Matthew Good - White Light Rock & Roll Review (Can) (CD)

All Music Guide

Continuing to mix harder radiofriendly rock with reflective melancholic and melodic ballads, Matthew Good wastes little time getting the fistpumping polished nuggets out on Put Out Your Lights. The tune sounds as if it's not quite finished but leads into a meaty and alluring rockcumpolitical rant on Poor Man's Grey. The tune brings to mind fellow Canadian Danko Jones in certain spots with its simple yet infectious nononsense beat. Good returns to his earlier stomping ground on the lovely We're So Heavy with ample twists and turns from melancholia to urgency and back, recalling R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts. What is also noticeable is Good's turn towards some roots or country leanings on folksy tunes such as Empty Road and especially the hidden track at the album's end. The album's lead single is Alert Status Red which pokes at America's heightened tension surrounding terrorism. Rarely has something so lyrically deep come off so infectious, coming complete with handclaps. In Love With A Bad ...Idea doesn't work quite as well, sounding like a quick poppy runthrough. A vast improvement is the power pop meets Replacements punk on the tight North American For Life. Here former Odds drummer Pat Steward shines. Perhaps the best onetwo punch on the album begins with Blue Skies Over Bad Lands, containing all the traits of a solid Good tune deliberate, slowbuilding musicianship leading into a grand and lengthy anthem such as his previous hit Apparition. What ensues is the soulful side on the tender, bluestinged Been A While Since I Was Your Man. Perhaps the oddest song is ExPats Of The Mountain Symphony Orchestra that contains all the earmarks of a track by The Who, especially Won't Get Fooled Again. - Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide Read more Less