Scroll down for reviews of the latest from Beth Thornley, The George Usher Group and The Heavenly States

Big Kid
You Must Be Kidding

(self-produced)

Release Date: May 20, 2003

www.bigkidband.com

Big Kid is a San Diego-based quartet that specializes in classic power pop, and their seven-song debut EP is perfect for the summer. These guitar-driven songs are great for blasting in the car or on the beach, featuring hard-driving choruses and the kind of subtle hooks that make each song seem instantly familiar.

The band grew out of numerous songwriting sessions between drummer Steve Clark and guitarist Damian Hagger. Both men had attended the Berklee College of Music in the mid-‘90s (yet didn’t know each other then). As the songs developed, the idea of a band to play them seemed a natural progression. Steve’s brother Doug was enlisted to play bass and Los Angeles-based vocalist Ken Stacey joined them in the studio to record the songs that would become You Must Be Kidding.

Since that time, singer/guitarist Craig Henry has joined the group (in lieu of Ken Stacey) and they recently played as part of the 2003 International Pop Overthrow Festival in Los Angeles.

“Feather” is a jaunty rocker, a tale of someone obsessed with a girl seen in a magazine, and most infectious. “Pop Song” is a slower tempo song, again about a woman (this one appears on a billboard) who the singer can’t get out of his mind: “Like a pop song that’s been played for so long / I hear you all the time.”

“The Girl Is Alright” tells of one who is wasting time and her mind, in a musical style akin to OK Go. “Extremes” is another pleasant rocker with driving guitar, recalling groups like Phantom Planet and/or Tsar. In this song, the girl in question’s picture appears on the second page of the newspaper.

“I Hope You’re Happy Now (Without Me)” is a bitter song of contemplation about the ex-, her wining and dining and even his very replacement (who he sees reaching the same contemplative state).

While Big Kid seems to have the requisite power pop chops, hearty guitar anthems with hooks aplenty, they also seem capable of more. On two of these songs, there’s a definite stylistic tribute to the songs of Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning, Jr. “Time In A Day” and “Change Your Mind” (the only songs here written solo by Steve Clark) are impressively Jellyfish-like.

You Must Be Kidding is some serious stuff. While these seven likable songs come to just a little over 23 minutes total, they present a very appetizing sampler from which to attract record label interest. Certainly, Big Kid has talent enough for someone to take a chance on them soon…maybe even you.

Beth Thornley
Beth Thornley

(Stiff Hips Music)

Release Date: February, 2003

www.beththornley.com

There’s a fresh new female voice on the rock scene that takes the stage with a confident sense of self and melody enhanced by a wry intelligence. Beth Thornley is this compact bundle of wonderful, yet the irony is her impressive singer-songwriter talents have thus far remained an unheralded secret. While Sheryl Crow and a gang of questionably talented sound alike urchins crowd the radio waves, Thornley is in Los Angeles seeking wider exposure. In an industry not known for fairness or justice, one only hopes for the best.

Thornley originally hails from Birmingham, Alabama, where she was given piano lessons and weaned on the likes of Bach and Mozart. Though retaining a love for classical music, Thornley long ago pledged her allegiance to rock and pop and never turned back. The results of her passion are the ten songs on her eponymous self-released debut, a charismatic mix of interesting rock rhythms with hints of blues, folk, and more. Thornley is able to blend disparate musical elements into seamless blocks of memorable three-or-four-minute songs.

Thornley’s expressive voice is the focal point on these tales of deception and heartbreak and human relationships gone awry; effectively displaying a range from high whisper to belting out phrases with the kind of strength that demands attention. She also surrounds herself with talented musicians Rob Cairns (who also earns credits for co-writing some of the music, along with great clean production work) and Rob Disner.

“I Will Lie” is a strong opener to the CD, a woman caught deep within the web of her loving prevarication: “And I will pretend until it fits like a second skin / And I’ll reply each time this is how it’s always been / And I will lie to you until I believe / I will lie until the lie is me.”

