==== ISSUE 155 ==== CONSUMABLE ======== [September 21, 1998] Editor: Bob Gajarsky E-mail: editor@consumableonline.com Sr. Correspondents: Daniel Aloi, Joann Ball, Bill Holmes, Tim Kennedy, Reto Koradi, David Landgren, Sean Eric McGill, Tim Mohr, Al Muzer, Joe Silva, Lang Whitaker Correspondents: Niles J. Baranowski, Tracey Bleile, Lee Graham Bridges, Jason Cahill, Patrick Carmosino, Krisjanis Gale, Emma Green, Paul Hanson, Chris Hill, Eric Hsu, Tim Hulsizer, Franklin Johnson, Robin Lapid, Linda Scott, Scott Slonaker, Kerwin So, Chelsea Spear, Simon Speichert, Jon Steltenpohl, Simon West Technical Staff: Chris Candreva, Dave Pirmann Also Contributing: Jason A. Dour, Jennifer Wallenfels Address all comments to staff@consumableonline.com ; subscription information is given at the end of this issue. ================================================================== All articles in Consumable remain (C) copyright their author(s). Permission for re-publication in any form must be obtained from the editor. ================================================================== .------------. | Contents | `------------' REVIEW: PJ Harvey, _Is This Desire?_ - Jennifer Wallenfels and Jason A. Dour REVIEW: Belle and Sebastian, _The Boy With the Arab Strap_ - Niles J. Baranowski REVIEW: Manic Street Preachers, _This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours_ - Tim Kennedy REVIEW: Archers of Loaf, _White Trash Heroes_ - Chris Hill REVIEW: Bob Mould, _The Last Dog and Pony Show_ - Jon Steltenpohl REVIEW: Various Artists, _I Wanna Be Kate_ - Chelsea Spear REVIEW: Mudhoney, _Tomorrow Hit Today_ - Kerwin So CONCERT REVIEW: Soul Coughing, Boston, September 12 - Chelsea Spear REVIEW: Morrissey, _My Early Burglary Years_ - Bob Gajarsky REVIEW: Rasputina, _How We Quit the Forest_ - Chelsea Spear REVIEW: The Church, _Hologram of Baal_ - Joe Silva REVIEW: Graham Coxon, _The Sky is Too High_ - Robin Lapid REVIEW: Far Too Jones, _Picture Postcard Walls_ - Scott Slonaker REVIEW: Sonichrome, _Breathe The Daylight_ - Tracey Bleile REVIEW: The Flys, _Holiday Man_ - Joann D. Ball NEWS: 1000 Clowns TOUR DATES: Tori Amos / Devlins, Better Than Ezra / Possum Dixon / Athenaeum, Broadside Electric, Candlebox, The Church, Cravin' Melon, Irving Plaza, Jesus & Mary Chain / Mercury Rev, Freedy Johnston, Korn, Lenny Kravitz, Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers, Massive Attack / Lewis Parker, Bob Mould / Varnaline, Reel Big Fish / Spring Heeled Jack, Samples, Sheila Divine, Superdrag, Tripping Daisy / Flick, Mike Watt Back Issues of Consumable --- REVIEW: PJ Harvey, _Is This Desire?_ (Island) - Jennifer Wallenfels and Jason A. Dour Few artists succeed themselves like Polly Jean Harvey. Between 1992 and 1995, Harvey released four albums, each one possessing a unique energy and vibrancy imbued by its enigmatic creator. Harvey's ever-evolving canon has spanned many genres, and the entire range of human emotion; it expresses an earnest frankness that is both exciting and disturbing. Her work spins evocative tales of passion and pain, excess and deprivation. Drawing on archetypes and literature, her lyrics have a timeless, classic quality; they sometimes touch deep and ancient, almost genetic, memories. After a three-and-a-half year hiatus from her solo work (during which she recorded numerous side projects), Polly has returned with a glorious new album. _Is This Desire?_ captures the essence of longing, yearning, and heated passion - for both love and possession. Stylistically, it is Harvey's most diverse effort yet, and at the same time, her most accessible. The lineup is mostly carried over from the 1995 tour, with one important change: Rob Ellis, Polly's original drummer, makes a welcome return. Because of Ellis, and the fact that Harvey is again playing guitar during live dates, fans are beside themselves with glee. Filling out the band are: close associate John Parish (with whom she recorded "Dance Hall At Louse Point"), Eric Drew Feldman (who worked with Captain Beefheart, The Pixies, Pere Ubu), Joe Gore (Tom Waits), and Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds). While the previous albums have seemed more like song cycles than concept albums, _Is This Desire?_ treads on the edges of telling a story. But it's a story like a dream, where threads are interwoven and have an internal logic that makes sense at the time, but don't once you wake up. Images are still archetypal, but less universal - more personalized. "The Garden" describes a fall from grace, but this isn't the biblical Adam and Eve as in the earlier song "Snake." With each song describing the story of a different character, and the stories overlapping, the "Desire" ends up being a kind of personal mythology. The influence of electronica and Harvey's collaboration with Tricky is heard in several songs, giving this album a distinctly different flavor than previous works. Synthetic drums are used in some songs, but never without combining them with Ellis' crisp but distinctly human beats. On "The Wind," Polly's vocal is a variation of Tricky's signature style, but PJ's doing both the whisper and the airy singing. In danger of being labeled "trip-hop," it starts with a vibraphone roll, then guitar; a two-note bass riff joins in, then it breaks into a cool beat. She even samples herself, using the string tremolo from "Down By the Water." Musically, _Desire_ is a study in contrasts. The mood goes from quiet to raucous, then calm again, several times throughout the album. Overall, the songs are less confrontational and more lyrical than the early albums. Exquisitely understated songs like "Catherine" can be at least as powerful - if not more so - than satisfying, dirty rockers like "No Girl So Sweet." The minimalistic "Electric Light" is about as low-key as one can get, musically as well as vocally. Two songs later we are assaulted by the breakbeat, clamorous and overwhelming "Joy." Polly dresses the whole gorgeous mess with a classic "screaming" vocal. Even more powerful live, it shows the outright fierceness that Polly is famous for. You can't help but notice that her voice has more range than ever. Piano and other keyboard parts are featured more prominently than ever before. "The River" has just soft clouds of guitar drifting by, a rolling and turning piano melody, a slow buildup that never gets to its destination. It also features a beautiful arrangement for horns: a slowly building and shifting chord that echoes the structure of the song. Even better is the sumptuous, soaring "Angeline," which starts off the album. Sung from the perspective of a prostitute whose true love is thousands of miles away, it sets the tone of longing - and often loss - for the album. But Polly hasn't lost her ability to do lurching, staggering, swaggering licks either. Nor has she lost her love of distorting preamps. The rollicking "My Beautiful Leah" proves both of these facts. Still, despite the light heartedness, the theme is the same: looking for a lost love whose heart could not ever really be touched. Then there's the little matter of the first single. "A Perfect Day Elise" is the perfect radio gem, telling the chilling story of a scorned lover's murder. Rocking beat, driving bass, dissonant guitar... and those strings. The mix on the album is very different than the single mix, which is slickly produced, heavy on the vocals and strings. The album mix is dirty and creepy in comparison, with long echoes on Polly's voice. Sometimes a work needs to incubate a while before it's ready to be completed. Sometimes a classic is a long time in coming. Harvey says she needed a break from the industry to rediscover her love of music. It was well worth the wait... _Is This Desire?