Audio CD review:
Goddo - King of Broken Hearts

Goddo - King of Broken Hearts

Band: Goddo Title: King of Broken Hearts Rating: Release Date: 2001-11-05 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Was It Something I Said? 2: Dreams of New York City 3: Mirror Mirror 4: King of Broken Hearts 5: It's Good to Be Alive 6: Say You Will 7: Quicksand 8: Lost Without Your Love 9: Egypt 10: You Must Fight Back 11: Please Baby Please

The Transformation Continues While the pulse-pounding rock songs tend to be the vehicles that best display their F-you, sarcastic attitude, there tend to be less of these songs on their newer albums. Admittedly, Greg Godovitz's biggest musical influence was the Beatles, and that influence continues to become more prevalent as he matures. While the "Goddo sound" of old has been linked to Canadian anthems like "Sweet Thing", (Carole) Kiss My Whip", and "So Walk On", the "new" Goddo sound has much less of an edge and relies more on melody and three-part harmonies. That being said, this album begins with a bit of a throwback to classic Goddo - "Was It Somethin' I Said?" would not be out of place on any one of their first three albums, and lines like "you always figured you were too good, baby, so I took you down a peg or two. I just assumed that you would realize what a man like me could do" is caustic Greg Godovitz at his snotty best. Still, the pace of the album fades after that, and although there is some good writing here Goddo fans from the early `80s are going to be disappointed if they're looking for a repeat of the first three albums. This is a definite departure, first hinted at in "Pretty Bad Boys", but manifested here in a big way. "Mirror Mirror" and "Dreams Of New York City" are pure blues, and "Lost Without Your Love" sounds more Motown than Lionel Richie. The album finishes strong, though. "Egypt" is somewhat unusual and brings the album back into the rock'n'roll vein, the final two cuts stay high-tempo and even if they don't have the edge of earlier Goddo work, they certainly have catchy hooks. Overall I think this is a stronger effort than "Pretty Bad Boys", but it's missing the "killer single" that PBB had. First, the title is mistaken The actual title does not include that phrase. This is not a 'best of' or compilation in any way, despite the listing and despite the words 'produced and compiled by' on my copy. ['BEST OF'] Goddo does have a lot of great material, but unfortunately, this disc only has one very good song: the single, Was It Somethin' I Said, which captures both their sound and their sort of sneery attitude perfectly. The disc actually has 3 tracks less than the original release of it, which I bought in July 1992 after winning tickets to see them in a bar. By the way, I've seen them in various settings, and a bar is the way to see them, in the front. The 3 missing tracks are "Just Don't Know", "The Quest", and a cover of the Beatles' "You Can't Do That", which *was* the only other good song on here. If you want a good start, buy 12 Gauge Goddo which also has Was It Somethin' I Said and actually came out before KOBH. Greg, Gino, Doug: sorry to dis your work. I hope Kings of the Stoned Age is better, everything else was. You can see a complete list of all Goddo discography, or go back to the Goddo tabs