“You Made It So” is a hard after-the-fact confession to a pretentious lying blowhard of an ex-lover whose clear penmanship made it simple to read the writing on the wall: “I stopped, dropped and rolled / sorry if I seem cold but you’ll have to explode all by yourself / You made it so easy to walk away.” Thornley rocks a bit harder on “Sunshine and Celluloid,” a cautionary song about slick though clueless operators.

“Arrogance” to my ears approximates the sounds of an earlier Aimee Mann (circa Whatever), a very good thing. It’s a battle between music-writing lovers, and the lyrics flaunt Thornley’s biting intelligence with thoughts like this: “I thought if I spoke clearly you would hear me and then understand that the chaos in our lives was just a fence to mend / Then I realized you made the fence with all the holes exactly as you wanted ‘cause it left you in control.”

That same Aimee Mann-vibe (along with some Kate Bush too) is apparent on the anthem of rejected questionable friendship “Don’t Save Me.” It’s an ironic counterpoint to Mann’s “Save Me” (from the *Magnolia* soundtrack). Thornley again wraps her way around unlikely phrasings, and even name checks the Wharton character Lily Bart.

Perhaps my favorite here is the eclectic tough-guy stance of “How Many Days.” With dobro and wonderful island rhythms thrown into the mix, Thornley contemplates not knowing peace of mind if it “bit her in the ass” and how “some folks are just happier being blue.” Her voice takes on a grittier rasp here, and to her great credit, when she sings “Here I stand with my dick in my hand,” it works.

The ballad “Talking Like An Angel” is a solemn confession from one who spun her angelic words to hide the fact that she knew a relationship would be temporary right from the start. This song was selected as a finalist in a Carole Bayer Sager Valentine’s Day Song Contest.

Another refreshing surprise of a song is “Lucky You, ” wherein it’s all about the control and unkind ownership of a man who must be kept full of “booze and seconal” because when he’s sober, he’s no fun at all. One is taken to believe the poor schmoe walks out -according to voiceovers at the song’s end who try to reason with him to stay. Who says manipulation can’t be fun?

“Go Baby Go” is Thornley cleverly employing tired phrases and sewing them together in an attempt to create something new; while “Break U N 2” shows Thornley’s lyrics don’t always work (rhyming auctioneer, queer and veneer for one and offering up confusing wordings - e.g. “Now you don’t think that we don’t know that you don’t have a clue what you should do”).

Still, all told, Thornley creates some compelling music on this most impressive debut.
There are shades of Aimee Mann both in production and in style, along with Sheryl Crow and Juliana Hatfield. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to include extended reference to the folk angst of a Beth Orton, or the voice strength of The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, or the quirky song-story ability of a Jill Sobule. Thornley has a bit of all this, and an upbeat energy that transcends it. She writes wonderfully infectious music, delivers it with an endearing vocal style, and there’s not a bad song in the lot.

Beth Thornley is an original that bears watching in the years to come; why she hasn’t yet been embraced by those in power remains a musical mystery. In the interim, enjoy her full-fledged talents on this refreshing debut. With intelligence and abundant musical ability, perhaps she can expand her oeuvre beyond mere relationship songs for her next go round - and when she does, here’s hoping it’s on a well-distributed label.

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George Usher Group
Fire Garden

(Parasol)

Release Date: July 1, 2003

www.parasol.com

There are two keys to fully appreciating the George Usher Group’s Fire Garden: repetition and trust. George Usher is a quiet pop poet, a songwriting veteran with decades of experience who takes pride in his craft and great pains to marry the right words and music. But critics who give a quick listen or three and dismiss his music as merely pleasant sounding retro pop do their audience a disservice. Trust that the subtle charms of George Usher’s complex music require patience. After repeated listens, subtle hooks make their distinctive whispers heard, the years of experience show in song structure and carefully chosen lyrics. There is so much more here than any first listen will reveal.