_ is a masterfully crafted album from start to finish; quite possibly an enduring masterpiece. (Ed. note: The author is in charge of http://pjh.org , the largest and oldest PJ Harvey website on the net. Recently having changed webmasters, as well as having entered into a closer working relationship with Polly's management, PJH.ORG is set to be one of the most exciting places to go for all things Polly. --- REVIEW: Belle and Sebastian, _The Boy With the Arab Strap_ (Matador) - Niles J. Baranowski It's a little-known fact, but over in England, the Scottish septet Belle and Sebastian have actually had a Top 40 hit and appeared on the British show Top of the Pops. What makes this so interesting and unlikely is not that Belle and Sebastian have an inaccessible sound, but the fact that they put so much effort into acting like an obscure cult group. Not only do they refuse to be photographed but their interviews are terse and tight-lipped and they have either an intense fear or distaste towards live performance (their upcoming American tour is four times as large as their first with a whopping eight dates). Fortunately, though, while Belle and Sebastian themselves hide under their rocks, their music continues to grow and reach out to the world. _The Boy with The Arab Strap_ is their fourth album worth of material in three years (if you lump together the four EPs that they released over the course of the summer of '96) and continues their trend away from cutesiness towards the sort of gorgeously written misery poems that Love and Nick Drake pioneered. In an age of so much retro, however, Belle and Sebastian aren't content merely to rehash the late 60s and early 70s. Rather, they build upon it as a respectable musical tradition as the Smiths did in the 80s. While none of the band's members are as talented as the Smiths' Johnny Marr, the orchestration that seems to be developing in _Strap_'s 12 tracks is a direction that the band should continue to pursue, if even at the cost of a few hooks (as it is here) because it fits their largest musical strength, collectivism. There's even a few new ideas in the arrangements; "Sleep the Clock Around" may be the first folk-pop song to use buzzing theremin-esque noises as a backdrop and it complements the frantic and worried pace of the song so well that I hope the band continues to use it. On the delicate, sky-blue "Is it Wicked Not to Care?" they feature female lead vocals for the first time, to excellent effect as well. Oddly enough, the best pop song here is "Dirty Dream Number Two," which contains a pretentious, wall-of-sound string section. Though it comes off sounding a little bit like My Life Story, it's a huge step above them in all respects and feels like a hit single. Even the band's most ambitious experiment, a spoken-word space odyssey called "A Space Boy Dream" isn't a total failure. While it owes a huge debt to the Velvet Underground's "The Gift," it's much more musically varied. Though the poem is garbled by both a thick Scottish accent and constant mumbling, it could have been a brilliant instrumental. On most of the other tracks, however, the lyrics are nearly poetic. While they share the Smiths' predilection towards the nasty side of youthful life, there's a specificity here that most of Morrissey's songs lacked. Lead vocalist Stuart Murdoch can alternate between shocking ("it takes more than milk to get rid of the taste") to accusatory ("you were laid on your back with the boy with the arab strap") or even a partially imagined incident where Sire Records CEO Seymour Stein tries to take the band to dinner and takes Murdoch's girlfriend home with him instead. All of this could come off scatalogical or petty in lesser hands (this means you, Beautiful South!) but Murdoch's smooth doe-eyed voice makes the whole lot of it seem perfectly natural. Though there's a twee streak that still bares itself at times and you'll probably find yourself wanting to throttle Murdoch during "A Summer Wasting" and "The Rollercoaster Ride," somehow it's unimportant because half of these dozen tracks show the band reaching for a maturity, either in lyrics or music, that they previously hid from. And at least half of the others (like the tear-jerkingly gorgeous "Chickfactor") are so hummable and pretty that it feels churlish to find fault with them. So, Belle and Sebastian may not have made the album that would save Britpop as some in the press have predicted. Instead, they've proven themselves the torchbearer for the sensitive and shy of the late 90s and at a time when youth increasingly gravitate towards the thuggishness of new metal and hip-hop, I don't think that's a virtue that can be dismissed so easily, especially when _Strap_ is such a well-made album, appreciable even without its noble sentiments. --- REVIEW: Manic Street Preachers, _This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours_ (Sony UK) - Tim Kennedy There are some albums that are hard to review because the motivation is not there - but this is not one of them. This is possibly the album of the year, and definitely the single most important rock band of the 90s. Important not for record sales though they are selling respectably these days in the UK (although they were dropped by the U.S. affiliate Epic, and passed over by at least two other major labels), but important because they are the most intelligent, vital and interesting group for many years. There has always been a contradiction in the Manics: on the one hand music which blatantly borrows from the past and on the other, lyrics which are quite unlike any in rock history. They aren't the only band to borrow from their mentors but they must be the only band to declare "originality is not important". WHAT