The Grip Weeds
“How I Won the War”
Jem Recordings
Calling to mind John Lennon’s post-Fab Four rock ‘n’ roll, The Grip Weeds throw out the fun while still taking a stab at social and political morality. This New Jersey fabulous foursome adopted the title of Lennon’s 1967 cult movie, “How I won the War,” for this album — the band’s name itself is from Lennon’s character, Musketeer Gripweed — so naturally you dig into this record with a bit of Beatle-mania in your guts. But there are a lot more awesome referential bits on this LP. The production as well as the performance on “How I Won the War” is scarily period correct; it brings the band out of the land of lazy comparisons and makes it possible to imagine the album as a key component in the British invasion way back when. Sure I detect a bit of The Who and The Kinks here as well, but I won’t spoil it, and will let you arrive at your own conclusion.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2015.
