CD Odyssey Disc 1837: Colleen Green
Proving the pandemic wasn't a total loss...there was still music getting made
I had some exended driving time this week and got in a couple of listens to not one but two new (to me) albums. One was the latest from Blind Guardian and the other was a collection of Alison Krauss folk tunes. If you’d like to know more about either album you’ll have to wait for…an indeterminate amount of time! The order of these reviews remains random!
Instead, when I was back in town and returned to regularly scheduled programming, the dice gods selected me some indie pop.
Disc 1837 is…Cool
Want to read how albums are selected and what the ratings mean? Click my introductory post and learn more. Earlier reviews dating back to 2009 are at A Creative Maelstrom (my blog).
Artist: Colleen Green
Year of Release: 2021
What’s up with the Cover? Not a lot. Colleen Green does a passable job of looking cool. The leather jacket helps a lot. Is there a piece of clothing that is more quintessentially cool than the leather jacket? Reader, there is not.
How I Came To Know It: I don’t recall. It was during the pandemic, and day to day experiences were a bit blurry back then. Probably I read a review.
How It Stacks Up: Colleen Green has five albums to her credit, but “Cool” is the only one I own, so it can’t stack up.
Ratings: 3 stars
“Cool” grew on me. I hadn’t taken it down from the shelf for a couple of years, and at first it felt just…OK. Nothing big or bold going on, just some songs that walked the line of pop and rock, with a bit of a synthy vibe in the background that felt a bit empty. However, on repeat listens, the record revealed its small sound charm to me, and by the third time through I was once again converted.
Notably, it wasn’t the lyrics or vocals that formed the gateway to love’s return, it was the guitar. While Green is as likely to rely on a bassline or a synth organ to get her point across, when she pulls out the guitar things elevate. It’s the thing on the record that most reminds you that at its heart, this is a rock and roll record. Sometimes it has the metallic echo of a Cure song, and sometimes it crunches out a more traditional hard rock vibe but each time the guitar comes out, it quickly takes centre stage.
Whatever approach she is taking, Green’s playing has a richness to her tone. There is very little in the way of furious finger acrobatics, it is all about pulling the emotion out of the notes. Whether it is the haunting mini-solos on “Highway” or the post-grunge crunch of “You Don’t Exist” Green knows how to fill the air with some tasty licks.
From here it was easy to appreciate the songwriting and range on the album. The songs have pop melodic structures, but that rock and roll heart gives everything an underlying edge.
Sometimes Green relies on an almost spoken word delivery (“Someone Else”, “Highway”) and other times she sings sugary licks (“You Don’t Exist”) but it all works.
On “I Wanna Be a Dog” she is inspired by the Iggy Pop classic of similar name, tellingly minus the possessive. She borrows from Iggy heavily for the chorus, but it is a launch point to a very different song. Throughout, Green doubles down on dog imagery with observations like:
“'Cause I'm still communicating from my tail end
I don't really see the difference”
Yeah, there’s the pack mentality and desire for love, but it’s coming from a place of self-awareness. The song is also a catchy little pop ditty that in a just world, would’ve been a hit.
At the other end of the record’s range you get the club-beat feel of “Highway” a moody bit built for late night dancing under a strobe light. Sway and stare at the strobe, or the floor, or just close your eyes. The groove will get you there at just the right pace.
The record peters out a bit near the end, with three mostly forgettable songs, culminating in the soupy instrumental, “Pressure to Cum”. If this tune is trying to recreate the feeling of boring sex, it does a fine job, and I feel bad for the protagonist waiting for it to end. For a record with so many tight and interesting little songs, it causes the experience to end with whimper that could’ve been avoided with a…um…happier ending?
Overall, however, I liked “Cool” more and more on each listen, and I’m going to make a point of playing it more often. If nothing else it’s a reminder that the covid years weren’t a total loss – people like Green may have been locked in their houses, but they were making good music in there.
Best tracks: Someone Else, I Wanna Be A Dog, Highway, You Don’t Exist