Search - Jon Blues Explosion Spencer, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion :: Plastic Fang + Fang Visual DVD

Spencer's schtick is getting a little long in the tooth

Roy Pearl | Vancouver, BC | 03/25/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm enough of a Jon Spencer fan to have been disappointed in everything he's ever released. If that sounds like faint praise, let me explain. There may be no other artist out there these days whose voice embodies the salacious virtues of rock & roll as completely as Jon Spencer's. His instincts in phrasing also seem unerringly right - key changes, yowls, gutteral grunts all appear at exactly the perfect moment - and his band plays with a bruising confidence that is head and shoulders above the rest of the crowded garage punk class of '02. All the components should have been in place for the JSBX's new disc to rule the earth, but instead "Plastic Fang" hit the ground accompanied by a collective yawn by every sector of the music world.What went wrong? And, more importantly, why do I so uncharacteristically agree with the general consensus? On "Plastic Fang" JSBX has forsaken the production experimentation of Acme for a straightforward live sound, which should be a tactic that plays to their strengths. The first three songs ("Sweet 'n' Sour", "She Said", and "Money Rock'n'Roll") certainly rip along in that over-amped treble-and-buzz boogie mode we've all come to expect. "Hold On" throws Bernie Worrell and Dr. John into the mix and comes up with a funky groove that wouldn't have been out of place on Acme. "Down in the Beast" may be the closest JSBX have ever come to an honest-to-god blues number. The central riff of "Mean Heart' sounds like AC/DC at 16 rpm (that means slow to all you turntable-deprived kiddies out there). Throughout the album Russell Simins and Judah Bauer provide typically sweaty and enthusiastic support. So theoretically it should be a party. It's not. It's held back at every turn by a self-imposed resistence to honesty. Like the werewolf motif they've lazily adopted as a unifying concept, their rock & roll has become more a gesture than a mission.There's a decision to be made here. Is Jon Spencer a keeper of the rock'n'roll flame or simply a supercharged pretender peddling indie irony? "Plastic Fang" wants it both ways, but arms-length and true belief have always been mutually exclusive stances. The argument for the band landing on either side is good, and I imagine the next release will see them stepping back through the door marked "f&!% s*%# up" to a loud round of applause by those who fear success. But I can't stop myself from hoping Jon Spencer decides to stretch himself and take his place in the rock'n'roll pantheon seriously.There is the potential for the forming of a heroic figure here. And, as declared in all epic myth, the reluctant hero must first reject his heroic calling before inevitably setting out on his quest. Spencer has followed that first part of the script almost too perfectly. Time to slay the dragon."