Review Summary: "Your music sucks including us, it's time we cleared our name."
Foxy Shazam are a really unique band. Their name automatically tells you that, a name that was supposedly taken from a slang term at vocalist Eric Sean Nally's high school "foxy shazams" meaning "cool shoes". When my friend told me to look up a song called "I Like It" by a group with this odd of a title, I had my doubts. When the chorus hit with "That's the biggest black a** I've ever seen and I like it! I like it!" being shouted in my face while a black woman shakes her moneymaker in a church with people dancing all over the place, I knew I had never been more digsusted, confused, and....amazed. I hadn't seen or heard anything quite like what I saw and heard from this talented group of guys. I immediately requested the CD from my friend and just became more and more impressed the further I delved into the album.
Freddie Mercury is an obvious influence on the singer, as he belts high and low and high again on tracks like "Wasted Feelings" and "Holy Touch". The title track is a middle-finger-to-the-air, no guts no glory, straight up rock and roll tune that doesn't beat around the bush whatsoever. It's loud, it's mean, and it's even got a choir to back it up. FS do a great job of clarifying their sound by taking some glam rock, mixing it with the theatrics and operatic singing of Queen and Meatloaf and even throwing in a little bit of Led Zeppelin for good measure. This all sounds like a recipe for disaster, but works miraculously that you can't help but fall in love with this album.
Despite rocking out, the band also prove that they can play soft. On "Forever Together", "I Wanna Be Yours", and "It's Too Late Baby", Nally really shows he can be sincere and honest instead of just loud and insane. Fan of horns? Alex Nauth can hit some crazy high notes on his trumpet, which adds more diversity to this young, special band. My favorites include "I Like It", with its daring chorus and bouncing groove, "The Streets", an anthemic number that's catchy and wouldn't sound out of place on A Night At The Opera, and "The Temple", which features loud instrumentation and humorous lyrics like "You got my heart, now you want my body/Keep my cool, girl you lucky you's a hottie".
When asked about the group's influences, Eric Sean Nally replied, "When I listen to a Foxy Shazam record I think of Evel Knievel; Bruce Springsteen; my childhood; Van Morrison; my old friends from high school I don't talk to anymore; Elton John; the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and beyond; Iggy Pop; and my first kiss." Pretty quirky and strange stuff. But hey, what do you expect from a guy who stuck five cigars in his mouth live on stage and then swallowed them? This is a really fun album and the diversity is great and it's just something you have to hear to understand. Then again, you still might not understand it even after giving it a few listens.
KEY TRACKS:
-The Church of Rock and Roll
-I Like It
-Holy Touch
-The Streets
-The Temple
-Wasted Feelings
~Pros~
-Diversity and uniqueness
-Queen and Zeppelin influences
-Humorous lyrics
-Horns
~Cons~
-Not enough guitar
-Diversity may not agree with some people
