Gary
Glauber
Reviews:
December,
2001

Scroll down for reviews of the latest from The Knack, The Rembrandts and Orange Alabaster Mushroom

Various Artists
Listen To What The Man Said and
Coming Up!

(Oglio Records / Tribute LLC)

Release Date: October 9, 2001; October 23, 2001

www.oglio.com

Appearing so soon after McCartney’s own self-tribute set Wingspan, these two CDs will have to face more than a comparison to distant memories of songs in the McCartney pantheon. In spite of this mixed blessing, these tribute CDs should fare well.

The challenge for any tribute artist is whether to rebuild a cover from the ground up or merely pay homage by following closely the groundwork that’s already been laid. With McCartney, the task is made more difficult by the fact that so many are familiar with the versions that have become pop classics. In most instances, these artists took on the challenge of trying to recreate the original. What you get are some fresh versions of familiar tunes, along with a few interesting variations.

Still, this project is admirable on many fronts. First and foremost, a portion of the purchase price on every CD sold is being sent to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Secondly, the artists donated their efforts here through mutual respect for Paul McCartney’s music and a genuine interest in raising money for breast cancer research in memory of Linda McCartney.

I remember when the rumors of this tribute were first bantered about online. Many more artists were allegedly asked to contribute to the project, but I’d have to say the ones that in the end are assembled on these two disks are some of the finest up and coming acts on the modern power pop scene.

For marketing purposes, the CDs are separated according to artist popularity (a trite distinction that doesn’t really work). Listen To What The Man Said is a tribute by “popular artists” while Coming Up! is a compendium by “independent artists.” The real treat of both CDs is the music. While there are some duplicated efforts (“My Brave Face”, “Every Night” and “Maybe I’m Amazed”), each disk manages to stand on its own merits.

First, let’s discuss the “popular artists.” The highlights: The Merrymakers bring new pop life to “No More Lonely Nights”; Sloan makes the eclectic “Waterfalls” into a more upbeat tune, while broadening its scope with harmonies; and Linus of Hollywood does a wonderful all-vocal Brian Wilson treatment with “Warm and Beautiful.” Owsley does a faithful “Band on the Run”, an ambitious song to cover, while Matthew Sweet’s distinctive voice alone is a wonderful addition to his cover of “Every Night.”

Karl Wallinger (World Party) does a one-man band nearly note-for-note cover of “Man We Was Lonely” and Virgos do a nice job with a song that can’t be improved “Maybe I’m Amazed” by substituting guitar for piano, giving it a slightly harder edge.

John Faye Power Trip replaces funk with guitars for a slightly different version of “Coming Up.” Kevin Hearn & Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies join The Lilac Time’s Stephen Duffy on a fairly faithful, though a bit more wistful, laid-back version of “Junk.”

Robyn Hitchcock does a nice turn with “Let Me Roll It”, but seems to lack the energy of the original. They Might Be Giants do a quirky instrumental rendition of “Ram On” and Judybats turn in a nice sonic treatment of “Love In Song.”

The Finn Brothers inject a bit of themselves into the good fun of “Too Many People”, while The Minus 5 choose the offbeat “Dear Friend” and manage to make it sound more Lennon-ish (rather than just a response to him).

The only failures on this first collection seem to be a Semisonic version of “Jet” that suffers from a power shortage and a punk-rock version of “My Brave Face” by SR-71 that was just a bad idea. Still, with sixteen cuts, a few misses hardly makes a dent in the overall impressive effort by these “popular artists.”

On Coming Up!, there’s another healthy assortment (15 tracks) of McCartney music. In fact, some might find this second collection preferable to the first: it contains some unusual choices, including the very obscure McCartney/Costello collaboration “Back On My Feet”, which most will be hearing for the first time. Cockeyed Ghost makes it sounds great, like verses that could be Steely Dan and a chorus that seems like 1970s anthem rock.

However, the standards are here too. You get a fine “Let ‘Em In” from Starbelly, a phenomenal cover of “This One” by Cliff Hillis, a nice “Every Night” by Mark Bacino and a pleasant “Take It Away” from The Jellybricks.

Star Collector offers a more traditional “My Brave Face” and Kyf Brewer does an admirable job with the UK chart-topper “Mull of Kintyre”, bagpipes and all. You get some female lead vocals leading the way in both “With A Little Luck” by The Masticators and “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Gadget White Band, in which violin replaces guitar on the lead solo.

