“The Aliens are Trying To Save Us From Ourselves” kicks off this dozen tracks from veteran Boston area rockers, the Peasants. Mixing religion with science fiction straight out of John Carpenter’s They Live, the guitar line from the original song “Black Sabbath” by the band Black Sabbath inserted nicely into the drama. Followed by the folksy “Don’t Make Me Wait” – which has Australia’s Audioscam same fun uptempo fell in their “Hello” with yet another change in tempo,
the longest track on the CD, “Ray’s Trilogy,” goes completely folk with its intro, five and a half minutes that morph into a Ray Davies’ “Hollywood Blvd (Celluloid Heroes)”
…these angry bastards/who live inside us. Three wonderfully constructed songs a prelude as “Boston Girl” brings the rock and roll back …the Peasants give you the Real Kids style of rock mixed with their stories tucked inside each episode. Like a TV show you come back to week after week. Sounds like the words are “Boston Girl …all the ways you make me go…” with
“You Make Me Feel Dirty” following it up, perhaps a subconscious sequel sentiment? “Dirty” is a blistering rocker with a smattering of quick riffs all compacted into 59 seconds and abruptly jumping into the next adventure. That excursion very well could be from early Alice Cooper, specifically the Pretties For You/Easy Action days on Zappa’s Straight Records is what track #6, “Waddlin.” Along with the approach it also reminds me of early Cooper vocal phrasings, all three minutes and fifty eight seconds of it, screaming guitar the order of the day. At 2:07 “I’m Trapped” would have fit nicely on Harvey Wharfield’s old Boston Music Showcase on WCGY, a show that crammed terrific Boston rock into four hours, a two minute tune always good if top of the hour was approaching.
Another one-title song, “Mind,” is where David Byrne was taking us on Talking Heads Fear of Music lp. Neil Young guitars, John Lennon catharsis, Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” in a Blue Cheer echo chamber. The second longest song, at 5:18, is “Merry Christmas, You’re Fired.” “She walks into the room” Alice Cooper sings on “Be My Lover,” and that melody works its way into this downer Christmas ditty. “Southern Comfort” is a song Janis Joplin would’ve embraced, and it’s a great ballad that stands on its own. “Gunslingers and Bullfighters” rocks out with superb Ventures’ guitars – perfect for a sequel to the film Good, the Bad and the Ugly – a superb instrumental which is my favorite track next to the opener, “Aliens.” A folksy “Vincent Van Gogh” works more towards Suzanne Vega’s classic “Marlene on the Wall” than Don McLean’s “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night.) Another two minute song with the same smarts that “Don’t Make Me Wait” displayed earlier. A truly telling bit of artistry by the Peasants, they say it tongue-in-cheek and with a smile while being as percipient as they are potent.
Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.
