keepers - 1
The album psychedelic opener "Babel On"****, a celebration of densely layered guitar lines, though derivative of The Who's "Join Together", is as good as guitar rock gets. Unfortunately it's also as good as the album gets. Though the U2-inspired "The Ego Delusion", and early acoustic Pink Floyd "Pineal Gland Hotel" and Doves/britpop "Universal Stalker" are all enjoyable, with Lundberg's English as a second language poetry, the foundation of TSOOL has always been the sound, and none of these songs even sound new to them. Blaring guitars and toms make "Ra 88" another stand-out track (that and 'I got the powder if you got the nose' is a pretty funny line to me), as the Monkees/Nuggets 'aahs' and machine gun 'd-d-d-d-d did you ever say a word' chorus make "Mensa's Marauders" another fun one. Between these it's not so great, as the uninspired "Thrill Me" Stones-ifies old Kiss lyrics, "Second Life Replay" covers old ground, and a faithful cover of Nick Drake's "Fly" is merely competent, adding drums and big orchestration. The mixer either took the title of the closing "Distorted Child" a bit too literally, or the production is just overloaded and shrill in an attempt to be punk ("Mensa's Marauders" has a similar sound). Overall the best part of the album is indeed the hilarious album art of photogenic middle class groups, ready for use in pharmaceutical ads, as this once-ambitious band cranks out yet another respectable bunch of songs.
(Disc 2)
keepers - 4
Not sure why this disc seems more consistent. They're not trying to be punk or playing rote covers for one. "Reconnecting Dots"**** adds siren keyboard responding to a Stones-y power riff that transcends whatever Lundberg is singing about. The thing is the best songs on this disc are the ballads, including doo-wop "Without Warning"****, hymn-like "Everything Beautiful Must Die"****, and folky late-Mercury Rev "Lifeline". Everything in the these songs has been done before many times, including the earnest sentiment, but the love for craft and melody must count for something. "The Fan Who Wasn't There" is more ambitious, and "Saturation Wanderers" builds effectively to choruses that reach full speed but don't come apart. The Who must have been an inspiration for songs like "Flipside" (recycles parts of "The Seeker") and "Utopia" (it seems to be "Join Together" interpreted by The Flaming Lips). Fortunately this disc doesn't seem to have the same kind of deliberate hooks and catch phrases, except for "Utopia", where the main hook is distinctive and gets old the fast. British rockers such as "Lost Prophets In Vain" and "Songs Of The Ocean" are solidly written, not sounding like anyone in particular though sounding familiar. The unassuming drum-circle flavor of "The Passover"**** appropriates the grandeur of U2's "One", but submerges the histrionics of the original under the texture of this collective, confirming the human scale of this whole album.
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