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‘Desperate
Man’ rides into town to debut latest album
‘Life
On Other Planets’ found; Brit rock band hits goofy nerve
Supergrass sounds like a bratty younger brother of Coldplay and Radiohead--one who needs a dose of Ritalin. Puberty is slowly sinking in, but the zits aren’t big enough to make this band sound as depressed and hormonally raging as their dramatic contemporaries. The most successful imports from Britain in the past few years are bright stars with dark and moody demeanors. The talent is there, but these bands are so absorbed with their icy sounds that the idea of a little sunshine seems quite foreign. Elton John wrote a hit called “Sad Songs Say So Much” in the ’80s, but by the sound of it you’d think it was a rock ‘n’ roll number from Bob Seger’s greatest hits. This goes to show that sad songs don’t have to be depressing; they don’t even have to be sad at all. If there are any sad songs on “Life On Other Planets,” the latest release from Supergrass, then the band has worked some genuine Prozac magic to hide its true feelings. The result is a punky and glammed out sound that makes you appreciate your hyperactive siblings. It’s attitude that makes most Supergrass songs work. Goofiness shares equal time with insanity, and the rest is playful enough to not be taken seriously. In the song “Grace,” songwriter Gaz Coombs sings, “Well we jumped all night on your trampoline, when you kissed the sky, it made your sister scream. You ate our chips and drank our Coke, then you showed me Mars through your telescope.” Imagine Radiohead singing that. Not bloody likely mate, but most tunes on the album are interesting enough for a second listen. “Rush Hour Souls” is a jagged rocker with a danceable disco chorus; “Brecon Beacons” is a driving mystery about a witch trial; and “La Song” delivers the kind of fun you’d expect when named after a meaningless syllable used to fill pop songs. The album only lacks a show-stopping single like “Pumpin On Your Stereo” and “Sun Meets the Sky” from previous albums. Unfortunately, if those great songs didn’t send Supergrass into stardom, it’s doubtful that anything on “Life On Other Planets” will. For those who care to listen, it’s still a nice change of pace from the normal Brit-rock crowd.
Re-release
of ‘False Hope’ pleasant surprise
Three
years ago, I chanced upon an extremely limited-edition recording by
two members of the legendary British art/punk band the Mekons. The
eight songs on Sally Timm’s and Jon Langford’s “Songs of False Hope
and High Values” were some of the most honest and haunting country/folk
songs I’ve heard. Consider how many amazing jazz, country and folk
titles are out of print—for all purposes lost to us. And this duo’s
timeless CD (by design of a limited release, ironically) was fated
to musical silence. It seemed wrong and just plain unfair. But if
the recent limited reproduction of “Songs” (with four new songs) may
not be as dramatically romantic as Dante Gabriel Rossetti exhuming
his unpublished poetry from Elizabeth Siddal’s grave, it is just because
this recording should never have been lost to listeners. How do bands
like Slowdive, Mazzy Star and the Mekons end up playing such heartfelt
country music? It’s possible that Timms and Langford discovered old
country songs while touring America with the Mekons. But anyone who
has spent any quality time in Europe knows that music lovers there
hold traditional American country music in higher regard than most
domestic fans. For example, after years of looking, I finally found
my Wanda Jackson vinyl reissues in Paris. The very best old country
CD box sets are on an expensive German label. And the re-release of
the “new” Timms and Langford comes from Australia, with the blessing
of their original American label. Thankfully, not all domestic listeners
have discarded the classics or classic forms for the pop tarts and
black hats of today’s AM radio. There are a growing number of traditional
and new listeners who appreciate fine insurgent country music being
made now by such performers as Kelly Hogan, Alejandro Escovedo, Neko
Case and of course Jon and Sally. Timms has released three stunningly
beautiful, ballad-y country records under the name Cowboy Sally, and
Langford leads the acclaimed band The Waco Brothers (The Clash meets
Johnny Cash) and the Bob Wills-like swing group, The Pine Valley Cosmonauts.
Backed by the traditional banjo, mandolin and Hawaiian guitar of Jon
Rauhause and the double bass of Tom Ray, Timms and Langford primarily
sing solo but also duet. Timm’s voice on Dolly Parton’s “Down from
Dover” and Floyd Rose’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” is honest,
painfully direct and haunting. Langford’s folk-ish vocals remain impassioned
and insistent with a sense of lower middle class Welsh angst. Rather
than just perform covers, and model songs after classic forms, Timms
and Langford bring their own emotional experiences to this music.
“Songs” is not a tired pastiche of the old but rather a collection
of traditional forms inhabited by troubled spirits. The two wrote
seven of the CD’s songs, including the scenic, memorable “Horses”
and “Dark Sun.” The music is flavorful, rustic and appropriately restrained.
It is refreshing and heartrending to hear traditional musics being
lived in with such range of passion and sensibility.
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