ASE

 

Knock Down Ginger
Take out
Zulu

Knock Down Ginger’s second
album, Take Out, is a homegrown
soundtrack tailormade for a rainy
Vancouver winter. With wet bass
dripping all over the songs and a
gusty windlike guitar churning up all
kinds of autumnal debris, the record
makes for good sympathetic
company during these dark days
when the sun seems to go down at
noon. “~ ©

The songs are essentially internal
music, arched-eyebrow rock that you
probably wouldn’t hear booming out
of any passing car’s sound system. The
songs aren’t all dark, they just have
this... this tone to them, like the
members are all fighting off the
Bumaby Blahs or the December
Doubts. Even their pictures inside
seem to have been taken on a cloudy
day, deep inside a house hungry for
light. Whatever ails them, though,
they’re trying to actively fight it off.
That’s where Take Out comes in.

Sure, there are some bouncy tunes,
just as there are songs that seem to
have been strapped down to the floor.
And just when the tone seems to get
tedious, seven songs in, Knock Down
Ginger take a page from Morrissey’s
book and add a rockabilly-like
number, Sarcastic, to break things up.
This is fitting: there are even some-
times sunny days in January.

Take Out is a good listen, but the
major problem is that both the record,
and the voices of the singers, seem to
run out of steam near the end, That can

opa&e@siwash.be.ca

   
 
  

be fixed with the

random order button on the CD player,
I imagine, but it is a bit of a flaw that
needs addressing. It, strangely,
reminds me of seeing Keanu Reeves in
Hamlet in Winnipeg. He wasn’t as bad
as I had hoped he would be, and in the
action scenes he was even fun to
watch. Just as I started rooting for him,
though, something started to get to me:
his voice. It simply did not have the
arsenal of the other professional actors
on stage, and after a couple ours of
thus-ing and thy-ing his tone started to
become monotonous and a little
irritating.

This is not to say that Take Out is
not worth a listen. There are four or
five great tracks on it, like I’ll Say. As
well, it is a BC vintage, and goes down
nicely in any weather, or as back-
ground to any assignment or exam
cram. The guitars, in a layman’s
opinion, are, well, nice, and the lyrics
are kind of compelling, too. It is a
promising sophomore effort, Take Out
is, and next time around, I’m thinking
I might consider dining in.

by Jim Chliboyko

 

 

info@siwas

24 October 291996 The Other Press

   
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
       
     
      
    
     
     
     
  

Purpendicular
Deep Purple
BMG

Sure, it’s been said that a
band doesn’t have a chance to
be around to see their 25th
anniversary, but when a band

has ‘it’, why worry about what
other people predict?

Deep Purple, in many people’s
eyes, have ‘it’. They took a few
years off in between their 27 year
existence, but they are back with a
strong new release, Purpendicular.

Although Perpendicular sounds
very much like old Deep Purple,
there are a few tracks on this new
release that deserve mention for
their nineties characteristics.

Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic is a
chunky rock song with equally
chunky lyrics. ‘Thing about Ted, he
didn t really care/Nothing much got
in his hair’

‘A Touch Away’ and ‘Somebody
Stole My Guitar’ are noteworthy for
their lyrics as well. Both are fairly
meaningful, but neither can be taken
seriously.

And when I think about it, I couldn’t
take the entire album seriously. They
deserve a fresh set of ears for a proper
review, but for anyone who knows
them, it’s not something that Deep

Purple should be
extremely proud of.

So, does that change my second
paragraph? No. If it were a release by
a new band, I probably wouldn’t have
had the change of heart. Knowing that
this band has ‘it’ (or maybe I should
say had it) I can’t give them the
thumbs up for this attempt. Take away
their name and history and maybe, but
not with that knowledge.

by rachel young