Loading ...I’m starting to think that my TiVo is trying to dissuade me from ever sullying its hard drive with the ratings disaster that is The Next Great American Band, because once again, it thwarted my attempts to record this week’s episode, which featured the top seven bands performing Lieber & Stoller songs and the shock elimination that was teased last week. Yes, the chops-filled funkin’-for-God band Franklin Bridge was sent home, which shocked Sheila E. and the blonde dude from Tres Bien!, but didn’t surprise me at all; the lead singer’s attempts to clean up the not-even-that-bawdy poetry of Long Island’s bard, Billy Joel, most likely offended all the people who were just tuned into Band as a way to bide their time before Don’t Forget The Lyrics. Because I really think that’s the only reason people are even watching the show at this point anyway.
Tres Bien Top 7 [YouTube]
Watched it Friday night on the TiVo (about two hours late). Quick rundown:
Light of Doom, “Jailhouse Rock”: Not as revelatory as what they did the previous week to “The Stranger” (still my favorite performance of that week, maybe top three ever for this show), but competent, with a pretty hot guitar line. Drummer kid is learning to play a non-metal-highhat intro.
Cliff Wagner & the Old #7, “Poison Ivy”: Competent, sure, but increasingly you’re getting the sense that the band is Wagner’s solo project and that he’s the Fred Thompson of the show: won’t exert himself any more than he has to. Eventually these guys have got to either get more exciting or expect to see their votes siphoned by Sixwire and Clark Bros.
Sixwire, “I Keep Forgettin’”: Damn, the Michael McDonald smooth-n-B classic is a Lieber-Stoller song; who knew? (Actually, check Wikipedia; it’s more complicated than that.) Short review: Sixwire do not do midtempo boudoir funk. Their weakest performance yet. Fingers crossed they get dropped, so this becomes a horserace.
Denver and the Mile-High Orchestra, “Ruby Baby”: I for one actually like seeing these lame-ass milquetoasts doing disco rhythms, but the judges hate it. Johnny Rzeznik gives an unusually vicious review, and Dicko doesn’t like it much better. Sheila disagrees, and I actually think she’s right. The comtempo beats might just save these guys.
Clark Bros., “Saved”: Overwhleming highlight of the night. Even messes with their formula a bit by ratcheting up to a hard-pick, preacher-testifying tempo. With Franklin Bridge gone, these guys should probably win it all. Which means they’re doomed.
Dot Dot Dot, “Love Potion No. 9″: About as good as you’d expect. Singer his usual obnoxious self, although with less preening than usual. Sheila compliments the two woman players in the band for their chops, which are admittedly impressive (Asian gal had a good solo), but it won’t save them.
Trés Bien, “Some Other Guy”: After they get the nod instead of FB, the lead singer does a very classy intro, dedicating song to “the best band in this competition, Franklin Bridge.” Big highlight for me: I’ve known the Beatles version of this for years, love it, and yet am impressed these guys came up with a similarly-garagey-but-different-from-Beatles arrangement. Singer’s performance a little yelpy, but all around a solid showing. Playing last on the show will help them in the voting big-time.
RIP Franklin Bridge :(
Did they seriously name themselves after that how-come-ev’ry-time-ya-come-around-my-Franklin-Franklin-Bridge-wanna-go-down Fergie song? Damn, good riddance.
First of all, to DHMBIB: That Fergie song is about “London Bridge”, not Franklin Bridge.
Secondly, Franklin Bridge was probably one of the most (if not the most) talented bands in the competition. If anybody was “offended” enough by him altering some lyrics to send them home, they’re petty individuals.