Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley

I hate to say it but the newest Jenny Lewis record Acid Tongue fell a little flat for me. Maybe my expectations were a little too high after hearing her critically acclaimed solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat recorded with the help of The Watson Twins and some production by M. Ward.  Her first record had a consistent feel running throughout,  the new record just feels like a pastiche of different tracks.  Although I didn’t  get into it overall and wouldn’t rate it very highly, there are a few standout tracks.

A slower tune.  She definitely gets the emotion across.

	Jenny Lewis – Pretty Bird
	Found at skreemr.com

I was very surprised to find out that this swaggering tune and my favorite on the album is not a Jenny Lewis composition.  It was written by her current boyfriend and collaborator Damien Rice.  Note the help of the honorable Elvis Costello on Guitar and some vocals.

By all means… check out Jenny’s debut solo record and her work with the band Rilo Kiley.  Notable records from the Rilo Kiley catalog would be The Execution Of All Things and More Adventurous.  Jenny also sings background vocals on most of the songs on Elvis Costello’s newest record with the Imposters, Momofuku.

If you have any interest at all in American underground music this is a must read.  Being the book is taken from interviews with the actual people on the scene it is an extremely visceral and interesting read.  The coverage is chronological starting in the late sixties covering the Velvet Underground and the other bands that are considered to be Proto-Punk.  The main players in that scene included the Velvets, Iggy and The Stooges, The MC5 &  The New York Dolls.  The story continues covering the bands that originally became known as Punk in the mid 70s.  The tag line originally referred to the bands that made a name for themselves at the now famous NY club CBGBs.  Included are The Patti Smith Group, Ramones, The Dead Boys, & Television.  The book covers through the involvement of The Sex Pistols & Malcolm McClaren and the controversy that followed… plus interviews about what happened to some of the major players like Johnny Thunders and Dee Dee Ramone.  For me the book covered a time period in Rock N Roll that I had not previously explored and introduced to me some  great bands that I wouldn’t have delved into normally.  BTW:  the title of the book is something Richard Hell put on a T-shirt in the early days of Television.