THE LP IS DEAD – JP “Thunderbolt” Patterson (No Fun Records)
No drummer jokes or questioning the validity of the album title please. That’d just distract from the music within. Let’s deliver the short descriptor before elaborating and say that “The LP Is Dead” is pure, unadulterated poppish-punk phun with a capital ‘F’.
JP Patterson is best-known as longtime drummer for the semi-retired Dictators, who deserve a spot in the Hall of R ‘n’ R Fame on the strength of their output in the ‘90s and ‘00s as much as their pre-punk/proto-punk past. The ‘Tators were staking a claim as Next Big Things when Hilly Krystal was still looking for an obscure name to put on the awning above his Bowery bar’s door.
A latter day recruit but their most enduring drummer, JP also manned the traps for one of rock and roll’s all-time underrated acts, the mighty Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, who were in effect the Dictators with one less member and an MTV filmclip. So he has a bit of skin in this rock and roll game.
This is his first solo album - if you discount the mainly instrumental “Thunderboss” project on which he shared joint billing with ‘Tators bandmate Ross the Boss - and it’s one on which he had an all-pervading role. As well as drumming, JP wrote all the tunes and sang all the vocals. It sounds a bit like getting your licence after owning a series of Corvettes, but I guess (a.) a guy has to have new challenges or things get boring and (b.) there’s only room for so many songwriters in his “other” band.
And make no mistake - the songs are very much at the heart of things on “The LP Is Dead”. It’s hopefully not presumptuous to say Messrs Shernoff or Manitoba would be happy to put their names against many if not most of them. Viewed collectively, they contain more hooks than a discount fishing tackle shop, and they’re delivered with the confidence only the righteously committed lovers of rock and roll can command.
Co-protagonists Dean Rispler (guitar, keys and – bouzouki - believe it or not) and CJ Scioscia (bass and guitar) have been longtime associates, Rispler as a member of The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and Scioscia as Dictators road manager. They’re both good men to have on the team and if there’s the occasional echo of Ross The Boss in some of the playing, that’s understandable. JP's production is uncluttered and allows the catchy bits to roar right through.
Listening to “The LP Is Dead” is to sit at the end of a runway and watch vintage warplanes take off, laden with pop payloads. One after another, these songs hit their target.
“Almost Summer” and the title track manage to be sentimental without being soppy with killer choruses to tide you over. “Dynamo” mixes a smidgin of rap vocalising with a bracingly abrasive guitar figure. The up-vibe “Getting Out” sounds like the Heartbreakers if beer and champagne chasers had been their mood-altering substances of choice. There are riffs galore and Cheap Trick fans will be besides themselves.
The poptastic “I Know” sits atop an insistent feel and glam guitars and dares you to knock it off its perch. “Just One Beverage” sweeps all before it with a huge sing-along chorus while on “Hand Grenade Heart”, JP stretches his vocal to the bottom of its range to maximise a soaring chorus. D stands for Dynamics and Dynamite.
Is there any need to say the man has his drumming chops down pat? Didn’t think so but there’s no showboating here either. Arriving at year's end but truly one of THE picks of 2009. – The Barman
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THUNDERBOSS - Thunderbolt Patterson with Ross the Boss (Poptown Records)
Instrumental albums don't receive their fair dues for obvious reasons. It's damn hard to singalong for one (though the more inventive might make up lyrics as they go along), and some of the clothes worn are moth-easten by years of exposure to A Fistful of Dollars and the opening scenes from Hawaii Five-O. Personally, although my parentage was from Irish-Scots stock, childhood nightmares of LPs of flamenco music with strange mariacchi affectations still haunt me. The bagpipe albums have been blanked out as recalling them is just too traumatic. Despite those mental scars, a few instro work-outs manage to be special enough to rise above the pack - and here is one of 'em.JP "Thunderbolt" Patterson is the drummer for New York City's fabulous Dictators - which would be enough claim to fame to earn his stripes around these parts. That he's also an extra from shows like The Sopranos is the icing on the cake. Thunderbolt's the driving force behind this album, having written arranged and produced the whole shebang (so we'll go easy on the drummer jokes).
Ross the Boss, being a lead guitar sorta guy, probably needs even less of an introduction, and his biography is studded with bands like the aforementioned 'Tators, Manowar and Manitoba's Wild Kingdom (being the Dictators in speedcore clothing). Two white boys, banging on toys, we're all the richer for them making noise, to paraphrase someone close to them both...
Regardless of the players' antecedents, don't come here looking for proto punk or cartoon metal. JP describes this as "Ross in Jeff Beck mode" - and that's right on the money. Not so much the Beck of "Blow by Blow" or the Jan Hammer Group and there's no "Hi Ho Silver Lining" to be heard (which is probably A Good Thing, the more you think about it). Think "Guitar Shop" or maybe "Flash" (sans Rooster Hair Rod). It's deliciously retro-sounding, vocal-less, straight-up instro rock with a million moods and some stunning moments.
I said vocal-less but there is the occasional "hey" inflection (or "ole" on "Ole, funnily enough), as well as keys, that cheesegrater thingo you twist and some smoking harp. It's not a blues album though, and although the centrepiece ("Thunderbolt Theme") is rolling surf with double-tracked guitar, that's not the pervading flow either.
The core band is the two headliners plus bassist CJ Scioscia. Much of the additional instrumentation is JP himself. This is lithe, dynamic music that can't be boxed in. JP lays it down superbly from the engine room point of view and Ross the Boss does what he always does - lays waste to all around with the precision of a modern-day Visigoth wearing night vision glasses and a laser sight on his battleaxe. While it's fair to say that the guitar playing often carries the melody, the colourings and arrangements convey the moods.
I'm not any sort of a guitar player and scarcely can tell the difference between my tuning fork and granny's hemorrhoid cream applicator, but I'm damn sure Ross Friedman is one of the greatest rock players in the world. Given his head outside the confined strictures of his other bands, the results on cuts like "The Box" or "Fast or Finish" are special.– The Barman
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