Jay Reatard – “Blood Visions” and “See/Saw / Screaming Hand”

by Meghan Palagyi in Album Reviews, Musician Reviews, Song Reviews, bands to watch

If the beginning of the first track of the album sounds like “Bela Lugosi is Dead” played at 45 rpm instead of 33, it a given that “Blood Visions” is going to be great. It was released in October of 2006, so it may be old news, but recently discovering Jay Reatard has refreshed my seriously stale music library. This is the first solo album from the group, and while the cover may be a tad unsavory for some tastes, Jay is wearing nothing but a Speedo and is covered in what appears to be fake blood, by no means should the music be judged by the CD cover.

While Reatard’s sound is reminiscent of The Ramones’, his lyrics are somewhat death obsessed and discuss relationships gone bad, lost love, and breakups. The closest thing to love songs are “Not A Substitute” which is a short little song about missing someone, “Nightmares” which is about searching for love, and “Turning Blue” which is about a crush. “I See You Standing There” is about a crush too, except stalker-style. Some of the songs are not about relationships, but growing up.  Even if you do not regularly entertain morbid thoughts, this album will have you singing along with Reatard when he says “That’s what they want to give me, Blood Visions” on “Blood Visions” and “It’s so easy when your friends are dead” on “It’s So Easy”. On “Death is Forming” “Deathifforming deathisforming deathisforming formingdeath formingdeath” will be stuck in your head after listening once.

All of the tracks have simple hooks and repeated lines, but are incredibly catchy nonetheless.  The distorted, fast sound is nothing but addictive. The longest song, “My Shadow” clocks in at three minutes and eighteen seconds. The album can be listened to in its entireity in under a half hour, 29.1 minutes to be exact, and leaves the listener craving more. Luckily,  there is a fix.

Earlier this month, “See/Saw / Screaming Hand”, a two track single, was released. The lo-fi sound is preserved, but the lyrics are a  more serious than they were on “Blood Visions”. On “See/Saw”, Reatard sounds more like Johnny Rotten than Dee Dee Ramone. The guitar sound is toned down, and the lyrics are more introspective. The sound, or the singer, has matured since “Blood Visions” was released. On “Screaming Hand” Reatard’s vocals have a slight Bad Brains twinge to them, which gives the band’s sound a little bit of punk, a little ska, and still influenced by new wave, which equates to great modern day alternative punk revival.