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The Fireman, Electric Arguments – Music Review

Posted on 08. Feb, 2009 by Administrator in Music

by Devoe Yates

The Fireman, Electric Arguments

Ah, pseudonyms. Artists perform some of their greatest work when they’re able to hide behind a mask and really let loose without having to worry about public and critical reaction to their offerings. Take Stephen King’s old jaunt as Richard Bachman in which he wrote some of his best stuff, The Long Walk, Rage, and The Running Man among them. And such is the case with Paul McCartney’s fourth collaboration with Youth, the former bassist for Killing Joke and producer for the likes of The Verve, Primal Scream, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Depeche Mode. With what began as a remix session for McCartney’s Off the Ground album, the two have been using The Fireman moniker since 1993 when they began their electronic experiments, and it is here that they have introduced vocals into their mad science for the first time, the majority of them being McCartney’s.
Hiding beneath The Fireman lets ole Sir Paul have at it in the spirit of his old whimsical self, with songs that go wherever they like and veer from acoustical hickory-dickories about magpies to enraged bluesy rock jams about somebody he loved that betrayed him (I wonder just who that might’ve been). Other songs jingle jangle into the familiar territory of misty mountaintops, shining on, a nice morning tea in the sunshine, and the search for love and communication. For the latter third of the album, which delves more into Youth’s expertise, there are ambient electrical dream meanderings that are interesting enough, but a bit of unmemorable fluff at the same time. Perhaps though, they might offer us a peek into McCartney’s afternoon naps where his mind wanders past barking dogs and into the circuitry of old Casio keyboards, his voice echoing in the distance about lovers on a beach, and even speaking in reverse once again. While it might not be my most memorable trip to McCartney’s solo island where albums like Ram and Band on the Run might reign supreme, it does offer up some fun good times and some interesting new turns, though I doubt you’ll find any new classics in its girth. An interesting tidbit – the album title comes from an Allen Ginsberg poem concerning talk radio and the occasional Beatles jam on the FM.
Good For: Bad breakups, tea and crumpets, tanning, babies and talcum powder, Beatles seances, knight parties, hope.
Bad For: Purists, the soundtrack for The Substitute 4, scare tactics, having the flu, hunting.

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