The Honeydogs
10,000 Years
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NATN Recommended
The Honeydogs
10,000 Years
United Musicians, 2003
RiYL: Wilco, The Who, Radiohead |
At the same time, it’s also an album that could give a graduate student a brilliant idea for a thesis, as 10,000 Years is one of the most lyrically sophisticated, complicated, and creative records I’ve heard in my life.
The Honeydogs, my friends, are back.
To those unfamiliar with the ‘Dogs, take a gander at a few articles written for these hallowed halls a few years back, early 2001. You see, the 'Dogs of 2001 were quite a hard-luck story, with a solid album Here’s Luck released a mere three years after it was recorded in 1998. That’s right, their Wilco-esque story of being dropped by a label with a completed record took place BEFORE it was cool.
Before Whiskeytown’s Pneumonia, before Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, there was Here’s Luck, as solid an album as any released in 2001. And those astute readers will remember that I selected it as my album of the year in my 98th annual Golden Bull Awards.
On Here’s Luck, the Honeydogs and singer/songwriter Adam Levy broke the chains of their alt.country past and put together a record full of inspiration. Influences ranged from Mott The Hoople (“Pins In Dolls”) to Phil Spector (“For The Tears”) and Lennon (“The Crown”).
The album wasn’t a total success (not that you can tell from my glowing review), but it marked such a stark departure from Levy’s alt.country past that is still probably the most surprising album I’ve heard since Joe Henry’s coming-out-party Trampoline. As much as I enjoyed the band’s first few records, I just did not anticipate Levy to produce an album as diverse and methodical as Here’s Luck.
Well shame on me, because Levy has just done it again. In fact, the band’s new record 10,000 Years is such an upgrade that it makes their entire catalog sound like it was written, well, 10,000 years ago.
I know I tend to be pretty favorable in many of my reviews; Hell, I generally only pick albums from bands I like anyway. Sometimes I’m a little too generous (see Cary, Caitin; Hudson, Cary and Willis, Kelly), sometimes not enough (see Case, Neko), and sometimes I hit it right on the head (see Jayhawks, the). Anyway, the point of this little aside is that I don’t want to sound like I’m pandering when I say 10,000 Years is already one of my favorite albums. Ever. Right up there with Wilco’s Being There, the Clash’s London Calling, Ian Hunter’s All-American Alien Boy. That’s not to say it’s as good as those, but it’s approaching that territory.
I wouldn’t expect my friends to have the same affection for it, and I certainly do not think it will be remembered in the annals of time along next to the aforementioned classics. But damn, 10,000 Years is just one terrific listen.
At first, Levy -- a social worker in his spare time -- set out to write a collection of songs based on his work experience. But clearly, 10,000 Years is more influenced by events that crept into everyday life as the songwriting process took place –at the album’s heart, it’s a concept album reflecting on the war on terrorism. Weaving a complicated tale about a dire future that includes test-tube babies, welfare service, the spread of Islam, and a “Final Solution,” Levy has put together a musical statement leaps beyond anything in his past, and more compelling than about anything else released in 2003.
Musically, 10,000 Years is a tour-de-force, as the alt.country of Levy’s past is left in the closet, and the influences that drenched Here’s Luck are largely kept out of sight. Instead, Levy comes up with a moody record that, while not quite an original masterpiece, certainly stands on its own. A handful of songs are piano-driven (“Dead Stars,” “Ms Anne Thrope”), while others are arena-sized rock n’ roll (“10,000 Years”). Then there are those somewhere in between. “The Rake’s Progress,” for one, would fit nicely on Ben Folds’ newest, while “Test-Tube Kid” is about as smart a rocker this side of They Might Be Giants.
But it is the lyrics that control 10,000 Years, and boy, are they some of the most imaginative, clever and downright tiring lyrics I’ve ever heard. Try to follow along: It is the future, don’t know what year, but the test-tube babies are coming to life. Not unlike the Clones of “Star Wars” fame, the test-tube kids are perfect, and they’re here to strip evil from the world. But there is a ghetto, and the Ministry just arrested a few bad apples for plotting genocide. Meanwhile, a plague has hit Africa and some guy named Brother 33 is injecting microchips with mustard gas.
If you think that would make for a confusing listen, just check out the eight-plus minutes of “Last War Lullaby,” the centerpiece of the album, which details the Ministry dissecting evil for further inspection. The song itself is about as close to a rock opera as the ‘Dogs get, explaining in graphic detail the plague, the test-tube soldiers and the nuclear holocaust that follows Brother 33’s detonation of a 10-megaton bomb.
To wit: “One leg in the grave, the other kicking down the door / They poisoned all the water, the man behind the man / The rolling blackout followed / the roving bands leave piles of hands / Barbed wire and rubber truncheons, some won’t cooperate / the jungle prison brothels / the hand-maimed know Leopold’s ghost.”
Phew. Catch your breath, but not for long, as the plague is coming and the Ministry’s test-tubies are about to catch evil! “We can’t bury Tyhoid Mary / Lovely nadir, we can’t stay here / White-hooded hydra, Teutonic knight stick, brownshirt gas chambermaid / We finally got evil / At the end of our blade.”
Of course, this is simply a Cliff’s Notes version. I’m not kidding when I say I was flat-out beat when I listened to “Last War Lullaby;” the song grabbed me by the throat and never let go.
This review is a little off-beat, not quite the norm for yours truly. But there’s just so much to 10,000 Years that I really can’t do it justice in print. So you’ll just have to take my word for it and buy it. And you might as well grab a coffee because you’ll be listening to it for a while.
And, if you’re in grad school, you could probably base your dissertation on the relationship between Vadikyn -- the good test-tube baby -- and Ms Anne Thrope. Papers are due Tuesday.
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.