| FLAMING FIRE Get Old and Die With Flaming Fire |
Flaming Fire's style of music -- call-and-response chants, syncopated rhythms, hipster-edgy tongue-in-cheek lyrics -- typically works far better on a stage than in a studio. Much of the material on this CD lies in that Yoko Ono-grey area between performance art, spoken word and rock and roll, with nods given at various junctures to hiphop, Throbbing Gristle, and Grand Guignol (granted, the third could cover the first two pretty nicely... ). I found the CD interesting, if ultimately unsatisfying: it certainly left me wanting to see them live. The instrumentation is consistently creative. Bullroarers make appearances in "Rabbit Run" and "The Sun is a Snake;" they give things an appropriately mystical feel. "La La La" is livened by the sounds of "found object" percussion: of course, any song can be improved by the addition of a washtub and garbage can lid. And "Listen to Fluorescent Lights" has some nice creepy-pretty chords backing the multiperson rondelet-style chanting. Rock "Banjo Pete" Leonard provides rock-solid (sorry) percussion throughout. When you're doing this kind of spoken-word stuff you need a tight rhythm section; he keeps a complex beat on songs like "Disco of Souls" and "Pedophiliac." I was also impressed by the guitar work; "In the Summertime When Everything is Holy" had a great psychedelic riff that blended perfectly with the la-la-la female vocals. I can't say I was entirely satisfied with this release. A lot of these chants just didn't take off in the studio: I suspect they would be much more exciting live. I also would have been interested in seeing less hipster cleverness and a little more genuine emotion. Their cover of "Whiskey River" is ironic country music... and ironic country music is always bad. (Think "She Got The Goldmine, I Got The Shaft.") They should also have thought twice before covering Cameo's "Word Up!" -- trying to be funkier than Cameo is an effort which is doomed to fail spectacularly. And the 25 minutes of the untitled Track 11 (a dubbed remix of everything that went before) is unnecessary. Still, this was an interesting pop release: if you enjoy the sung-spoken 80s alternapop bands like the Violent Femmes, or if you appreciate the B-52s, you might like Flaming Fire. 1) Rabbit Run To The River FLAMING FIRE is: Theo Edmonds - Vocals, Guitar, Bass Rock "Banjo Pete" Leonard - Vocals, Oration, Percussion Lauren Weinstein - Vocals Occasionally: Flaming Fire Website |