Ted Leo and the Pharmacists began in 1999 in Washington, D.C. and are still recording and touring to this day, though the only constant in the band is Ted Leo as the Pharmacists have gone through numerous incarnations. They've released seven LPs. several EPs, and a handful of singles, and near as I can tell have never had one that anywhere near resembled a hit record. Through their steady touring they've developed something of a loyal following, but if I had my guess, it would be that 99.9 percent of the people in the world have no idea there is such a band and probably never will.
All of which, once again, shows the magic that is pop music: how often does some out of nowhere band or solo artist produce a song that you've heard by a fluke occurrence ("Stove by a Whale" came with another in a long list of assists from my daughter) and come to spend the rest of your life loving though with the plethora of music released each year and the constraints of time it's virtually a miracle it ever came to your ear?
Originally, I thought "Stove by a Whale" was an environmental song, some kind of comment on the pollution in our oceans (you know, someone had been on the beach or on a boat, and had seen a whale swimming with a discarded stove floating nearby), but, as is often the case, I was nowhere near right. Stove, which is the past tense of "to stave" actually means to smash a hole into to something, and the reference comes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick (though it seems to have many other sources as well, as whaling was once quite the profession). All of which is zero help in explaining the meaning of the song, which some have noted has something to do with some kind of personal liberation, but means fuck all for all I know.
Released on technically the band's first album (Leo had released an album before under that moniker, but it was actually a solo effort), The Tyranny of Distance (the title taken from a Split Enz song called "Six Months in a Leaky Boat"), "Stove by a Whale" is as 70's rock influenced as anything the White Stripes have ever done. An eight minute and two second tour de force, the song starts with a throbbing pair of guitars that sound almost like dueling foghorns (sounds crazy, but it really works). It then weaves its way into Leo's vocals which venture from a rant into a scream with a staccato delivery (again, crazy but it works). The vocals end at about the four minute mark and the song cascades into the foghorn guitars before turning to a more traditional guitar solo that is layered with an hypnotic bass for the final four minutes. I could see how the song would not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're looking for something a bit avant garde with a 70's sensibility, this is the song for you.
Liner notes: "Not in what you hear, but feel, surreally thrust between/What accents mean and what you think they should..." (Yeah, I have no idea, either, but it sounds really cool...)
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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