an old review i wrote of tool's lateralus

i got into tool seriously only with "aenima". with "undertow", they had put out a solid rock record that was a nice little twist on what the deftones were doing (though for my money, i liked the deftones direction better). even so, they were a band to watch. when "aenima" came out, i was floored. the music was exhaustingly good, fluid, well thought out, interesting, rhythmic and yet soulful. maynard somehow managed to capture that part of the teen mythos that revolves around the desiring for something you cannot have. well, maybe that's true with everyone. maybe we all have times when what we need is a thing that is constantly making it harder for us to survive.

this all reminds me of angelina jolie's tatoo. across the fornt of her pelvic bone, she has in latin a phrase which translates roughly to "what pleasures me is also what destroys me" and that phrase sums up the way i related to "aenima." musically, it sounded fresh and clean, expansive. the kind of music that even on a first hearing you know will last forever. i will never forget the unique way that "aenima" affected me: richly, profoundly. it does what all good music does: it moves you. and not only lyrically, but it manages to (nod to brian wilson here for carving the terrain) be experimental without losing track of it's overall groove and pop sensibility. one of the major problems with most musicians today who are looking to be career musicians is that they forget that they have a job to do, and that job is to make music people can understand and relate to. even more, a record or song that after only a listen or two can be hummed softly along with, that has the ability to be stuck in your head.

that said, tool accomplished that without sacrificing their innovative ideas and concepts to make a record that wins from all perspectives. indeed, "aenima" will go down as one of the all time great rock and roll records.

so when "lateralus" came out i was excited and aprehensive at once. i wanted to more. i wanted to feel that feeling that "aenima" had given me, but from a new direction. i wanted to see what they could come up with. i was apprehensive because, well, how do you follow up a record like "aenima"? the answer is that you can't. the only example i can think of is the "rubber soul" to "sgt. peppers" transition(in which case the beatles had the benefit of having brian wilson's masterpeice "pet sounds" to work with to expand their ideas and raise the bar). but let's face it, that was a different world. in those days, with rock and roll if you tried anything, it was new. virtually nothing had been done before, everything was adventurous and exciting. that is not the world of tool. in tool's world, they had managed to scrape out a nook int he rock and roll world and there was some serious question as to what could be done with it afterwards, of where those ideas could be taken.

but, despite my aprehension, i crowded into the record store to pick up "lateralus" on the day it was released (ironically, the same day as the ever-so-disapointing weezer green album". i bought both) i put "lateralus" in when i got to my car and what i heard baffled me. 13 tracks of...music (at least, i think it's music). the truth is that listening to "lateralus" is a lot like watching a porn film where john holmes is the only person in it: sure that thing is impressive, but where's the passion? i mean, i can't speak for other music listeners, but this record is really quite bad. i'll grant you that every track on the record is more musically impressive than the tracks on "aenima" but it's zestless. the low points of the record are tracks 1-13, and it's only powerplay is that it's tool and surely the next one will be better. maybe it will. i can only hope it will. the album's only solid single "schism" is a waste of sound, a passionless expression of something that any nine year old could have seemed more emotionally invested in. they piddle around through the record seeming completely detached from it the outcome. i haven't heard this little soul since...well, any creed record. i say all of this as a cry to arms. an outcry of rage at all these self absorbed musicians who get into the rock racket because they think "it's a good gig...no responsibilities, groupie chicks"

so for fans? i say, save the money. for tool? i say jerk yourselves off on your own time. if you come to play, come to show us you still care about what you're doing.

2004-06-19 | 12:08 p.m.
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