| Cover:
5 Flophouses of 10
This looks like an aging photograph from pre-Bolshevik Russia.
It's a grainy, yellowed picture of Kory Clarke sitting on a chair, and
he's looking all Rasputin-like with unwashed hair, scraggly beard, sunglasses
and big fur coat. A bit like Grizzly Adams might've looked after smoking
a big doob with Mad Jack. Or like Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes,
since that guy's always stoned anyway.
Booklet:
6 Rooms by the Week out of 10
All the packaging has the same color scheme as the front cover, which
means it doesn't have much color at all. Just that yellowed brown sepia
tone so it looks like a series of 100-year-old photos. That being
said, there's all the lyrics, minimal production credits, and a few
more pictures of Kory hanging out on the street. The booklet has 8 pages
in all. Yep.
Songs: 6
Homeless Shelters out of 10
None of this CD is going to make any sense to you unless you're clinically
insane or you've just shot up 30 mg's of Heroin. The songs are trippy,
sometimes angry, often disjointed exclamations by the bitter-sounding
Kory Clarke. Lots of synths, samples, drum programming, and some repetitive,
heavy rock guitars but no lengthy solos or anything like that. You can
sort of tell there's a lot of experimentation going on in the studio,
both with the equipment, and possibly with some heavy duty narcotics.
That might have something to do with Kory taking years to put out a
solo album, but who knows. Parts of Opium Hotel sound like
songs by Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, and Rage Against
The Machine, all trippy and industrial-like -- just so you know what
you're getting into. Kory gets all political and screams about fighting
for his rights, the pitfalls of capitalism, gas-guzzling SUVs, wearing
an 'oil cloak,' penguins on icebergs, and his not-so-subtle disapproval
of the war in Iraq. One of this disc's few lucid moments is the title
track, "Opium Hotel," which is kind of an acoustic blues ditty
and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the songs, but I think that's
done on purpose. The track I liked the best is called "Religion
Buzz," only because it's the closest thing to a rocker here, but
like fuck if I know what Kory's going on about. There's also a song
called "Yummy House!" Just thought I'd point that out. Again,
this disc is really aggressive, anarchic, artistic and experimental
sounding. Not many chances for a sing-along here, but good to listen
to with headphones if you're all high and waiting to pass out.
Comments: For those unaware,
Kory Clarke was the singer for Warrior Soul back in the late 80s/early
90s, whose political pre-grunge flavor of metal was hailed by critics
and contemporaries, but which was never quite equalled in commercial
success. In the mid-90s, Warrior Soul called it a day. Much to the surprise
of that band's nihilistic cult following, Kory resurfaced a few years
later in a new project called the Space Age Playboys, playing party
rock at a time when L.A. glam-style bands were nearing an all-time low
in popularity. Even after that project folded, Kory Clarke kept doing
his own thing, reading poetry and performing spoken-word narrative around
the country wherever it is that modern-day beatniks congregate. Now
he's back with his first-ever solo album, so if you were a hard-core
Warrior Soul fan, or if you've got an unlimited supply of morphine,
you'll probably want to check out Opium Hotel.
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