Eric Nally of Foxy Shazam invites worship on the band’s latest CD,“Church of Rock and Roll.” (Sakura/WENN)
Album of the Week
Lana Del Rey
“Born To Die”
★★★
Off the strength of her “Video Games” single, which has been enjoying unabashed praise over the past six months, Lana Del Rey snagged a coveted “Saturday Night Live” appearance. But her underwhelming performance was a debacle.
If Del Rey is seeking redemption, she may get it with “Born To Die,” a mostly compelling album by a girl too pretty to be this deep and too deep to be lumped in with flavor-of-the-week confections.
MORE: WHO IS LANA DEL REY AND HOW DID SHE BECOME A SENSATION?
She’s a dark, sexy, mean girl who sounds like she has a nasty taste for downers. Del Rey is a pop oddity since she’s not one of Madonna’s “daughters” like, Britney, Katy or Gaga. Instead, Del Rey is a student of Marianne Faithfull. She sings sad retro-pop with a molasses tempo, where the prize for winning love is a bad-boy loser.
Del Rey often visits this theme on this disc. In “Off to the Races,” she sings, “My old man is a bad man, but I can’t deny the way he holds my hand.” In “Diet Mountain Dew,” she purrs, “You’re no good for me, but baby I want you.” And in the smoldering torch song “Million Dollar Man,” Del Rey coos, “And I don’t know how you get over, get over, someone as dangerous, tainted and flawed as you.”
Besides these bad-boy issues that pop up, Del Rey is obsessed with doom — she references death and dying 21 times.
Filling out the 12 tracks are a few hedonistic anthems about drink and drugs where living the high life is either a ticket to the Hamptons or Rikers Island. The best of those wild-child tunes is the decidedly not-sugar-and-spice autobiographical “This Is What Makes Us Girls.”
If Del Rey is anything like her lyrics, she’s a girl who likes excess. So it’s no wonder the record demands to be played, and played again.
Download of the Week
Foxy Shazam
“Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll”
★★★
IN the two years since Foxy Shazam’s single “Unstoppable” was featured on the 2010 Super Bowl telecast, the Cincinnati band has flipped their heavy glam-rock style into plain heavy. That’s especially apparent on “Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll” off their “The Church of Rock and Roll” CD. The tune is a powerhouse of head-banging rhythms, crunchy guitar work worthy of Deep Purple and vocals that touch on the late Freddie Mercury’s bombast. Foxy’s lead singer/frontman Eric Nally delivers pure rock-star cynicism in a strangled scream when he wails: “You’re all suckers, a flock of sheep, I’ll be your shepherd, follow me.” Even though he’s biting the hand that feeds, he has a gutsy delivery, and the band has a knack for mainstream thrash that’s always kept the pews filled at the Church of Rock ’n’ Roll.