For Paramore, Being In The Now Not Such a Good Thing

It's amusing to watch bands, rock in particular gallivant from a raw energy to a project that has to have had a fair amount of studio, major-label courting influence. The one band in particular I'm singling out is Paramore. To make my case and, to avoiding bringing out the notion that I'm on a first name basis with the band's entire record catalog, all I need do is draw your attention to "Misery Business", the opening single from 2007's "Riot!" album. What drew me to the band was this song. I was floored by the lethal level of energy. Former drummer Zac Farro was amazingly tight. That's an example of channeling your emotions for maximum effect. Definite machine gun pulse at work. Hayley Williams was as snarling at the mike as former guitarist Josh Farro was on guitar. Hayley's lyrics dripped "woman in search of getting her just desserts". Nobody left a single inhalation or exhalation unaccounted for. You may call it guilty pleasure but I call it surgically memorable. Once the song concludes you know you weren't entertained by some posers who were trying to fool you into thinking they knew what quality rock ought to sound like. Fast forward to "Now" the title track to Paramore's new self-titled effort. There's a gloss to the overall sound. Not only that there are one too many examples of a repetitive chorus that's trying to hard to become the earwig you can't shake from your skull. "Don't try to take this from me" gets tired real fast as does the truism 'There's a time and a place to die, but this ain't it." Ditto for "If there's a future, we want it now." I'm no dummy. One of the main ingredients to a successfully selling song is lyrical content that won't let go of your imagination. However a fine line must be balanced between a repetitive chorus you're eager to be reunited with and one that runs a risk of getting on your nerves. "Now" falls pretty squarely into the latter category. Hayley has lost some of the fire that made "Misery Business" such a giddy release of voyeurism. Charter member and lead guitarist Jeremy Davis has dialed himself down some, too. Studio drummer Ilan Rubin performs competently but I wouldn't go to much farther than that. It's a subjective conclusion but I bring you back to "Misery Business" (before) vs. "Now" (after). Maybe it's a bit early to say Paramore has become soft as its evolution has moved along but I haven't been knocked out of my seat the way I had been with "Misery Business" era Paramore. I hope they inject some swagger back into their work because Hayley Williams is a female vocalist who brings with her a firestorm of spunk. What she needs most is a collection of songs that show off that asset to its best effect. Paramore deserves not to fall by the wayside only four albums into its career. Raw ass-kicking is as necessary to rock as an ice cream cone is to butter pecan. Paramore is too talented to just melt away.