Album Review: Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin

Ty Segall

Freedom's Goblin

**** out of *****

The insanely prolific singer/songwriter Ty Segall's newest offering Freedom's Goblin is a wide swath of psychedelic pop. Touching on various genres as Segall and crew have constructed a successful double album marking a high point in the non-stop recording artists career.

Pulling back the curtain at RtBE, I listen to an album and take notes on the tracks for the review proper after the record has had time to sink in. For Freedom's Goblin, since it is such a sprawling release, I thought it would helpful to share those exact, unvarnished notes and you will notice something, not one song is the same style...and all of them are pretty damn good.

• "Fanny Dog"- blaring out of gate, great mix of horns hard drums and distortion
• "Rain"- softer, shifting of gears, vocals are rough, dramatic piano, big swells
• "Every 1's A Winner"- killer distorted funky cover of Hot Chocolate. Weirdly great.
• "Despoiler of Cadaver"- disco, not awful but least favorite.
• "Why Mommy Kills You"- hip swinging punk/grunge guitar rock.
• "My Lady's on Fire"- gorgeous pop with sax, organ, really great. odd beginning, highlight
• "Alta"- Big arena rocky riffs
• "Meaning"- hard angular fuzz rock female vocals as wife sings lead. Heaviest track.
• "Cry Cry Cry"- softest, pop effort, weeping guitars. Jarring coming off "Meaning"
• "Shoot You Up"- Swaggering T-Rex style
• "You Say All The Nice Things"- dreamy, pretty, rolling, ends oddly
• "The Last Waltz"- whimsical death march
• "She"- motoring cock rock metallic mid-80's arena/hair. Really dynamite extended guitar solos
• "Talkin 3"- DIY lo-fi punk-sax skronk, damn good
• "The Main Pretender"- groovy, touch of soul
• "I'm Free" 60's Jingly-jangle pop
• "5 Ft. Tall"- noisy yet sweet power pop. Bad ass drums/riffs, awesome tune, maybe best..it closes with feedback dripping into...
• "And, Goodnight"- Fluid guitar work, plus organ soaring in vein of Zappa-esque closer. Killer

Segall and The Freedom Band are all over the sonic map, we even left out a couple of tunes up there, but you can see things never stay with one style/genre. Even Segall's vocals, which can run thin at times, vary up enough throughout the album to keep listeners on edge.

The clearest direct link would be something like The Beatles White Album in scope and range for a pop double record. High praise, but Segall has nailed the majority of his tracks here.

The only true complaint is the style and direction makes listening to the full record jarring at times as very little vibe/sound/style flows from track to track. That is a minor detriment and one that shouldn't stop anyone from checking out this collection of fantastic efforts from Segall and company.
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