It’s been over two years since the impressive release of Days of Plenty, yet in terms of what happened on September 11, 2001, it might as well be a century later. Based in NYC, Usher knows it’s a changed world. On Fire Garden, Usher doesn’t show much in the way of obvious reaction, yet the CD booklet tells otherwise. Two I Ching hexagrams, like twin towers now gone, provide a background to the lyrics. The left hexagram is P-hih, or Disjunction, the earth below and heaven above, all about the pettiness and misunderstandings between men fueled by money and capitalism. The right hexagram is Tzhin, or Advance, the earth below and the sun above, the dichotomy of two opposite forces as people, Yin and Yang, working together to move forward in harmony. Without stating anything, this says a whole lot.

The songs themselves also are not conspicuous testaments to what has happened. Rather, they are about people seeking refuge from the harried pace of a modern world both in love and in dreams.

While the songs still have occasional keyboard/organ accents, Usher now is composing more as a guitarist. His soft measured tenor (akin to Roger McGuinn) guides each song, riding atop layers of guitars and more, with a group of fine musicians executing each song remarkably well: Doug Larcey on guitar, Dennis Ambrose on bass, and John Bellon on drums. Mitch Easter again has done a fine job with the mix.

The deceptively upbeat “Are You Coming Or Going” opens the CD as a discourse on the confusion surrounding a love and the seeming inevitability of ultimate tears: “Knowing how it was / isn’t being where you were / when no-one is anywhere at all.”

A man “too far gone to worry” is the mess behind the message of assumed love as salvation in “The Day Before I Found Her.” Ambrose and Bellon do fine work as rhythmic backbone here.

The pretty ballad “Fade” tells of one man’s struggle against a world that’s driving him down: “Once or twice love was standing behind me / Once or twice, time was here at my side / Once or twice luck was trying to find me / or maybe it wasn’t and somebody lied.” Larcey displays the perfect touch with his gentle lead here.

“The Lost Fields,” a collaboration with Richard Barone, is an ode to some utopian retreat that serves as refuge from places “where angry fear is a cloak to wear, where peace of mind is denied and broken.”

“Too Busy Dreaming” is short and sweet (with lovely guitar lines running throughout), a man too busy dreaming to worry about things, yet he cautions against taking things at face value. Also short and sweet is the romantic sigh of “She Doesn’t Even Know You’re Alive,” another example of how Usher can craft perfectly catchy pop songs that clock in at under three minutes.

The musical discussion of dreams, their imagery and tricks, continues in one of my favorites here, “The Return Of Your Loved Ones In Dreams.” Dennis Ambrose contributes some fine bass work in “There Is No Sleep.”

The infectious “Spectacle” is a wry commentary on the modern need for sparkle over substance, while “Nowhere” warns against easily losing all and winding up in an empty place called nowhere.

“See You Later, There’s The Door” is one of two songs co-written with Doug Larcey, and features great percussion from John Bellon. The other, “Dancing In Troy,” asks the musical question: “The life of the party is playing with knives / when the impossible moment arrives / Will you be dancing in Troy between alternate lives?”

A somber but beautiful closing ballad, “Daylight Comes,” features a haunting chorus of guitars echoing musical phrases, offering some optimism in what follows this somnambulant state: “Endless dreaming / Distant drums / Leave your sorrow / And daylight comes.”

With repeated listens, you’ll find more here than what first meets the ear. Rife with dream references, the songs on *Fire Garden* reveal how love and endless dreaming can consume a waking life, offering solace and a way to survive troubles and fears.

Fire Garden serves up a wide variety of fifteen offerings, but only one runs longer than four minutes. George Usher is a true pop craftsman, a master of the concise and well-structured song, honing verse, chorus and middle bridge into tersely efficient jangle-pop gems chock full of subtle infectious hooks. Fans of Usher and his music will find this to be another pleasant addition to what already has been a long and productive musical career.