they borrow is of great importance however and always reflects what they are trying to say with their invariably sad yet astounding lyrics. James was widely laughed at for calling Nicky a poet the other week in a UK music paper but you know what he is getting at when you read the lyric sheets of TIMTTMY. The themes are all Nicky's now - none of Richey's (the guitarist and fellow lyric writer who disappeared mysteriously in 1995) words adorn this CD. That means that instead of the searing verbal assault and deadly withering hail of self-hate, the words are more reflective, still cynical/naive but more reserved. James doesn't have to garble them to get them to fit on a line. Nicky describes his insular domestic existence in the Welsh village household he shares with his much-loved wife ("You Stole The Sun From My Heart", "My Little Empire", "I'm Not Working", "You're Tender And You're Tired", and more.) He also rails at the ageing process and the toll that the band's youthful verve is taking - fans or more likely he himself resents the fact that the band didn't simply explode in 1992, and that they are still her slogging away at being rock stars. "The gap that grows between our lives/The gap our parents never had to stop/Those thoughts control your mind/ Replace the things that you despise//Oh you're old I hear you say/ It doesn't mean that I don't care/I don't believe in it anymore/ Pathetic acts for a worthless cause" "Born A Girl" however reflects an old transgendered theme that the Manics have always worried and chewed at. Nicky of course wears a dress and eyeliner on stage to this day. "There's no room in this world for a girl like me". This album is more than just a turning from old lyrical concerns - it also features music with a very 1970s prog rock influence. Deep Purple-like riffs may pop up here and there, and the feel of much of the CD is Pink Floyd, circa _Dark Side Of The Moon_. It has those languid Rick Wright keyboards, lots of space and echo, with quiet, reflective moments counterpoised by bombast of almost inconceivable proportions by this band's original standards. This was a band that wore ripped clothes, posed like the Clash, idolised trash rockers like Dogs D'Amour and called Axl Rose "the most underrated lyricist of his time". But the truth is this band have always pillaged rock history with no regard for current trends. At the time when Richey was talking about Razzle, the doomed drummer of Dogs D'Amour, that was as 'outre' as can be imagined. Everyone was into Happy Mondays and Stone Roses and acid house. They were reviled at the time. There is some wonderful, inspired music on this album. Where for example Radiohead are virtuosos, who throw shadows of moody despair, the Manics embody the pain of love and loss - and know too well how to convey this with their music. The opener "The Everlasting" is a soft rock epic on the surface, but one with a depth that belies that description, and a lovely wall of sound production in the manner of Phil Spector. "Born A Girl" betrays a wayward guitar backing which is completely bewitching. "SYMM" uses some back masked guitar and has a killer solo that Dave Gilmour himself would be proud of. "You Stole The Sun From My Heart" has a great hook in it which would have Peter Hook standing legs akimbo and doing air bass. "My Little Empire" begins with a lovely understated guitar figure which Jimi might have used. "You're Tender And You're Tired" features some great whistling (!) and a totally mad piano passage. This track is probably the most inventive of the album - a slightly 60s psychedelic outing. "Black Dog" sounds like Glen Campbell doing Jimmy Webb, and has Nicky visualising himself as the hound in question, faithfully running for his lover. And it actually works, believe me. "Tsunami" is possibly the strongest song on the CD. It combines a sitar-drenched musical backing and a rip-roaring riff-laden chorus to match their best. The UK single "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" is about the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. The dialectic here is between Nicky's pacifism and his admiration of Welsh farmers who took up the gun to help fight Spain's Nazi-backed fascist coup of the time. Musically it seems to be weak upon initial exposure, with a break beat and strings. It has a catchy chorus though, and its Spectoresque production rescues it in the end. "Nobody Loved You" is about their lost comrade Richey "Never had the chance to take you home/Now there's no reason/Just another tomorrow/You keep giving me your free air miles/What would I give for just one of your smiles/Just one of your smiles." The finale - "SYMM" actually stands for South Yorkshire Mass Murder. This song is a highly controversial attack aimed at the Sheffield police, who by their omissions allowed nearly one hundred Liverpool fans to die crushed in a terrace at Hillsborough Football Stadium in 1989, and to this day have not been indicted for their lack of action. "The ending for this song/Well I haven't really thought of one/There's nothing I could ever say/That could ever take the pain away." This album has all the reasons why this group are mad, bad and dangerous to know. They try too many styles, they dare to be poetic, to be sensitive, and they open their wounds in public. No album has (in 1997) or come close (in 1998) to the beauty of _This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours_. --- REVIEW: Archers of Loaf, _White Trash Heroes_ (Alias) - Chris Hill In my college radio days, whenever I grabbed an I.R.S. album (Hunters and Collectors, R.E.M., Stan Ridgway, Let's Active, the Alarm, etc.), I was invariably challenged and delighted, regardless of the artist. Even the _Bachelor Party_ soundtrack had its share of innovative tunes. I say this because, like a perfume bringing back memories of an ex-girlfriend, as soon as "Fashion Bleeds" blew through the speakers with its drum/guitar bomb blast, that delighted feeling rushed over me. Grabbing the promo, Mitch Easter's name leapt from the mixing credits. Besides a long list of producer credits (R.E.M., Moose, Game Theory, to name a few), Mitch was Let's Active's guiding force. Their _Big Plans for Everybody_ was a staunch companion of mine for months. But how much influence can a mixer have? Compared to the feel of the Loaf's last, apparently a lot. Like '96's _All the Nations Airports_, the new disc's produced by Brian Paulson and the Loaf, and engineered by Paulson. But the ten songs on _White Trash Heroes_ are individual sonic gems, and a step forward from _...Airports_, whose songs had more of a grouped structure, less independent strength. I think Easter is the reason for the change. The title cut (with