General Without An Army

The NightWatchMan, usually referred to as Tom Morello, released his follow up album “The Fabled City” on Sept. 30. The guitarist, of “Rage Against the Machine” and “Audioslave,” is releasing the first single titled Whatever It Takes.
Whatever it Takes gives a Morello sound full of pedal work and scale driven verses. The provocative aspect of the NightWatchMan is that Morello uses a classical guitar. Using a classical guitar, mixed with Morello’s pedal choices, it gives an abrasive yet bright and “bass”ful sound. It doesn’t sound as tired and murky as an electric guitar might have. Morello, as always, pushes the envelope of what sound should and could be.
Short and stocky verse lines, equipped with heavy descriptions of hardship allow Morello to hit on the social imperfections of the time. Morello uses his vocals in a Johnny Cash tempo, mixed with the outbursts of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springfield. As a politically aware individual, as can be seen and heard in the work of Rage Against the Machine, Morello uses the influences of these three artists quite well.
The song itself is engineered and constructed in a way that’s more noticeable in a “Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers” track. It has powerful guitar focus, but keeps it behind the sultry vocals of Morello and his lyrics. Heartbreakers guitarist, Mike Campbell has been known to use the quote,” Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.” Letting Petty be the great leader he is. I think Morello has a lot to say, but sometimes keeping it short allows people to hear all the emotions that are going into a track. Morello does a great job of this. I am here, listen up, I got something to say, it wont take long.
Whatever It Takes does an outstanding job of not just making a political statement, but more of a social statement. The video represents this extremely proficiently also. Today’s music videos are stretched and beaten forms of advertisement. Meaning nothing more than a product being sold, creativity has taken a back seat to money. Yet, there are still a lot of creative forces still out there, but just not shown to the masses. I think this video is a good example of this gift. There isn’t the glitz and glamour of a Britney Spears video. This video is real and full of life. Taking place on the streets of L.A., Morello is partaking in the life of normalcy. The kind of life most everybody lives. These are the people needed to be protected and they aren’t in the current systems of government. It’s not just the government’s problem, it’s all of ours and that’s Morello saying he’ll be there for whatever it takes. A message we should all be dedicated to.
Morello is talking to all of us. Asking us if we have the fortitude to be something more? People can’t just play the blame game, people have to help each other and make change. Little nuances in the video play out like blinking gas prices in background and Cesar E. Chavez St. close-ups. This video can be seen at http:
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