Record reviews: Semi Precious Weapons, Dion

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BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star

Semi Precious Weapons

“We Love You”

3 1/2 stars

The latest “best band in New York City,” Semi Precious Weapons plays trashy glam-garage rock — think New York Dolls with a little touch of Nirvana and Sunset Strip metal sliding into the sound.

Strutting and preening with the best of them, singer Justin Trantor celebrates his trashiness and glories in old-school rock hedonism in songs like “Magnetic Baby,” swiping part of the Dolls’ fashion aesthetic along with some of their sound. (“It’s not my fault I look better in a party dress/I’ve been magnetic when I was a baby.”)

SPW’s songs are about sex and death — long popular rock ’n’ roll subjects — and they’re delivered with plenty of swagger on songs like the smash mouth opener “Taste” and the jumpy “Her Hair’s On Fire.” Things bog down a bit here and there, but even when the music falters, SPW rivets the attention with blasphemy (there’s a song called “Jesus” about abstinence-only kids) and songs with titles so naughty they can’t be printed in your family newspaper.

SPW isn’t really doing anything new (if the Dolls analogy doesn’t work, try Bowie-meets-Iggy with lots of dirty guitar). But they do it pretty effectively and look cool doing so — and that’s rock ’n’ roll.

Dion

“Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock”

4 stars

Did the world need another record of covers of inimitable ’50s rock ’n’ roll classics like “Summertime Blues,” “Be-Bop-A-Lula” and “Blue Suede Shoes”? When that record comes from Dion, the answer is yes.

A ’50s rock hero himself, the 68-year-old Dion is best known as a singer. But he’s also a great guitarist, a combination that lets him put his own stamp on songs identified with his contemporaries from Elvis and Chuck Berry to Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers and Johnny Cash.

Dion’s classic Bronx vocals don’t have the high range they used to. But the man has style and feeling, and he injects it into the familiar songs, claiming them for himself. The same thing holds true for the guitar work, which avoids aping, say, Cliff Gallup, Scotty Moore and Carl Perkins and yet perfectly fits the songs.

Fittingly, the record ends with “The Wanderer,” a song Dion has likely sung tens of thousands of times over the past five decades. But it still sounds great, right down to the sax-dominated arrangement, just like the rest of the record, which is a must-have for those who love early rock ’n’ roll.