Album Review: "I Get Wet" - Andrew W.K.

As someone primarily dealing in film-based videos, I often feel restricted in what I can talk about and sustain over the average length of these videos. One of these things is music, or, more specifically, album reviews. I'm an "album" kinda guy, so I like to look at an album as a whole and see how it represents both the artist and their period of their careers. In this respect, it seems kind of odd that the first subject of these reviews is Andrew W.K., AKA "The Party King of Rock."

For those who don't know, W.K. is well known for his songs about partying, partying, partying, and partying. Hell, his appearance on Aqua Teen Hunger Force gave him the opportunity to make the most outlandish distillation of his reputation with the classic "Party Party Party."

The reason why I chose to start with him in particular is through pure serendipity. As part of an irregular past-time with my fellow music buff that involves looking through the entire $5 CD bin at WalMart, I happened upon the 10th Anniversary Edition of "I Get Wet." I only knew the album through "Party Hard" and had no intention of ever delving further into W.K.'s career, but I figured that a 10th Anniversary Edition had to mean that the album had some merit.

But, oh, boy... where do I begin?

First off, I know that this album appeals to some people. Those are the people who want a nonstop, adrenaline-fueled blast of hard rock and don't care about things like lyrical content or musical variation because they just need something to get pumped to. I'm not that person, and clearly I am not the target audience for this album.

It starts off promisingly enough with an excellent one-two punch of songs. "It's Time To Party" is a lightning-fast 1:30 of pure, simple hard rock and is, essentially, W.K.'s album statement. Either you're in for the ride at this point, or you can pack it in and go home. Then, it almost naturally segues into "Party Hard" since, now that he's established it's time to party, W.K. makes clear with an immortal robotic mission statement:

When it's time to party, we will party hard

And this song conveys that perfectly. It immediately blasts you back into your seat with a blinding fury of power chords and energy unmatched by most other hard rock. W.K. clearly knows that he can pump up a crowd with this song alone and it seems like he has a hell of a good time in the breezy confidence of the song. The energy never lets up, there's never a dull moment, and W.K. ends it memorably with a primal scream that lets out whatever raw energy was left over.

Then, it goes off the rails.

"Girls Own Love" is a forgettable, but solid, song with the unfortunate luck of having to follow up "Party Hard." The subject of "Ready to Die" is one of the most bizarre song topics that W.K. could have written about since it seems to involve group murder and what sounds like cult-like sacrifice ("Party Hard" indeed). "I Love NYC" is the absolute nadir of the album, dropping off into a unmemorable string of mottos that could be used for generic tourism advertisements.

It's at this point, with the ever-repeating lines of "I Love NYC," that I realized just how derivative this album is. The lyrics are often direct repetitions, or slight variations of the song's title, with some vague extrapolation and further explanation only present in the simplest sense in the verses. This is even more apparent in "She Is Beautiful" and the jarring follow-up "Party 'Til You Puke" (in which W.K. sounds like he actually is puking out the title).

Also troubling is the lack of musical variation throughout the album. Almost every song has the same formula of heavy, pounding power chords and a fast tempo to match the hard rock mentality. Additionally, some pieces of songs are simply reused with little changes; I counted the same piano count-in to "Party Hard" at least two more times in the album, with the only difference being how long it lasted.

Despite a heavily dragging middle section after a great opening, the album does somewhat pull itself up once "Fun Night" introduces some variation in tempo and structure into the mix, a trend followed by "Got To Do It." With this brief foray into experimentation, even the return to the typical hard rock format in the title track revitalizes what was stale a few tracks ago. Fittingly, the album ends with a short, triumphant, yet slower victory call through "Don't Stop Living In The Red," allowing the album to conclude on a high note after a great string of four songs.

My opinion of "I Get Wet" is the epitome of "mixed." I wanted to like the album a lot more than I did with songs like "Party Hard" and "Don't Stop Living In The Red," but the frequent repetition and dull monotony of the slog that is the middle of the album can't allow me to recommend this album as a whole. If you need a 35 minute long soundtrack to your nonstop, hard rock partying lifestyle, by all means get this album in its entirety. If you want to be constantly invested in the music and want some variation, look elsewhere because Andrew W.K. is not the artist you're looking for or, at best, a musician you can only listen to in small doses.

Best Tracks: "Party Hard," "Don't Stop Living In The Red," "Got To Do It"

Worst Tracks: "I Love NYC," "She Is Beautiful," "Party 'Til You Puke"