Emotive

On November 2, to correspond with the elections in the US, A Perfect Circle will be releasing a new album, titled eMOTIVe. The album is “a collection of songs about war, peace, love and greed” that is the band’s addition to the efforts to remove the Bush administration from rule. Among the most effective artists speaking out against the current direction of America and the world and creating in reaction to it, A Perfect Circle has released a full album of some of their best recordings to date in doing so.
I was lucky enough to be able to hear the album today in advance of its offical release. I had high expectations because I enjoyed their previous albums and live performances. I wasn’t at all let down, and was in fact impressed with the selection of songs and the brilliant interpretations of classics. Among the highlights are their cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the haunting current single, the vote call of “Freedom Of Choice” (a Devo cover), and “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums,” a reworking of the track “Pet” from the band’s previous album. The two tracks that raise this album to the greatest level are the closing pair, however. “When the Levee Breaks” (originally by Memphis Minnie and popularized by Led Zepplin) is a beautiful and sweeping song driven by simple piano and drums and falsetto vocals, a rendition that stands in surprising contrast with the version most of us know. The album closes with “Fiddle and the Drum,” one of Joni Mitchell’s finest protest songs and the most moving pieces of this album. Unadorned vocals echo of the great folk traditons of America and Europe, with Maynard’s voice as powerful as ever.
eMOTIVe will stand as one of rock’s great protest albums. It’s rewarding musically, certainly, and comes at a point in our lives that history may very well record as the greatest choice and the greatest danger for America and the world. It’s a fusion of timing and artistic brilliance. A Perfect Circle should be praised for releasing this when and how they are.