Bob Log - My Shit is Perfect

Bob Log III,  “My Shit is Perfect”, 2009
(Voodoo Rhythm)

A couple of years ago I attended a punk festival and the show was stolen from all of the four on the floor bands by a guy who called himself, Boss Christ, who had huge wolfman sideburns and played a slide guitar laid out on a table.  Someone at the show compared him to Bog Log although admitting their schtick differed slightly so I checked out some live clips on Youtube and then promptly forgot about the flight helmet wearing, slide guitar playing lo-fi one-man band that is Bob Log.   So when this reminder in album form popped up in my review package, I was curious to give it a listen.

“My Shit is Perfect”  is largely a mixture of bluegrass and blues. The guitar often sounds like the open-mouthed kid, who sat behind you in some high school class, playing with the rubber bands on his teeth braces.  The first song “Goddamned Sounds Good” starts off well and gets funky with the heavy use of his kick drum but the song soon wears out it welcome due to its repetiveness in both sound and lyrics.  Whether it’s intentional or not, the fact is hammered home since it’s on the album twice.  “It’s The Law” and “Manipulate Your Figments” have an unoriginality that may bring Beck’s lawyer to a copyright trial.  As the album winds on, it’s difficult to distinguish where exactly where one song finishes and another starts as there is a “heard it before” vibe due to overused twanging riffs that make it tough to listen to the album from start to finish.  This tongue in cheek novelty album has all the substance of an instant soup concentrate.

1/5

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Poor Boy's Soul - Burn Down

Blues has always been the music from those that have seen hard times first time and got their hands dirty by working hard. Poor Boy's Soul also known Trever Jones was once an organic farmer so likely got his hands dirty playing with farm machinery, weeding and picking spray-free vegetabes.

The title track to "Burn Down This House" has a lived-in feel not unlike the music of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf. If Bob Log played the blues under a full moon and drank much more whiskey then Bob'd be able to emulate a song like "Movin' To The City". More drinking and bluegrass sums up the hoedown of "Nails and Pines". Gospel is touched upon in "Throwing Stones" although your local church pastor is unlikely approve with a smiling face unless he chainsmokes Malboro cigarettes and chases each smoke with a drink of whiskey to get rid of the tobacco tang. Since I've already mentioned Bob Log, I'd be surprised if anyone familiar with the Voodoo Rhythm doesn't enjoy most of this one man band's album. The folky soppiness of Annalisa seems somewhat out of place amongst the rawness of the other songs. The album drops in November but you can listen to the title track here as it's been given away as a free single.

3.5/5