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So, the other day, I'm driving down the road when this song starts up on the radio. I recognize it, and instinctively, my hand reaches out for the volume knob and cranks it up. I know this song. I like this song. Yet, oddly, in the back of my mind, I feel slightly embarrassed...like, I'm not supposed to like this! And then the vocals kick in, and it dawns on me: this is a Ted Leo song. No wonder I feel so ashamed.
Ted Leo used to be in the band Chisel. He's a friend of Velocity Girl (he and his boys even sing back-up on their last cd Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts), so he gets cool points for that. But at first, I couldn't get into his solo stuff. Our friend Chris used to play his first album, The Tyranny Of Distance, all the time, and it was just too 70's parking-lot mullet-haired arena-rock sounding for me. Ted would do this unbearable falsetto thing! Maybe it isn't fair to judge an album just from hearing it from the back seat of a friend's car while heading for Chili's, but well, it didn't leave a good impression on me.
But then this CD came out, and Chris made us a copy, and Mike and I actually like it so much, we're planning on buying it soon! (We wanted to buy it at his show, but as you may have heard, he cancelled his latest tour when he messed up his larynx.) It's still pretty rockin', but I swear, there's this melodic quality that I didn't hear on the first time around. And instead of reminding me of 70's-hair-rock, he reminds me of artists like the early frenetic Elvis Costello or Billy Bragg after twenty cups of coffee. Ted even reminds me of Billy lyrically --- just really smart and kinda literary stuff that makes you think as you nod your head along with the music.
So, really. It's okay. You don't have to be embarrassed to like Ted Leo. Our support group meets every other Wednesday in the backroom, thanks. ;) (janice.05.03)
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