its moody Vangelis beginning), the palpitating "One Slight Wrong Move", "Fashion Bleeds" - all would be welcome additions to everyone's local alterna-station. Eric Bachmann's chest has grown hair - the deeper growl of the above songs lacks the quavering voice of previous efforts (though "Dead Red Eyes" reaffirms that yes, it's still him singing). Also, the voice is further forward in the mix, and the disc shines for it. His guttertrash lyrics (Bachmann writes the words, the band - the music) are pulled from the seedier side of town - whores, philanderers, sots, hypocrites, losers - splendid, alliterative descriptions of people & places you visit at your own risk. Sometimes painfully clear ("White Trash Heroes", "Dead Red Eyes"), sometimes indecipherable ("Banging on a Dead Drum"), these are lyrics that inspire transcription for contemplative reading. "Blow by blow/Chipped off shell and bone/Tripped and talked around it/Could not walk through the crowd of careful lies/Busted open wide" - the mournful regret in "Dead Red Eyes" is followed by the muddied grind of "I.N.S." A good sequencing choice, as are most of the transitions on this record. Songs flow because of differences, not similarities. "Banging on a Dead Drum", a middle-finger salute to jangle pop, all electronic banshee vocals and guitar squall, trails "One Slight Wrong Move", a radio-friendly puppy dog, with its "a hundred million people could be wrong" vocoder-affected chorus. It keeps the pace lively. Like the bygone I.R.S. catalog, it's clear the Loaf are artists having fun with what they're doing, yet committed to their own advancement. This could (should) be the album to get them mainstream awareness - if that's what they're after. This is their last for longtime home Alias Records, and according to a note at Go Loaf! ( http://www.wku.edu/~bob/archers/ ), the excellent official webpage, "Each member of the band has different projects that they are working on which will all but guarantee a split in the lineup following their current tour." That'd be a shame - the next Loaf album could only stun and amaze. My fingers are crossed. --- REVIEW: Bob Mould, _The Last Dog and Pony Show_ (Rykodisc) - Jon Steltenpohl If we are to believe Mr. Mould, the title of his latest album is a little warning that things won't be the same musically after this album and supporting tour. Gone will be the loud, "electric" sound that's characterized most of his career, and in will be the softer, gentler Mould of his "acoustic" tours. Yes, _The Last Dog and Pony Show_ will be the sign off to Mould's signature sound. Unfortunately, the album doesn't do Mould's back catalog justice. The muddled vocals are buried deep behind the raging siren guitars, and his venomous lyrics are diluted to vinegar. Indeed, Mould seems to have lost all desire for these songs, and the album, while certainly a decent effort, simply pales in comparison to most of his work. A recent interview with Mould reveals that this analysis is spot on. Mould bemoans his trademark crunching sound and expresses a yearning for his acoustic mode where, ironically, most of these songs existed before the album. His current tour is his last band tour ever, he warns. As if he were merely reading the writing on his own wall, _The Last Dog and Pony Show_ leaves you wishing for the acoustic versions of these songs. On "First Drag of the Day", he goes overboard with trying to spice up the music. There's "mix master" distortions added without rhyme or reason, organ tossed underneath the mix, and a single guitar phrase mixed louder than anything else which is played over and over throughout the entire song. "Reflecting Pool" has the same set of problems. It's hard to believe these songs were included on the album. Similarly, the throwaway "Megamaniac" was a simple studio indulgence on the part of Mould that sounds like a low-rent Beck playing around. It's interesting, fun fluff, but it seems like one of those songs that shouldn't have made it out of the studio. Still, a half hearted Bob Mould is still better than average. "Vaporub" gives us the Bob Mould I think he wants to be. Acoustic guitar on top of the band and lyrics which almost show hope in the middle of despair are pretty much Mould's hallmark, and "Vaporub" delivers. "Who Was Around?" uses a similar style and succeeds with lyrics like "I was a child, and now it seems so long ago / Why'd you abandon me? Maybe it's not for me to know / No explanation needed, nothing can change the way things went / You just weren't interested, I guess, I guess." Songs like "Classifieds", "New #1", and "Moving Trucks" fill in the gaps with catchy but average songs. It isn't until the final track when Mould reaches his epiphany. On "Along the Way", Mould recruits Alison Chesley on cello and often features just her and his guitar. Mould really sings on this one, and, for a few fleeting moments, he allows the listener to hear his vocals. The song has class and pageantry, and, if this is the future of Bob Mould, I'm all for it. This is the mature version of the sound he started with on his first solo album after Husker Du's breakup. Ultimately, it is Mould's blurry production on the bulk of the tracks that brings this album down. As a performer and a songwriter, he's proven himself, and, in previous studio efforts, he's produced great albums. But with _The Last Dog and Pony Show_, something's just not right. It's almost as if Mould has made the album out of a feeling of obligation to his fans, and his heart's not in it. The result is a below average album from an above average performer. --- REVIEW: Various Artists, _I Wanna Be Kate_ (Brown Star) - Chelsea Spear In the liner notes for the tribute to Kate Bush, _I Wanna Be Kate_ , executive producer Thomas Dunning talks of discovering the adventurous, innovative singer/songwriter through Pat Benatar's cover of "Wuthering Heights". Somehow I find this heartening. While I have a great deal of respect for Bush's considerable craft, and love the musicians to whom she's served as muse, I can't call myself a huge fan of her work. Sacrilege, I know, but if this die-hard can discover Kate through the leotard-clad forebear to Alanis Morrisette, there's hope for us all. My main reason for wanting to hear this record was to experience Syd Straw's rendition of "The Man With The Child In His Eyes". Her spare, emotionally evoctive and utterly beautiful rendition of the classic tune does not disappoint, though Straw's considerable voice sounds thin and strange from using her upper register so extensively. Nevertheless, her voice retains in emotional content what it loses in technical prowess - it still sounds like a nerve ending, crackling with life and imbued with deep sonic