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—Invaders From A Forbidden Planet |
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CD Review by Jack Nichols
The latest Invaders From A Forbidden Planet CD, Queen City (AAJ Records),
arrived unexpectedly in my mailbox. I put it immediately on the player, wondering if my old-
fogey tastes might not interfere with an appreciation of what youth hath wrought.
The young'uns cavorting on the album's covers are unfathomable universal kids, after all, and in the wake of hearing so much pooor pop till just lately, I was trying to steel myself against my octogenarian prejudices, fearing bad poetry, perhaps. So I listened with an imaginary ear in an attempt to welcome today's best sounds hoping this album would be at least good, given what falsely passes as such—like the RC Church or Jerry Falwell-- through the grace of today's 'goodness' fantasies. Reacting positively as I did during a first cursory listen, I knew myself well enough that when I'd put time aside during a second listen, I'd probably go batty with ecstasy.
I thanked him for his opinion and offered to close the door while I turned up the volume and joined the Invaders from a Forbidden Planet in Queen City. He didn't want the door closed, he said. He wanted to hear the entire album. In eight of the eighteen cuts there are short monologues featuring several gay and lesbian kids who take part in a Charlotte organization called Time Out Youth. Here's how I reacted to all the eighteen Queen City cuts:
My first reaction? This song's got enthusiasm for living. Yup, some true-blue zest, and, by golly, it's being sung with pure genuine ooomph. Cut number three, consisting of only a few words is Longest Relationship and the speaker seems to be pointing right at me when I was a serious-minded eighteen and dating a singer for two whole weeks before I got excused from the edge of the piano bench. Cut number four, Anyone, is a poignant cry-- seldom mentioned in public—made naturally and secretly in the heart of nearly every human being. "Say you love me before I die!" It's rich and instrumentally engrossing. I'm suddenly asking :Who is this Amazing Lee? He's a musical poet, I decide. And a damn good singer. Henry if I Fall, is cut number five. I'm still responding positively to every note! This Amazing Lee guy can write the songs. Damn, I'm sounding like a groupie. Told you….yup…batty. The sixth cut, a monologue called Bad Date, updates new steps in parental etiquette with a teen who's let it be known to Mom & Dad he's gay. The teen tells how he returned home one evening to find a blind date his parents had arranged for him with the son of a good friend of theirs. He went with his blind date politely, not wanting to hurt his folks' feelings. But no, to hear him talk of it, that blind date was an attempt at arranged marriage.
Watching Oprah with a mother and son focussed on an interview with strippers, is cut number eight, while Mom observes, "You need a good piece of woman," sort of an introductory to cut nine, It Hurts (When Your Mother Don't Love You) another of The Amazing Lee's compositions, sung superbly. Sex, Sex, Sex, cut ten, reflects youthfully-worded wisdom indicating there's more than just sex. Hey, perhaps we can learn from this cradle talk. Attention. If you're one of those hoping for a top notch love song, the Queen City CD has got it and it's called The Man in Me, cut eleven. At this point, I'm wondering what does The Amazing Lee look like? Yeah, he's operating with one hell of a sexy voice. In fact this cut eleven gets my vote for The Best Male Pop Love Song of 1999. One of the interesting things about this mostly all-male album is that there are apparently lesbians aboard too and I'd assume that they're Kelly Shane (who does Synths, Tapes and Keyboards Tracks) and Rachel McDonnell, on violin. Mike Coleson's drumbeat is exquisite, not to mention lead guitarists Drew Watson and Brandon Arnold, sometimes playing solo and enjoying my complete attention. Mike Coleman, aka-ing as Canard is responsible for Bass Tracks as is Tommy Hamilton. And finally, an additional guitar is played—during Come a Little Bit Closer—by Karl Gentner. I mention all of these carriers of instruments because I like the sounds they make. Queen City is a work of keen melodic depth. Lesbian Volleyball, spoken as cut number twelve, is a reflection on converts to the mysteries of the Ball Religion. Two womens' voices are heard, one that's hysterical saying, "I play volleyball." The other voice replies: "Hi! I'm a lesbian." Cut number thirteen, 27 Years? My notes here say "Fantastic! Great instrumental. Super-duper stuff!" Keith Speaks Out in cut number fourteen, briefly expanding our behavioral knowledge of the society in which we live. Tom's Trouble, cut fifteen, is hard rock, begging "You gotta, gotta, gotta gotta give it to me." It qualifies as macho rock, if the song is meant to portray a much-stressed romantic somebody who ain't getting' much and is freakin' out bigtime about it. Cut sixteen, The Room That Wasn't Enough, is a not unlovely experiment in novel sound. I find I can do more than just deal with it. I can enjoy it, in fact. The Amazing Lee says he recorded this in a drunken stupor with a crappy 4 track. Surely, he jests. David on the Bus, cut seventeen, tells us of David's younger days riding the bus to school. He spies an intriguing beauty-boy but confesses: "I would never sit next to him. I would never talk to him. I just liked watching him get on the bus." Finally, the last cut –number eighteen—is titled Last Night I Dreamed of You. Frankly, this is the only musical on the entire album that fails to make me twitter as I've done through every other offering. But nine out of ten songs on an album is a pretty high score, says I.
Some of the proceeds from Queen City will benefit a good cause (Time Out Youth of Charlotte, N.C.) Time Out Youth is a public outreach program targeting gay and lesbian teens and young adults. It exists to give support, education, advocacy, affirmation and empowerment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth, ages 13 to 23, in the greater Charlotte area. It is dedicated to ending their sense of isolation and confusion, and promoting an atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance throughout the larger community. The Amazing Lee has been involved with Time Out Youth since moving to Charlotte a few years ago. Before that, he was based in Tallahassee at FSU, where he formed the band we now know as Invaders From A Forbidden Planet. E-mail Orders: meanboylee@aol.com |
The Amazing Lee 
The band's first full-length release, The Ups and Downs of Boyhood 
Planet's guitarist Drew Watson 
© 1997-99 BEI