6 keepers
keeper avg .500
"Son Of A Gun" is an interesting choice to start one of the all-time great power-pop albums, as it's kind of folky REM by way of Jethro Tull rather than California, making the punctuated "I Can't Sleep"****, a garage-y "Can't Explain", seem like the album's real start. Of course the album is best known for the radiant possible-heroin-ode "There She Goes,"***** which for my money is the best use of 12-string electric guitar since Roger McGuinn. The 12-string also features in the chiming verses of "Way Out"**** before Lee Mavers counters with one funky riff in a totally different key followed by a seriously busy melodic guitar riff. The touchstones of the album in general are that glorious guitar sound, punk energy of The Jam and Buzzcocks, and definitely George Harrison on "Feelin'"*****. Another ingredient is the stripped-down skiffle of "Liberty Ship", the harmony-rich "Doledrum"****, and "I.O.U."; that skipping feel also drives more aggressively rocking tracks such as the bluesy "Failure"**** and "Feelin'." The album's stately closer "Looking Glass" is its rhythmic palate cleanser, and it ends in dramatic fashion after almost 8-minutes by accelerating to crash. So maybe we can read something into that.
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