Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks

A CHALLENGER APPROACHES

For those of you who might be reading this (do we have any of those people, guys?) that don't know me -- "Hi". I've been too busy / too lazy / too several other things to write an entry up until this point, despite being listed as a collaborator from the get-go.

It took something special to get me off my ass and writing. That something? The latest album by my favorite band.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks (March 9th, Matador)

Track List:

1. "The Mighty Sparrow"
2. "Mourning in America"
3. "Ativan Eyes"
4. "Even Heroes Have to Die"
5. "The Stick"
6. "Bottled in Cork"
7. "Woke Up Near Chelsea"
8. "One Polaroid a Day"
9. "Where Was My Brain?"
10. "Bartolomeo and the Buzzing of Bees"
11. "Tuberculoids Arrive in Hop"
12. "Gimme the Wire"
13. "Last Days"

It's no secret that I love TL/Rx. Ted Leo is the consummate punk showman -- he is charming, funny, and can shred like few others of this generation. Some have called him a combination of Billy Bragg and Elvis Costello, for this millennium. While he is certainly not as legendary as either of those esteemed musicians, I won't say that it's an inaccurate description.

This is The Pharmacists' fifth full length, their first since 2007's Living with the Living. It is the first LP with Marty "Violence" Key on bass and the first to feature James Canty on rhythm guitar since 2003's Hearts of Oak, one of the best albums of the last decade. The addition and re-addition truly fill out the band's sound. I was always a fan of former bassist Dave Lerner and his wild mane of hair, but his playing never felt so... purposeful as Key's does here. I don't know if the mix will change any, with a month to go, but the basslines are prominent and driving when they need to be, but slink to the back when they need to, and it works very well, at least to these ears. Rounding out the rhythm is Chris Wilson, whose drumming is better than it ever has been.

Onto the front man, and the album itself. My initial reaction is that Ted has crafted some of his best work on The Brutalist Bees. Leo knows how to open an album -- see "Me and Mia" and "Biomusicology", from Shake the Sheets and The Tyranny of Distance, respectively, for further proof of that fact. He hits another homerun on this album too, opening with the excellent "The Mighty Sparrow", a quick, but solid groove through and through, with a very George Harrison-esque solo. It's followed by a rerecorded version of "Mourning in America" a track that was released on an EP in 2008 to benefit charity Democracy Now!. It sounds infinitely better here. It's more polished on all fronts. Crisp, thundering drums, pulsing bass, and an overall balanced mix that the original lacked.

The third track, "Ativan Eyes", is one of my favorites, but I can't for the life of me explain why. It's just a great song, I think. I could say the same of "Bottled in Cork", another song I love for intangible reasons. Maybe it's that it seems to have a strong connection to World War II, despite being a sort of romanticized punk song, with its closing refrain of "tell the bartender I think I'm falling in love."

The real highlights, though, are "Even Heroes Have to Die" and "One Polaroid a Day". The former is a relatively straightforward song. It's got a great chorus, sung in a sort of half-falsetto by Leo: "Even heroes have to die--- / No one lives forever, love / and no one's wise to try". There's nothing less endearing than a punk who refuses to age gracefully, and Ted shows how aware he is of that fact. The other gem, "One Polaroid a Day", is just fantastic to listen to. It has a sort of staccato riff that is just lovely to the ear, and Ted's vocal is a very understated, near-whisper that suits the song so so well. The bass is simple but functional, and the drums are relatively quiet. Everything complements each other so perfectly. It may be the best song the band has ever written.

From cover to cover, the album doesn't really have any truly weak tracks. "Tuberculoids Arrive in Hop" is very different, it's got no percussion at all, and has almost a wild-west vibe to it, and sounds like it was recorded outside -- crickets can be heard in the back throughout, and the song ends with about 20 seconds of outdoors-at-night-in-the-summer sounds, crickets, cars passing in the distance. It's not bad, but it's an acquired taste at the very least. Overall, The Brutalist Bricks seems to be the best Ted Leo work, LP or otherwise, in nearly seven years, and it might just be in contention for their best release yet.

Get it here
Buy it here