Señor
Smoke
Metropolis, 2006
rating: 1/5
reviewer: charles ubaghs
There is a glaring flaw to novelty music that is next to impossible to shake
off. It has a very short shelf life.
So it goes for Detroit's novelty "New Wave, Funk, bathhouse Disco, Garage Punk"
five piece, Electric Six. The band has reached its sell-by date with sophomore
album Señor Smoke. A record that was officially unleashed upon the
American public after having been released in the UK for roughly a year
solidifies their place among a lineage of one-hit goofball wonders a la Crash
Test Dummies.
Señor Smoke has, since its UK release, failed to attack the charts in the
way that "Danger! High Voltage," from debut album Fire, raised eyebrows
on both sides of the Atlantic. That song's success was based on two factors.
First, it was a surprisingly catchy piece of oddball disco pop laced with
decidedly cheesy hard rock guitars, and bombastic to the point of ludicrous
vocals. Second, it fit into a long British love affair with completely absurd
theatrical pop songs. See The Darkness, Slade or, arguably, the entire
post-Faces career of Rod Stewart for an example. The problem with the
aforementioned British affair is that it's a one-night stand at best. And the
end result for Electric Six, following a steamy night of passion tinged with the
hangover of early success and the memory of a long walk of shame home, is
Señor Smoke.
Señor Smoke suffers from nothing more then a total lack of discernable
hooks to balance out the glaringly juvenile lyrics, cheese-filled synthesizers,
and schlock-rock guitar stylings. "Jimmy Carter," with its Backstreet Boys and
electric underwear references, is designed to give 8-year-old and only
8-year-old boys a quiet giggle on the playground during recess. "Future is in
The Future," with a heavy injection of subtlety and restraint, could, if the
band wanted it to, resemble anything by French AM radio pops purveyors Phoenix.
But subtlety is not what Electric Six are about, and nowhere is this more
apparent than on their cover of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga," a song that should, with
its theatrics and sheer anthemic gaudiness, come naturally to the band. Instead,
it's a finely executed piece of late night karaoke that encapsulates everything
wrong with the remainder of the album.
Queen, with their performance of "Radio Ga Ga" at the original Live Aid, proved
themselves adept at producing stadium-unifying pop songs and, even with their
gibberish lyrics and over-the-top front man, marked their place in musical
history. Electric Six, with Señor Smoke, have instead, even with their
gibberish lyrics and over-the-top front man, relegated themselves as a mere
novelty footnote to the first half of this decade.
1. Rock And Roll Evacuation
2. Devil Night
3. Bite Me
4. Jimmy Carter
5. Pleasing Interlude No.1
6. Dance Epidemic
7. Future Boys
8. Dance-A-Thon
9. Be My Dark Angel
10. Vibrator
11. Boy Or Girl
12. Pleasing Interlude No. 2
13. Radio Ga Ga
14. Taxi To Nowhere
15. Future Is In The Future
Fire
XL, 2003
rating: 1/5
reviewer: wolfman
I have a confession to make: I always found Weird Al Yankovic extremely funny. He has the ability to twist any musical genre and send a message to music fans that underneath every style of music, fashion and disposition is a straightforward and extremely humorous parody. While musical parodies are extinct these days (except for Weird Al’s stellar Poodle Hat, ha ha ha ha!!!!!) Electric Six have written and performed one of the most perplexing and burlesque records with Fire.
Electric Six got the attention of the media almost instantaneously with the release of their Jack White collaboration single “Danger! High Voltage”. Admittedly, I found the single catchy and entertaining and hoped that Electric Six would follow up with an album worth listening to due to the fact that my Hot Hot Heat’s ake Up the Breakdown album was getting a little worn down. But unfortunately, Fire, the full-length release by Electric Six, is soaked with too much satirical, synthetic 80s retro funk that defined them as nothing but a mere rock band living in the past. Songs like “Gay Bar” and “She’s White” may cause anyone to snicker for a moment, but regrettably, the album on a whole is so sad and redundant that anyone who appreciates 80s music (yes there are some of you out there) should consider listening to another band. (e.g. place the name of your favourite 80s band here __________.)
Electric Six may be trying too hard to redefine its indie musical approach by borrowing from the decade that brought us styles and fashion that most people find highly comical and laughable in the status quo. I think I still have my fat laces somewhere around the house. So in conclusion, indie music lovers are laughing at you, Electric Six. Just remember, the 80s also brought us Weird Al Yankovic! Now that’s a musical parody. So I’ll be placing Electric Six’s Fire in my pile of albums that I give to someone I don’t like (with my Whirlwind Heat album) and I’m going to go dust off my Weird Al Yankovic records from the shelf. Now that’s some funny shit!!
1. Dance commander
2. Electric demons in love
3. Naked pictures (of your mother)
4. Danger! High voltage
5. She’s white
6. I invented the night
7. Improper dancing
8. Gay bar
9. Nuclear war (on the dance floor)
10. Getting into the jam
11. Vengeance and fashion
12. I’m the bomb
13. Synthesizer
