The Public Good - A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone
2010, Lost Lyrics
The Public Good are led by John Elderkin and Steve Ruppenthal, singer/songwriters and former partners in North Carolina rockers The Popes. While The Popes have gone the way of the Do Do and the purple-spotted Snorklewhacker, the distinctive dirty pop sensibility of that band lives on in The Public Good. The Washington, D.C. based band spices up their live shows with solid songs, costume dramas and even the occasional brain teaser, while musing musically on the trials and tribulations of adulthood. The Public Good follows up last year’s No. 1 with A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone, an unapologetic and lively mix of wit, wisdom and wild bouts of fancy.
The Public Good opens with "You Looked Good", a solid rock n roll tune with a crunchy Americana feel. Lyrically repetitive, The Public Good keeps the song interesting with a low-fi sound that feeds your head. "This Is What We Want" continues the catchy, crunchy rock-n roll. The sound here isn't exactly garage, but the distant cousin concocted by an electrical engineer with a lot of spare time. "Black Ice" is an interesting change of pace, looking in wonder at the ability of illness to tie us to loved ones in ways good health and happiness never quite accomplish. It's a lively but thoughtful take on life, love and death.
"Cooking For Two" is a lighter number, having some self-deprecating fun with Elderkin's reliance on his microwave as a mark of manhood. The merriment continues on "Hey, Solomon Grundy!", a rowdy take on the classic children's rhyme. This tune is a lot of fun, and great fodder for live shows. The Public Good goes instrumental with "Slow Day At Work", a solid but unexciting turn that acts as an intermission of sorts. "Your Product Name Right Here" details the virtues of selling out as a band with a sung chorus and adolescent banter about all the good stuff they'd buy. It's an entertaining diversion that most every band daydreams about at one point or another. "My Pre-Existing Conditions" is the best songwriting on the album, with Elderkin laying out all of his shortcomings early in a courtship to avoid rejection later on. It's a brilliant tune that's funny but too well crafted to be considered novelty. The Public Good closes out on a comically incomplete note with "And Then We Ran Out Of Things To Talk About". You'll see the ending coming and it will still make you chuckle.
The Public Good seriously don't take themselves too seriously. Similar to the process of a highly intelligent actor playing a "dumb" role, The Public Good find their comedy in juxtaposing reality with the adolescent proclivities of society at large. Musically low-fi, The Public Good allows themselves the room to get messy with life's foibles and explore them at ground level. Consequently, A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone avoids brilliance by rising above it while sinking into the depths of everyday life with observations and conjecture that fall outside the collective box of groupthink. Make some time for The Public Good and A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone, and don't be too hard on the paper dolls.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)
Learn more about The Public Good at http://www.thepublicgoodonline.com/ or www.myspace.com/thepublicgood. A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone is available from http://www.thepublicgoodonline.com/ on CD. Digital copies are available from iTunes.
2010, Lost Lyrics
The Public Good are led by John Elderkin and Steve Ruppenthal, singer/songwriters and former partners in North Carolina rockers The Popes. While The Popes have gone the way of the Do Do and the purple-spotted Snorklewhacker, the distinctive dirty pop sensibility of that band lives on in The Public Good. The Washington, D.C. based band spices up their live shows with solid songs, costume dramas and even the occasional brain teaser, while musing musically on the trials and tribulations of adulthood. The Public Good follows up last year’s No. 1 with A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone, an unapologetic and lively mix of wit, wisdom and wild bouts of fancy.
The Public Good opens with "You Looked Good", a solid rock n roll tune with a crunchy Americana feel. Lyrically repetitive, The Public Good keeps the song interesting with a low-fi sound that feeds your head. "This Is What We Want" continues the catchy, crunchy rock-n roll. The sound here isn't exactly garage, but the distant cousin concocted by an electrical engineer with a lot of spare time. "Black Ice" is an interesting change of pace, looking in wonder at the ability of illness to tie us to loved ones in ways good health and happiness never quite accomplish. It's a lively but thoughtful take on life, love and death.
"Cooking For Two" is a lighter number, having some self-deprecating fun with Elderkin's reliance on his microwave as a mark of manhood. The merriment continues on "Hey, Solomon Grundy!", a rowdy take on the classic children's rhyme. This tune is a lot of fun, and great fodder for live shows. The Public Good goes instrumental with "Slow Day At Work", a solid but unexciting turn that acts as an intermission of sorts. "Your Product Name Right Here" details the virtues of selling out as a band with a sung chorus and adolescent banter about all the good stuff they'd buy. It's an entertaining diversion that most every band daydreams about at one point or another. "My Pre-Existing Conditions" is the best songwriting on the album, with Elderkin laying out all of his shortcomings early in a courtship to avoid rejection later on. It's a brilliant tune that's funny but too well crafted to be considered novelty. The Public Good closes out on a comically incomplete note with "And Then We Ran Out Of Things To Talk About". You'll see the ending coming and it will still make you chuckle.
The Public Good seriously don't take themselves too seriously. Similar to the process of a highly intelligent actor playing a "dumb" role, The Public Good find their comedy in juxtaposing reality with the adolescent proclivities of society at large. Musically low-fi, The Public Good allows themselves the room to get messy with life's foibles and explore them at ground level. Consequently, A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone avoids brilliance by rising above it while sinking into the depths of everyday life with observations and conjecture that fall outside the collective box of groupthink. Make some time for The Public Good and A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone, and don't be too hard on the paper dolls.
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)
Learn more about The Public Good at http://www.thepublicgoodonline.com/ or www.myspace.com/thepublicgood. A Varied Program Of Stereo Dynamics For Your Wild Nights Alone is available from http://www.thepublicgoodonline.com/ on CD. Digital copies are available from iTunes.
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