It's that time again: I've got another three albums that I've had for long enough to get a feel for them. First, because I can't go back and edit stuff from my other e-mail, I think I would probably raise my rating for Under the Bushes and Under the Stars up to a 7.5 or 8, because I think it is a better album than Forever Again (I still love Eric's Trip all the same), and I think after awhile you catch on the brilliant little bits that you miss until you've listen to the album for awhile. I think they get brought out a lot more obviously in the shorter song format of Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes but are there nonetheless, and in greater quantity than in later albums like Isolation Drills (I need my Tobin Sprout also). I also think I like God Fodder more now than I did when I reviewed it. Anyway, at long last, here are three albums I've gotten since Christmas.
THE REMOTE PART - IDLEWILD - 8.5/10
I should have gotten this album long ago, but I have no regrets in jumping for a cheap copy of Captain first, so such is life. Anyway, there's a lot of baggage implicit in my listening and rating this album. 100 Broken Windows is my favorite album of all time, so obviously The Remote Part is in its shadow a bit, and it's definitely a solid record. What's always implicit in my mind, though, is that they're a whole lot cleaner, signaling the loss of Bob and all punk sensibility that was apparent in their following albums. Still, there's a whole lot to like about this album, and they do have some energy still. "You Held the World in Your Arms" is like this album's "Idea Track" - different from the rest in it's combination of angst, loneliness, and independence, but just as 100 Broken Windows was more adventurous than this album, "You Held the World in Your Arms" is not as avant garde as "Idea Track". The rest of the album is incredibly catchy, but it just sounds like they were listening to REM while writing and recording this rather than Slint and Fugazi, which is fine, but the warning signs make me sad. Even so, tremendous album, and I think this is what alternative rock should strive to be. The imagery in the lyrics is much more stream of consciousness than the more narrative 100 Broken Windows, and is almost equally effective. The first half is especially great, but it finishes strong also.
SUEDE - SUEDE - 9/10
I wrote earlier about how Suede takes some getting used to, but I got used to it, it completely blew me away. The aesthetic is almost what I would describe as gothic, and the drama in Brett Anderson's voice and Bernard Butler's guitar work is unmatched in anything I've come across. Somehow, Suede manages to be melodramatic, yet honest. It's really a fantastic album, and there's not much more I can say about it. The catchy tunes absolutely devastate ("The Drowners", "Animal Nitrate") and the touching ballads ("Pantomime Horse", "Sleeping Pills") are actually frank. The purity of it all is impressive. If album closer "The Next Life" were something a little bit more forceful, this might just be my favorite album on those days when I need something like Suede.
FUTURE SIGNS - THE WARM JETS - 7.5/10
They never released another record after this one, but this is a solid little album. It's total Britpop - it isn't really, but it's totally British and incredibly poppy. It somewhat sounds like Coldplay would have been if they had gone for straight out rock on their debut instead of laid back, acoustic pieces. The lyrics aren't a let down, which is always a fear in going for random alt-rock acts, especially ones who never got to record a second set of songs. Of course, I don't know why another album was never made - the makings of a decent band are here. Some of the hooks are amazing, especially at the end of "Never Never" and throughout "Hurricane". The guitar at the end of "Autopia" is similarly, and confusingly, moving for me, and I don't quite know why. The rest is relatively standard - not mind-blowing, but still pretty decent. Even so, it's an enjoyable and eminently listenable album, and I'm actually surprised these guys weren't bigger - or even something (and I'm not even saying that the way some people are like "man, Yuck should be so much bigger"; it doesn't seem like these guys had any listeners at all. A google search reveals basically nothing).
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