If there is an algorithm to calculate artistic merit versus commercial clout, Ike Reilly would score somewhere between a nonillion and a vigintillion. Reilly has been making gritty, spastic, hook-laden classics for a decade now in relative anonymity, except for a fanatical few... there are no casual Ike Reilly fans. I just can't figure out why there are not more of them.
Earlier this year we got the latest cd, Hard Luck Stories, and it's easily one of the year's best. Today brings an honest-to-goodness music video for "Good Work (If You Can Get It)", a greasy, slow burning vamp that levels the high school caste system.
Tomorrow - tell a friend about Ike Reilly. Or better yet, buy them a copy of Hard Luck Stories.
Ike Reilly - "Good Work (If You Can Get It)"
Ike Reilly - "Last Time" (from Salesmen And Racists)
3 comments:
Nice one! One of my favorites off "Hard Luck Stories"
Actually, after watching the video...Ike certainly doesn't have to do a whole lot to make himself look like a high school janitor!
"HAqrd-Luck Stories" is definitely one of the best albums of the year, and this is one of my favorites off it. This song's story reminds me of The Hold Steady: the junkie ex-cheerleaders; the after-party at the underpass, by the grain elevators out of town; maybe it's b/c Reilly and Craig Finn are both from the Midwest.
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