I first gave this band a shot because Morrissey said Smoking Popes was one of his favorite bands. Given the vocal quality of their singing and lyrical depth, I bought their 1995 album 'Born to Quit', for which they are most known. The opening track of this album is not produced in a manner that suggests they are trying to take you back to the 90s. The guitar does have a punk jangle to it. "Fox River Dream" is not interesting sonically and it feels like they clocked in to write it. I prefer the plan muted guitar to "Racine". It works off a pretty simple formula when the chorus kicks in. Nothing special it just all clicks into place.
"Never Gonna Break" is not the most original thing you have ever heard, the chord progressions are more expansive than say Weezer, but things are kept simple more often than not, and rocking out more than your typical indie rock of today. Josh's pips sound youthful at 52. Lyrically things are back to the earlier times, and there is not any focus on fighting his personal demons. By the time it gets to 'Madison," things begin to have a formulaic uniformity, so maybe cocaine was better for his music? "Young and Dumb" is at least an improvement over the previous song.
The more post-grunge strain of indie rock from the mid-90s can be heard on "When the Sun Goes Down". They have a skip in their step when it comes to the chorus, but this almost 1950s pop feel works well. He breaks things down to the strum of an acoustic guitar on the more rambling folk of "You Will Always Have My Heart". It does break them out of the formula they were in. "Over the Rainbow" is yes a Judy Garland cover. Not sure if they are going for gay-friendly here despite his excursions into Christianity or if he just loves "the Wizard of Oz", which is also a hidden allegory about Hollywood's gay other life that has existed since its inception. I'll give this album a 9, not sure how much play I will get out of it but they are still good at what they do and it's apparent here even decades later.
No comments:
Post a Comment