It pains me to say this, but dammit, The Church of Rock and Roll is a bad album. Regardless, Foxy Shazam remains one of the best live bands you could spend your drug money on. Believe me – seeing Foxy Shazam live is an experience. Having seen Eric Sean Nally and his modest group of misfits four times now, there’s no comparison, at least in terms of these young breed of newbies. Yes, The Flamingo Trigger came out in 2005, but slowly, surely, steadily, Foxy has been breaking out to the mainstream getting poppier…and more shockingly…safer than ever before. What happened to the band that had so much attitude and edge? The dude eats packs of cigarettes on stage! I’m abusing my powers of bolding, but dammit, that’s impressive!
The new disc just doesn’t gel. The first couple cuts, including “Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll,” “Holy Touch,” and “(It’s) Too Late Baby” are a nice homage to Queen and other classic sounds, but lack in unique spin. “Last Chance at Love” sounds like a shitty Rick Springfield B-Side (and God knows how much I love “Jessie’s Girl” and “Love is Alright Tonight”).
The strongest of the bunch include the aforementioned “Holy Touch” and lead single “I Like It” (“That’s the biggest black ass I’ve ever seen, and I LIKE IT! I LIKE IT!” – quite enjoyable to chant along to). It’s catchy and retains the band’s swagger. I…well, like it. “The Temple,” track 9 on the record, finally displays the seething, heavy riffs older fans are likely anticipating. It’s also got a sweet ass trumpet solo by Alex Nauth. After “The Temple” concludes with Nally’s spoken word monologue (“Wait, fuck you, I’m the king,”) you might as well save yourself any further time and frustration and head back to 2008’s Introducing Foxy Shazam.
It’s not the mainstream element or Pop sounds that throw me, it’s the lack of originality. Well, that and the songwriting isn’t as strong. Something is just off in this Foxy world, and despite the better tracks’ strengths, they still don’t hold a candle to “A Dangerous Man,” “Wanna-be Angel,” or “NO! Don’t shoot.”
Despite this blasé report, Foxy is still a band to keep both eyes on. But next time around, I hope they spare us these weak and disheartening sermons from the pulpit and instead, focus on being the fucking weirdos we fell in love with before.
WHAT DRUG MONEY
NICK USED THE WORD “MEDIOCRE” TO DESCRIBE THIS ALBUM IN A PRIVATE TEXT TO ME. HE’S EXAGGERATING BY USING THE WORD “BAD” JUST TO GET READERS.
and it worked on me. shit.
argument in favor of foxy: of 11 tracks; #s 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10 rock. thats a passing grade within the very discerning parameters of “rock”.
oh wait no its not. but its still 6 more songs than we’d ever rock out to if this album was never made. im drunk.
you know what else? no. “wasted feelings” is really fun. fuck you. (im the king)
also i defy you to listen to forever together six times in a row and not sing along the seventh.
hashtagfreedomanditstoolatebabydokindasuck
d1 – Yeah, I mean….I like about 4 songs on it. You are totally right about The Temple though. GREAT song. But the rest just doesn’t back up that attitude!
And re: Forever Together…..you told me to do that with “Connect” and it sort of worked haha
i know.
see, listening to a new foxy shazam album is like being a tiny white girl that has a fetish for big black guys. and listening to the album for the first time is like seeing your new guy’s huge cock for the first time.
bear with me, here.
its intimidating, sure. you are put off by the sheer size of it; you don’t really have much of a frame of reference as to how to handle it and frankly you don’t really have much of a drive to interact with it. but, what can you do? you love black guys, so you keep him around. maybe you’re standoffish at first, taking some time between each meeting. but gradually you inexplicably find yourself spending more and more time with this thing, and before you know it, you are taking eight elevenths of this thing on a regular basis that you never expected could even clear the entranceway. one day, you smile to yourself as you lay ass naked in a sweaty pool of fun, and you realize that even if you don’t quite understand what just happened, it is clear that a new standard for pleasure has been set.
once you go foxy, you never go back. 🙂
Wtf? come on it sucked really bad. i want the awesome heavy crazy sound and lyrics of flamingo trigger not the gay ass stuff they pulled on the last two albums. They were so nuts and had awesome passion, and now i really dont know what to even say.
how DARE you pretend like you don’t have any response to that
how DARE you
Honestly….I don’t even know what to say to that. I saw it, had 0 response, and was just like….wow.
I have this on my iPod. I want to like it, but it hurts my ears.