The Shazam do a fun rendition of “Helen Wheels”(a more difficult cover than you might think) and Cherry Twister come across with a very cleanly produced alternate version of “Another Day.” The multi-talented Michael Carpenter does an impressive job with the lyrically befuddling “Getting Closer” (my salamander???), taking on all instruments and voices.

The award for most eerily McCartney-sounding vocal is Phil Keaggy, with his quiet cover of “Somedays.” Ray Paul doesn’t quite match the vocal-screaming intensity of the McCartney original with his “Oh Woman, Oh Why” but one has to admire his attempt. I suppose the weakest cut here is The Andersons’ “Temporary Secretary”, not so much for their performance, but for the choice of this weak song when so many others in the McCartney catalog might have been stronger choices.

Again, these two disks provide lots of listening pleasure for McCartney fanatics as well as casual listeners. While most of the versions remain faithful to the originals, this is no small feat, considering the mastery and attention which McCartney gave his songs. Plus you get the variation and personalities of each respective performer added to the mix. As such, it’s also a showcase for these various talents who have contributed their time and efforts. I’m sure not all of them will be familiar to all listeners, and it’s good to think that a nice performance of a cover might lead someone to going out and purchasing more work by one of these artists.

Apparently, contributing artists were chosen according to their love of McCartney’s music (real fans only) and the resulting performances do convey this. As the success of Wingspan proved, the public at large still enjoys McCartney’s musical skills. These two tribute CDs cover much the same territory (from Paul’s first solo album through Flaming Pie) in ways that are never less than adequate and listen-able, often with new and worthy variations.

So here’s the summary: 2 great compilations, featuring 31 overtly catchy versions by an array of exciting up-and-comers of songs from a man who changed the very face of modern popular music, with an added bonus of doing good by helping the cause of breast cancer research. There’s no downside here: get them, listen and enjoy.

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The Knack
Normal As The Next Guy

(Smile Records)

Release Date: September 25, 2001

www.knack.com

The Knack forever will be known as the good-humored band that delivered “My Sharona” to a receptive world back in 1979. Back then there was an aggressive adolescent know-it-all spirit driving the music, and the follow-up success of “Good Girls Don’t (But I Do)” reflects that musical leering grin that became stock-in-trade for The Knack.

But now some two decades and counting later, there is evidence of much more on the recently released Normal As The Next Guy. Sure, there still exists hints of the overgrown teen boy in songs like “Les Girls” and a song like the title track is played for a certain expected novelty value, and that’s all fine and good. Yet, somewhere along the line these gents have matured musically, and that’s perhaps the nicest surprise here. Along with the standard catchy pop tunes comes new evidence of musical diversity and solid growth.

After so many overproduced late seventies albums, their first CD Get The Knack and its brand of straightforward guitar-driven fun was a popular success, selling millions to a global audience and breathing new life into a then dormant power pop scene. However, unfavorable comparisons to The Fab Four along with a refusal to do interviews contributed to a career downturn that was already underway by the release of their second CD …But The Little Girls Understand. By 1981 and the release of Round Trip, Doug Fieger, Berton Averre, Prescott Niles and Bruce Gary decided to call it a career, despite generally favorable reviews.

But never underestimate the power of the music fan. The Knack remained a cult favorite, and with “My Sharona” appearing on soundtracks and compilations (e.g., Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites), the group members began to get together and do an occasional show in Los Angeles. This prompted the first of what would become a steady stream of reunion albums, 1991’s Serious Fun. They rocked a little harder here, but the public did not find it fun and preferred Knack memories to current Knack reality. The group disbanded yet again.

Another seven years passed before 1998’s reunion effort Zoom, this time with Terry Bozzio on the drums (who did lots of work with Frank Zappa). Many felt this was The Knack’s best studio outing since their long-ago debut, but this critically acclaimed outing didn’t sell much. If you missed it, the good news is that you get a second chance. This CD will be reissued with new tracks added in 2002 as Rezoom.

Now, for 2001, The Knack are back (again with a new drummer - this time David Henderson takes the majority of the drums, with Pat Torpey also contributing). Doug Fieger remains in fine vocal form, Berton Averre is often wickedly sharp with his guitar leads, and both men take on a variety of keyboards from time to time while Prescott Niles helms the bass backbeat. However, both Averre and Fieger are better than ever at the songwriting, together and separately.

