This is a damn tricky one.
My first impression of Halloween In America was not a kind one. It sounds like a really bad Bob Dylan playing songs that Country Joe wrote and then rejected. Beyond that, it sounds like the kind of record that was done-to-death years ago. I just heard tacky, sort of poetic sociopolitical rants that paint a dreadful picture of American consumerism, but don’t seem to make any real point.
After repeated listens, I decided that Fish Karma has a lot of smart points to make about the way we live life in America. I feel that Fish Karma and I are on a different wavelength, because the sort of American issues that Fish Karma is able to write clever little ditties about make me want to go outside and throw bricks. Fish Karma has a lot less anger issues than I do.
Ultimately, I think Fish Karma is probably the kind of songwriter that takes a lot of engagement from the listener. What he’s trying to say is given enough artistic reflection and sociological insight, that it takes more than one listen to really get it. When I listen to it, I get the very strong feeling that Fish Karma would be a fascinating person to talk to. Originally, I felt the music was dated, but upon repeated listens, I feel more that it’s a well needed wake-up-call for a left wing that at the moment feels comfortable and lackadaisical. It makes me want to get with it. I makes me want to run the fuck away from this plastic-ass, lowest common denominator, we need too teach students math but not social skills, Disney can’t help it if a fourteen year old Native American girl happens to look like a supermodel, Obama says he’s going to change things so that’s good enough for me, I need to get married and have kids because that’s what my parents did, bullshit culture.
Of course, I could get the same vibe from turning on a TV for ten minutes, but what the fuck.
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