Review → The Lawrence Arms – Oh! Calcutta! (2006)
The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
Welcome to part 3 of Chicago Week. Today we’re traversing yet again down the Slapstick Family Tree, and looking at the latest album from Brendan Kelly’s current project, the Lawrence Arms.
Oh! Calcutta! opens with with Kelly’s trademark gruff voice snarling “Shall we dance? Or maybe just limp around?” The song, as well as the album as a whole, favors Kelly over guitarist Chris McCaughan on vocals, though there’s more interplay here than on past albums; previously, songs would either be all-Brendan or all-Chris affairs, whereas the songs on Oh! Calcutta! find them harmonizing more, and trading-off. For example, opener “The Devil’s Takin’ Names” has a brief verse by Chris about midway through the song. Another prime example of the dueling vocals is “Great Lakes, Great Escapes.” While the band always had great songs, this new dynamic to the vocals really adds something to the band’s already impressive music.
As for the music behind the vocals, it’s all very strong; the band plays furious, gritty punk. The style is very obviously Midwest, more so than most of their past releases. The band had seemed to “clean it up” while on Fat Wreck Chords, and this puts a slightly harder edge on their sound (or, conversely, just downplays their more pop-friendly tendencies), while still retaining their ability to write a catchy-as-hell song. Just try listening to “Recovering the Opposable Thumb” without, at the very least, bobbing your head along, and starting to sing the chorus as soon as you pick up on the words. It is very hard to resist this.
The only misstep on the album, that jumps out at me, is the opening to the closing song “Like a Record Player.” The sing-songy opening just doesn’t do it for me. While the song gets better once they kick it up, it’s still probably the weakest offering on the album. Not unlistenable by any means, but it won’t end up on your “best of the Larry Arms” mix CD, I suspect.
This latest offering from the Lawrence Arms is an excellent record all around, and definitely something punk fans should look into. If you’re not already avidly following the career of the prolific Brendan Kelly (check the link to Bad Sandwich Chronicles, his blog, on the Blogroll), this is a fine entry point.
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