{"id":19773,"date":"2020-11-30T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T10:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19773"},"modified":"2020-11-18T09:29:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:29:35","slug":"album-reviews-redd-kross-phaseshifter-and-show-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/30\/album-reviews-redd-kross-phaseshifter-and-show-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Reviews: Redd Kross — Phaseshifter and Show World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Over the span of a decade-plus, Hawthorne, California band Redd Kross navigated the tricky path from punky indie band to one that sounded like the epitome of arena rock. And they managed the metamorphosis in a way that kept their bratty, pop culture perspective intact. In fact the change to a more radio-friendly sound served to sharpen the band\u2019s music, and its knowing take on rock forms proved once again that to properly satirize and\/or pastiche something, you have to really understand and appreciate it.<\/p>\n

Redd Kross may have seemed to hit its peak with 1990\u2019s Third Eye<\/i>, a mix of sticky-sweet bubblegum (\u201cBubblegum Factory\u201d), soaring guitar rock (\u201cThe Faith Healer\u201d) and spot-on re-creation of \u201870s rock (\u201c1976\u201d). But critical acclaim didn\u2019t bring with it a corresponding commercial breakthrough, so by the time of 1993\u2019s Phaseshifter<\/i>, the group was off Atlantic and back on a pseudo-indie Polygram subsidiary label.<\/p>\n

A seeming return to the indie scene didn\u2019t blunt Redd Kross\u2019s creative momentum, though. While the clever humor of Third Eye<\/i> is dialed back, Phaseshifter<\/i> maintains both the finely-tuned arrangements, soaring harmonies, and stadium-size guitar riffage that made the band\u2019s previous album so effective.<\/p>\n

So-called grunge rock was reaching its peak around the time of Phaseshifter<\/i>. Redd Kross have it both ways on their fourth full-length album: the power and energy of grunge is displayed on tracks like \u201cMonolith\u201d and \u201cVisionary,\u201d but the pure pop perspective of leaders Steven and Jeff McDonald ensures that there\u2019s a strong emphasis on melody. So while \u201cJimmy\u2019s Fantasy\u201d rocks in thunderous fashion, it also sports a winning, indelible melody.<\/p>\n

Redd Kross\u2019 \u201cSaragon\u201d is a sly, knowing wink at the Beatles\u2019 early releases on Capitol Records: the vocals are panned to one speaker, the instruments to the other. But the gimmick doesn\u2019t take away from the song\u2019s virtues as a solid, catchy rocker. And the closing track, \u201cAfter School Special\u201d combines the group\u2019s trademark nostalgia with punk energy.<\/p>\n

Phaseshifter<\/i> repeated its predecessor\u2019s critical acclaim, and somewhat unexpectedly performed well on the charts in the UK and Australia. That, it seemed, was enough to rekindle interest from the majors: by the time of 1997\u2019s Show World<\/i>, the band was back on a major label.<\/p>\n

The same lineup that made Phase Shifter<\/i> \u2013 the McDonalds, keyboardist Gere Fennelly, guitarist Eddie Kurdziel and drummer Brian Reitzell \u2013 return for Show World<\/i>. All of the previous album\u2019s virtues are on brilliant display here as well. Belying its title, \u201cOne Chord Progression\u201d is a memorable melodic rocker that\u2019s representative of this consistently enjoyable record. \u201cFollow the Leader\u201d channels the T. Rex sound into a \u201890s vibe.<\/p>\n

From the driving power pop riffage of \u201cPretty Please Me\u201d to the anthemic rock (with gurgling synthesizers) of \u201cStoned\u201d to the power balladeering of \u201cGirl God\u201d to the shimmering pop of \u201cMess Around,\u201d Show World<\/i> is the third in what can be thought of as a Redd Kross trilogy of albums that bring all of its best qualities into sharp focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the span of a decade-plus, Hawthorne, California band Redd Kross navigated the tricky path from punky indie band to one that sounded like the epitome of arena rock. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,59,62,64,65,73],"tags":[1809],"class_list":["post-19773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","category-punk","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-redd-kross","cat-51-id","cat-59-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19776,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19773\/revisions\/19776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}