guy for now, this is a critique of the recording industry. Bazan lashes out at record companies that put profits ahead of artistic merit. While some may literally accuse the industry of screwing artists, he only implies it. The simple instrumentation is rather dark, and once again bland. It is a well-conceived song, but could be better written. 3.5/5
Indian Summer
Bazan continues on his tirade. His satire extends to the point where corporations control the weather in order to encourage increased consumption. The keyboard line in the middle of the song is definitely one of the highlights of the album, and the music as a whole is extremely catchy. The funky keyboard (or is it guitar too?) riff at the beginning of the song is really cool. 4.5/5
Progress
Children are our future, and apparently there isn’t much hope there either. The vocals have a distant feel to them, and the music is rather subdued and distant. The best part of this song is Bazan’s subtle lament about how so-called progress cannot solve problems that are important in the world. 3.5/5
Magazines
This is about the shallowness and pretentiousness of celebrity and religious culture. It is rather cliché, and the chorus is boring. This is probably the weakest track on the CD. It isn’t bad, but there is nothing about it that makes it wonderful. 3/5
Rehearsal
The plot shifts back to our main characters. The wife is thinking about how she will tell her husband off. She is aware of his infidelity, and is out to get him. The lyrics are rather weak in this song, and the chorus seems to make little sense. However, as the wife reveals her plan, and the distorted guitars groan, the track is not an entirely lost cause. 3.5/5
Second Best
As the title suggests, this is the second best song on the CD. Actually, we get to hear more of the wife’s voice. She appears to have a slight change in heart from the last song. She has been wronged, but she tries to accept her new role. The intense psychological pain of someone cuckolded enters the foreground here. She runs through the past in her mind, picking out the signs that her husband is cheating. Meanwhile, they are trying to have sex. Perhaps it is normal for the husband (who doesn’t know that his wife has caught him yet), but it is an extremely miserable ordeal for the wife. “Second best, oh second best. I can learn to live with this,” Bazan half-sings until the guitars break into a riff so intense that it might shock Bob Mould. 5/5
Priests and Paramedics
We learn that the wife has been successful and the husband has died. This is the only track on the CD that features clean, undistorted guitar throughout its entirety. The simple melody and timbre set an eerie backdrop for what I would consider to be profound lyrics. Normally priests are supposed to comfort audiences at funerals when reading eulogies. This priest is different. “You're gonna die, we're all gonna die. Could be twenty years, could be tonight. And lately I have been wondering why we go to so much trouble to postpone the unavoidable and prolong the pain of being alive,” Bazan croons. “Second Best” gets a 5 because of its sheer intensity, but this gets a 5 because it is a beautiful song that explores the nature of life and human interactions. 5/5
Rejoice
Desolate-sounding guitar dominates this track. It starts off as a quiet song, and Bazan spends about a minute singing “Wouldn’t it be so wonderful if everything were so meaningless, but everything is so meaningful and everything turns to ****.” He then encourages us to rejoice, and the guitar turns into a downright eerie wail. 4.5/5
Overall: 86/100 B
Musically, this album is no masterpiece. Emotionally, it is. The album is rather simple. I won’t complain, because I love lots of simple music. In some places, this is extremely potent and effective. In others, it is not. The album is rather monotonous because of the lack of vocal dynamics, and the lyrics are somewhat self-righteous. The vocals almost always sound distant, detached, and disengaged. It’s amazing that an album can be simultaneously passionate and dispassionate to the extent that this is. Anyway, this album likely has one of two destinies; personal treasure or record store re-sale. If you’re a fan of lyrics and concepts, then you can form a deep emotional connection with this album. If you’re primarily into music for the notes coming from the instruments, this likely won’t be your cup of tea. That’s all there is to it really. I wouldn’t say that it is essential, because only some people need to have it. It is a personal favorite of mine though. If you don’t entirely trust my review, and you shouldn’t, there are free samples of “Rapture” and “Penetration” on http://www.jadetree.com It’s free and easy, so go ahead and check it out. Don’t decide to ignore this album simply because you’ve read too much into my preconceptions contained in this summary. Perhaps you could enjoy this album as much as I do.