The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out

The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out. A good album. Good for just listening, walking, running, reading. Very basic rock sound with a live feel. Excellent guitar sounds. Vocals are low-key and good. Nothing real demanding about it, which might sound like a bad comment but I mean it in the best way. One time through and it's like a comfortable couch. Some of the songs should be longer.

1) Double Vision - (3:37) Exciting group sound, very nice left/right listening, thick, textured, immediately appealing sound. The bass is sneaking around, making itself known here and there. Very thick sound and nice.

2) Everyday Weapon - (2:20) Opens with feedback, then full blast. Guitar isn't clear but with distortion, like in the first track. "They'll take the skin right off our bones," the vocals are more excited in this one. Lead guitar gets up there and has some nice swirling effects melting it away. The instruments are great. That is a short song.

3) Small Talk - (4:13) Exact same sound to get it started, insistent drum. Verse is tuneful, with vocal echoes. Wow, cool guitar, more swirling, like rolled barbed wire, but short. I really like that stuff, and here it comes again, wowwwing, and now a solo off the melody. Musical bit in the middle is nicely extended. The guitar is almost droning, a single note vibrating. Then a sweet acidic guitar conversation, like guitars conquering the world, lovely song all the way.

4) Turn the Lights Out - (2:36) Starts off very laid-back, appealing vocal with lethargic, "Pull the covers over me." Perfect sounds of the instruments. Vocals and sound gets more demanding and louder, and it goes back and forth. The guitar meandering around is comforting to hear, it sounds so real, an integral part of what's going on. Speaking of family and friends, turning the lights out on you tonight. Great one. Title track.

5) 1209 Seminary - (3:06) "I sit and watch the chill of the city, how your children grow." The music and vocals are stunning, impressive. The album has a real live group sound to it. The vocals are restrained, not dominating. The guitar solos are all very pleasant without being 100% predictable. The title sounds like the address of a place.

6) Shine - (4:21) Opens with single guitar, then some high acid notes from another. The vocals are again not at the very top. The singing is psychedelic, trippy. The music also has a hazy, drifting sound. Some extended notes. Guitar solo is actually more conventional on this one, but with some additional thickness and interplay. There are some strong chords being worked on, with the same notes hit many times, getting higher. Trippy, excellent track.

7) Kingdom of Hearts - (2:03) This song is like the others in many ways, the same vibe between them. This one also has a certain trippiness, especially in the vocals, with the guitars going like that, getting stronger in it all the time, then a hugely pretty middle instrumental section. Too short a song.

8) Poser Psychotic - (3:44) A feel to the song to match the title. The singing is half buried in the instruments. The fuzzy guitars have center stage and they go nice places. The singing is very appealing, understated and integral, poetic feel. This is a hard rock sound that also is mellow.

9) Exile On My Street - (2:20) Melodic guitar opening, about 40 seconds. Vocals are a lot more in your face on this one, but short bursts only, then back to the guitar melody. Short song, 2:20. Vocals go back to half buried toward the end.

10) Harakiri - (3:28) Distorted sound right at the beginning, tough bass and drums, half buried cranked up guitar on right side. Very cool instrumental effects and vocal. Appealing song, psychedelic guitar solo. Distortion used to good effect.

11) Maybe I'll Try - (2:56) Vocals on top of you, alternating wavering notes to the music, and single drum hits. Then they launch into the whole thing. I think he said, "Maybe I'll try to feel again when I'm dead." The songs are very accessible the first time. Funny, brief chipmunks voice overlaid on the right side toward the end.

12) Pickpocket Song - (6:24) Basic rock group sound, insistent sound in there with one repeated note, then changes with the chord, then back. Sounds like a garage group, and nice effort by them. More limited sound so far than some of the other songs, still appealing. Same fuzz, thickness, vocals happening but no big deal. Wow, there was something that happened, the middle music bit, like Jerry Lee Lewis piano, several seconds, then a lot of going every which way. I love it now. Getting more overlaid with tracks, instruments, noises, effects, swirling to a very pleasing ending? No, almost 3 minutes left, great. This is good sounding stuff. They're having fun throwing it all in, making the most of it on this song. Get it, you'll like it. Very excellent track! Perfect ending song, too.

This is the line-up of songs as downloaded at Napster. The title had [Standard] in brackets like that, so there might be other versions.