30 Seconds to Mars: A Beautiful Lie [Virgin, 2005]
At first, I had a hard time figuring out why I didn't like this much more than I actually did--there weren't any obvious, glaring flaws anywhere I could notice. Slick, dramatic, flashy, clean, with lots of action and plot turns all over the place--a little weird, maybe, but what else would you expect from a Hollywood actor who became a rock musician? But as I kept listening it became apparent that there are a couple issues here: first, the music clearly lacks gripping melodies of the sort needed to make melodic rock like this really great. Second, it is obvious that many people involved in this album had previous movie industry experience, given that they apparently dumped all the complex plot twists one would expect in a typical action movie into a blender. The result is all sorts of stylistic changes jumbled throughout the album--tempo shifts, quiet ballads suddenly changing to loud, pseudo-"crazy" rockers, everything. The problem is that the elements of what would be the "plot" on the big screen don't form any apparent "whole" that could be considered better or even equal to the sum of its parts, and the drama also makes it seem like they're trying to compensate for the lack of songwriting substance by turning the style and bombast up to 11. Not only that, but entertainment only goes so far when you're working entirely in the auditory realm, as here, rather than on the big screen. As a result, despite intermittent bits and pieces that do reach out and grip you (especially "The Kill (Bury Me)"), the album as a whole is ultimately hindered by hollow, lethargic, and aimless vibes-as though Leto were trying to act like a good musician rather than actually trying to be one. Or, to put it another way, it is as if he were trying to sing songs he pretended to care about rather than those he genuinely cared about, and could invest with a sincere and affecting meaning. B MINUS
30 Seconds to Mars: This Is War [Virgin/EMI, 2009]
There's still a certain vapidity in the background choruses sprinkled throughout these tracks, as there was on A Beautiful Lie, but Leto's songwriting skills seem to have improved a great deal in the four years since then. Perhaps the most obvious ways in which this has occurred is the improvement of these songs' melodies and timing compared to those on Lie. The title track and "Vox Populi" both seem to be pretty good examples of the band, intentionally or not, avoiding their past mistakes of throwing too many stylistic tricks (tempo/volume/etc. changes), and instead just trying to write songs that stand reasonably well without being "masked" by such tricks. The result is for the listener to be drawn into these songs significantly more than last time. Nevertheless, this album, like its predecessor, still seems to be hindered by an inherent limitation of the band's mainstream-yet-weird combination of classical orchestra backgrounds, anthemic pop rock, military themes, and to top it off, trying to convert all this into something profound and sublime. (I thought there was something more specific holding it back at first, but I couldn't figure out what it was.) Still, some of the over-the-top conceptual fight-against-the-oppressive-government stuff from last time has also been tweaked a bit, to make it less gloomy and more uplifting. This turns out to be a big improvement, because it turns out poppy, concept-laden arena-rock mixes much better with major keys than with minor ones. An enjoyable diversion--almost as much fun as a good action movie, though not in the same overarching way. B PLUS
Flobots: Fight With Tools [Universal Republic, 2008]
You've gotta admire the Flobots' willingness to throw in "everything and the kitchen sink" here, as AllMusic's David Jeffries noted in his review of this album. It contains varying amounts of "normal" rap, gentle, blue-eyed soul-esque background singers, jazz instrumentation, bits and pieces of spoken word, it's all there. Not only that, the optimism of Obama's 2008 campaign is unmistakable throughout this album, and the vocalists demonstrate remarkable verbal dexterity in conveying their political views in hip-hop form. All in all, the album certainly seems pretty well-made on the surface, with the instruments being played well and the songs written carefully and uniquely. All the lyrics and rhythms are highly complex in their arrangements, and they're arranged in the repetitive-but-not-too-repetitive manner of a band trying pro forma not to bore their audience too much, while also giving them hooks they can enjoy in each song. These guys, in short, clearly have no shortage of interesting ideas. It's also refreshing that they're so willing to push rap-rock away from RATM's political metal angle, and towards their own political jazz/rock fusion angle. But if Arrested Development have taught us anything, it's that otherwise good alternative hip hop can shoot itself in the foot by being too sanctimonious. These guys' pacifist messages seem relatable and engaging enough, but they seem to have fallen into the AD trap of being too sanctimonious, and of trying too hard to educate their audience, as exemplified by "Anne Braden", a tribute to a white Southern civil rights activist (featuring spoken word passages spoken by Braden herself!). This song provides a depressingly clear example of how carefully, sincerely, and virtuously written music can ultimately be hindered by a combination of sententiousness and didactism. Not only that, but their ideas are so numerous and variegated that they end up being disorienting, as if one was on a roller coaster pulling and pushing you in so many different directions it limits one's ability to enjoy what you're trying to. In short, when you think an album's lyricists would be better at being community organizers instead, there's a problem. Still, there's no need to write this album off entirely, as it contains more impressive displays of flexibility and creativity than most circus acts. B MINUS
