There was once a time when music was an agent for social change. Maybe that time hasn't ended.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are often called a political band, and Living with Living, the band's newest release, will inevitably be classified political, because of songs with titles like "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb." and "Fourth World War."
I don't buy it.
Really, Leo's ranting is more akin to the diatribe of an eleventh grader who watches The Daily Show a lot than it is to anything Dylan-esque.
While artists like Bob Dylan and Rage Against the Machine and a whole bunch of others may never have directly enacted any societal or governmental reform, many of their songs still felt like a call to arms of sorts to the audience.
Unfortunately, the sophomoric lyrics of Living with the Living say nothing that hasn't been said a million times before, and it's unlikely that it will accomplish anything new.
Musically, the album is similar to past Ted Leo + RX albums (most especially The Tyranny of Distance), and if anything, is a little bit more diverse.
Leo's punk roots are evident throughout Living with the Living, even when he tries to hide them beneath the reggae balladry of "The Unwanted Things" or the Celtic breakdown at the end with "A Bottle of Buckie."
For all its dynamism, though, Living with the Living is a little bit erratic and suffers from pacing issues.
The first few songs are classic Ted Leo, aggressively idyllic and wholly refreshing, but from there, the album is inconsistent, meandering in both style and in mood and seriously lacking the sonic focus and straightforward, no-nonsense attitude of past albums.
Ted Leo is still a gifted guitar player with a great set of pipes, but he chooses style over substance on this album, jumbling it with bells and whistles, figuratively (and, sometimes, literally).
Ted Leo's idealistic spirit and anti-establishment philosophy are, at their core, what really defines punk rock and what spurs political change, but he's just not saying anything that hasn't been said before, and it makes Living with the Living an underwhelming record.
Grade: C
