Search - Bobby Conn :: Rise Up!

Meglomaniac rock'n'roll preacher

10/21/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those of you who are unfamillar with the pocket sized perverted genius that is Bobby Conn, all I can say is brace yourself for the twisted brilliance of "Rise Up." A freaky voyage through the mind of a man who's music resembles the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg at his most provocative channeled through Frank Zappa doing his best Yoko Ono impression.Forget all the regurgitated reverberated sounds of the "Next Big thing"'s singing their "music by number" renditions of proto-punk, and check out something truly original. Singing in a fantastic falsetto, akin to the preacher man himself Curtis Mayfield, Bobby tells us tales of the ominous armageddon, and the fact that he is of course the second comming."Rise Up", is an album consisting of anti-capatalist, satinistic preachings all coated in a psychedellic, funk-punk shell.

Some of the finer utterances of this lunatic lyricist include "United Nations under the rule of Satan" and "Jesus Christ, he came back, Jesus Christ high on crack" which eminates from the tittle track. With Wing's "Live and let die" as a blue print, and his own miniscule attention span "Rise Up" is an excitingly eclectic epic of an album. To be listened to in solitude, sparingly, for fear its sheer brilliance may infect your soul. Not to everyones tastes, but as Dionne may have said "what the world needs now is a meglomaniac rock'n'roll preacher" to liven up today's stagnant sonic spectrum."

Certainly not your traditional pop album

Dan Seitz | Somerville, MA, USA | 01/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album has got some depth to it, that's for certain. At first I wasn't certain if I was listening to a joke or the musical version of Jack T. Chick. Ultimately I realized it was a joke and a fine one, at that. The lyrical content of some songs doesn't pull punches; "United Nations" sounds like a far-right militia theme song, and the more humorless out there will NOT find it funny.But there's some pretty interesting stuff. I'm not a fan of experimentalism in general, but Conn smartly refrains from doing nothing but "experimenting", sparing us a torturous album. He blasts the Heaven's Gate cultists ("California"), wannabe stars ("Baby Man"), rich-kid jerks ("White Bread"), and the more extreme edges of the right (the aforementioned "United Nations.") This is a good, fun, genre-jumping album and one I fully recommend."

Meatloaf Meets Marvin Gaye, and that's O-K...

Dan Seitz | 05/05/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After having the pleasure of seeing Mr. Conn perform at a local club, I HAD to take a piece of him home, so, I got RISE UP! Bobby seems to be channeling for a lot of folks, Meatloaf's stage-rock interludes, Marvin Gaye's lilting clouds of sweetness, Tom Waits' growling menace, maybe even the Mekons' deft handling of 80's elements, but, at the hub of it all, Bobby's a presence and he's in control. The songs catapult from genre to genre, and they're FUN, even when they're "preachy"... They get stuck in your head, without emptying your head... My only complaint is about the Waits-ish "Passover", which crashes with a thud and has none of the depth of the rest of the disc... Overall, though, recommended..."