Tuesday 30 November 2010

Why Did It All Go So Bland, Jenny?



New kid on the blog, Scott over at Spools Paradise has a piece about Jenny and Johnny's performance at Oran Mor at the weekend.

I have to confess that I have given the Jenny and Johnny album a half arsed listen and dismissed it as more of the same lightweight MOR that the final Rilo Kiley and second Jenny Lewis offering were. I think that I will have to give it another listen but I feel that my initial view will stand as that last time I saw her live she had her Bo on tour with her and I think they did a couple of numbers which would have been early versions of stuff from this album. I was bored stiff that night by the bland performance.

Which really pissed me off, as on the previous 3 occasions that I had seen her she was brilliant and captivating. Granted one was with the Watson Twins in Mono which was astounding and the other two were with Rilo Kiley which were equally as special. Once as support to Bright Eyes in the debating hall of The Glasgow University Union and the other in their own right at the Wah Wah Hut. But on all occasions there was something special in her performance that made for truly memorable gigs which was all the more evident by it's complete absence at the QMU.

One other thought, why are there so many anally retentive music bores blogging in the West of Scotland?

Here are a couple of tracks featuring Jenny before she went bland.

Rilo Kiley - Spectacular Views 

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Born Secular

6 comments:

davyh said...

I've been underwhelmed by everything since 'More Adventurous' really, which I loved.

drew said...

More Adventurous was great. You got any snow yet Mr H? Supposed to be flying to mLuton on Thursday, could see it far enough.

dickvandyke said...

I blame the boyfriend.

(For her tepidity, not the snow).

Scott said...

Thanks for the link Drew. I agree the album may not be as good as a lot of her previous stuff but I think they just sound as though they had fun making it. Nothing more, nothing less. And sometimes that's all you need. I saw it reviewed in Uncut as "like a toffee apple - bite through the caramel - and there's a certain sourness underneath." Thought that summed it up nicely.

drew said...

DVD - where the hell have you been, Mr H and I were worried. Must be cold in the shed at the moment.

Scott - I am going to listen to it again, full attention this time.

dickvandyke said...

Jenny just stirred my woodshed momentarily from my hibernation, drew.

I'm all shoe-boxed up in the foetal position at the back of the shed til March. I recalled what they used to do with the tortoise on Blue Peter, so I had my arse covered in linseed oil.