I come to praise The Pretty Reckless, not to bury them

A friend of mine told me about this release. I wasn't aware when he told me that it was Taylor Momsen's band (though I knew she was in a band) and in fact maybe he didn't tell me on purpose, but he said it was like a modern Hanoi Rocks so I asked him to burn it for me.

Listening to it twice at the computer and once while driving (the latter being the clincher), I think the album is amazing and I share his surprise that the disc had yet to be released in America.

People who expected it to be a pop album are just as wrong as those who hear it and call it an "alternative rock" album (which I see all over the place) - this is a metal album, the metal album that Liz Phair wrote and performed in my dreams. (Her "Y Kant Liz Read," maybe?)

Some of it is a little overproduced and meodramatic (I'm looking at you, "Make Me Wanna Die"), but I can handle that because it sounds really great when played really loudly.

Play "Goin' Down" and tell me you don't think about Motorhead with the meaty riffs and chugging, carefree base thuggery (at least until Momsen teases the Priest she's confessing to by singing "I'm just sixteen if you know what I mean, do you mind if I take off my dress?" which I will admit is not something I could see Lemmy singing.)

And "Factory Girl" would have fit into the "Girls, Girls, Girls" album and she sings a lot better than Vince Neil (damning with faint praise, I know.) And get your lighters when "Just Tonight" plays in concert - yeah, I know that kids nowadays thrust the lit screens of cell phones in the air instead, and I think they do it ironically more often than not, but not here! This song has no irony and needs real fire. And get off my lawn, dammit.

It's high-tech diva metal with lyrical cynicism from an oversexed teenager in the Twitter age backed by hairy dudes who provide the fun that '80s guitar rock is both reviled and revered for. As such, I think that some people here who have a soft spot for that era/sound would get into it (Hi, xhuxk!).

That said, this isn't a "cool" record at all, I don't think, but that's another reason I like it.

lex to thread

i'm gonna follow the "if u can't say something nice..." rule and bow out before i start snarking etc

No, it's cool. I can take it.

Iirc she caused a mini-shitstorm by flashing her underage, pasty-covered breasts at a concert recently.

Yeah, at Don Hill's in NYC. Censored videos available at the YouTubes.

I can't say I've heard any of these songs yet, but I may have to track some down. Your description makes it sound like this may hit the same pleasure center that The Donnas more glam-metal turns hit for me.

Yeah, that's actually a fair comparison! I was thinking a less New York Morningwood or that great second Damone album too, but crunchier.

Yeah, I loved that Damone album and a couple Morningwood tracks off the first one. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have been so quick with my kneejerk dismissal.

Hang tight, I am zipping it up for you (and for whomever)...

Here you go.

I'm surprised you didn't respond to the biggest criticism of TPR: her vocals. I can't think of a metaphor apt enough to describe the tar-stained prepubescent lungs that spit out those eighty-year old groans.. That said, I enjoy her vocals and TPR in general.

I kinda feel bad for the male band members since they seem so creepy in interviews next to Momsem.

lex to thread

i quite liked this album in a "placeholder ashlee simpson" kind of way - i think her vocals are surprisingly effective

but yeah thumbs up. i also quite admire how hard momsen herself tries to be obnoxious.

I like her vocals! I think on the album they are processed to make them sound better than they really are, but I think that's a common thing for lots of singers male and female. And the live clips I found on YouTube sound pretty good across the board.

So whadd'ya think, Jon?

I just saw The Pretty Reckless live in Philly at the TLA. I almost saw them a year and change ago at World Cafe (which fascinates me since I always viewed that show as an Adult Alternative bastion and that's not at all what TPR are) but it was sold out AND I had Motorhead tix in Atlantic City already. So I was pretty amped for the show.

It was an interesting crowd at the show - tons of girls in various states of dress and undress, from the tender age of... I would have to guess preteens, up to co-eds. There were very few old rock dudes like myself though a few older folks who might have taken their kids (and a few creepy older dudes, though I might be guilty as charged.)

Taylor Momsen came out in a modified Cannibal Corpse shirt which I thought was amazing! She cut off the sides, revealing the sides of a black leather bra. The shirt was designed for a big fat dude, like a XXL or something, and she wore it like it was a nightshirt. No pants were visible though she did suggestively lift the shirt at some point and reveal tight leather shorts.

Now, I spent a lot of time with her looks which might seem misogynistic. And I will say I am probably guilty as charged although you know who the biggest perves were at the show? The aforementioned young girls! They were the ones screaming for her to take off that Cannibal Corpse shirt, not the dudes. They were the ones who yelled "I love you" at her and not directed to the hairy guitarist or bassist whose sunglasses seemed fused to his face (he wears them in 90% of the YouTube videos too).

Yeah, these girls were enraptured with Momsen, who played up the hot mess teenager that she will forever be typecast as (or at least until she loses the teenager part) onstage. I find it interesting that she wore a Cannibal Corpse shirt because that, her pale skin and racoon eyeliner made her look like a fucking zombie. And the girls loved her for it.

Definitely a strange time to be alive.

Even if you removed the performance (although you'd be a fool to want to, since it made great theater and if you listened carefully, you might have been able to hear Nero rosin up his bow between the drama), The Pretty Reckless really can kick some ass. They write melodramatic songs which work even better live because theater is always better in three dimensions, amiright?

They performed all but two songs off the album, two tracks from an EP which I picked up at the show and a System Of A Down cover. Momsen's voice was a lot more powerful than I expected it to be, even though she was apparently tired from a cross-country flight that took her away from Los Angeles and Marilyn Manson. Her rough voice worked, and not just because of the theatrics, but because she was able to be rough alongside the polished sound of her band, making a nice contrast that was still a pretty good approximation of the studio versions.

It will be interesting to see where The Pretty Reckless go from here. But I'll enjoy watching it play out, even if I am evidently not in the band's target demographic - which is a shame because when they want to rock, they certainly can.

Or maybe she will help turn (some of) a generation of social-networking teenage girls into rock fans again. An old man can dream, can't he?

From the stage she hyped the band's new video:

http://youtu.be/cJMSDlWlfMM

Warning: There be boobies in it (NSFW).
Warning II: She really plays up being a hot mess.

Anyone heard the new album yet?

New album just came out this week:
http://open.spotify.com/album/2ysgEIHY4aOMMbbu0uV6ey?si=Y_Il6VrHQ1GngEvAtT415Q

Interesting the band was "demoted" to an indie label now.

Dare I say a more "mature" effort (she sings about being "25" now) and has '90s Lollapalooza-era icons from Soundgarden and Tom Morello guest on a couple songs.

I still love the debut best but I like this one just fine.