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Friday, November 19, 2004

Shake the Sheets

Half a listen in to Shake the Sheets, Ted Leo's new album, I was a bit disappointed. I thought it was decent, but this is Ted Leo, and decent isn't good enough. What the album lacked, I thought, was that song that makes you have to go back, like "Under the Hedge" and "Timorous Me" on Tyranny of Distance or "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" or "Ballad of the Sin-Eater" on Hearts of Oak.

Of course, Ted and the Pharmacists didn't let me down, but the standout track isn't "Mia and Me," the one everyone's raving about; instead it's "Bleeding Powers." The song's catchy as anything on the disc, and the lyrics are perfect weave of the political and the personal. It's both a cry for union and a plea for continued struggle. It's flanked by the title track and "Walking to Do," another strong number, making this album one of the rare ones that ends with its strongest moments.

I still don't think Sheets is as good as his previous full-lengths with this band, but I probably like it more than the quite-enjoyable Chisel albums and about as much as last year's solo EP.

3 Comments:

Blogger Ian said...

The funny thing is, until reading this post I'd always misread it as "Shake The Streets". Weird.

8:47 PM  
Blogger Justin Cober-Lake said...

That's what I thought I first, too.

12:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The exercise of ITunes at Random....

1. "Three Weeks and Still I'm Outta My Mind" John Adams from his opera "I Was Looking At The Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky"
2. "Pendulum Music - Steve Reich" by Sonic Youth
3. "Lover's Cross" - Jim Croce
4. "Questo Mar Rosso" from Act One of Puccini's "La Boheme"
5. "Layla" - Eric Clapton (Time Pieces)
6. "Stupid's Song" - Utah Philips & Ani DiFranco
7. "Germs" - Weird Al Yankovic (Running With Scissors)
8. "Comfortable" - John Mayer
9. "Mexican Moon" - Concrete Blonde
10. "Blood of Eden" - Peter Gabriel

Thanks for the entertainment Justin.

Todd Goodman

4:37 PM  

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