Luxury

Item: Health & Sport
Author: Alex Klages

Health & Sport

(2005)

Reviewed by Alex Klages

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Northern RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

alternative rock britpop indie rock post-punk

Luxury's affinity for the apocalyptic continues with their latest, and possibly last, album. It puts these gentlemen into a class of their own. Most bands only dream of recording an album with the texture, the layering, and the poetic insight of Radiohead's OK Computer--Luxury's newest album meets this challenge head on and surpasses it. Where Radiohead only has questions, Luxury has some of the answers, and maybe even more questions which are even harder to answer.

Lyrically, Lee Bozeman takes on the anomie and materialism of pop culture while musing on eternity. As such, there is hope, there is despair, there is joy, there is sadness--an album for all of life. This album is simply beyond description for this reviewer. The first track, a wandering ten minute opus somewhat reminiscent of the Prayer Chain's Mercury album, leads into some harder-edged guitar rock which, for the first time in Luxury's albums, has both Lee and brother Jamey featured on lead vocals (that is, not counting the bonus track "Rock Star" on some copies of Amazing and Thank You).

Musically, you wouldn't know that the band doesn't play much anymore. The musicianship is tight as ever, with excellent drumming by Glenn Black, solid bass work by Chris Foley (who, as the album was being recorded, was attending St. Vladimir's Seminary in the aims of becoming an Orthodox priest), auxiliary guitar work by long-time band sideman Matt Hinton, lead guitar work by Jamey Bozeman, and Lee doing the bulk of vocals and playing piano throughout.

The only shame is that Lee has claimed on his own website that he is sure that Luxury's days are mostly behind now. This album is purportedly the last for Luxury as a band. The final track, with Lee wishing God's blessings to the members of his band, is a suitable closing track in that way. It just doesn't seem fair that Luxury has released their best album yet--and yet that band is talking of Luxury primarily in the past tense. Oh well. At least Northern is a lot more stable than Grey Dot/Bulletproof and this album shouldn't disappear from the landscape the way their underappreciated 1999 self-titled album did. If you liked Lee's All Things Bright and Beautiful project or Jamey's band They Sang As They Slew, consider that this album fuses the best of both their styles, and that the sum of the whole is much greater than the parts! This album is simply the best rock album I've heard this year.

5 tocks