Eugene weekly., April 22, 2004, Page 27, Image 27

CD REVIEWS BY LOCAL WRITERS
Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque , DGC RECORDS 1991 . By Kris Bluth.
With the exception of the Beatles and (insert your favorite
group here), most bands are Greatest Hits bands; one album is all
you really need. Teenage Fanclub has a perfectly decent compila-
tion out (4766 Seconds: A Short Cut To…), but they left off a
song called “Alcoholiday.” Imagine yourself on a swing. You reach
maximum height, the chain jerks taut and you pendulum back-
wards as you sing lyrics like “Gone to bed, but I’m not ready/Baby
I’ve been fucked already.” Or better yet, pretend you’re jumping
on a trampoline.
Don’t know what the hell I’m talking about? That’s OK, but
check out Bandwagonesque anyway.
Ed Cole, Forgotten Hits , SELF-RELEASED 2004 . By Robert Jacobs.
This is a solid rock record without resorting to any of the solid rock “clichés.” With big doses
of Meat Puppets mixed with a little Frank Black, Ed and his College Girls of Tora Bora dish up
some fine indie rock. Standout tracks are number four and number six. Track four, “Logic,” has
a heavy “low rider” vibe crossed with the Police, circa Regetta De Blanc. “I Wish it Were Still
Summer” is probably the most interesting track. With a gorgeous-sounding acoustic guitar hold-
ing down the meat of the song, the bass and drums shimmer in an appropriate, rain-like fash-
ion. The vocals drone, yet catch the ear with their rhythm. Fans of Radiohead, The Pixies and
Pavement will certainly enjoy this CD. The fault in the album might come in the wordiness of the
songs. The vocals could also be a little more up front. On the whole, though, the CD makes for
an excellent companion on long road trips.
Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days , SUB POP RECORDS 2004 . By John Edward Royall.
Iron & Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days, the
sound record from the Miami-based but South
Carolina-born songwriter Sam Beam, is rooted in
an essentially Southern worldview. The haunting,
bittersweet lyrics show an intense awareness of
the rhythms of life and death, as on “Free Until
They Cut Me Down” and “Passing Afternoon.”
When Beam sings “Naked as We Came” in his
sweet whisper, over a pretty melody picked on
guitar, “One of us will die within these arms/naked
as we came/one will spread our ashes around the
yard,” you can’t help but feel that it is one of the
most beautiful things you have ever heard.
Where Beam recorded his stunning debut, The
Creek Drank the Cradle at home by himself on a
four-track recorder, Our Endless Numbered Days
will work its way into you bodily, into your bones
and sinews, as hard to remove from those nooks
as it will be to remove the CD from the stereo.
Love Lives
in the Earth
by Siobhan
SONGS OF NATURE & HEALING
Available Now at:
CD
WORLD
3215 W. 11th at Seneca
Eugene 683-6902
10% of sales to Environmental Causes!
The Darkness, Permission to Land , ATLANTIC RECORDS 2003. By David Bischoff.
An arched eyebrow short of Spinal Tap, England’s The Darkness somehow manages to pro-
duce hard rock that’s both funny and catchy. Hailed as the
savior of heavy metal, there’s not much 21st century in this
mix, but a hell of a lot of refined ’70s and ’80s pop metal.
One moment, you’ve got Axl Rose’s stutter, the next you’ve
got Cheap Trick’s bounce. From Queen’s soaring choruses
and guitars, through Def Lepard’s hooky approach and pol-
ished production, The Darkness dodge and dart even fur-
ther back into solid ’70s crunch, led by Justin Hawkins’
loony high notes and low blows. With a sly wit and delicious
lyrics (“Love on the Rocks with no Ice,” “Get your Hands off
my Wife, Motherfucker”), these guys bring Brit smarts to
low IQ head-banging. High marks.
Prince, Musicology , NPG RECORDS 2004. By Todd Cooper.
“There are many kings . . . but there is only one Prince,” Alicia Keys said while helping induct
Prince Rogers Nelson into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this March. It seems as if his royal bad-
ness has already claimed 2004 as his year. Besides stealing the show at the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame (with that blazing solo during the George Harrison tribute) and the Grammys (duet with
Beyoncé), he has launched his first arena tour in six years, playing his classics for the “last
time.” If that’s not enough, he has a new studio album, Musicology, that he is giving away to
everyone that attends his show. He also worked out a deal with Sony to have it available in
stores everywhere. It’s obvious Prince is ready to be heard again.
After a couple brilliant instrumental excursions (Xpectation and N•E•W•S), Musicology brings it
back to the essentials, schooling listeners
on the craft of music. In this age of studio
magic and lip-syncing, Prince is keeping
the “old school joints for the true funk
soldiers.” The reminiscent title track
opens with the feel-good funk from
“back in the day.” And it don’t stop there.
His flawless voice and genre-jumping will
remind you why you loved his music in
the first place.
From high-energy
funk/rock (“Life ‘O’ the Party,” “If Eye
Was the Man In Your Life”), to his trade-
mark mellow-smooth R & B (“Reflection,”
“Call My Name”), he can still do it all.
Musicology is not exactly the
Prince you remember from 20 years
ago. He’s toned the explicitness way
down, but it’s still “sexy,” just without
the “m.f.” He recently told Newsweek,
“It’s not me anymore. Don’t follow me
way back there. There’s no more envelope to push. I pushed it off the table. It’s on the floor. Let’s
move forward now.” So he leaves it up to innuendo. He croons in “On the Couch,” “Lovejones is
on the tv again baby / I wanna go down south.”
It’s actually refreshing to see an artist recognize when something is played out. Prince
proves himself to be an artist of substance that needs no gimmick.
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