Music review continued...
By Nelson Whipple
Firehose
"Fromohio"
Firehose’s third
nlbum, Fromohio, has a defi
nite “garage sound". For those of
you who do not know, the bassist
and drummer, Mike Watt and
George Hurley, are from the now
defunked Minutemen.
Ed Crawford, singer and
guitarist, seems heavily influ
enced by bands like the Byrds,
CSNY, and R.E.M. Between the
edgy/funky hardcore sound of the
rhythm section and the melodic/
jangling guitar sound of the
singer/ guitarist, this album is a
nice departure from most record
company oriented “rock”.
Mike Watt pens the bulk
of the lyrics, and presumably he
is speaking of his old friend D.
Boon from the Minutemen when
he writes “...listening, whistling,
missing that other dude-” in
Kiddle of the Eighties. In gen
eral, the lyrics are fairly candid
without being overly graphic or
depressing. For those of you who
art' looking for yet another band
to complain about all of the
wrongdoings of this cruel world,
look elsewhere.
The live feel of this album
is fantastic, but, in some respects
proves to be a limitation. It took
about 60 hours total to record and
mix, so the craftsmanship is
pretty raw. The vocals do not
cover up the rest of the music,
which is a nice change, but the
overall sound is on the muddy
side. Some of the more novel
album tracks are two drum solo s
and a solo guitar piece. The drum
solos are painlessly short and
provide a nice change of pace
towards the end of each side of the
album, and because of their
shortness, they easy composi
tions to follow. Vastopol. a tradi
tional guitar song, is well done by
Ed Crawford.
Mr. Crawford, while
showing a great melodic sense,
also blends in well with the Watt/
Hurley groove without much
trouble at all. While he does not
have that really raunchy feel that
Boon had, he definitely adds to
the character and overall sound
of the band.
Now, of course, we must
say a few nasty things about the
album so that nobody gets too
good of an impression from the
previous paragraphs. 1 abertv for
our Friend is a drunken-sailor
turned-buddy anthem that is less
than acceptable for this record
Jimmy Buffet would have thrown
this one out without blinking an
eye. Some of the lyrics in the
songs are very sappy, hut this fact
is countered by the fact that they
are quite hard to understand in
most cases because of the produc
tion.
There are songs on this
album that should not be missed
For instance Whisperin’ While
Hollerin' is stupendous The sec
ond side, for the most part, is very
enjoyable, keeping a great groove
without catering to the “Guido's
Element", so to speak.
In short, the album is fun
without being mindless. It does
not cater to current trends either
in music, lyrics, or production
values. As time passes, 1 suspect
that more and more people will
realize the true value of this rec
ord, so remember where you
heard it first.
nrnTf
L/STENER POWERED