Kevin Mathews: November, 2000

JELLYFISH BITTERSWEET SYMPHONIES

Sophisticated orchestral pop (think Sgt. Peppers/Pet Sounds/Odessey & Oracle/Forever Changes) has never really gone out of style; it has merely gone underground. Of the current practitioners, The Divine Comedy, The High Llamas and Eric Matthews certainly lead the field.

However, back at the dawn of this decade, Californian band Jellyfish made an ambitious attempt to evoke those glorious albums with what many power pop enthusiasts have labeled as the one true pop classic of the nineties Spilt Milk.

Built around the creative nucleus of Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning, Jellyfish had (with guitarist Jason Falkner) released an exciting debut, Bellybutton in 1990. Strongly influenced by The Beatles and the Beach Boys via such Seventies icons as Queen, Todd Rundgren, 10cc and Supertramp, Bellybutton contained gorgeous gems like The King is Half-Undressed, That Is Why, The Man I Used To Me and I Wanna Stay Home. The album sold a respectable quarter of a million copies and the band enjoyed a successful tour with close friends and fans Black Crowes.

However, their cartoony Alice-in-Wonderland image did them no favours with the mainstream rock press and this also affected the overall impact of Bellybutton. Sturmer and Manning were determined to get things absolutely right with their follow-up effort.

In the meantime, Falkner had left to pursue more creative avenues with The Grays and bass player Tim Smith was recruited. With Bellybutton producer Alby (Saturday Night Fever) Galuten returning and guest guitarists Lyle Workman and Jon Brion filling in for the departed Falkner, Jellyfish set out to record their masterpiece.

It took them the better part of six months but the results were definitely worth the hassles. Spilt Milk is a joyous smorgasbord of musical ideas and influences. From the opening soft lullaby Hush which recalls Beach Boys-meet-Queen vocal gymnastics to the power mini-suite Joining A Fanclub; from the nursery rhyme inspired Sebrina Paste + Plato (complete with the kindergarten sing-a-long) to the Beatlesque New Mistake (perfected by its Harrisonesque tracked slide guitar solo); from the Pets Sounds evocative middle of The Ghost Of Number One to the raucous Supertramp ish wedding band set up of Bye Bye Bye; from the noise-driven sweetness of All Is Forgiven to the tranquil beauty of Russian Hill; Spilt Milk is bursting at the seams with intricate arrangements, vivid gags and the confident ambition of a band who were brave enough to demand from their music (and their listeners) more than your standard three minute ditty.

Unfortunately, Spilt Milk was released to a media and an audience deeply mired into the first wave of grunge and Jellyfish were soundly mocked for the very things that made their music so wonderful. By mid-1994, Jellyfish were no more but at least they left us with one of THE album of the nineties.

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