October 23, 2008

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (2008)

Several weekends ago, I got engaged (awesomeness!) and to celebrate I bought Jenny Lewis' new record. I am a huge fan and was expecting to instantly get my socks rocked off. Unfortunately, it took me many roundtrip car rides from LA to Huntington Beach to warm up to the CD. The first 4 tracks are repetitively boring and I always skip over them. My least favorite song is "Last Messiah." It feels like a 24 minute long jam session and she could have nailed it in about 4 minutes flat. The CD takes a turn for the better with "Acid Tongue," and then "Fernando" treats us to a country punched tune that reminds me the beginning of Ryan Adams' "Shakedown on 9th Street". To my delight, Elvis Costello joins Jenny in the upbeat and vocally strong duet "Carpetbagger." The highlight of the album is "Jack Killed Mom" because it's boisterous and fun to sing. So, should you run out and buy the album at the record store? Nein! The CD comes in an eco-friendly sleeve accompanied with 4 photos that you find on her website - total weak sauce. I would just download the songs mentioned above and watch "The Wizard."

4 Comments:

Mona said...

1) Congrats on your engagement!
2) I've been getting back into Jenny Lewis too, ironically. I lost track of Rilo Kiley after The Execution Of All Things so I picked up last year's Under The Blacklight and I can't stop listening to "Dreamworld." It's so Fleetwood Mac, I love it!

Do you prefer solo Jenny to Rilo Jenny?

ve1cro said...

Thanks Mona, we're pretty stoked!

It's good to hear that you picked up some newer Rilo KiIey. And yes, "Dreamworld" is rad! It's the only song that Blake sings that I can get really into.

As of late, I prefer Rilo Jenny because it's consistently solid and has been with me through some interesting moments. However it's important to acknowledge that "Rabbit Fur Coat" is a cohesive and thoughtful compilation of songs. "Acid Tongue" just feels like an after thought to me...

awmercy said...

I love "Fernando".

awmercy said...

I wonder how she decided to front load the album with the worst songs.