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theBeat RED Reviews
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RED Magazine, Utah, theBeat RED Reviews >>
theBeat RED Reviews
By Janean Parker
Close My Eyes The Slackers Hellcat Records
(4 out of 5)
New York City's The Slackers has delivered another tasty serving of ska gumbo. For 12 years, the band's many members have been pleasing listeners with a musical melange of ska, reggae, soul, swing, garage rock and jazz. Their seventh album, Close My Eyes, continues the trend of excellence, adding 12 new songs to the band's impressive catalogue.
Repeating chords and an upbeat tempo lend ska its infectiously happy sound, but beneath The Slackers' joy lurk lyrics of many moods—not all of them cheerful. Those familiar with The Slackers will not be surprised by the range of emotions contained within the album. From the lighthearted "Axes" to the truly heartbreaking "Mommy," many feelings come through. Ironically, "Mommy" sounds the happiest of all album’s songs, yet deals with the saddest of all the topics: a mother's death.
“It was just a shit of a year,” said Vic Ruggiero, The Slackers’ lead singer, in a press release, “a couple of years—rough times with family and at the same time they’re attacking NYC.”
Even with all the recent difficulties, this isn't an angry band. The most overt expression of frustration on the album is heard in the song "Real War," an open denouncement of the United States’ recent choice to go to war. If you look at the cover of this album, you will see a girl sitting with closed eyes, her back to the television and newspaper, both bearing photos of the WTC disaster. The title of the album was taken from Jack Kerouac's “Visions of Gerard:” “All I gotta do is close my eyes and it all goes away.”
As Vic said in a recent interview, members of The Slackers enjoy making “concept albums…not just a collection [of songs].” As such, Close my Eyes must be a musical chronicle of The Slackers’ trials and triumphs of the past two years.
—JP 09/18/03 >> go there
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