Track listing
Show track credits
- 1 Calvin 3:02
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recording engineer
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remixer, arranger
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- 2 Magical Colors 4:10
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recording engineer
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Greg Talenfeldbacking vocals, mixing
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piano, organ
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- 3 Do You Wanna Get Heavy? 4:08
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recording engineer
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mixing, scratching
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Dexter Conyersbacking vocals
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Lee "Scout" Fordbacking vocals
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Jerome "Rome" Cohenbacking vocals
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Jason Powellbacking vocals
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- 4 High Gear 2:07
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recording engineer, mixing
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- 5 Talk About the Blues 3:58
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recording engineer
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Greg Talenfeldrecording engineer
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recording engineer
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mixing, scratching
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noise
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- 6 I Wanna Make It All Right 3:45
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recording engineer
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mixing, synthesizer, organ
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- 7 Lovin' Machine 3:45
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recording engineer
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mixing
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piano
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mixing
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mixing
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- 8 Bernie 3:01
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recording engineer
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recording engineer
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backing vocals
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backing vocals
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mixing, piano
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Brian Weberorgan
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- 9 Blue Green Olga 3:40
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recording engineer
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mixing, scratching
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backing vocals
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organ
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- 10 Give Me a Chance 3:16
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recording engineer
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Greg Talenfeldmixing
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mixing, synthesizer
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- 11 Desperate 3:17
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recording engineer
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Greg Talenfeldmixing, harmonica
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mixing
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backing vocals
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- 12 Torture 4:09
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recording engineer
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mixing
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mixing
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- 13 Attack
- with Otha Turner
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recording engineer
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mixing, scratching
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mixing
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mixing
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horns
- - Attack 2:28
- - Calvin Reprise 0:42
- Total length: 45:28
Rate/Catalog
Catalog
Set listening
Review
To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right.
11 Issues
16 Reviews
For years, Orange, was the only The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion album I had heard, and I was thrilled when I re-acquainted myself with it a little while back, as I actually appreciated it more than I did back in the day.
Since then I've been working my way through a variety of albums by the band, with some being good, some being mediocre, and some being Acme. An album recorded and released at a time when it was becoming increasingly obvious that The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were never going to be anything more than an act with cult appeal, Acme is an album which yearns to be loved, and is prepared to bend over backwards to convince you it is cool.
It try's so so hard to be groovy and eclectic. So hard in fact that it actually forgets to include any good songs or even memorable tunes. Acme has great moments, and there's regular great funky rhythms throughout, but ultimately it seems to be an album that is built to capture the feeling of the listener going from mingling crowd to mingling crowd and from room to room at a party that has gone on far too long. It's fine as cool background music, but if I actually choose to sit down and concentrate my efforts on nothing else but listening to Acme, its appeal is slippery and elusive.
As close as Acme has come to derailing my enthusiasm for The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, I feel I must continue my search for another album of theirs that hits the spot for me in the same way that Orange does. As it stands, Acme is not an album I'll be returning to any time soon.
Since then I've been working my way through a variety of albums by the band, with some being good, some being mediocre, and some being Acme. An album recorded and released at a time when it was becoming increasingly obvious that The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were never going to be anything more than an act with cult appeal, Acme is an album which yearns to be loved, and is prepared to bend over backwards to convince you it is cool.
It try's so so hard to be groovy and eclectic. So hard in fact that it actually forgets to include any good songs or even memorable tunes. Acme has great moments, and there's regular great funky rhythms throughout, but ultimately it seems to be an album that is built to capture the feeling of the listener going from mingling crowd to mingling crowd and from room to room at a party that has gone on far too long. It's fine as cool background music, but if I actually choose to sit down and concentrate my efforts on nothing else but listening to Acme, its appeal is slippery and elusive.
As close as Acme has come to derailing my enthusiasm for The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, I feel I must continue my search for another album of theirs that hits the spot for me in the same way that Orange does. As it stands, Acme is not an album I'll be returning to any time soon.
