RICHARD
ASHCROFT - "MONEY TO BURN"
did you get the joke?
see, i was saying that it would be easy for me to...never mind.
"money to burn," the
second single from ashcroft's upcoming solo album, starts off promisingly
enough with a cool percussion pattern and some steel guitar by b.j. cole
(but of course). then, after the first verse, a heavier drum track comes
in and there's some blaring harmonica and an electric guitar. then
the gospel choir comes in for the chorus. like i said earlier, it sounds
like 70s elvis, except ashcroft, vocally, is no elvis. even lyrically
this one pales in comparison to elvis songs of that era, and that's meant
to illustrate just how POOR the lyrics are here. there's a bit of conundrum
here: the lyrics are poor, yes, with things like "light my fire" and "take
me away from my rock machine," but just as annoying are richard's usual
ad-libs. (you know the ones, "come on, come on," "ooh, baby," "now, now"
etc.) while listening, you start to become glad that there are so many
ad-libs because they keep him from spouting more things about "rock machines."
but then you realize, "God DAMN, these ad-libs are annoying!" in fact,
what would've been an inspired lyric, "you're my one and only guitar god,"
is in fact misheard on my part as it's actually the more banal, "you're
my one and only gift i've got."
oh, and none of this
is the worst part. no, the worst part is that IT'S SIX MINUTES LONG!!
even worse, it runs out of steam at the FOUR MINUTE MARK. it languishes
for a while and then it desperately tries to build to a climax -- the guitar
at 4:22 is meant to signify this -- though it merely simmers when it should
BOIL. there's an interesting horn arrangement and a fine ending which both
suggest that this would've made a nice three-minute pop song. i stress
"nice" because that's all this it would be. my initial strong interest
to hear ashcroft's solo album is waning with each successive single. without
nick mccabe to make things "weird," it seems like richard is doomed to
being merely average. what a pity.