hues. The other artists on the album succeed through different avenues. Susan Voelz' erotic reading of "The Sensual World" and the Celtic-flavoured "Jig of Life" as performed by Catherine Smitko remain faithful to the original recordings, while putting their own personality behind them to great affect. Justin Roberts' rendition of "You're The One" is better than it has any right to be, given the Casio instrumentation and Roberts' unfortunate vocal resemblance to Jim Creggan of the Barenaked Ladies, but his belief in and love of the material helps him to pull it off. The Moviegoers ride a bright, euphoric pop crescendo to excellent affect on "Hounds of Love", and the Middle Eastern tones that the Plunging Necklines and Trinkets of Joy respectively bring to "Kashka from Bagdahd/Babooshka" and "Love and Anger" complement the source material, with the Necklines' haunting vocal harmonies enducing goosebumps in this writer. Even The Baltimores' radical retread of "Running Up That Hill", which owes a significant debt to Butterscott's cover of "Karma Chameleon" and the playful indie-rock of Tully Craft, works. So what doesn't work as successfully? Every compilation and artist tribute must have a few clinkers, and _I Wanna Be Kate_ is no exception. The comp hits its nadir with Diamond Jim Greene's banjo-happy take on "Home for Christmas", which bears an inappropriate resemblance to something from the Lowell George songbook. Mouse put a stunningly awful grunge-metal spin on "Coffee Homeground", which left a bitter taste in my mouth, and the rap version of "There Goes A Tenner" by The J Davis Trio loses something in translation. All in all, _I Wanna Be Kate_ is a decent collection of covers that inspired me to dust off my old Kate Bush albums and throw them on. While this compilation will hold special appeal for die-hard fans, this reviewer recommends it especially to people who might have found her work intriguing but didn't know where to start. You can get a copy by writing to Brown Star Records at 1060 W. Glenlake Ave., Chicago, Il. 60660-2977 or by checking out the website at http://www.tezcat.com/~stunning/kate/index.html --- REVIEW: Mudhoney, _Tomorrow Hit Today_ (Reprise) - Kerwin So Okay, quick question: How many of you out there first heard of Mudhoney only after Nirvana rocketed the Pac Northwest and the "grunge sound" into the international spotlight, or even after the cinematic opus _Singles_ came out in 1992? Unlike other influential Seattle luminaries from back in the day like Nirvana and Soundgarden, Mudhoney today continue on with, amazingly, the same lineup-- and the same sound-- they unleashed on the world ten long years ago. As vocalist/guitarist Mark Arm reveals, the title of the latest LP, _Tomorrow Hit Today_, flashes back to "When Tomorrow Hits" off of Mudhoney's first record: "So now it's ten years later and-- WHAM!-- 'tomorrow hit today.'" Obviously the passage of time is not lost on these four gentlemen; unfortunately, the songs on _Tomorrow Hit Today_ seem to indicate otherwise. From the predictable opening sludge-rock riff of "A Thousand Forms of Mind", to "Oblivion"'s pointless narrative of a woman in a wheelchair slaughtering ABBA's "Dancing Queen" karaoke-style (Ed. note - also see the Jams, _1987_, "The Queen and I" ) , to Arm's greasy snarl on the offensive throughout (save a token instrumental number), Mudhoney, while noticeably less frenetic, sound pretty much the same as they always have. Despite the talents of producer Jim Dickinson this time around (who has previously worked with countless rockers from Big Star to the Replacements), Mudhoney just can't-- or won't-- shake the tried and true formula of distorted aggro-guitar, slow yelps and growls, and the bludgeon of a-- dare I say it?-- grungy attack. While Mudhoney has never cared much about selling records, and this latest effort may satisfy long-time fans of the band, don't expect _Tomorrow Hit Today_ to win over any new fans. Like 1995's similar _My Brother the Cow_, this new LP sounds exactly what you'd expect a Mudhoney record to sound like - nothing ground-shakingly innovative, but consistent with their tag as grunge's elder statesmen. Savvier musicians know the key to remaining artistically vital lies in staying open to varied influences and stretching the limits of their own creative potential-- R.E.M. being the classic example. With grunge music fading from the scene, perhaps it's time for the members of Mudhoney to evaluate their remaining potential as the milennium looms ever larger. --- CONCERT REVIEW: Soul Coughing, Boston, September 12 - Chelsea Spear Though the calendar had turned and fall had ostensibly commenced a week before, Mother Nature smiled upon New England on the second weekend of September. The sun beat down on the banks by the Charles River at a degree of about 84 degrees, a breeze wafted off the river, and a crowd of several thousand new and returning students and their friends and neighbors rode a groove from the funky music filling the air. The soundtrack punctuating this bucolic scene was none other than Soul Coughing. This acerbic, dance-inducing quartet graced the stage of the Hatch Shell to celebrate the impending release of their third album, _El Oso_ with a set that blended older favourites with new tracks. Sadly, the songs from _El Oso_ were the ones that worked the least well within these live perameters. The latest album yokes the band's musical aesthetic to a drum-and-bass beat, and tracks propelled mostly by the canned-sounding breakbeats fell flat under the circumstances; open-air concerts don't provide the best acoustics for distinctive, techno-informed music, and the songs hinging on the use of a drum machine sounded indistinguishable from one another. The standout track amongst these was "Circles", a delightful nugget of arid, acoustic guitar-driven melody and chunky rhythm that has appropriately been chosen as the first single. Another untitled new tune made excellent use of a cinematic, ambient-influenced keyboard midsection, which ran on a rhythm that invoked the pulse of great cities at night, recalling Yo La Tengo's "Moby Octopad". The electronica-influenced sound with which the 'Cough are presently experimenting worked better within the perameters of their previous hits. Set opener "Screenwriter Blues" made excellent use of a theremin-sounding keyboard effect that intensified the creative angst that the song illuminated to eerie affect in words and music alike, and "Bus to Beezlebub", which featured a new arrangement that included a sped-up bridge with one of the drum tracks fron an _El Oso_ song; the band sped up and slowed down their delivery of the song, until it sounded like a record being changed from 