Niche Reviews, Part III

Let's push forward with another three reviews, etc., etc.

OASIS -- DIG OUT YOUR SOUL -- 7.5/10
This is the last Oasis album.  After a decade of releasing notoriously horrible after notoriously horrible album, at least in light of the dizzying heights they had at one time achieved, one might assume that it was an overdue ending, that it was time to take Oasis out back because we just couldn't bear to see them like this.  Yet for every "Little James" and "Force of Nature" that is laughably bad - an especially unforgivable sin for a band like Oasis that had every intention of saving music when they could have gotten some more leeway by being a bit less serious - there were still those moments of brilliance, perhaps not quite as potent as "Live Forever" or "Don't Look Back in Anger", but brilliant nonetheless, that remind you that there's a reason why everyone used to like Oasis.  Thankfully, Dig Out Your Soul, while certainly no Definitely Maybe or (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, is something of a return to form, a small redemption for a band that for so many years seemed to be just going through the motions.  Average songs like "The Turning," for the first time in ages, have a fire to them that even Be Here Now, the undeservingly demonized start of Oasis' decline, didn't have in its less show stopping tunes.  And yes, it must be admitted that this is an album that includes the songs "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady" and "Ain't Got Nothin'", but, at the same time, this album showcases an Oasis that isn't just doing a Beatles impersonation for 45 minutes - at least most of the time.  Remarkably, these songs max out at 5:09, avoiding the absurd length that turned the good Britpop tunes on Be Here Now into repetitive marathons.  Finally, we see a bit of a reinvention.  "Falling Down" doesn't sound like anything else Oasis had ever released, and these songs have a momentum that Oasis had lacked for years.  Liam even pitches in with the brilliant "I'm Outta Time," reminding us why he's in this band and why he was the voice of a generation for a few short years in the mid-'90s.  This is no Morning Glory, but it's no Heathen Chemistry either.  Highlights include "Falling Down", "I'm Outta Time", "The Turning".

TEXAS IS THE REASON -- DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE? -- 9/10
Texas is the Reason is probably the total opposite of Oasis in terms of career arc: a universally beloved underground act who released one critically acclaimed album and then dissolved.  That album, Do You Know Who You Are?, is certainly worthy of high praise.  Texas is the Reason is on the poppier end of the '90's emo canon, with a more listener friendly style than the proggy and experimental Sunny Day Real Estate or the chafingly edgy Jawbreaker.  They also eschew the melodramatic lyricism of Knapsack and Mineral for a biting wit more akin to Superchunk or Archers of Loaf.  Their style, meanwhile, combines the rawness of these predecessors with the approachable smoothness of a band like REM.  The result is a band that has some appeal for pretty much everyone.  Added to this is a knack for delivering memorable lines where they'll be the most effective.  The album starts right off with the catchy sincere snark of the line, "You're allowed to stay for awhle / I'm gonna need your time to slow down".  They also have a knack for building their songs up from simple statements that set the scene into passionate admissions and declarations.  "Back and to the Left" evolves from the sarcastic jibe, "This town was built on miles of hope, and I dare you to give me one reason to stay" to the heartfelt admission "I always worry about you, and I'll always stick up for you."  The range of emotions, from the sardonic to the sincere, flows through the album, giving songs like "There's No Way That I Can Talk My Way Out of This One Tonight (The Drinking Song)" an ambiguity of meaning that unfolds over multiple listens and adds an extra punch to the melancholy honesty of "The Day's Refrain" and the grand finale in "A Jack with One Eye," which ends with the line, "Your place is still in the heart of my everything / You're my everything."  There's no single standout track on this album, but the entire thing is a joy to listen to, and rolls on with a variety that feels constantly fresh, both within songs and in such moments as the transition from the laid-back melancholy frets of the title track to the frantic pace of "Back and to the Left".  The EP tracks in the complete edition are all fantastic as well, especially "Blue Boy" and "Antique", so I highly recommend getting the Complete Collection.  Highlights include "Nickel Wound," "Back and to the Left", "A Jack with One Eye".

GUIDED BY VOICES -- EARTHQUAKE GLUE -- 7.5/10
How do you even start talking about GBV?  Everything's already been said - Bob Pollard has forgotten more hooks than the rest of the musicians in the history of popular music have written, that run of albums from Propeller to Under the Bushes, Under the Stars has never been bested, but the post Tobin Sprout line-up was a bit more hit or miss.  Earthquake Glue is one of those later albums, and, unsurprisingly, lacks a bit of the inspiration that made that run of four albums, highlighted by the irreproachable Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, so special.  Only one of these songs comes in at under two minutes, and the sound is more polished than GBV in their heyday.  Nonetheless, the later GBV still produced some great songs.  Isolation Drills contained a few of them, and Earthquake Glue has some great moments as well.  "The Best of Jill Hives" is the clear standout on this album, to the extent that it really overshadows the rest of this album in a way even "Game of Pricks" wasn't able to, accompanied as it was by the likes of "Watch Me Jumpstart," "Motor Away," and "My Valuable Hunting Knife."  That said, there are some other really very good songs on this album, including the bouncy "Secret Star," the aggressive "Dead Cloud," and the poppy "Useless Inventions."  Nonetheless, the rest of this album is fairly nondescript.  There's nothing as gaudily (yet always charmingly) bad as some of the songs that were interspersed into Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes, and even the boring songs on this album aren't any more boring than those on Under the Bushes.  All the same, however, this album doesn't hold your attention in the way the best GBV albums do, astonishing you with moments of greatness and keeping you attentive through the lesser songs for little gems of brilliance.  All in all, this is definitely not a bad album, and has some great moments, but it lacks the spark that fueled GBVs best output.  Highlights include "The Best of Jill Hives," "Secret Star," "Dead Cloud."