While the usual lyrical fare of girls, love (more girls) and um, relationships (yet more girls) isn’t entirely replaced, there’s now a hearty sampling of other issues, including salvation and spiritual pursuits. It’s hard to make adolescence last a lifetime and The Knack have grown up some, which should suit adults in the listening audience well.

A new variety of styles is evident here. Fieger’s “Spiritual Pursuit” offers up a country-tinged track with twanging guitars that recall Poco and others. You’ll swear that “Dance Of Romance” could be a Steely Dan song, as The Knack take on fusion pop successfully from the jazzy keyboards to the horns to the impressively Skunk Baxter-type guitar lead.
And the Averre composition “The Man On The Beach” takes on the world of Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys, circa Smile, and manages to do it justice. Each of these stylistic forays is a success of sorts, and points to a very bright tomorrow for this latest incarnation of The Knack.

There’s still the familiar clean sound of great vocals and guitar-driven pop on songs like “It’s Not Me” and “Disillusion Town”, and songs like “Seven Days Of Heaven”, “Les Girls”, “A World Of My Own” and “One Day At A Time” are testament to the fact that they still can write pleasantly infectious tracks. These guys aren’t strangers to well-written melodic riffs. Listen to the impressive musical build on “Reason To Live” and you appreciate the experience they bring to their music.

Their humor remains intact, as lyrics from “Normal As The Next Guy” prove: “I’m as normal as Betty Crocker / I’m as normal as Jarvis Cocker / I’m as normal as Chris Rock / I’m as normal as Jacques Chirac.” However, the real fun begins beyond the novelty.

The Knack have retained a fine clean power pop sensibility regardless of prevailing musical fashions. In the new millennium, The Knack build on their own distinctive sound and stretch musically in new directions. “My Sharona” will be with them always, a classic song for the ages; but the future now seems promising as well.

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The Rembrandts
Lost Together

(J-Bird Records)

www.therembrandts.com

Release Date: October 2, 2001

When the best thing that’s ever happened to you turns into the worst thing as well, nothing but time and distance can repair the damages. Sound confusing? This is what happened with The Rembrandts, but the good news is that time and distance have helped. Phil Solem and Danny Wilde have reunited to put out one of their best CDs ever. Back again are the winning harmonies and pop hooks that made them at first a cult favorite among hip power pop fans long before their perceived selling out relegated them to the backwaters of musical Siberia.

Once upon the late 1970s, Solem and Wilde met as band mates in the Los Angeles-based group Great Buildings. When that band ran its due course, the two went their own separate ways, but kept in touch. Wilde had a brief solo career and released 3 CDs. But when that career fizzled commercially, he turned to his friend.

In 1989, they got together for some informal “garage sessions” and from these The Rembrandts were born. Their do-it-yourself eponymous debut album garnered critical acclaim, a world tour, TV appearances, and a strong pop music following. The single “Just The Way It Is, Baby” landed some radio play and a career was launched.

The duo became known for pleasant melodic pop with an edge, combining jangly guitars and harmonies in a style that invoked mentors from The Beatles to The Everly Brothers to early Crosby Stills and Nash. Their second CD <I>Untitled</I> delivered more of the same, songs of unrequited love as mid-tempo Beatle-esque ballads, with a hint of Squeeze thrown in for good measure. The two friends were growing as songwriters, while gathering a dedicated cult following.

Friends co-producer Kevin Bright was one of those fans, and he brought in The Rembrandts to create and record the half minute or so “theme song” for the new television program. Being masters of the pop idiom, this was done in a matter of days. However, the popularity of the new show led to a hue and cry (from record company executives smelling monetary gain) for a full-song length version of “I’ll Be There For You.”

Almost reluctantly, Solem and Wilde came through and stretched it out to 3:08, extending the light bubblegum pop sensibility and adding a second verse and middle bridge. And here’s where the blessing became a curse. The song became a smash hit, getting extensive radio airplay. Meanwhile, The Rembrandts included it on their third CD L.P. only as an afterthought (early pressings of the album did not even have the song listed).

While they had been honing their sounds and growing musically to create smart guitar-driven pop, all the emphasis was being placed on something they tossed off willy-nilly. As a gesture to their artistic integrity, Solem and Wilde at first refused to release the song as a single, forcing a legion of Friends fans to buy the whole album to get a copy of the Monkees-like “I’ll Be There For You.” As a result, the CD went platinum - which was both good and bad.

