Search - Fred Schneider :: Just Fred (Jewl)

Just Fred (Jewl)
Fred Schneider
Just Fred (Jewl)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1

For Fred Schneider's second solo album, Just Fred, he leaves behind the dance-influenced of his debut and he hired indie-rock star Steve Albini to produce. Schneider and Albini recorded the album in less than a month wi...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Fred Schneider
Title: Just Fred (Jewl)
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Rhino Encore
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 7/29/2008
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 081227991654

Synopsis

Album Description
For Fred Schneider's second solo album, Just Fred, he leaves behind the dance-influenced of his debut and he hired indie-rock star Steve Albini to produce. Schneider and Albini recorded the album in less than a month with most every song at first take. The result is a fusion of Schneider's rockside with his punk roots. Schneider is energized by the bare bones approach with his vocals set to rock! Just Fred is guitars with a good bit of rock to roll with.

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CD Reviews

Fred Schneider - 'Just Fred' (Warner Bros.)
Mike Reed | USA | 12/10/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)

"Pretty much aimed at B-52's completists.'Just Fred' is B-52's male vocalist's second solo effort.Nothing special here,but a decent alternative release.Some of the cuts that I found semi-entertaining were "Whip","Sugar In My Hog","Coconut" and "Stroke Of Genius".Should be able to find this CD for less than the price of a 20 oz. bottle of Coke."
You put sugar in my hog!
Mike K. | Massachusetts, USA | 07/27/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am not quite a major B-52's fan; my overall impression of them is positive, but I don't really feel a need to own anything other than the Time Capsule compilation. However, a copy of this album caught my eye while I was in curiosity-seeking mode in the cheap bin (especially when I happened to look at the back cover and read the words "Produced by Steve Albini"), and, surprisingly, I ended up really liking it.



As it turns out, this disc pairs B-52's vocalist Schneider with 3 different bands, though an emphasis on driving punk/noise rock and Albini's production style make it so you'd be hard pressed to notice without scanning the credits. His vocal style fits this kind of music better than you'd think; "Sugar In My Hog" shows he has a formidable scream in his repertoire, and the more surf-rock-influenced guitar licks do sometimes bring to mind a heavier version of the B-52's from an alternate universe (as well as highlight his unlikely similarities with Jello Biafra and even Pixies-era Frank Black in vocal style). Lyrically there's some darker material going on at times (at least *I* couldn't imagine lines like "lick your wounds till you have no blood, take another slice" showing up in a B-52's track), but as track titles like "Radioactive Lady Eyeball" suggest, there's still a sense of surreal campy humor at hand (a bizarre deconstruction of Harry Nilsson's "Coconut", for instance). Diehard B-52's fans might not like the musical style, and people who would otherwise like the music might not like the vocals, but the three backing groups (Six Finger satellite, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, and Deadly Cupcake) all provide tight, aggressive but hooky arrangements, and at the very least Schneider seems more inspired here than he was with what I've heard of later B-52's material."