Reviews
The Von Bondies
Pawn Shoppe Heart
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-01-15
A lot of people if they know about the Von Blondies know about them as the band with the singer who got the shit kicked out of him by Jack White of the White Stripes. That isn’t doing this quality band justice. Granted, I honestly never had a clue who the Von Blondies were until Jack White beat the living shit out of Jason Stollsteimer (the lead singer of the Von Blondies). Once I heard the lead single “C’mon, C’mon” and had an opportunity to hear the album I felt grateful that Jack White misplaced his aggression on Jason because it led me to finding out about a new band.
Pawn Shoppe Heart didn’t break any new territory in garage rock music, but it did manage to carve out a niche in the industry for the band. Garage rock is a limited genre to be a part of. When the genre blew up it was exciting, and all sorts of new quality rock bands exploded onto the scene. But after a while the airwaves became saturated, and all the bands started to sound alike. The Von Blondies are able to separate themselves from the pack by using a neat combination of male lead vocals and female backgrounds vocals. They also are able to separate themselves by keeping the songs raw enough, the sound abstract enough to avoid slipping into Jet territory. “C’mon C’mon” was a reasonable hit, but it didn’t blow up or anything, at least not in North America. Jason’s voice is probably the #1 reason that the Von Blondies will never reach the heights The White Stripes, The Hives, Jet, and The Strokes were able to. I have to be honest I don’t even really like his voice all that much. It is decent enough to not be a detriment to the band, but it doesn’t exactly lend itself to the garage rock style of music the band plays. Luckily, the background vocals and the rhythmic guitar/bass/drums make up for what the lead vocals leave to be desired.
If you have heard any song by the Von Blondies it is likely “C’mon, C’mon”. This song was a great choice for a single because it is by far the most accessible song on the album. The female background vocals repeatedly urging the listener to C’mon, C’mon is so easy to get stuck in your head it is ridiculous. Now in terms of talent, this song isn’t all that difficult. The lyrics aren’t notable, and while the guitar riffs used on this song are catchy they aren’t spectacular. What drives this song, and what made it a mild hit for the band is the perfectly crafted chorus. The song runs for about 2 and a half minutes tops so it doesn’t lose its appeal. Most of the songs on the album are more complicated and feature more guitar solos, and maybe a bit slower pace. But this is the single, what else would you expect? Great song, made it on many tops of 2004 lists, but not mine. I personally prefer….
“Crawl Through The Darkness” is my preferred track on this disc. Has been since my first listen and remains to this day. “Crawl through The Darkness all that don’t fade is the gift” is sung pleasantly in the chorus by one of the female vocalists and it repeated a few times each time losing a bit of a volume. Conversely Jason Stollsteimer’s voice is the opposite, shrill and intensely singing out the verses. This would be a bit too much, but whenever it starts to grain on you the chorus comes and it saves the song. Personally, I think this song could be a hit but it doesn’t look like it will ever be given the opportunity. The more I listen to this album, I am starting to draw a comparison to the vocals of the singer from one of my favourites Bedouin Soundclash . That said, this is a rock band and they are a dub/reggae type of a band. The vocals work much better for Bedouin, but if I had to pick one singer I could compare Jason to it would be the dude from Bedouin.
For those who prefer their rock slower, and more melodramatic the Von Blondies offer up a solid track with “Mairead”. This song laments the loss of a girl, and the vocals are painful and delivered in a slow and drawn out fashion. The result is a tad abrasive but as far as I am concerned this is one of the better songs on the album. This song reminds me of the 70’s sound more than anything else on the album. Most garage rock is upbeat, this song is not upbeat at all. In fact a few of the songs on the album can’t really be considered upbeat in tempo, and certainly not lyrically. This isn’t the type of song you can listen to all the time, but every once in a while I love to put this track on and just sit back and listen to the powerful vocals, and try to imagine what the singer was going through at the time.
The Von Blondies have a bit of a filler problem as you get towards the end of the album. The last two tracks try to compensate for their lack in quality by just being loud and the result is a disappointing end to an otherwise totally decent album. “Poison Ivy” doesn’t really play like a song so much as it does a rant. The run time is around 2 minutes and it is really hard to decipher when the chorus ends and the verses begin. It just sounds like one big misguided chorus released as a song. And “Pawn Shoppe Heart” suffers a similar fate at track 12. Power chords, and aggressive vocals attempt to make up for what is otherwise a fairly empty song. Another trait on these tracks is that they are very one dimensional. Unlike some of the more successful songs they don’t really utilize the backup female vocals leaving it up to Jason to carry the songs by himself. He doesn’t. This album could have easily been an 8 if they would have just took the time to get two more quality songs on the album.
I am conflicted in trying to figure out how to score this album. I like it, and every time I put it on certain tracks jump out at me and I start to wonder why I don’t listen to it more. But then, by the time the album winds down I start to look forward to the ending, and feel like the album is missing something. On this 12 song album I would say 6 songs are high quality, 3 or so are average, and 3 are fairly poor. That isn’t all that bad. However, it is just the way the album ends off so badly that leaves an unfortunate taste in my mouth. As far as garage rock goes after The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Datsuns, and The Hives I would probably rank The Von Blondies near the top of the next tier. If you enjoy garage rock, but wish the bands would experiment more and attempt to take the genre further then I would recommend you check out this album. It isn’t bad by any means, but it isn’t going to win any awards either. Will this band be remembered for the music, or will they go down as a one hit wonder created by Jack White’s aggression? That remains to be seen, but regardless of what the future holds the band can sleep well at night knowing they released a quality album at a time when the garage rock genre was very stale.
Songs that you should download: “Broken Man”, “C’mon, C’mon”, “Mairead”, “Not That Social”, “Crawl Through The Darkness”, “The Fever”
Score: 7.65
All things considered a decent score. I have no regrets buying this album, but I won’t be rushing to the store to pick up the next disc they release.
- Dan