Freedom's Goblin / Ty Segall

Label: Drag City

Reviewed: 4/6/2018 DJ Stace

10th studio album by the prolific psych rock luminary Ty Segall. No real 'theme' to the work, other than complete deconstruction and recontextualizing of the best of 60's and 70's rock. Liberally sprinkled with "free" and "freedom" without ever getting trite or annoying. Borders on legitimate power pop, at points, without NOT being Segall. A really satisfying album that feels pretty brilliant, so far, and that's already a favorite of 2018.

Features a badass cover of Hot Chocolate's 1978 song, "Every 1's a Winner" with Fred Armisen on percussions that should be played on repeat for hours

FCC Clean

RIYL: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, King Gizzard..., EODM, Ween, Sabbath, Neil Young, Queen

Play anything, but especially: 1, *3*, *4*, **6**, 7, 8, 12, 16, *19*

1. "Fanny Dog" 3:39 - Bam! Begins with one of those power snare strikes that says wake up and pay attention. Horns, big crashing drums, backup singers, epic guitars... will have you singing along about Fanny. Phil Spector would be proud if he weren't batshit crazy. Crescendoing, then screeching halt. Awesome.
2. "Rain" 4:05 - Quiet piano and drum fill back Segall's great lyrics. Full orchestration at 1:30. Great soaring lead guitars and horns return to the piano and drum fill soulful and lazy vocals. Moments of Queen and Pink Floyd and more.
3. "Every 1's a Winner" 4:19 - a badass cover of Hot Chocolate's 1978 song that should be played on repeat for hours. Very nearly approaching Fu Manchu territory in the level of aggression and fuzz, here. So, so, so good.
4. "Despoiler of a Cadaver" 3:53 - Bouncy with plenty of Kraut. Up-tempo little dance number anchored by a great fuzzed and over-driven funky bassline. Sexy talk vocals and falsetto backups are perfect lyrical silliness. Dare you not to move.
5. "When Mommy Kills You" 2:47 - Fast, driving fuzzed out nod to classic 60's psych, complete with guitars riffing behind the "FREEeee... in the chorus.
6. "My Lady's on Fire" 3:52 - Starts as a down-tempo folky acoustic with vocal harmonies, kicks up to a sparse (for Segall) mid-tempo jangler with organ and great horn fills. This song is in regular rotation at our house, right now. The instrumental outro screams of Van Morrison's orchestrations at the peak of his powers.
7. "Alta" 4:07 - Nice little John Paul Jones, "Thank you" style Hammond organ intro gives way to a gigantic mid-tempo rock anthem, right from the get go, with epic Marshall stack-worthy guitars. "Before I feel shame, I would fight to save you, I would give my life!"
8. "Meaning" 3:07 - Uptempo starts with drum solo, then batshit crazy slide guitar riffs, suddenly assaulting you at 1:00 with a wall of fuzz and GRRRLLL vocals. Reminds a little of Babes in Toyland.
9. "Cry Cry Cry" 3:12 - 50's teeny bopper-style crooner with, of course, Segall's twisted atonal instrumentation to make it so much better than the genre could ever hope to be.
10. "Shoot You Up" 3:20 - Big, meaty, fuzzy guitar riffs and a thumping bass drum superstructure and a slinky-dry-sexy Bowie-esque vocal with falsetto backing make me think of the Stooges. This one will make your pelvis go all Elvis.
11. "You Say All the Nice Things" 4:23 - Jangly, mid-tempo, folky, bordering on Beck territory gradually fills out with fuzz enough to turn into a pretty satisfying Neil Young tune (if Neil were currently in his 20's).
12. "The Last Waltz" 2:24 - A Waltz, in full Weenish treatment. Sounds like a drinking song for an asylum full of carnies. Which, is a good thing.
13. "She" 6:23 - Epic from the get go. Big Black Sabbath riffs, Van Halen solos, epic Ozzy style vocals. Giant, headbanging, doom hair metal awesomeness. With a funny little Doors-ish electric piano riff and solo, because why the hell not. "She, she, she said... I was the bad boy..." Ends abruptly.
14. "Prison" 1:06 - Brief, chaotic Ty Segall guitar & drum solo weirdness.
15. "Talkin 3" 2:02 - Uptempo, sharp tempo, sax-driven chaotic screaming punker.
16. "The Main Pretender" 3:00 - Funky, swaggering sax-driven psych rocker. Marc Bolan all over this one.
17. "I'm Free" 2:43 - Mid-tempo strumming acoustic foot stomper with liberal use of the stock "I'm Free..." lyric in harmony! Cream when they weren't yet knocking the bottom out of it, yet.
18. "5ft Tall" 4:34 - Big sludgy intro gives way to a more pop-driven bouncer, then back to a big crashing rocker. A Monkees tune, if they had done more aggressive drugs and been prone to destroying their equipment.
19. "And, Goodnight" 12:03 - The big finale. Segall returns to the opening track from his 'Sleeper' album, channeling Crazyhorse from the outset, to turn it into a 12 minute loping, caustic, fuzzy, western desert funk guitar exploration with indulgent solos and breaks. Just a great straight ahead rock&roll jam session. Epic. Great finish.

Stace