Band: Go-Go's
Album: Beauty and the Beat
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Oddly enough, the Go-Go's are more punk than most people know. Their pop chops are not questioned and the band's debut has some excellent pop tracks on it.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This is probably a fitting place for an album of this caliber.
Best song: The singles, "Our Lips are Sealed" and "We Got the Beat"
Worst song: "Skidmarks on My Heart" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's good, but it's not worth it.
It's pretty easy to mock this record as the Go-Go's are kind of joke. The drummer was a contestant on the "Surreal Life" and Belinda Carlisle posed nude in Playboy a few years back.
I did not expect guitar lines from this record. I did not expect the start/stop-ness of it. The lyrics aren't much more than a party record.
The band's got more of a punk sensibility than I anticipated. Oddly enough, this record really reminded me of Sleater-Kinney. Belinda Carlisle's voice sounds remarkably like Corin Tucker, though not Tucker's wild screams. The tone of both singers' voice is excellent and dances between power and pretty.
Is it the Minutemen record? No, of course not. But, it's still damned good.
3 comments:
The bridge on "Our Lips Are Sealed" is probably worth the price of the album alone; but I've never bought or listened to the entire album, so I just lied.
This band is a little like the Pretenders...more punk than you would initially imagine judging by their mainstream image. These girls were pretty much falling down drunk, partying like rockstars all the time. Half the band could barely play their instruments on this album... but they were all about the lifestyle.
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