The Reigning Sound - Time Bomb High School

I saw a post on a message board the other day where someone was asking if any really great music had been released in this brave new century.  I'm not sure what exactly they mean by really great, but to me that's music that I'll listen to the rest of my life and I'll feel lucky to have been on the planet when a person could go find that music.  Granted, that's going to be pretty much everything for future generations, but it's getting so hard to find something new to listen to for most people.  Mostly because most people don't want to read about music, talk about music, daydream about music and think about getting home so they can listen to music on their stereo, with a little volume behind it so that it sounds real good and hits them in the gut when it's supposed to.  For the people like me that think about listening to music all day, trying to decide what new records to buy isn't a chore, it's fun.  Buying new music and going home to listen to it is the most fun in the world sometimes.

You don't get that with a download.  I think what you generally get with a download is buyer's remorse.  Like maybe you picked the wrong file to download.  That kind of sucks.  Especially because there really is great new music to find and listen to, but it just isn't out there where we all hear it and even those of us that don't daydream about music all day can ask our music geek friend "who sings that really cool new song?"  That's a shame.

It's a shame because right now I'm listening to what I consider to a great record.  Really though, how many great records are there?  Exile on Main St. and then there's everything else.  In the everything else category there's a lot of things that are more than worth your time, but that's a lot of records to sift through!  I'm really glad I managed to find The Reigning Sound's Time Bomb High School, though.  I'd have loved this album in 1975.  I'd love this album in 2025.  It doesn't matter when something comes out to me when the songs are as good as the songs on here are.  I always hate when I read that The Reigning Sound is some "Garage Rock" band, like they're trying to compete with high school bands of the 60's.  They couldn't be more different.  The Reigning Sound has kind of morphed into Greg Cartwright and whoever he wants to work with, but the band on Time Bomb High School is top notch.  High school kids can't pull off pretty songs like Dressy or I Don't Believe without coming across as schmaltz.  Few bands have the dexterity and skill to keep slow songs interesting enough to make side one of an album pretty much the "Slow Side."  It's usually a good idea to make side one the "Fast Side" if you're so inclined to split the sides up like that.  Then to close the side with a Rolling Stones song like I'd Much Rather Be With the Boys is probably generally considered crazy.  It's an unheralded song from an overlooked and frowned upon album, but The Reigning Sound makes it as good as I think it's ever going to get.

Flip the record over and things speed up a little.  Stormy Weather is a great side opener, with big guitars and great backing vocals. Maybe the songs on this side are pretty much a bunch of three chord rockers, but since when did that become something that shouldn't be celebrated?  My dad used to hate this kind of stuff (or so he said) but the song Time Bomb High School is exactly why they made Rock N' Roll in the first place!  This is the shit, goddammit!  This is why you bought your fucking record player!  Then to get hit in the face with Reptile Style right after?  Holy shit.  If they made a 45 of Time Bomb High School b/w Reptile Style they'd pretty much have made the greatest single ever.

It doesn't let up, it blasts through all the way until the end.  I think it's really something that these guys made a record like this.  this could have easily been my Friday night go to album every weekend in high school.  If I couldn't find a ride or anyone to hang with and it was one of those stuck at home on a Friday nights, side one would have been the greatest thing in the world to listen to while I drowned my sorrows.  If I was waiting for my ride so I could go out and party my ass off, side two would have revved me up like I had a lawnmower pull cord sticking out of my back.  This is just the kind of record that is plugged right in to wherever Chuck Berry and The Stones were plugged into when they made their best music.  It's a shame that everyone doesn't listen to this, because it's a great album.  Not just really good, but I'm writing this almost thirteen years after the release and I'm still as excited to hear it as I was the first time I heard it so long ago.  I'm not kidding.  I absolutely love this record.  Every single song.

I bought this one new, so mine's pretty perfect.  It could be a little quieter in spots, but I really don't have any complaints.  I love the way it sounds, and the songs are just so good I'd probably listen to them over a tin can and string system and still get enough of the Rock N' Roll out of it to make it a favorite of mine.

The Reigning Sound - Break Up, Break Down

I really love The Reigning Sound. I think they're my favorite of Greg Cartwright's bands, because they play more different styles than The Oblivians or The Compulsive Gamblers did. I love this album, but I hate this record.

Whaaaaat? You say? I hate it. Really. It pisses me off.

Why? Because it sounds like shit. The sibilance and distortion of the vocals is absolutely unbearable. My cartridge is aligned quite nicely, thank you, so let's not go there. But I'm gonna keep the record because I love these guys so much. And, luckily, the cd sounds fantastic.

The thing with this album is that when it came out it was a much more low key affair than Cartwright had been up to, so I had heard bad things. All those bad things were stupid. The songs here were easily the best Cartwright had ever done, and they still stand up with the best he's done since. I could listen to I Don't Care all day. The lyrics are deceptively simple and heartfelt, and if this isn't the best way to handle a break up, then that song hasn't been written yet (and it really hasn't - blame her and get a new girl is still the best remedy).

The best song on the album is Take a Ride. It's just nothing but sad and the music is perfect. It's one of those songs that when I hear it I think, "This would be a good song to get to listen to right before I die." But then I start thinking I'd like to listen to a whole bunch of things on that day, and I'd like to make sure I get in one last spin of Exile on Main St. I know, that's kind of morbid, but Take a Ride is about your last ride and while it's sad, it's not depressing. That's a fine line to walk when you're singing about dying, cuz let's face it, dying just isn't all that appealing.

The album as a whole isn't overtly concerned with Big Things. Waiting for the Day is a happy song that follows Take a Ride, and while it's kind of an I'll Be Your Doormat kind of song, Cartwright sounds like even though he's a doormat, he's okay with it. As Long is another doormat song (Greg is a total lost cause on this one), but the country shuffle and wailing steel guitar just bring this one home in such a winning way.

There's not a lot of really great albums to cry in your beer to. There's a lot of great songs, but a whole album of crying in your beer is hard to take. Break Up, Break Down is the kind of album Waylon Jennings or Merle Haggard used to make. The kind of album that can turn into parody and stereotype if not handled just so. The Reigning Sound nail it on this, and make a classic American record for the ages.

Now if only Sympathy for the Record Industry could press a record!