Music's Not For Everyone

Chronique

Chain and the Gang's second album gives Ian Svenonius another opportunity to stand in front of a massive ensemble of musicians on his soapbox. As on Down with Liberty... Up with Chains!, a who’s who of K Records clientele backs up the former frontman of the Make-Up while he holds together the purposely loose show with poignant rants and loads of charisma. Music's Not for Everyone is a lazy take on garage rock, indie rock, and Motown, fleshed out with vintage organs, raw guitar tones, and eight backup singers dealing out call-and-response lines. Overall, it's a darker and more uneven album than the debut, but notwithstanding a few oddities (three reprises, and Arrington de Dionyso’s Gregorian throat singing, namely), it's a respectable follow-up. As usual, Svenonius' wit shines in his lyrics. He lays out the steps one must take when forming a Detroit garage rock band (“Detroit Music” and “Detroit Music, Pt. 2”), tries to file a grievance with a former lover for wearing out his lips (“Bill for the Use of a Body”), and takes issue with so-called audiophiles, who miss the deeper meanings of music: “For them it’s just something that they think they’re supposed to do.../Music’s not for them, it’s for me and you.”
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