Marvelous 3, Ready Sex Go review
By-Robert Cherry, Sexnrocknroll.com
If Top 40 radio and strip joints didn't exist, it might not have been necessary for Atlanta's Marvelous 3 to create ReadySexGo. Who else will appreciate this horny überpop more than first-time drivers borrowing the family car on Saturday night and the skin-palace throngs ogling the bethonged? What is it about Atlanta that generated such an over-sexed power trio? Whatever it is, someone should get down there pronto and bottle the water.
Following-up their sophomore disc, Hey! Album, and its attendant breakout single, "Freak Of The Week," singer/guitarist Butch Walker, bassist Jayce Fincher, and drummer Slug take giant steps toward joining the ranks of their idols with ReadySexGo. Cross a randier Cheap Trick with a raunchier David Lee Roth and a more promiscuous Queen, and—well, let's just say someone better get to work on a cure for a new strain of virus.
What's surprising, given all of the disc's sex talk, is that most of Marvelous 3's tunes deal with the aftermath of a break-up. But instead of turning out a collection of minor-key mangled heart-bemoaning à la any other trend-abiding songwriter, Walker seems more concerned with all the great sex he'll be missing courtesy of his ex-girlfriend. That and making sure his next song features a catchier sing-along chorus than the last.
"Little Head" establishes the basic theme here. Over a timeless combination of crunchy guitar, thwack!ing drums, and pumping bass, an overdubbed legion of Walkers bellows, "My little head is so shocked without you/My little head can't hold the thoughts you put inside my mind when you walked out." Translation? I've got a dick for a brain, and my brain is swollen with dreams of you.
For the album's 12 remaining cuts, Walker struggles to get a—ahem—grip on the situation (with the exception of "Sugarbuzz," on which he thumbs his nose at jealous scenesters and chump rock crits, who point out the inevitable: "You can stick that sign up your ass/The one that says it won't last"). On "Grant Park" he wrestles with the realization that his chick has left him for another woman ("Check the exposure/Something's wrong with this picture"). On "Supernatural Blonde" he ponders ways he can make his dirty dreams a reality ("If you existed I could not resist it/Supernatural blonde, come on down"). And on "I'm Losing You" he finds temporary solace with a former Solid Gold dancer ("It's hard to cover up the smell of sex with bad cologne").
Fortunately Walker had the more enduring companionship of his bandmates as well as guest players like Buckcherry's Yogi, Lit's Jeremy Popov, and Jellyfish's Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., to help him through what must have been some restless recording sessions. 'Cause as he sings in "I Could Change," "Staining all the covers in the dark, it ain't no fun."
Well, at least not for Walker. I'm sure his record company has a different handle on the subject. With 13 potential hit singles, ReadySexGo is a record exec's wet dream.