Published
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Punchier
Acme has an almost nostalgic blues rock sound to it, but with some modern production behind it to make it more punchier. I think for the most part that the songs come out pretty well. There are some hard hitting and catchy cuts in the track listing. However the sound JSBX is playing with here can can also get a bit annoying or cheesy. This isn't going to be a rock record for everyone, but I would recommend it to rock fans who like hardy guitars and prominent drums.Published
The JSBX weren't actually all that bluesy; they were closer to funk than blues. Jon Spencer's exaggerated Elvis-y vocal blackface is honestly the 'bluesiest' thing about them, and obviously that's a huge part of the band's attitude and image — hell, I'll say it: their gimmick. And that's admittedly kinda problematic. This parody of black bluesmen as interpreted by white hippies is something I'll reserve moral judgment on because I'd then have to think seriously about the possibility that Ween is making me a worse person. ('Blues' in a rock format had long become synonymous with 'arena-rock balladry with three guitar solos.' Curse you, Clapton!) Put it this way: I can put it behind me here. Why? Well, because the parts about having a party are just so dead-on!
Simply put, this is one of the most reliable front-to-back slammin' funky-dancey party albums I've ever heard. Throw it on at an energized but comfortable gathering with appropriate libations nearby, because this is social lubricant that should please most and not embarrass anyone. (Think of the JSBX as doing for late Gen-X party music what Girl Talk did for millennial party music.) It's just one track after another of beat-y funk-blues, every song landing a big strong hook or a little recurring riff or something that'll keep you going even when you know it's getting redundant if it wasn't already. "Desperate" is the only song I don't need (the soft wooshy synth isn't quite enough to make it a keeper). Everything else fucking slams.
Orange is the JSBX album the critics'll point you to, and that was true even before Edgar Wright immortalized "Bellbottoms" in the kinetic opening car chase of Baby Driver. But Acme is better: less adventurous, sure, but better with grooves than Orange was with songs (or grooves). Acme was recorded and mixed by varying combinations of indie godheads Steve Albini, Calvin Johnson, Dan the Automator (who does some scratching too), and Suz Dyer, the last of whom isn't a household name but was an engineer on the Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty, D'Angelo's Brown Sugar, for Luna and Paul Westerberg and many others. Such studio muscle shows, punching-up Russell Simins' drums and Judah Bauer's guitar to make a sound that feels slow-burn even when it gets fast and/or loud. Weirdly enough, though, it's not sexy. Which is a loss, but it's a loss that's almost made up for by that gorgeous packaging, which is in the great psych-mod tradition. (It's like a funky-psychedelic version of a Blue Note cover!)
A great coke album, this. I just wanna point at something in every song and go, 'Listen to that!', so I will. The snare in "Calvin", say, and carefully-controlled spurts of Steve Cropper licks isolated against the hip-hop beat and early funk-rock snare. More Cropper stuff going on in "Magical Colors", which is not a highlight - the chorus hook is weak, very weak, like '80s Grateful Dead, and Jon's laughing to himself is obnoxious - but bright enough with the mix; the bass sounds like it's suspended in a fishbowl. "Do You Wanna Get Heavy" smashes in slow and steady with some wonderfully goofy acoustic bullfrog doo-wop harmonizing in the softer verses, and good mixing and scratching by the Automator even if the actual drop is a letdown. "I Wanna Make It All Right" fares way better, drop-wise (that hi-hat 50 seconds in!), so simple and effective a beat that the song needs no further development, floating it in hazy echo and flangy guitar to create a translucent ozone that encases a crazy burning world. The happier blues-country skip of "High Gear" makes for one of the 'songier' songs, and Jon hicks it up appropriately. ('I drink more eggnog than malt liquor.') "Give Me a Chance" sounds a lot like a messier version of that earlier song and wouldn't be very good at all if not for that riff, but damn does that riff slam. (Especially when it comes back after the song drops out to a softer electro-beat around the 2:20 mark.) "Lovin' Machine" loops one of those piano chords from "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a hip-hop beat and features one of Spencer's funniest offhand lines and deliveries: 'Ring-a-ding-ding-ding/That's a telephone, baby.' The deconstructed "Politician" breakdown and squeal of horn doesn't quite deliver as a breakdown like you'd think it would, but it's a valiant attempt. "Blue Green Olga" features Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson doing some backing soft-wailed 'ahhh's, and though I love Jill the real secret weapon there is the electric organ, especially when it's wah-wahed and bent into a mouth harp twang...and then turns into a guitar. Slamming drums in that one, too, with a well-executed close-miked run-up to an exaggerated hiccup that smacks ya back in.
