"Head" is the type of album that sounds best when you listen to all of the songs in a row. Eleven Eleven's latest effort has not one 'stand-out' or 'single-worthy' track but maybe that is part of their creative plan.
The Philadelphia area band can't plan on pleasing the masses with an album that goes on and on like a dreary, cold rainy day. Despite its east coast roots, this album is so Seattle.
"Every Ill in the World" is perhaps the most interesting and unique song on the album. The beat slows down as lead singer and guitarist Jeff Giuliani sings softly, "How come the pieces don't fit in the package that came with it and the last fleeting chance for goodbye is gone. When do they say April Fools, I missed when they gave out the rules."
Eleven Eleven's music and message become weakest due to lyrics that are cheesy and depressing. On "A Different Way to Die," Giuliani sings, "A polaroid of failures come bleeding from these eyes. I chase my tail again, what's alive will always die." Throughout the song you can't help but hope the guy lightens up before he kills himself.
Key Tracks - "A Different Way to Die," "Every Ill in the World" and "Absent."
Marianne Pillsbury missed her window of success in the mid-90s during the girl rock era. Back when Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow and Meredith Brooks ruled the airwaves, Pillsbury may have had a better chance of reaching and pleasing the masses. Unfortunately, her brand of angry, fiesty rocker chick music falls a little flat.
The harmonies she creates in some of her tunes are a credit to her talent as a musician, but overall, most fans of this genre would be better suited to go buy an old Jewel album.
Pillsbury's best humor is in her album notes when she thanks her ex-boyfriends for unintentionally inspiring the songs on her lastest EP.
This humor would have been better suited in some of her song lyrics. While "The Wrong Marianne" EP is supposed to spark some sort of interest in her music, I don't see it really going anywhere but local coffee shops.
Key Tracks - "Supersize" and "Layaway Girlfriend."
"Great Big Fall" is a fun song. Finally, a band is able to write an upbeat song about a sad situation.
The Bloody Lovelies weave music that probably sounds better live than recorded, so perhaps investigating the group's live work would be worth your time.
The band fails in certain aspects in that its lyrics are too upfront in areas where tongue-in-cheek humor would have been better suited. The chorus, "It's money makes the world go 'round she says that money makes the world go 'round" followed by "I ain't tryin' to act cruel, it simply is a matter of fact fool if you ain't financially backed you'll know" is both bland and predictable. The second half of the album dies until "Rosarita" is able to muster a small amount of life back into the album.
Key Tracks - "Great Big Fall," "You Could Die" and "Rosarita.