That song became their golden albatross - generating sales, but with it, fans that expected a whole CD’s worth of light bubblegum music who were disappointed with the “real” music The Rembrandts provided. They were considered by the masses to be “one-hit wonders” and the popularity of that one hit guaranteed their dismissal sound unheard by hip insiders, a no-win situation.

As such, their star faded rapidly and bittersweet mixed feelings made Solem retreat from the music scene. Wilde continued to write music and put out his Spin This! CD in 1998 as Danny Wilde and The Rembrandts, perhaps eager to generate sales from the franchise name. It received high critical acclaim as a solid collection of well-crafted pop songs, and included some Van Dyke Parks arrangements, yet generated little in the way of sales.

Now, five years after the event of the “hit song” Solem and Wilde have reunited far from the media spotlight, eager to pick up the pieces and get back to making fine music without record company intervention. Lost Together is a return to form: great harmonies and smart pop songwriting in a simpler vein, with clean upfront production by John Fields (Evan & Jaron, Semisonic). Let me lead you on a quick tour.

The title track is a pleasantly upbeat jaunt about the happy shipwreck of love and fate: “Somewhere we got lost together / and on this island found each other”. “St. Paul” is a somber tale of a modern woman’s struggle to survive: “You want to believe that things will change / and it worries your heart to feel this strange / but you can’t stop the world from spinning around / You’ll never stop the rain from falling down.”

“Too Late” is the first single, a mid-tempo number about a relationship that hasn’t quite happened yet, and the frustrations attached to figuring out the key to making it happen. “You Are The One” is a lyrically direct love song, with quiet harmonies and a pretty tune to make its point. “One Of Us” is a track in the classic Rembrandt mold, delving into the thick of a troubled relationship: “One of us has to say goodbye / one of us has to know/ that one of us has to be the one of us to let it go.”

“The Way She Smiles” lets Michael Bland go easy on the snare (though Dorian Crozier handles drums on most of the songs), while slide guitars back the soft sweet melody. “Another Day Down” throws a spotlight on the thankless lives of those who work hard and never seem to get ahead. The tempo, instrumentation and harmonies in “Buddy Jo” recall songs from the Untitled collection (a good thing), while exploring a lyrical realm of alcohol and friendship.

“Big Plans” is the tale of a most ambitious woman, and it’s the closest thing to a big-time rocker here. Surprisingly, the often laid-back duo proves they are up to this task. My favorite track is the wonderfully constructed “Some Other World”, a catchy gem with yet more harmonies and radio-ready at 3:15 (perhaps in some other world, alas). Lyrically, it’s a nostalgic sad and happy reminisce about a love that wasn’t meant to be. “Happiness” is a slow anthem with lyrics apropos to the Rembrandts’ situation: “I had given up all hope of ever feeling like I had / in the days of our perfection / before everything went bad / when I think of all those heartaches / it amazes me no end / we could rise to this occasion/ find our happiness again.”

Luckily, they have found their happiness again. Recorded without outside pressures and quietly released on an indie label (J-Bird), Lost Together is a likeable comeback from The Rembrandts. While these dozen musical explorations of growing older and dealing with relationships rarely break new ground, they offer good smart melodic pop that is more than a cut above the ordinary and grows ever better with repeated listenings

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Orange Alabaster Mushroom
Space and Time: A Compendium of The Orange Alabaster Mushroom

(Hidden Agenda)

Release Date: October 9, 2001
www.theoam.com

Don your paisley garb, get out the ultraviolet and lava lamps, tune in and turn on to this one. If you are a cat that digs the fluid swirling universe of acid-rock psychedelia circa late 1960s Carnaby Street, get ready to groove. European indie labels keep discovering lost diamonds (e.g. Minus Zero uncovering The Orgone Box). In this case, it was Earworm finding tracks originally released on Norway’s Perfect Pop label, and subsequently having Hidden Agenda pick up on the Earworm collection and re-releasing it with additional tracks for a wider audience.

From the symphonic Farfisa organ opening and subsequent fuzzy bass on “Your Face Is In My Mind”, you’re off on a memorable retro-pop journey. This band sounds so much like the real thing, you’ll have a hard time believing the first six tracks are from 1991-92 and the remainder from 1998-99. Even more incredible is that the “band” is one singer/songwriter Greg Watson from Ottawa, Ontario.

