Most Popular
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An ancient Apollo statue landed in Cleveland and touched off an international outcry
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Joe Cimperman hopes to tear down his former hero, Dennis Kucinich
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Beat Down
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Everybody Hates Mike
The peril of coaching an icon.
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Secret Valentines Notes from C-Town Celebs
Our I-Team uncovered the private love letters of Cleveland's biggest names. You'll be shocked by what we discovered.
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$100 Bounty on That Kid (19)
Copley-Fairlawn finds a way to keep the impostors out.
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At Indie-Rock Singles Night in Cleveland, an event for hipsters lacks one key ingredient: Hipsters (14)
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Dennis Kucinich’s brave talk about working and fighting — from the safety of the officer’s tent (10)
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Beat Down (3)
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Joe Cimperman hopes to tear down his former hero, Dennis Kucinich (3)
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Crazy Talk
Miranda Lambert is a lot like any other girl with a soft spot for guns and setting exes on fire.
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The Bravery's New World
New-wave revivalists discover the power of three-chord guitar rock.
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Beer, BBQ, industry schmoozing: Rounding up SXSW 2008’s local delegates
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Keep on Truckin'
Jason Isbell finds life after the Drive-By Truckers.
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It took them 10 years, but the Sadies finally craft a country-rock classic
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Dispatch: Either Derek Anderson gets roster bonus in '09, or Quinn fans celebrate
02:49PM 03/07/08 -
Cleveland's power brokers take a turn at high fashion
02:39PM 03/07/08 -
Sound of Ideas Host Dan Moulthrop steals our idea, raises money for cancer
02:21PM 03/07/08 -
Review: Nellie McKay seduces the crowd at Nighttown
02:12PM 03/07/08 -
Alex Bevan, ModQuad Shows Canceled
02:07PM 03/07/08
What we are writing about
- Black Sabbath
- Bob Dylan
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Recent Articles By Chris Parker
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Beer, BBQ, industry schmoozing: Rounding up SXSW 2008’s local delegates
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Vic Chesnutt
With Jonathan Richman. Monday, March 10, at the Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights.
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Avett Brothers
Saturday, March 1, at the Kent Stage, Kent.
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Akron native Tim Easton sees the world, one gig at a time
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English Beat
With RX Bandits. Sunday, February 24, at House of Blues.
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Subject(s): Kinks, rock, Ray Davies
Even though Ray Davies' Working Man's Café opens with one of the rock legend's canniest topical tunes, the album comes off as a bit of a disappointment following his proper solo debut, Other People's Lives, two years ago. Over the four-bar blues shuffle of "Vietnam Cowboys," the former Kinks frontman bemoans globalization's accelerating pace: "Mass production in Saigon/While auto workers are laid off in Cleveland," he sings. The flinty rock bite meshes nicely with Davies' caustic wit. Unfortunately, the rest of Café lacks that spirit.
Where Lives bristled with tight, well-written songs packed into dynamic arrangements, Café limps along like The English Patient. "No One Listen," "One More Time," and "Hymn for a New Age" are keen laments from rock's original grumpy old man, but musically they're inert, lacking hooks, heft, and memorable choruses. The CD is heavy on overproduced ballads and mid-tempo cuts, with actual rockers falling few and far between. Come for the lyrics — don't stay for the music.
