Sea Urchin – I Beefed it (On My Motorbike)
It was really early in the morning when I rubbed sleep out of my eyes and proceeded to get ready for a run. I’m not very good at it. I can’t in any kind of wild fantasy that Manchester United would ask me over for a trial. But fantasies are required if you’re going to keep going. I instinctively began playing “Bat out of Hell” into my headphones.
All these years later, the overblown, excessive anthem to teenage car crashes and doomed love affairs continues to feel like the soundtrack to Nordic gods dying during Ragnarök.
It’s not like there aren’t any other other songs about tragic teenage crash crashes. “Last Kiss” got Pearl Jam a hit and there were tunes likes “Leader of the Pack,” “Tell Laura I Love Her.”
Bruce Springsteen also got in on the action quicker than Meat Loaf did. And, in fact, many listeners accurately pointed out that “Bat of Hell” borrowed more than a little from the Boss’ sound.
But nothing really rocks, nothing really rolls, and nothing’s worth the cost quite like “Bat out of Hell.”
Sea Urchin feel the same way, and send “I Beefed It (On My Motorbike)” out as a tribute to Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. And, in honor of the two great men, they take away all matters of subtlety and modesty out of the equation, leaving in just a smudge of humor.
The lyrics are about racing like the devil and their potential father-in-law being the chief of police. And there’s no way that these words can be sung without total commitment to the cause. No, Sea Urchin perform this as if they’re on a stage of a theater that’s going to be blown up with them in it.
There are plenty of modest rock stars like Chris Martin of Coldplay out there. Quite enough, frankly! Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman weren’t that. And Sea Urchin don’t want to go down as being that either.
hour of pearl – Gotta Get It Right
Most older indie-rockers were, at one point, drunken Robinson Crusoe-like characters. Underneath all of the mayhem that they created around them, all they wanted was to be understood and rescued. They played it real cool, but, really, they just wanted to be liked and wanted to be successful just like everyone else. Millions of dollars were hardly ever sprayed over their way, but many of them continue to inspire.
No band of that era continues to be as beloved as The Replacements. Their music is reproduced by modern bands in a consistent space. And, although anecdotes of the band routinely getting wasted and playing cover songs or switching clothes right before an important television taping build up their myth, Paul Westerberg must be happy with the kind of love his music gets.
hour of pearl’s single “Gotta Get It Right” is meant to travel from the garage straight into listener’s hearts. This is loud rock n’ roll, given a Stonesy groove. But there’s also sensitivity here that the musicians have no desire to hide. Sometimes, the ones who act the most nonchalantly do this to disguise how much they care. Passion and loud guitars may still change the world or, at the very least, save some individual microcosms. hour of pearl are on board for that
