Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall

  by Russell Ferguson

published: 1 / 8 / 2009

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Review

Jay Retard is one of those musicians who keeps working non-stop. If he isn’t recording or touring then he’s writing new songs. He never seems to want to take a break. It’s almost as if he knows time is running out and he is cramming in as much as he can. Jay is kept busy with his many side projects, the Bad Times, the Final Solution, Nervous Patterns and Destruction Unit to name but a few. His first solo release in 2006 was ‘Blood Visions', and since then he has released a scattering of seven inch records and there has been long bouts of touring in between. ‘Watch Me Fall’ is the second album from Jay on Matador Records and from the first song the whole album has a very punky Lo-Fi feel to it. That first song, ‘It Ain’t Gonna Save Me’, sounds very much like the Buzzcocks during the chorus and like any number of punk band from 1977 during the verses.If you had asked me ten years what I thought of punk I would of given you a positive answer, but now looking back on it, as I did a few years ago, I have come to the conlcusion that there weren't many highlights beyond 1978. This album is very much like that. There are some good songs that stand out but, after five or six songs it all sounds a bit the same and it’s hard to keep focused on it. The fifth song ‘Can’t Do It Anymore’ sounds much like The Members with ‘The Sound Of The Suburbs’ and has a lot in common with the first song mainly because of the non- forgiving guitar work. There are other songs that make you listen but they tend to be hidden between the mundane tracks. It’s a bit like looking through a second hand book shop. It takes a while to find something that interest you. ‘Watch Me Fall’ has much to recommend it with songs like ‘I’m Watching You’, ‘There Is No Sun’ and ‘Faking It’ being the highlights for me. This album lends heavily from the era of punk and from the lo-fi sound of the mid 90’s. The only problem with doing that is that you are limited to what you can do within such a narrow sound. You need to bring something new to the table to distinguish you from your contemporaries. Jay needs to be bolder and bring in his own sound and in bigger doses.

Track Listing:-

1 It Ain't Gonna Save Me
2 Before I Was Caught
3 Man of Steel
4 Can't Do It Anymore
5 Faking It
6 I'm Watching You
7 Wounded
8 Rotten Mind
9 Nothing Now
10 My Reality
11 Hang Them All
12 There Is No Sun
13 Tiny Little Home

Label Links:-

http://www.matadorrecords.com/
https://twitter.com/matadorrecords
https://www.facebook.com/MatadorRecord
http://matadorrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/matadorre
https://www.instagram.com/matadorrecor