16rpm to 78 with some pauses in between. And though the band's sound may not have always come off without a hitch, they were a tight, cohesive live unit with the presence of consumate showmen. Lead singer M. Doughty made for a magnetic frontman that blended eggheaded intelligence with suave bravado to excellent affect. Local heroes the Gigolo Aunts opened the show with a set that riffed, buzzsawed, and hummed with energy, but never broke into a gallop -- or tried something other than the midtempo in which all their songs were played. Unlike Soul Coughing, the Aunts never made any brilliant mistakes by pushing the boundaries of what pop music could be, and though they seemed sincere, their music sounded exactly the same as every other band making the scene in town today. They do get points for having an excellent record collection (their cover of the Pretenders' song "Kid" closed their set), and a decent sense of humour (one song was called "To Whoever Keeps Calling Me And Hanging Up, I Hate You"). --- REVIEW: Morrissey, _My Early Burglary Years_ (Reprise) - Bob Gajarsky In the same spirit as fellow Britoners including the Beatles, Oasis and Mansun, Morrissey has always used the flipside of singles - better known as B-sides - to highlight some of his best material. Far surpassing his last B-sides collection ( _World of Morrissey_ ) and even his most recent full length on Mercury ( _Maladjusted_ ), _My Early Burglary Years_ contains sixteen tracks which vary in style, yet remain true to the career path which Morrissey has long since paved. Ranging from the unavailable-in-the-States A-side "Sunny" (along with both its B-sides and an accompanying video), the T-Rex live cover of "Cosmic Dancing", and shoulda-been A-sides such as the acerbic "Girl Least Likely To" and a concert favourite, "Sister I'm A Poet". And, yes, lyrics are included here, for those who wonder what stimulates the enigmatic Stephen. Even with the duplication of some album tracks and omission of a handful of B-sides and other tracks (the Morrissey/Siouxie collaboration "Interlude" jumps to mind), _Burglary Years_ will help fill many of the missing gaps in the collection of Mozz-philes who don't wish to resort to buying bootlegs. --- REVIEW: Rasputina, _How We Quit the Forest_ (Columbia) - Chelsea Spear With apologies to a writer for my previous publication (I have to apologise, he'd better be reading this), Rasputina is a band that would like to defy categorization. Their debut, _Thanks for the Ether_, was the sleeper hit of 1996, blending pop songcraft, impassioned vocals, chamber arrangements, and lyrics that were by turn poignant, raging, and bitingly funny, through the musical kaleidescope of a band comprised of three cellists. Unfortunately, the media focused more on the band's onstage garb of corsetry and occasional songs about vampires, and erroneously pigeonholed the three lovelies as "goth". The band staunchly rejected the label, even as they hit the road with the Cranes and allowed their most artistically unfortunate patron, Marilyn Manson, to shit on -- I mean, remix -- their biggest hit, "Transylvanian Concubine". Listening to the first few tracks on Rasputina's latest release, _How We Quit the Forest_, may make some fear that the band has succumbed to the worst stereotypes of this bat-brained subgenre. "Leech Wife", with its distorted vocals, morbid subject matter, and slicing arrangement, echoes all the worst tendencies of Manson without his ridiculous, pro-Satan rhetoric and pompous importance. Other songs, like "Old Headboard" and "Dwarf Star", at least alleviate these tendencies with lyricist Melora Creager's trademark sense of humour, and the spoken-word piece "Christian Soldiers" tempers its grotesque description of an excorcism with the beautiful instrumental that backs it up. However, the entire album thankfully does not continue in tribute to Manson. The band is at its best when they blend the organic musical mesh of their cellos with gossamer, synthetic techno beats straight from Madonna's _Ray of Light_. By far the most effective tracks include "The New Zero", a club-ready track whose lyrical subject matter deals with a hotel made entirely of ice in Sweden; "Signs of the Zodiac", a morbid little number whose ebbing melody works to spooky effect with a restrained vocal and deadly-sounding rhythmic undertow; and the fanciful "MayFly", which percolates along to a staticky Casio beat and "Greensleeves"-influenced tune. Even some of the louder, crunchier tunes, such as "Things I'm Gonna Do" and the John Lennon- influenced "Trenchmouth", work well because of the contrast between the arena-ready crescendos and goosebump-inducing instrumental interludes. In the end, _How We Quit the Forest_ could well be the _Return of the Giant Slits_ for this musical underground's epoch. Like the Slits, Rasputina got an unexpected amount of mileage out of an album coming from such a tight musical focus, but for all the solid artistic limbs they go out on, they also encounter some hollow branches that can't support their musical vision. However, there's some truly fascinating musical ideas, and I'm curious to follow the band onto their third album to see how they continue their musical journey. --- REVIEW: The Church, _Hologram of Baal_ (Thirsty Ear) - Joe Silva Just as most of the alternative set were grooving along to _Starfish_, The Church's 1988 high watermark LP, the band told Rolling Stone of all people that there music was better understood by those who already been...er...um.."experienced." It essentially was a bang on statement that the video to the album's killer track ("Under The Milky Way") made indisputably clear. But while the band was busy circling the globe a couple of times to capitalize on the LP's achievement, they forgot to jot down "write more material while the getting is good..." into their tour agendas. From there on, the partnership between core members Peter Koppes, Marty Wilson-Piper, and Steve Kilbey failed to come up with an ultra-successful blend of pop and this undiluted psychedelia that could continue to make good on their brief success. While never having been completely inactive, the band return again now with a fresh label deal and yet another set of guitar dreamscapes to promote. But while the songs are still lush and still wonderfully trippy, _Hologram of Baal_ may not quite be the comeback record that the band have hoped for. Launched with an intriguing assortment of electronic quivers and pulses, "Anaesthesia" begins like a transmission from some otherworldy coop where the band and their muse have been set to rust. But almost instantaneously, the song falls into a mid-tempo grind that the LP really doesn't escape thereafter. The melodies