I guess my favorite song might be the single, "Talk About the Blues", with its lurching nauseous bass that's just the coolest sound ever, really kicking-in during the verses and those huge drum breaks by Automator and the channel mix-up with the funky drumstick clacks and groovy scampers, moving in and out of a talk-box. But then again I might pick "Bernie", despite its dumb lyrics ('pussy eat the fiddle, licking my curds and whey' — yeah dude, gross), just 'cause it has some of the most invigorating 'C'MON!'s and 'YEAAAAAAHHHHH!'s I've ever heard; I seriously wanna yell along with Cristina Martinez every single chorus, her eager screams are just to die for. And the breakdown is this magnificent in-studio room-clamor; kudos on Calvin Johnson for that one, great warehouse bash and abrasively bleeping old-school electric organ.
And I could say "Torture", too, what with its piano tinkle and synth-string against a blissed-out high moan-y hum that...actually makes for a surprisingly lovely comedown, really happy and relaxed; suddenly we're conscious of the natural world and the oncoming urge to go back outside to it. And then "Attack" gives you one more bee-buzzing bump for the road, complete with a "Calvin" reprise at the end that features Otha Turner and Brass Monkey brass and is mixed by no less than Jim Dickinson! (Spirit in the Dark! "Wild Horses"! 3rd! Pleased to Meet Me! Time Out of Mind!) Nothin' more to say here! MOVE! AWESOME! C'MON! YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
A–.
Simply put, this is one of the most reliable front-to-back slammin' funky-dancey party albums I've ever heard. Throw it on at an energized but comfortable gathering with appropriate libations nearby, because this is social lubricant that should please most and not embarrass anyone. (Think of the JSBX as doing for late Gen-X party music what Girl Talk did for millennial party music.) It's just one track after another of beat-y funk-blues, every song landing a big strong hook or a little recurring riff or something that'll keep you going even when you know it's getting redundant if it wasn't already. "Desperate" is the only song I don't need (the soft wooshy synth isn't quite enough to make it a keeper). Everything else fucking slams.
Orange is the JSBX album the critics'll point you to, and that was true even before Edgar Wright immortalized "Bellbottoms" in the kinetic opening car chase of Baby Driver. But Acme is better: less adventurous, sure, but better with grooves than Orange was with songs (or grooves). Acme was recorded and mixed by varying combinations of indie godheads Steve Albini, Calvin Johnson, Dan the Automator (who does some scratching too), and Suz Dyer, the last of whom isn't a household name but was an engineer on the Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty, D'Angelo's Brown Sugar, for Luna and Paul Westerberg and many others. Such studio muscle shows, punching-up Russell Simins' drums and Judah Bauer's guitar to make a sound that feels slow-burn even when it gets fast and/or loud. Weirdly enough, though, it's not sexy. Which is a loss, but it's a loss that's almost made up for by that gorgeous packaging, which is in the great psych-mod tradition. (It's like a funky-psychedelic version of a Blue Note cover!)
