Something 4 The Weekend # 89

Gentleman Jesse & His Men: Introducing Gentleman Jesse: "The Rest Of My Days" [mp3]


Don't let the album cover fool ya - Gentleman Jesse's music ain't copping Elvis Costello so much as he and his men are aping the pure mania of The Vibrators, and all things considered, they coulda done worse...


The important thing here, at least in terms of this particular song, is that the band ain't afraid to embrace Chuck Berry, and I mention this because there are plenty of bands, and plenty of fans, and plenty of tag-alongs and also-rans who don't, and won't, cuz Chuck Berry is exactly what their music, philosophy and lifestyle seek to destroy...Well, maybe not the lifestyle, cuz only the straightest edgers wouldn't take advantage of all the white groupies and substances...


I used to feel like that...In my younger years I vowed to never listen to rock music made before I was born...Classical and Jazz and whatever else got a pass, but I didn't want anything to do with rock and pop before 1966...So back then, when I was a more foolish young man, I'd load up my main cassette case, the one that stayed in my car, with whatever SST and Touch'n'Go had going on, you know...Blast First and Factory...


But dammit, this is supposed to be about Gentleman Jesse & His Men, and the rock solid Power Pop record that they've made this year...A fine 32 or so minutes of timeless music, really, a garage/basement thing that works circa 1957, 1967, 1977, and right now...


It's 1957 that's most important...I suppose I'm old enough now to appreciate Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Rockabilly and Doo Wop...Rock'n'Roll is 97% a nostalgia act these days, after all, it's got a small but fancy hall of fame museum, but CBGB's, that urinal of a club that supposedly represents REAL Rock'n'Roll, is history, and it's owner, Hilly Kristal, is gone gone gone...Punk and Post-Punk and Grunge and Gangsta Rap and what else you got? It's all fucking nostalgia these days...Legacy Editions and bonus DVDs...


With each passing year, I hear less and less Rock'n'Roll bands that sounds truly new and different to my ears, and I wonder if it's because I'm old, or Rock'n'Roll is older...The truly legendary are already dead, and most of 'em went young anyways, but now we're getting to a point where guys like John Rutsey and Rick Wright are passing away, and I, for one, never thought I'd actually lament and feel a bit of my own mortality with the passing of the Rush drummer before Neil Peart...The guy on the first album...


So here we have Gentleman Jesse (Jesse Smith), making a smooth and timeless Power Pop/Rock'n'Roll album...No new tricks, but twelve good songs played well...Time will tell if the gentleman has legs, or if this album is his Pure Mania, and nothing more...To be fair, The Vibrators have released 15 studio albums since 1977, but really, they've been out there milking that one great album, their first, all along and as recently as 2004...They'll never find their place in that hall in Cleveland, and neither will Gentleman Jesse, I reckon...


Gentleman Jesse and His Men, straight outta ATL with a slightly British accent, to wherever you are this weekend...Plenty of us with nothing better to do than sleep and drink the rest of our days, or maybe just this weekend...


My own plans include some JG Ballard short stories, a film or two from the Alien Quadrilogy, and of course, NFL football Sunday...


Where you at? Whatcha got?


Hotcha! Hank