“If you can't beat 'em, might as well join 'em.”
Since the advent of legally questionable online downloading and the general pilfering of the music industry's wares began to get a head of steam behind it about thirteen years ago, said industry has run in a panic toward every outlet and used every angle it can think of to either quash, control or assimilate the X factor that this obviously public forum represents, as well as the black market trading on it. The results of such endeavors have been… mixed; with every “success” won against the phenomenon (Napster's no longer free, iTunes is doing fantastic business), new developments appear on a daily basis that allow listeners the opportunity to evade payment if they choose. Because of that, the venerable music business institution (record labels publicists, other such people interested in making an honest dime on music) is left in the unenviable position of being like the little boy with his finger in the dike; desperately holding back a disastrous collapse, but not in any position to make a productive move.
Seeing all of this play out, former Stranglers singer Hugh Cornwell has opted to go the route less traveled and embrace what could happen as far as the dissemination of his music goes and is giving his new album, Hooverdam, away for free download on his world class (it's presented in a multitude of languages) web site. If the fans he wins (or those old-schoolers still aren't satiated) want to buy a physical copy of the album and support the artist after that, the album is available at retail outlets.
It's the most reasonable balance that could be struck given the situation at hand and has the added bonus of looking very progressive in its thinking for a sixty-year-old career man in the music business.
Even more amazing is the quality of the material Cornwell is giving away. Sturdy, solid and tight, Hooverdam is exactly the sort of album any fan could hope for from Cornwell, and (in spite of the technological embrace) the record represents a 'same as it ever was' approach with the added benefit of some pretty strong songs. As the album rolls out with its geography-checking opener “Please Don't Put Me On A Slow Boat To Trowbridge,” Cornwell lays out the sounds that will be the governing principles for Hooverdam: vintage punk guitars (more jangle than crunch, more Kinks, Van Morrison and The Clash than Sex Pistols or Ramones), thuddy bass and tidy drumming are the order of the day here, and that design may be less fashionable but it also presents the song clearly and with flash. With that order of operations in place, Cornwell digs in to the idea and what follows “Slow Boat…” is a series of rough and ready rockers that remain on solid thematic and songwriting ground, without taking many chances. Really though, they don't need to; the singer must have known the value of what he had in hand and so he simply plays to that rather than trying to attach a bunch of unnecessary frills to the songs. The stomping and bass-heavy menace of “Delightful Nightmare,” for example, is tempered by an almost wistful vocal melody in the verses which makes the nightmare in the chorus that much more vivid and, as it fades smoothly into the raucous “Within You Or Without You,” the contrast in the pairing sounds like a fantastic kiss-off and lament for the lonely. Elsewhere, Cornwell borrows the riff from Hendrix' “Crosstown Traffic” for “Wrong Side Of The Tracks" and, in so doing, illustrates that the earliest ideas in punk rock can still be as functional as they were thirty-five years ago; like those early punks (among which Cornwell was counted, along with The Stranglers), Hooverdam hopes for acceptance but wants to make sure that, if you're going to hold your nose, you'll just piss off. As it was back when, the contrast and drive of Hooverdam is a potent and exhilarating mixture and the fact that you can get it for free continues in the unstoppable punk aesthetic begun at the dawn of the genre: like it or lump it, love it or loathe it, this is how it is now and how it's going to be.
Artist:
Hugh Cornwell Official web site
Download:
Hooverdam (in its entirety) is available here as a free mp3 download.
Album:
Hooverdam – the physical album – is out now and available here on Amazon .