A great coke album, this. I just wanna point at something in every song and go, 'Listen to that!', so I will. The snare in "Calvin", say, and carefully-controlled spurts of Steve Cropper licks isolated against the hip-hop beat and early funk-rock snare. More Cropper stuff going on in "Magical Colors", which is not a highlight - the chorus hook is weak, very weak, like '80s Grateful Dead, and Jon's laughing to himself is obnoxious - but bright enough with the mix; the bass sounds like it's suspended in a fishbowl. "Do You Wanna Get Heavy" smashes in slow and steady with some wonderfully goofy acoustic bullfrog doo-wop harmonizing in the softer verses, and good mixing and scratching by the Automator even if the actual drop is a letdown. "I Wanna Make It All Right" fares way better, drop-wise (that hi-hat 50 seconds in!), so simple and effective a beat that the song needs no further development, floating it in hazy echo and flangy guitar to create a translucent ozone that encases a crazy burning world. The happier blues-country skip of "High Gear" makes for one of the 'songier' songs, and Jon hicks it up appropriately. ('I drink more eggnog than malt liquor.') "Give Me a Chance" sounds a lot like a messier version of that earlier song and wouldn't be very good at all if not for that riff, but damn does that riff slam. (Especially when it comes back after the song drops out to a softer electro-beat around the 2:20 mark.) "Lovin' Machine" loops one of those piano chords from "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a hip-hop beat and features one of Spencer's funniest offhand lines and deliveries: 'Ring-a-ding-ding-ding/That's a telephone, baby.' The deconstructed "Politician" breakdown and squeal of horn doesn't quite deliver as a breakdown like you'd think it would, but it's a valiant attempt. "Blue Green Olga" features Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson doing some backing soft-wailed 'ahhh's, and though I love Jill the real secret weapon there is the electric organ, especially when it's wah-wahed and bent into a mouth harp twang...and then turns into a guitar. Slamming drums in that one, too, with a well-executed close-miked run-up to an exaggerated hiccup that smacks ya back in.
I guess my favorite song might be the single, "Talk About the Blues", with its lurching nauseous bass that's just the coolest sound ever, really kicking-in during the verses and those huge drum breaks by Automator and the channel mix-up with the funky drumstick clacks and groovy scampers, moving in and out of a talk-box. But then again I might pick "Bernie", despite its dumb lyrics ('pussy eat the fiddle, licking my curds and whey' — yeah dude, gross), just 'cause it has some of the most invigorating 'C'MON!'s and 'YEAAAAAAHHHHH!'s I've ever heard; I seriously wanna yell along with Cristina Martinez every single chorus, her eager screams are just to die for. And the breakdown is this magnificent in-studio room-clamor; kudos on Calvin Johnson for that one, great warehouse bash and abrasively bleeping old-school electric organ.
And I could say "Torture", too, what with its piano tinkle and synth-string against a blissed-out high moan-y hum that...actually makes for a surprisingly lovely comedown, really happy and relaxed; suddenly we're conscious of the natural world and the oncoming urge to go back outside to it. And then "Attack" gives you one more bee-buzzing bump for the road, complete with a "Calvin" reprise at the end that features Otha Turner and Brass Monkey brass and is mixed by no less than Jim Dickinson! (Spirit in the Dark! "Wild Horses"! 3rd! Pleased to Meet Me! Time Out of Mind!) Nothin' more to say here! MOVE! AWESOME! C'MON! YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
A–.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
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1
Calvin
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2
Magical Colors
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3
Do You Wanna Get Heavy?
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4
High Gear
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5
Talk About the Blues
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6
I Wanna Make It All Right
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7
Lovin' Machine
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8
Bernie
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9
Blue Green Olga
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10
Give Me a Chance
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11
Desperate
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12
Torture
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13
Attack
It's pretty funny how they call themselves blues, they claim to play just rock'n'roll and end up actually playing funk.
Published
An exciting and powerful blues rock album.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is big in Japan.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is big in Japan.
Published
Slightly above average... When it hits, it properly hits, but over the course of an album it gets heavy and not in a good way. Despite thinking it was very cool 12 years ago, I am no longer trying to be cool.
