keepers 2
keeper avg .154
Not exactly one-hit wonders, as both "The Way"**** and "Fire Escape"**** received significant airplay, and both just happen to be outstanding pop songs. Except for "Which Way To The Top", "Slow Drag", and especially late-disc tracks "Out Of My Head" and "Nowhere Road" where the band sounds exactly like Squeeze, the band is consistently peppy and extremely polished, like the 90's answer to Huey Lewis and the News. But given the pop professionalism of the two singles it's surprising how hokey some of the lyrics are. Maybe it was a scramble to put together songs, as some choruses like "Better Than It Was" and "Damaged Goods" seem forced, but is it necessary to lift the entire concept of REM's "Can't Get There From Here" in the terrible "Nowhere Road"? In "Slow Drag" Fire-Escape-guy (cuz who cares about their names) sneers: "And all the world is sleeping like a baby tonight, I wanna see you dead in the muddy ground, You're nothing to me". Jesus, isn't that a bit extreme for some 20-something relationship drama? And then he writes a whole song to rag on some poor heroin-addicted fucker in "Charlie, The Methadone Man". With titles like "Sooner Or Later", "Good Old Days", and "Nowhere Road", there's a lot of talk about some colorful past or some idealized future. And for two-hit wonders, the careerist "Which Way To The Top" seems kinda sad in hindsight. But for all the band's foibles no way I can fault the musicianship, which given the retro attitude I can safely call 'top-notch'. Then in contrast to the rest of the disc, Fire-Escape-guy's closer "Sweetwater, Texas" is atmospheric, even dreamy. It doesn't even sound like the same band, but it's good that there's a sleepy chaser after 39 minutes of pop formula.
Comments