"Free from it all," Albert Hammond Jr. sang to a packed early show crowd at the 9:30 club last Friday. Intended or not, it's a metaphor for the liberated sound of The Strokes guitarist's first solo album.
The Strokes burst onto the rock scene with "Last Nite" and other popular singles from 2001's "Is This It?" but since then have faded into the background. The band's sound remained largely unchanged on followup album "Room On Fire."
The New York City band changed things up on last year's "First Impressions of Earth" by removing some of singer Julian Casablancas' voice distortion and writing more complicated arrangements, but ultimately lost the immediacy of previous work.
The Bob Dylan-haired Hammond, who grew up in California, has solo material that can best be described as "Strokes Lite." That's not a knock, though; it's actually quite refreshing. Several tunes from his debut "Yours To Keep" sound like The Strokes, but they're much more laid-back. Hammond did mostly rhythm guitar for The Strokes, so there aren't any crazy guitar solos, but that doesn't mean he can't write sunny, infectious chord progressions.
Playing live, Hammond met expectations. The songs sounded for the most part like they do on the CD, with occasional-but-minor changes in arrangement. Hammond was great with the crowd; he was relaxed and cracked jokes. He even read a particularly gushing note from one of his fans.
A little disappointing, however, was his actual guitar work. Though he obviously can sing just as well as Casablancas, Hammond apparently can't play an instrument at the same time. Two other guitarists on the stage handled the complicated parts, leaving Hammond a few strumming parts between lyrics. As a result, what ended up being most impressive about Hammond's playing was how unusually high up on his chest he wore the guitar.
The show wasn't long. Hammond played 10 of 12 tracks from his debut, plus a couple extras. There wasn't an encore, though this may have been because it was an early show and the 9:30 crew needed time to prepare for the Stooges later that night.
The Mooney Suzuki opened the show, but failed to impress the crowd as much as it did itself. It was a lot like watching Spinal Tap (England's loudest band). The band hit a lot of classic rock grooves, but the deja vu altogether left a bad aftertaste.
The Mooney Suzuki wasn't exactly poetic, either. "First comes love, then comes complications," the band sang on a track that will appear on its next album.
"First comes love, then comes expectations."
That said, the singer and lead guitarist did climb on top of the big amps and rock out toward the end. There's definitely something to be said for that.
The performance had its flaws to be sure, but Hammond's upbeat vibes left the crowd feeling good when the house music came on. The guitarist proved he can hold his own without the other Strokes. One can only hope Hammond's laid-back sensibilities will rub off on his main band.