"Magical Colours" and "Lovin' Machine" are stomping tracks though.
"Magical Colours" and "Lovin' Machine" are stomping tracks though.
Published
Whilst i feel a bit sorry for JSBX in respect that the white stripes kind of took over the work they were doing and made oodles of cash out of it the fact is that records like "acme" show why they never really crossed over .
As much as theyre combined sound of garage riffs,hip hop beats and led zep blues posturing sounds raw and potent it somehow becomes less and less interesting the longer the record proceeds , they have an original sound just not one that can maintain interest or provide variety .
But when they get it right like on the infectious booker t groove of "calvin" or the catchy riffs of "magical colours" or the slamming soul of "do you wanna get heavy" and when they step away a bit from the grindingly loud beats and cliched howls they sound like one hell of a band . Unfortunately by the closing track they have resorted to trying to sound like the prodigy . Which is not a good idea. Obviously .....
As much as theyre combined sound of garage riffs,hip hop beats and led zep blues posturing sounds raw and potent it somehow becomes less and less interesting the longer the record proceeds , they have an original sound just not one that can maintain interest or provide variety .
But when they get it right like on the infectious booker t groove of "calvin" or the catchy riffs of "magical colours" or the slamming soul of "do you wanna get heavy" and when they step away a bit from the grindingly loud beats and cliched howls they sound like one hell of a band . Unfortunately by the closing track they have resorted to trying to sound like the prodigy . Which is not a good idea. Obviously .....
Published
Simply an awesome album. Now there are plenty of things wrong with this, yet somehow, time after time, I find myself rocking out. I like how the shiny production contrasts the wild spirit of the music. I like the laidback glow to the music. I like how it grooves. This was definitely a unique experience to my ears.
There are two types of songs on here- more lyrical based songs and the balls-to-the-wall rock melodies. The actual songs, "Magical Colors," "Do You Wanna Get Heavy", "High Gear", "Desperate" are actually pretty good , catchy songs. But it's the beats and melodies from "Lovin' Machine", "Torture", "Calvin" and "Talk About the Blues" that infect your brain, refusing to ever dissipate. They are rich polyphinc tunes that manage to milk the most out of a single idea without missing a beat. At times it is a bit redundant, but overall _Acme_ has been a proud edition to my collection.
There are two types of songs on here- more lyrical based songs and the balls-to-the-wall rock melodies. The actual songs, "Magical Colors," "Do You Wanna Get Heavy", "High Gear", "Desperate" are actually pretty good , catchy songs. But it's the beats and melodies from "Lovin' Machine", "Torture", "Calvin" and "Talk About the Blues" that infect your brain, refusing to ever dissipate. They are rich polyphinc tunes that manage to milk the most out of a single idea without missing a beat. At times it is a bit redundant, but overall _Acme_ has been a proud edition to my collection.
Published
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Catalog
21 May 2024
20 May 2024
14 May 2024
14 May 2024
14 May 2024
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1 Calvin
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2
Magical Colors
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3 Do You Wanna Get Heavy?
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4 High Gear
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5 Talk About the Blues
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6
I Wanna Make It All Right
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7 Lovin' Machine
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8
Bernie
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9
Blue Green Olga
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10
Give Me a Chance
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11 Desperate
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12 Torture
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13 Attack
9 May 2024
7 May 2024
7 May 2024
5 May 2024
6 Apr 2024
7 Mar 2024
7 Mar 2024
4 Mar 2024
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1
Calvin
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2
Magical Colors
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3
Do You Wanna Get Heavy?
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4
High Gear
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5
Talk About the Blues
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6
I Wanna Make It All Right
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7
Lovin' Machine
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8
Bernie
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9
Blue Green Olga
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10
Give Me a Chance
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11
Desperate
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12
Torture
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13
Attack
18 Feb 2024
11 Feb 2024
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