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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | boim@att.net |
| Subject | True Love |
| Date | Wed, 03 Sep 2003 05:27:05 +0000 |
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I was hoping to find some time to detail why I like the new album "I Was
Accident" by True Love on Not Lame Records so much. Drew, Andrea and Bob
Hutton also gave the thumbs up, but you probably were asking what's special
about the CD that caused four auditeers to write about it.
I'm a big fan of vocal harmonies and good melodies, and "I was Accident" has
these ingredients. The band has three lead singers, and at gigs they take
their turns singing. I like Ray Kubian's voice the best, it's the most
colorful. But live he has the job of playing drums, his lead vocals sound
stronger on the CD than on stage. The bassist Keith Hartel writes the most
interesting songs, I loved "Under the Rainbow" on the first album. And The
Squirrel plays a mean lead guitar.
The CD's highlights include "Mr. Sad" with harmonies reminiscent of CSN and a
classic guitar break and Hartel's "Now", a song of the type that would be a
hit in any decade but possibly this one. The kind of melody that could have
streamed out of the radio in the fifties, really. But the Squirrel's modern
guitar brands this as a 2003 production - listen to another fast guitar solo
in the break and especiallly the guitar crash framing the words "motion"
and "devotion". What is Keith singing about? I think he picks words with long
vowels, choosing them just for their sound, without too much worry about
their meaning.
Also, The Squirrel's "The Genius" with a catchy "bop-bop-bop" vocal line in
the background, Ray's "Ilovegirlswholoverockandroll" which uses wind
chimes, bird calls and surf sounds as lead rhythmic instruments and the hard
rocking "Heartache to Come" which will startle you out of the hypnotic
rapture of "Ilovegirls".
The soulful "Don't Mean Anything" may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's
followed by the most amazing "Throwing Back the Ring" with it's mournful
three part chorus "Oh my God, all of the shit that's going on ... is there
anything left at all?" which in my mind is about 9/11 even though it's really
about a broken engagement. Richard Lloyd plays lead guitar on this track, a
return favor for his live band.
"Radio On" briefly quotes Sloan's "Sugartune" and joins the ranks of the many
self-referential songs about the joys of music, with a Bartlett's treasury of
bon mot's including the Audities lament "I'm twenty years late to ever be
great." The ingeniously arranged "Service of the Knife" comes next, to be
followed by "Riot Helmet", which many have heard already, since it's the
second cut of the latest IPO anthology. And to show that True Love can leave
their minds outside the studio and crank up the distorted rock there's the
finale - "Time Dog".
Gee, I listed every song as a highlight. My bad.
See ya,
Sherman
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