are so often wispy that even when the choruses might have some flesh about them, they aren't asserted with a sufficient amount of vim to capture your attention for long. Kilbey's singing still has that pleasant abstract Dylan-esque quality to it, and Piper is still quite handy at generating big atmospheres, but beyond that most of these tepid numbers never sufficiently warm the album's jets enough to help it sustain flight. --- REVIEW: Graham Coxon, _The Sky is Too High_ (Transcopic/Caroline) - Robin Lapid With his own label, Transcopic, and his first solo album, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon flies hyperspeed into the direction he nudged Blur toward on their eponymous fifth album. On _The Sky Is Too High_ , he walks a tight-rope between plaintive sad songs a la Nick Drake and Sonic Youth-style punk guitars that drift from sparse and moody to dissonant and jarring. He anchors it all with shy, barely post-pubescent vocals and a personality that screams and whispers at the same time. The first track, "That's All I Wanna Do," starts off with Coxon's soft voice cradling a gentle melody. Even when the acoustic guitar erupts into a guttural and melancholy electric wash, the refrain lingers, faintly redolent of a Blur pop hook. But for the most part, Coxon abandons himself to the music in his head. "R U Lonely" is a quiet number set adrift in acoustic guitar. It runs smoothly into "I Wish," which begins with acoustic strumming that suddenly fractures into distortion-heavy discord. When Coxon isn't expressing his anger or despondency in words, the guitar explodes and sings for him. The album -- which Coxon wrote and performed by himself -- was recorded during an alcohol-free period of teetotalism. The purging mood is evident with lyrics such as 'In the daylight hours/ I go out and kill the flowers.' On "Who the Fuck?" (a song reminiscent of Pavement's "Conduit For Sale"), furiously reckless punk guitar and the cathartic 'Who the fuck you looking at?!' refrain break up a barrage of garbled spoken-word lyrics. Coxon makes subtle hints at the kind of infectious lo-fi melodies on _Blur's_ "You're So Great," although his solo album is more bitter-sad than bittersweet. The Blur track, seared with a naked intimacy, comes closer to the bare-souled eloquence of his mentors than the new album. But with _The Sky Is Too High_ , Coxon proves that, in time, he can reach his grasp. --- REVIEW: Far Too Jones, _Picture Postcard Walls_ (Mammoth) - Scott Slonaker Hundreds of bands play good ole-fashioned, sing-along, tear-in-yer-beer barroom guitar rock. Most only make a modest living, playing every dive from here to Flagstaff. Some get signed. And, every now and then, someone rides the style to the top of the charts. I guess that I don't want to spend the entirety of this piece comparing Raleigh, NC's Far Too Jones to their Southern neighbors Matchbox 20. The bar-rawk style is so common that no one can be accused of ripping off anyone else- none of you thought of it first, okay? That's not the issue with this sort of music. But, the undeniable fact is that some of the songs on _Picture Postcard Walls_ could very easily be mistaken for Matchbox 20 or Emmet Swimming. One listen to the first single, "As Good As You" may not reveal much, but, just like with "3 AM" and "One Headlight", future spins will hook you. "As Good As You" is a soaring, melodious treat, full of lyrical platitudes ("Everyone will live on time/Through these limbs I watched you climb") just ripe for attaching your own deeply personal meaning. And that's the secret of why these songs hook people. Singer Christopher Spruill's mid-range, husky wail is familiar and comforting territory, with occasional chesty bellows a la Darius Rucker and Eddie Vedder. Producer Gavin MacKillop helps make the band's above-average backing vocals sound quite good. The problem - well, we're getting to that. An odd thing becomes apparent after a few spins of this record. Every track is such a polished, radio-ready shiner that everything, even on subsequent listens, runs somewhat together. Is it possible to have too many singles on an album? Taken individually, tunes like the ballad "Stoned and Reeling" and the midtempo "Middle of Me" are perfect, but maybe having too much perfection on one album creates some sort of musical law of diminishing returns. So, then, perhaps Far Too Jones should not try quite as hard on their next album. Tune the instruments less. The bass player could hire his cousin Billy Bob to produce. Something, anything, to mar the shine just enough to give some more character. I still recommend _Picture Postcard Walls_ to fans of the style, and it's a crime that some of these songs haven't made it to radios nationwide, but this record is best served in bite-sized chunks. --- REVIEW: Sonichrome, _Breathe The Daylight_ (Capitol) - Tracey Bleile The name of the band and the title itself are verrry deceiving - you half-expect ambient techno to come oozing out at you. What you get from the latest and greatest power trio to surface from SoCal is a super-surprising breath of fresh air - only it's a hit of pure oxygen instead of mere gentle ocean breezes. Like their pop forerunners; oh, say the Cars, or the Knack, or Squeeze, it's deceptively simple - but if you lean in just a little closer, you'll be in it up to your ears. _Breathe The Daylight_ features some of the smartest and sharpest foisting of poppiness upon the world (I haven't felt this giddy since Supergrass) yet this year. They have gathered all the right elements of songcraft -- take some drama ("Step Outside", "There Was 2"), a strong steady pace ("Overconfident", "Dirty Water"), and gracefully balance the punches with softness ("Coming Home" and "Folding" with their John Waite/Babys' era feel points up the substance behind the sound). Then take these key elements, polish it to a modern gloss with just enough synth and effects (their nod to alien abduction in "Saloman" will have you scanning the skies, ready to be taken away) to complement Chris Karn's by turns tremulous/soaring tenor, and you've got a sound with all of the emotion and very little triteness that does just what intends, hooks you and keeps you. Sonichrome incorporates a lot of atypical instruments (bring on the strings and tympani and a little barrelhouse piano while you're up...I swear, on the super-bouncy "Innocent Journey" they've got a whole Dixieland band in the studio), and bring a thoroughly fresh perspective on "modern music" - transcending boundaries that shouldn't exist between musical styles anyway. This is the kind of smart pop that should be right up front and center and all over the airwaves - we'll just have to see what the fall brings. Word