This 30-year old guru lives in an isolated farmhouse, works as a LAN administrator for nearby Queen’s University in Kingston, and is happy to find himself far from the reach of fame and fortune. His music actually predates much of the Elephant 6 collective material that has revived interest in the neo-psych-pop genre (Apples In Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal and others).

Space & Time captures the sounds in a genuinely convincing manner, offering the equivalent of musical bong hits that call to mind Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, The Electric Prunes, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly and The 13th Floor Elevators (and that ilk). Strong word of mouth in England and Norway (places where Watson has never been) has made his limited vinyl releases sell out quickly. Additionally, the internet has helped expand his fan base.

Yet Watson is no stranger to the underground music scene. His first band The Buzzards tried making REM-like alt-rock sounds in the late 1980s. Since then, he’s been in more than 12 other bands with a variety of diverse styles: the metal band Thorax, a folk rock band called Green Archers and a garage-punk band called The Fiends among them. Yet psychedelic music remains his favorite, and we reap the benefits in this collection.

In 1991, Watson realized he could single-handedly achieve what his band The 14th Wray was doing collectively. He borrowed a four-track recorder, set up in his bedroom and thus began the garage/psych-pop odyssey that would become The Orange Alabaster Mushroom. While some of these are four-track recordings, and the latter ones eight-track, you’d be hard-pressed in a blind sampling to tell them apart. All are high-quality catchy grade-A primo Brit acid-pop.

Watson wrote a few tracks for a compilation cassette, and then shelved the songs for years. He admits he wasn’t ambitious about the whole process. His lyrics tell that story: “Time is an elephant; it just never goes away.” In fact the small record labels seemed to bug him for music, rather than the other way around. In 1996, four songs were released on a Norwegian limited EP, appropriately titled Psychedelic Bedroom. It sold out quickly. At the request of another record label, Watson wrote more in 1998 and 1999. Earworm collected it all and released Space & Time in mid-2000. Now, with three previously unreleased tracks, Hidden Agenda has issued the ultimate version of Space & Time.

The music is a big wow - amazing fuzzy guitars, backwards tape loops, phasing sitars and even such unlikely instruments as the coffee can, hair drum and bubbles. But unlike many who pretend to lay claim to the psychotropic musical realm, Watson bases his music on consistently infectious melodies that stand up to many listens. Picture Lennon-type vocals fronting an early Pink Floyd with lots of sonic electric organ. Perfect attention to detail and nuance gives any of these songs the ability to pass unnoticed as the real deal among gems in the recently reissued Nuggets box set.

The titles are no less fun than the music: how many can rival “Sydney’s Electric Headcheese Sundial”? You get wonderfully catch guitar hooks in “Valerie Vanillaroma” (owns a little incense store / she always knows what scent you’re looking for). In “(We Are) The Orange Alabaster Mushroom” you get rattlesnake percussion and suitably lysergic lyrics, while organ dominates such fun kaleidoscopic rambles as “Tree Pie”, featuring lyrics like: “I am the eggman’s eggroll, and close your eyes and look to the skies”.

“Crazy Murray” tells the tale of an odd lonely man and his travails, and the bouncy bass of the jangly “Rainbow Man” relates the story of the colorful character inside his head. The wind rustles from speaker to speaker to set up “Ethel Tripped A Mean Gloss”, which features some nice sitar and guitar leads. “Space & Time” plays vocal reverb havoc while giving us the answers we seek: “Space is so prevalent in the objects that I see / and time is benevolent and so circular to me”.

“The Slug” uses great fuzzy guitars and organs to tell of the reality that is revealed when your mind gets down in the hole with the slug. “Sunny Day” is such an accomplished homage to the old British music hall style of pop (complete with kazoo) that it made me want to sing along through a megaphone. Sitars (and bubbles) really dominate the instrumental gem “Aim The Vimana Toward The Dorian Sector”.

Greg Watson’s love of this music translates into quirky, fuzzed-out, psychedelic bliss. The sincerity of Watson’s approach makes even the silliest lyric palatable, if not credible. “Gone” is more of a garage band Technicolor experience, while “Mister Day” and “Another Place” are other great tracks.

Fans of Elephant 6 groups and the Nuggets reissues will groove mightily to this. Space & Time provides a wonderfully trippy kaleidoscopic journey that transports and delivers so convincingly, you’ll swear it’s the late1960s all over again.
If your local UFO doesn’t play this CD, complain to the intergalactic authorities or better yet -- go get yourself a copy!

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