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Guitarist/songwriter Ted Nesseth is abundantly gifted. He and his band The Heavenly States (formerly known as Fluke Starbucker and thankfully newly renamed) manage the difficult feat of wedding angry intensity to that of delicately finessed grace on this amazing debut. This trio of displaced musicians (from Minnesota, Texas and New York, respectively) now residing in the Bay Area exhibits an uncanny ability to create strange yet lovely pop creations, lush and unpredictable and often with a hard guitar edge.

Joining Nesseth is brother/sister team Jeremy and Genevieve Gagon. Their self-titled album (coming on the heels of a split single release with Coldplay) is an unexpected surprise, an eclectic delight. The Heavenly States delivers fourteen songs that really challenge a listener due to the sheer enormity of musical range covered.

After the few seconds of “What’s the intro Morning Glory?” the CD opens strong with the powerful “American Borders.” Hard guitars mix with delicate accents in this energetic and vitriolic dismissal of a nation summed up in a line: “Heaven for a few, the rest scarred.” This is a great arrangement, and played to perfection.

Similarly, “Monster” mixes hard and soft into a marvelous amalgam of a song that typifies the very special style that makes The Heavenly States an instant classic.

“The Story Of” builds on a violin riff into a deceptively upbeat song that trades on the great vocal harmonies between Ted and Genevieve and cynically serves up a chorus that states: “Hey hey / everybody’s gonna die today.” Nesseth likes wordplay, and often provides eclectic lyrics that may sound great, but ultimately serve to confound: “Wake up your knight and check your mate / perpendicular to hibernation / axiological debate.”

The Heavenly States shows their mastery of the soft ballad with “My Friends.” This haunting melody about friends who say you’re right and you’re wrong, but have yet to change your mind, contains more odd and intriguing references: “Pile up the dirt that you can take / the voices of sparrows, the weakening arrow, the sister number 8.”

One of Nesseth’s gifts is an ability to write wonderful yet unpredictable songs. While great guitar work dominates “Beyond The Great Beyond,” the song is complex in structure, offering soft moments amid what oft sounds like a musical celebration of marital love. Once again, he also has a way with unexpected phrases: “I wanna punch you in my face / And we’re drowning in our faith / I never wanted it that way / But my heart has inked my weight.”

“Cumulous To Nebulous” opens with an almost trance-like musical ramble (there are no vocals until over two and a half minutes into the song). Here we see the expertise of producer/engineer Jeff Saltzman, who manages to bring a dreamy loose “Elephant Six” feel to the instrumentals.

Similarly, on “Empire,” the sound is a grand sonic wash that plods forward slowly, using backward tape loops for a psychedelic interlude amid a wondrous epic of a song (at nearly seven minutes long).

“Carwash” is a complete change of pace. Here, The Heavenly States let Genevieve loose on the electronic keyboard and you get something that sounds upbeat and totally 1980s, complete with nonsense ladadas. It’s short, it’s catchy and it’s fun! Another song that seems a companion piece to that one would have to be the fast-paced “New Parade” (featuring more superb violin from Genevieve)

“Senseless Beauty” is a short rocker that offers up this insightful information: “The queen she will reign / and the rain just makes me wet / and the wet is so sexual / the sex just complicates it.”

“Timeless Melody” explores vocal harmonies that are sustained throughout; while “Gin And Tonic” gives Genevieve the lead vocals on an infectious tune, while Ted shows off his guitar expertise. Again, these complex songs, as surprising as they are, make their way into your sub-conscious with repeated listens. Nesseth really knows how to hook listeners.

The solemn “Hangar” closes the CD on a quietly graceful note, Nesseth’s impassioned vocals at once familiar and thoughtful: “I used to be stronger, but you took that from me, I fear / if I think any harder, the thought might come to me / and that still frightens me.”
There’s also a small instumental outro that frames these songs perfectly.

Nesseth and the Gagons have outdone themselves with this full-length debut. Every song is interesting, and I urge you to discover how much so. Some CDs have a hard time filling a half hour with decent music; The Heavenly States manages to occupy over fifty-three minutes with music that goes beyond the pale, a multi-dimensional pop musical treat that is as welcome as it is unexpected, and destined to be considered an underground classic.

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