White Light Rock & Roll Review

White Light Rock & Roll Review
Studio album by Matthew Good
Released June 15, 2004
Recorded Mushroom Studios and Warehouse Studios, Vancouver, Canada
Genre Rock
Length 48:43
Label Universal Music Canada
Producer Warne Livesey
Matthew Good chronology

Avalanche
(2003)
White Light Rock & Roll Review
(2004)
In a Coma:1995-2005
(2005)
Singles from White Light Rock & Roll Review
  1. "Alert Status Red"
    Released: 2004
  2. "In Love With A Bad Idea / It's Been A While Since I Was Your Man"
    Released: 2004
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
CHARTattack [2]
Tiny Mix Tapes [3]

White Light Rock & Roll Review is Matthew Good's second album as a solo artist, and was released on June 15, 2004. Though it was not as well-received as his previous solo effort, Avalanche, it quickly achieved Gold certification in Canada.[4]

Recording sessions for White Light Rock & Roll Review began less than a year after the release of Avalanche, making it the shortest time spent between records for Good. Having become disenchanted with the state of recorded music, Good became enamored with the techniques employed by classic artists like Led Zeppelin and The Who, who spent much of their careers perfecting their live shows and recording albums live off the floor. To this end, Good sought to write songs that could best be conveyed to live audiences. In fact, many of the record's tracks (including "Little Terror", "North American for Life", "Blue Skies Over Bad Lands", "It's Been A While Since I Was Your Man", and "Ex-Pats of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra") were written and performed live, well in advance of the album's release.

Track listing

All tracks written by Matthew Good, except where noted.

  1. "Put Out Your Lights" – 2:03
  2. "Poor Man's Grey" – 2:22
  3. "We're So Heavy" – 4:36
  4. "Empty Road" – 3:29
  5. "Alert Status Red" – 4:25
  6. "Little Terror" – 3:07
  7. "In Love With a Bad Idea" – 3:30
  8. "North American for Life" – 2:07 (Good, Thor Valdsen, Priske, Steward)
  9. "Blue Skies Over Bad Lands" – 8:14
  10. "It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man" – 3:40
  11. "Buffalo Seven" – 3:20
  12. "Ex-Pats of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra" – 4:12/ "Hopeless"* – 2:56

* "Hopeless" is a bonus track that follows the end of "Ex-Pats of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra"

Miscellanea

Personnel

Controversy

Screenshot from "Alert Status Red"

Alert Status Red is a song about terrorism and violence. The title of the song alludes to the United States terrorist warning system.

The video for this single was released on June 1, 2004, on Matthew Good's website. Matthew Good did not direct this video, and after complaints, he took it down, because in addition to footage shot at Centennial School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, it also contained brief flashes of footage from the Columbine High School massacre.

After thinking on the matter for a while, Good put the video back on his website, with these comments:

"We are members of a violent society. We sell the world the majority of its weaponry; we are the foremost purveyors of nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, and military hardware. And yet we love nothing more than to point the finger at others and claim that they are the cause of the world's love affair with violence. The truth of the matter is that we tend to hide from the fact that we are just as violent, that we are just as capable, that we do not dwell on some higher moral ground from which to cast blame and point fingers. Incidents such as what occurred at Columbine High School demonstrate this, as does the wanton aggression of world superpowers that claim to be acting in self-defense when the truth of the matter is that they're merely reaping the whirlwind of their own abusive conduct. Our responsibility is to wake up and realize these truths."

References

External links