So I’ve grabbed myself another helping of Michael Katon. I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to Katon. Outside of Iron Maiden concert prep, it’s the only full album experience I’ve had in months. It’s been a sparse few months of music for me. I go in phases, but October is bringing some renewed vigor for listening to tunes, so look for more reviews coming soon.
This is another Live album and has a few of the same songs from Bustin’ Up the Joint, but it all feels new to me because I’m pretty unfamiliar with Katon in general.
Here’s what I like. I like it when a song starts with an evenly paced bass line mixed with lead guitar randomness like in Red Moon Risin’. I want the bass to be there right away with the lead guitar joining in a subdued manner. That’s cool. This idea of starting with the lead guitar kicking things off isn’t as appealing. There’s that, plus Katon goes full guttural with the vocals. I like that effect. He even breaks into a chuckle at one point. So there, it’s my favorite song on this album despite the comparably spare lyrics.
Did I just say “bass line”? I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I do feel it.
I like it when the guitar combinations are a little closer to heavy metal. I struggle with a slow song like Lucky, Lucky, Lucky and usually just end up skipping it.
I could pour trough this thing and really learn to recognize each song and it’s intricacies, but I can’t stay interested that long. Who am I kidding, I don’t have the capacity, nor do I know enough about music, to really root around in the solos and guitar melodies to pull out the gems. So this is all I got.
I put Katon on for long car rides when I’m alone and in a good mood. That’s it! It’s great good mood long drive material. His lyrics are humorous and honest (blue collar is another common description), the guitar sequences are familiar but technical, and there’s plenty of variety in tempo. Just good stuff.