Mr. Green’s Review of The Black Keys’ El Camino
I consider myself a music lover. I listen to as much as I can as often as I can. I enjoy lots of different types of music and going to concerts. I do my best to stay current with today’s music, but it isn’t always that easy to do.
I had heard of the Black Keys prior to this project, but I had never heard their music, so, when I found out that theirs was the album I would be reviewing, I was looking forward to it. I had heard a lot of positive feedback from a lot of people about this band, so I was under the impression that I was going to enjoy what I was about to listen to. That wasn’t necessarily the case.
I should say, that I really don’t dislike the band or the album, so this is not a negative review, but certainly I was not a huge supporter of the Black Keys 2010 hit record “El Camino”. From what I can tell, the reason the Black Keys are so popular is because their music sounds just like the music of bands from the past. For instance, the 4th song on the album “Little Black Submarines” sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin ‘s “Stairway to Heaven”. I can hear influences from several other bands as well. I hear “Money Maker” and think immediately of The Doors, I listen to “Sister” and hear Tom Petty, I listen to “Stop Stop” and hear the Rolling Stones. There is nothing wrong with being influenced by the bands who came before you, as a matter of fact it is a good thing, but these songs are close to being completely ripped off from said bands.
The other issue I had with this album was the first two songs, “Lonely Boy” and “Dead and Gone”. The issue is this: they are the same song. They sound identically alike. Each song has “hey hey” in the chorus, a repetitive bass line, and female background singers doing their best to harmonize with the gentlemen of the band. I guess it is a good marketing strategy though. After all, if you like “Lonely Boy” you will undoubtedly like “Dead and Gone”. However, it started me off on the wrong foot. If the first two songs show a lack of creativity, what does that mean the rest of the album has in store for me?
Overall, I did not mind listening to the album. I thought it was good music, and I can see why the Black Keys are so popular. I think they are bringing music from the 1970’s to the audience of the 2010’s, which is a good thing. I am a huge fan of bands from the 1970’s, so that kind of music is right up my alley. I think though, that if kids today want to hear music from the 1970’s, they should listen to music from the 1970’s. In my opinion, the Black Keys are a glorified cover band masquerading as legitimate rock and rollers. Let Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger handle the songs from the 70’s. They do a much better job.
Ally Kopicki’s review of Billy Joel’s The Stranger
Ever since Mr. Green played Tevye in last year’s Spring Musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and solidified himself as a “cool” teacher/counselor at the school (especially with us ‘theater kids’) I knew he would be a fun person to collaborate with.
When I first heard that Mr. Green chose for me to listen to Billy Joel, it got me interested. I tried to think of the songs I already knew by him –“Piano Man” of course, ”We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and “Uptown Girl”—but when I got the CD and browsed the back cover for titles- I saw none I recognized. Billy Joel’s “The Stranger” was released in 1977 and was his breakthrough album. It was his highest selling album and sold over 15 million copies.
It opens with the song “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) that tells a story of working hard to “make it” only to find that sometimes there’s more to life than just working. This song was also featured as the title of a musical based off of Billy Joel’s songs which I thought was really neat. I then heard “Just the Way You Are,” which I had heard before but never knew who sang it! It’s a beautiful ballad and it’s always been one of my favorite love songs as well as my favorite song on the CD. Of the whole album – this is the song with the most airplay. “The Stranger” – the title track added a different flavor to the album starting out slow and then rising to a crescendo. The rest of the album did drag a little bit because the songs seemed to blend together but there was one song that stood out to me later in the album: “Only the Good Die Young,” which I realized I had heard before, admittedly because of the TV show ‘Glee’. It’s a great upbeat song with kind of a dark tone but isn’t one that’s going to bring you down. I loved that it was a little ‘old time rock’ in the mix of the piano ballads. The lesser known songs like “Vienna” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” are even quite good.
I do think that overall the album was pretty good and I didn’t have any complaints about it. I now see why Billy Joel was so popular in the 70’s and 80’s and how he skyrocketed to the top of the music charts. Honestly, I believe more kids my age should listen to music like this – music with meaning and emotion rather than the “party hard” view that everyone seems to have nowadays. I may be old-fashioned in my music taste but I think the values and the message of older songs are just more appealing to me. I want to thank Mr. Green for choosing such a good album for me to listen to and enjoy.