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I participated in the Train Bulletproof Picasso album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided a free album to review but all opinions are my own.
It’s my pleasure to have the opportunity to review the latest project from the three-time Grammy winning San Francisco band, Train. Their newest album, Bulletproof Picasso, is available for pre-order at iTunes, giving their fans a chance to jump on board that Train a bit early, prior to its September 16th release date. Heh heh – see what I did there?
I loved so many tunes on this album: these guys are hook-masters. This project is rife with memorable, hooky, immediately singable phrases. Here are a few of my favorite songs: “Son of A Prison Guard”, “Bulletproof Picasso”, and then, there was the song “Don’t Grow Up So Fast”, which made me feel a little bit like Charlene Darlin’ of The Darling Clan on “The Andy Griffith Show”. (The girl who said, “Oh, no, Pa! That ‘un makes me cry!”) I have a teenage daughter. What can I say? Watching them grow up so fast can be a deeply emotional thing.
Another one of my favorite songs, “Angel in Blue Jeans”, quickly grabbed my sonic attention by the juxtaposition of the sounds of an old western movie with a young hipster musical chant. Even better, they created what I believe to be a very tongue-in-cheek video for the song, which was released on Vevo, on July 15th. The last time I saw the starring actor, Danny Trejo, he wasn’t riding a motorcycle. His head was riding on the back of a tortoise, in the role of Tortuga, on the TV show “Breaking Bad”. So I find the sight of him singing with the voice of an angel (which is actually the voice of Train lead singer Pat Monahan) absurdly ironic and amusing. And to top it all off, this crusty looking hombre gets the very gorgeous girl (Hannah Simone from the TV show ‘New Girl’) in the video, besting the handsome sheriff (Pat Monahan). Delicious!!!
You have to watch!
“Cadillac, Cadillac” reminds me stylistically of music from The Police, back in the day, but you decide if you hear what I hear.
If you’d like to pre-order your own copy of Bulletproof Picasso, here are some links you might find helpful:
* iTunes: https://smarturl.it/bulletproofpicasso
* Amazon: https://smarturl.it/bulletproofpicassoAM
Train will also be performing live on the QVC channel on September 5th, at 5PM, Eastern Time, so if you’re a fan of the group that gave us such huge tunes as Calling All Angels, and their global smash “Hey Soul Sister,” (which not only won a Grammy, but was a #1 hit and the biggest selling single of 2010), you’ll want to be sure to tune in.
Diane Barlow
Saturday 6th of September 2014
Saw an interview yesterday with Danny Trejo on one of the Spanish channels. What a fascinating life story, full of redemption. He was smoking weed at 8 and using hard drugs by 12 years old. He did time in prison more than once as well. He was delivering drugs to someone on a movie set when the producer saw him and asked if he wanted a small part in the movie. He became very successful , changed his life completely and he has been acting ever since. He tells his story to groups of young people to help them. So interesting to watch such a tough looking man and see the soft hearted man that he really is.
Susan Williams
Saturday 6th of September 2014
No kidding?! That's kind of amazing, Diane! I love the video, and can't get the song out of my head. Also, can't quite get the image of his severed head riding on the back of a tortoise out of my head from "Breaking Bad". But that's another story. I watched Train live on QVC yesterday, and enjoyed their show very much. What a strange world we live in, where rock bands go on QVC, but I think that's what happens when statistically 60% of teens think music *should* be free. Where does that leave the person who has chosen music as a profession?