on the street is their live show leaves out all of the extra orchestra trappings and still delivers the goods - in full. This strikes me as the kind of band that has been working this angle for a long time, and had the sound down and tight - all they needed was a really good studio and solid backing to jump everything up that extra notch to make them live up to the name - bright shiny winks of talent bouncing off a polished song to dazzle, nay, even blind you from time to time. This is a disc that needs to stay near at hand when winter comes and you need the warmth of Sonichrome's sunny, energized sound to melt away what ever might have you in its icy grip. --- REVIEW: The Flys, _Holiday Man_ (Trauma) - Joann D. Ball You may have already heard The Flys but mistakenly credited their infectious new song, "Got You (Where I Want You)" to another band. "Got You (Where I Want You)," was one of the standout cuts on the soundtrack for the summer teen thriller flick "Disturbing Behavior." And yes, it does kinda sound like a lost Alice in Chains song when heard over the modern rock/alternative rock airwaves. But even though the vocal stylings and the slightly dark, moody groove sounds familiar, it's actually The Flys sneaking up on you. Don't be so quick to brush off this Los Angeles-based quintet as a one-hit flavor of the month with a catchy tune. There's a helluva lot more than that happening on The Flys' debut CD _Holiday Man_ . Like "Got You (Where I Want You)," "Afraid" is an edgy song which quickly gets under your skin and sticks in your head. But with this track, the band reaches deep into its own bag of musical treats and makes good on its promise to "make heavy rock music that is fresh, fun and danceable." The rise and fall of this eerie number, from a piercing guitar lead over a slow throbbing bass into an emotional outburst of vocals and drums, makes it the best tune on the record. However, The Flys don't just creep along in the darkness, as cuts like the explosive "Give You My Car" and the title track embody the spirit of extreme sports by making full use of distortion, guitars, and a rock solid rhythm section. The Flys succeed in taking the best of grunge, metal, rock and hardcore rap and even throw in some funk for good measure. And the song "Holiday Man" is proof that it can and indeed does work. In fact, not since the Red Hot Chili Peppers picked up a megaphone and got on the rollercoaster of love has there been such a catchy booty shakin' number on a rock record. A short but entertaining adventure, _Holiday Man_ ends with a slick '70s styled, flirty number called "Sexual Sandwich." Ultimately, The Flys are a bunch of fellas who love music, women, surfing and extreme sports and wanna let you in on the fun. The band celebrates all of these passions on this active, energetic twelve song audio release, which also includes an enhanced CD-Rom portion containing interviews and live performances. --- NEWS: > 1000 Clowns, whose album was released in the last issue of Consumable Online, has been dropped by their label, Capitol. --- TOUR DATES: Tori Amos / Devlins Sep. 26 San Diego, CA SDSU Open Air Theatre Sep. 27 Phoenix, AZ America West Arena Better Than Ezra Sep. 25 Orlando, FL Walt Disney World Better Than Ezra / Possum Dixon / Athenaeum Sep. 28 Chattanooga, TN The Bay Broadside Electric Sep. 25 Cambridge, MA Club Passim Sep. 26 Waltham, MA Luthier's Candlebox Sep. 24 New York, NY Irving Plaza Sep. 25 Washington, DC Bayou Sep. 26 Huntington, WV Ritter Park Sep. 27 Toledo, OH Sports Arena The Church Sept. 25 Portland, OR The Roseland Theater Sept. 26 Seattle, WA The Fenix Sept. 27 Vancouver, BC Richards On Richards Cravin' Melon Sep. 24 Anderson, SC Anderson County Fa Sep. 25 Charlotte, NC Carolina Music fest Sep. 26 Danville, VA Pittsylvania County Fair Irving Plaza (http://www.irvingplaza.com - New York concert hall) Sep. 24 Candlebox Sep. 25-26 Bob Mould / Varnaline Jesus & Mary Chain / Mercury Rev Sep. 24 Ft. Wayne, IN Piere's Night Club Sep. 25 Pontiac, MI Clutch Cargo's Sep. 26 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall Sep. 27 Chicago, IL House of Blues Sep. 28 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Freedy Johnston Sep. 26 Philadelphia, PA Tin Angel Korn Sep. 25 E. Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena Sep. 26 Philadelphia, PA Core States Spectrum Sep. 27 Cleveland, OH CSU Pavilion Lenny Kravitz Sep. 25 Austin, TX Music Hall Sep. 26 New Orleans, LA Marconi Meadows Sep. 27 Houston, TX Theatre at Bayou Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers Sep. 25 Annapolis, MD United States Naval Academy Sep. 26 Highland Hghts, KY Regents Hall Massive Attack / Lewis Parker Sep. 24 Seattle, WA Paramount Ballroom Sep. 26 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theater Sep. 27 Los Angeles, CA The Palladium Mercury Rev Sep. 22 Atlanta, GA Masquerade Sep. 24 Fort Wayne, IN Pierre's Night Club Sep. 25 Pontiac, MI Clutch Cargo's Sep. 26 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall Sep. 27 Chicago, IL House of Blues Sep. 28 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Bob Mould / Varnaline Sep. 25-26 New York, NY Irving Plaza Sep. 28 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Reel Big Fish / Spring Heeled Jack Sep. 24 Richmond, VA Flood Zone Sep. 25 Washington, DC 930 Club Sep. 26 Philadelphia, PA TLA Sep. 27 Baltimore, MD Bohagers Sep. 28 Newark, DE Stone Balloon Samples Sep. 23 Sea Bright, NJ Tradewinds Sep. 24 New Haven, CT Toad's Place Sep. 25 Bridgeport, CT Fairfield University Sep. 26 Portland, ME Stone Coast Brewery Sep. 27 Durham, NH University of New Hampshire Sheila Divine Sep. 24 Washington, DC The Metro Sep. 27 Philadelphia, PA The Khyber Sep. 28 New York, NY Brownie's Superdrag Sep. 25 Atlanta, GA The Point Tripping Daisy / Flick Sep. 24 Ames, IA Maintenance Shop @ Isu Sep. 26 Boulder, CO Fox Theater Mike Watt Sep. 25 Austin, TX Stubb's Sep. 26 Houston, TX Instant Karma Sep. 27 New Orleans, LA Tipitina's Sep. 28 Pensacola, FL Sluggo's --- Founded in August, 1993, Consumable Online is the oldest music reviews publication on the Internet. To get back issues of Consumable, check out: WWW: http://www.consumableonline.com (Delphi) Music Fandom forum; GO ENT MUSIC To subscribe to Consumable, send an e-mail message to consumable-request@westnet.com with the body of the message stating "subscribe consumable". To unsubscribe, send a message to the same address stating "unsubscribe consumable". Web access contributed by WestNet Internet Services (westnet.com), serving Westchester County, NY. Address any written correspondence to Bob Gajarsky, Consumable Online, 409 Washington St. #294, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030 ===