Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Street Sweeper Social Club
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Release: 2009
Length: 39:03
Rating: 3.2/5
Before 1990, any mention of crossbreeds between rap and rock or metal would have turned me off right out of the gate. But given that the madcap blowouts with Rage Against Machine happened in between, followed by a whole heap of enjoyable genre-mixing, it goes without saying that it was only natural to adjust my opinion to the new circumstances. And along with that, we could fall in love with the non-conformist moves of guitar ace Tom Morello, who among other things blew the socks off, enchanted and stunned even guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, while us beardless kids could only drool over the squealing solos, explosive riffs and bursts of pure, natural, addictive dance rhythm. Yes, those were the days! Then the main propagandists of extreme leftism, social and societal justice, equality and the anti-globalist stance against capital’s urge to dumb down the masses – Rage Against The Machine – broke up, and after more or less successful (or unsuccessful) replacements in Audioslave and the like, another revelation arrived in flesh, sound and rhymes: Street Sweeper Social Club. Hand on heart, it’s a piece of music news that reached my ears pretty late, but better late than never, as the wise men and women say, right?
Street Sweeper Social Club are a conglomerate born from the contact, collision and complementary pact between two pretty similar worlds. All it took was for Tom Morello, after his episode with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, to invite rapper Boots Riley of The Coup to the mic, test the chemistry from his RATM days with new people and start recording. And what’s the end result of that chemistry? An attempt to revive the golden days, draining the wells of inspiration, a pop-ish version of RATM’s edge, and something you could easily overlook? According to purists and uncompromising sharp-tongued critics, no doubt about it, yes. But I decided not to pounce on every negative note right away and to listen to what Morello calls a »revolutionary party jam«, where there supposedly is no shortage of heavyweight riffs, funky depth and venomous delivery of modern satire about the times we live in. And the reality Boots takes on is full of downgraded people with no prospect of prosperity, honorable work or a human wage. Okay, so it’s a soundtrack to Wall Street uprisings, you could add, at least for the most fired-up ones, and in some softened, middle-of-the-road, conformist way you’d even be right!
Street Sweeper Social Club starts off pretty promisingly with the anthemic Fight! Smash! Win!, whose first impression is quite similar to the undertones of the album Renegades, but with less anger and less of the fervor Zack de la Rocha was always able to strain through his organs of discontent, while Boots comes across as unconvincingly lukewarm. Politicians need to be smashed and a coup needs to happen, yes, only this time the main protagonists of the revolution swear by cultivated indoor volume and gallant whispering instead of megaphones and shouting. Morello does serve up recognizable guitar parts and riffs that thunder with that unmistakable flavor. The leftist activism of both main players opts for doggerel in the shadow of soft party porn instead of militant punch, which is a peculiar cold shower for everyone expecting a bit more balls and bite. The song 100 Little Curses doesn’t give much else either, just a handful of swear words and the ballast of predictably leaning on activist slogans against everyone who swapped the fight for existential egalitarianism for everyone, including people on the fringes of society, for brands, glitz and posing. Did that happen to Morello and Boots too? Let’s look at the matter from another angle. The song The Oath is a thoroughly solid mainstream outpouring of good riffs, rhythm and unobtrusive rapping that won’t give you any serious complexes over the fact that you’re not a Black guy from the ghetto but, at best, a soft-cocked urban wimp who can’t be a real OG. Perfectly solid guitars and strategically placed »motherfuckers« and you get something that can conditionally be played at noon on your local radio too!
A bit more balls and determination is served up by The Squeeze, a funkadelic mix of seventies sound and metal that, following the recipes of Ice-T’s excursions through urban jungles, sounds digested and already heard. But in everything familiar and already heard there’s at least a gram of musical talent, which may only be enough for drunk visitors of some massive festival orgy, not for the »true believers« who were forged on real tattooed Black guys and had the »real« essence of rap wisdom poured into their ears. Clap For The Killers is easily a cold shower for all the self-proclaimed OGs, while I get moments of satisfaction just from the fact that RATM gems thunder from the speakers with a slightly more relaxed vocal orator at their side. The combination of Morello, Stanton behind the drums and Boots at the mic sounds perfectly effective in a relaxed, laid-back way, you just shouldn’t expect a revolution or crazy steps forward! Somewhere In The World It’s Midnight is a thoroughly unobtrusive hop into the little pool of the familiar sound, and Boots, in a somewhat smoky Snoop Dogg way, opens the door for the band to MTV airwaves too. Shock You Again is shocking only by the letter of its name, not in the end result. With all the negatives that line themselves up on their own, Street Sweeper Social Club is still a thoroughly respectable piece of music. With gems like Megablast, the playfully danceable Promenade or the closing Nobody Moves (Til We Say Go), it may not knock your socks off and floor you the way Evil Empire, Renegades or the infamous debut of the collective R.A.T.M. once did (okay, you can add the brave sharpness of the album Battle Of L.A. to that list too), but remember that the hands of the clock have moved relentlessly forward.
A pop-ish excursion into a once sharper past is definitely a great starting point for everyone who hasn’t yet dipped their finger into the jar of that real jam, which is damn sweeter than surrogates and all the substitutes. Tom Morello is undoubtedly a reference that guarantees there will be no shortage of good bits, and that a ton of fluff will hold something better than just a handful of unobtrusive pointlessness. Street Sweeper Social Club has plenty of music for entertaining the masses and relieving tension after a day spent at a job you don’t love, but it’s not the kind of call for revolution that would have you filling Molotovs, grabbing a Schmeisser and bombs, and being ready to die for lofty ideals under the banner of social justice and universal egalitarianism. And be honest – do you really believe every day is Christmas and that you need to get only the very best every day? Even that can make spoiled asses sick of it soon enough, and every now and then an instant snack comes in handy too, and the record Street Sweeper Social Club may just be the right one for such moments …
Lineup
Tom Morello – guitar, bass, backing vocals
Boots Riley – vocals
Stanton Moore – drums, percussion
Additional musicians:
Eric Gardner – additional drums on track #2
Steve Perry – backing vocals on track #10
Dave Gibbs, Carl Restivo, Eric Gardner, Jim Scott, Trevor Welch – backing vocals
Production
Tom Morello
Tracklist
- Fight! Smash! Win!
- 100 Little Curses
- The Oath
- The Squeeze
- Clap For The Killers
- Somewhere In The World It’s Midnight
- Shock You Again
- Good Morning, Mrs. Smith
- Megablast
- Promenade
- Nobody Moves (Til We Say Go)
