Cover:
5 Nursing Homes out of 10
It's a stack amp just standing there in the middle of a desert.
The amp has the "Goddo" logo where you'd expect it to
read "Marshall" or whatever. There are three skulls sitting
on the ground near the amp. There's some rocks and shit lying around.
And that's about it. Booklet:
4 Assisted Living Environments out of 10
The booklet is filled with pictures of prehistoric drawings and caveman
art and stuff. There's some basic credits and contact information.
There are snippets of lyrics -- not the full song, but just a line or
two -- along with comments and random musings about each track, provided
by the band's singer, Greg Godovitz. I hate when bands do that.
Put that shit on your Web site or something, but not your booklet. It's
gay. Another odd thing is there are some endorsement logos and stuff,
including a business card for a realtor. You know… in case you're
listening to this CD and suddenly decide to buy a house. On the back
of the booklet is a big color photo of the 3 guys in the band. And holy
fuck, to say these guys are old is an understatement! One guy has long
white hair and looks like Dumbledore in those Harry Potter movies. Another
looks a bit like Dick Clark with a salt-and-pepper mini-mullet. And
the third guy, wearing John Lennon sunglasses, is just a little too
bald to get a combover going and looks like someone my dad plays golf
with on Saturdays. Their combined age has to be around 175 years. These
guys are dinosaurs.
Songs: 6
Geriatric Care Facilities out of 10
For as old as these hosers are, these guys can still play their instruments
and rock out like players half their age... at least while sitting down
in the studio. All the tunes sound like bluesy AC/DC cock rock songs
and while some are mediocre, some surprisingly aren't all that bad.
A little on the generic side in parts, but what the hell -- how many
senior citizen power trios are out there still singing about chasing
tail and stealing cash from their girlfriends' purses? It's pretty apparent
that Goddo don't take themselves too seriously. Case in point: probably
the most memorable track is called "Rock Star" and it's a
tongue-in-cheek ditty about the singer being an aging ‘rock star'
and doing all kinds of mundane things everyone has to do, like clipping
coupons, shampooing what's left of his hair, taking out the trash, buying
groceries, paying bills, and shit like that. I like this song much better
than Poison's song called "Rock Star." Come to think of it,
I like this CD much better than Poison's entire Hollyweird
album! Just for that fact, I'm giving the songs on this CD an extra
point.
Comments: Goddo's heyday was
back in the mid to late 70s when they were hot shit in their native
city of Toronto. They reached superstar status in the Great White North,
and even though they did a few club tours in the US, they never quite
broke anywhere south of Canada. That's why nobody outside of Ontario
really knows who they are, and even in that province, not many people
under the age of 35 has ever heard of them. Internal squabbling caused
a breakup in the mid 80s, but amidst the resurgence of cock rock bands
15 years younger than them, the band reunited for a new studio album
in 1992. However, they again drifted back into retirement, then reunited
once more in 2000 for some 25th anniversary shows. Kings of the
Stoned Age may end up being the last Goddo album ever, at least
with the original lineup, but if it's so, at least it's going out on
a relative high note. That is, until Greg Godovitz has a heart attack
and drops dead on stage. I wonder if bands like Poison or Skid Row will
still be putting out CDs when they're in their late fifties? Maybe they
all can learn something from Goddo. After all, it's better to fade out,
than to burn away. (Or some shit like that. I'm bad with quips.)
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