Mood Elevator

Artist: Jack Logan
Label: Restless Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 035058929027
EAN: 0035058929027
ASIN: B000003BLK

Release Date: 1996-01-16

Mood Elevator

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Lo-Fi

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Teach Me The Rules
Unscathed
Chinese Lorraine
When It All Comes Down
My New Town
Ladies And Gentlemen
Just Babies
Sky Won't Fall
No Offense
Another Life
Estranged
Neon Tombstone
What's Tickling You
What Was Burned
Vintage Man
Suicide Doors
Bleed

Similar Items:

Bulk
Buzz Me In

Amazon.com

With his mumbled baritone and lo-fi, get-it-down-quick approach to recording and his unlikely subject matter (everything from public speaking to house fires), Jack Logan sets up numerous obstacles before his music. For those willing to jump over those hurdles, the reward is one of the quirkiest, freshest songwriting talents to emerge in the '90s. Logan never tells the whole tale, but the intriguing details of his lyrics remind us of the unfinished stories in our own lives. This air of suspense is reinforced by the unpolished but urgent music, whether it takes the form of hard-rock guitar distortion or lazy honky-tonk strumming. For years Logan spent his days repairing electric motors in Athens, Georgia, and his evenings writing and recording songs with a bunch of similarly employed pals in living rooms and basements. Only after lots of pestering did Logan send 630 songs from 14 years of widely varying sessions to Minnesota's Medium Cool Records, which chose 42 of them for Logan's two-CD debut, 1994's --Bulk. His second album, --Mood Elevator, is a more focused project; it only contains 17 songs and they all come from a single set of sessions in Indiana last year with the same band, Athens' Liquor Cabinet. Inevitably, --Mood Elevator lacks the breath-taking breadth of his debut, but it does boast half a dozen of Logan's finest efforts. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews:

Aptly titled.......2006-08-19

How did I manage to miss the 1996 release "Mood Elevator" by Jack Logan and his cadre of backing musicians, dubbed Liquor Cabinet? As many have noted, his debut effort, "Bulk," cast a long shadow, and I think, after finding "Bulk" a bit too loose and free-wheeling, I sort of forgot about Mr. Logan to some extent (though I'm a big fan of the Roach Brothers).

"Mood Elevator" is aptly titled, and anyone listening will certainly be in a better frame of mind and spirit afterwards. The subjects of some of the songs and the choice of metaphors are off-center enough to strike some as odd, but, in fact, this quirky nature lends depth and interest to these songs, which do not dwell on the ever popular themes of bad relationships, look what I have that you don't, or I'm cooler and badder than you are.

Mr. Logan takes care of the vocals here, allowing Kelly Keneipp, Dave Phillips, Aaron Phillips, Terry Roach (of the aforementioned Roach Brothers--the other Roach Brother, Jamie is the engineer) and others to play their instruments and chime in with background vocals and, in one song, laughter.

This is rock without the trapping of ego. The music is bright, upbeat, and catchy. If this set of unpretentious songs sounds like a group of friends playing what they want, how they want, in a barn out in the country, then you have caught the vibe. Actually, this recording is a group of friends playing what they want, how they want, in a barn out in the country.

Grab a copy while you can. All these folks selling this CD so cheaply need to clean out their ears and take a fresh listen!

a better listen than _bulk_.......2004-08-04

a lot more accessible and therefore quite a bit more enjoyable than the monstrous _bulk_, which also happens to be the critics' darling. nothing pretentious here, just rock 'n' roll straight-no-chaser. jack could be the second coming of CCR or something. there's something distinctly fogertish in the way he approaches rock music: with genuine enthusiasm, a little grit, and no frills.

Great Stuff.......2003-03-01

Logan might just be an American original. He does the art for his records, and other fellas (I think Logan might like me to say 'fellas').

Musically, what he does is not unlike Mark Eitzel or Leonard Cohen, only minus the pretension and plus a bunch of damn fine poetry. He allows music, but...

But. When he plays, he is a blend between Barenaked Ladies and American Music Club. He's sharp and funny, but more depresed than...well, Eitzel...

The great thing about Logan is that when you leave his records, you feel like you know someone. He's the least enigmatic songwriter I've ever heard, and I'm a Loudon Wainwright fan, so I should know about revealing songwriters.

He sings about losing his daughters because of his lifestyle, of not understanding society ("Teach me the rules/I beg of you...I wanna do it right").

It's bare bones, and sounds like a few guys in your living room, but this is still a great record. Give it a shot.

Love, Loss, Death & Cars.......2003-01-15

The 40+ tracks on BULK revealed a songriter of staggering diversity, and a stubbon will to keep it all down on the farm. MOOD ELEVATOR picks up right where BULK left off. The same obssessions rain on---love, loss, death & cars. "Teach Me The Rules" starts things off on a lively enough note. Though doom is narrowly escaped on "Unscathed", "Chinese Lorraine" has some pretty "awful news". Logan brings it all to a fore on "Ladies & Gentlemen". There aren't many songs quite like it. I haven't the slightest idea what it means, but it makes you wonder. I'd be loathe to say there's one bad track on this record, but "What's Tickling You" can try your patience after repeated listens. Die young anthems like, "Neon Tombstone" more than make up for it though. The best is saved for last. I'd be hard pressed to find a more haunting progression of songs than "What Was Burned", "Vintage Man", "Suicide Doors" & "Bleed". Though he may have played it slick on BUZZ ME IN, Logan & his "Enablers" have gone back to basics of late with things like TINKER & MONKEY'S PAW. They have their moments but MOOD ELEVATOR and BULK capture Logan at the top of his game.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Metal ~ Brian Bromberg

Eindhoven Concert ~ Chuck Israels & Metropole Orchestra

Definitive Cannonball Adderley ~ Cannonball Adderley

Sunday Brunch

Sentimentally For You

Tridruga ~ Tridruga

Lost in Love ~ Demis Roussos

Talents Du Siecle V.3/Master Serie V.3 ~ Renaud

Swing Time Ohta-San Ukulele Jazz Best Selection ~ Ohta-San

Juntos ~ Eduardo Costa