Baboon

Secret Robot Control

Willie's comments: When I first got this album (free), I really enjoyed its mixture of tuneful hardcore and all-out noise, but I haven't pulled it out and listened to it since that first month. And the more I think about it, if I had actually paid money for it, I'd feel really gypped. If it's a noisy catharsis you need, "Time Wounds All Heals" and "I'm OK if You're OK" work better than just about anything, but if you value your money, songs on Beck's Mellow Gold and Yo La Tengo's Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo can do almost as well, but the albums themselves are infinitely better. Grade: C-

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Bad Religion

Suffer

Willie's comments: This might be my favorite punk album ever. Of course, my sentimental favorite is always going to be Ramones because I grew up with it, but man, from the second you put Suffer into your CD player, amazing punk melodies come flying straight at your face like snakes from cans of peanut brittle, and they don't let up for a half hour. It's a noisy two-guitar setup, with ferociously political lyrics sung by the husky-voiced Greg Graffin, and lots of amazing harmonizing by the other band members to drive home the most important points, played at a speed that would leave your average metronome breathless. (We're talking about cute, anthropomorphic cartoon metronomes here. They'd wipe the sweat off their brow and go, "Whew!" adorably after every song.) Plenty of credit goes to Graffin for reliably coming up with vocal lines as anthemic as those on "Forbidden Beat," "Give You Nothing," and "Best for You," when most hardcore singers, unable to keep up with the tempo and sing recognizable notes, would instead opt to just shout everything. That's not to say Graffin lacks aggression (check out the way he bellows, "1000 more fools are being born every fucking day!"), but it's disciplined aggression that doesn't sacrifice the band's distinctive tunefulness. Every song here is a highlight, but "What Can You Do?" towers above them all: rarely has a rant against social complacency been wedded to a tune so energetic and cheerful. The intellectual lyrics, though clever and surely correct in their calls to action, generally don't do much for me as I'm partial to more emotional stuff, but it's a great soundtrack to sitting and reading The Guardian, and a kick-ass record in just about any other situation, too! Grade: A+

Generator

Willie's comments: I don't own every Bad Religion record, but I've heard most of them, and from here on out, I think it would take a hardcore hardcore fan to easily differentiate one album from the next. Things have slowed down a bit, but that's not a bad thing, considering Bad Religion's formula has resulted in a body of work that's remarkably consistent in its catchiness, energy, and pissed-off message. If you like one album, you'll probably like them all, so why not dive right in and pick up Generator? This album distinguishes itself from the pack by simple virtue of the fact that it contains "Atomic Garden," which is my favorite punk song of all time. It's a fierce, stomping tale of derangement (one of the least "on-message" songs Mr. Brett ever wrote) that goes as fast as a song can imaginably go while still remaining melodic and not just sounding breathless, and it climaxes in a bunch of bracing guitar noise. The other ten songs hold their own admirably as well, with the disjointed title track, the stirring "The Answer," and the infectious "Only Entertainment" providing extraordinary peaks amid a sea of other songs that are also great in their own right. Grade: A

Stranger than Fiction

Willie's comments: No one but Bad Religion- the most sesquipedalianistic punk band of all time- would write lyrics like "Automatons with business suits clinging black boxes/ Sequestering the blueprints of daily life." And that's good- we need more literate punk bands! Especially ones who write as many consistently great, tightly-wound, catchy songs as Bad Religion does. As I said above, the band has written a number of interchangeable but terrific albums, but a lot of people seem to like starting with Stranger than Fiction because it contains their biggest hit, the refurbished version of Against the Grain's "21st Century (Digital Boy)." The song- a rather plodding churner- gets by on the strength of its anthemic chorus, but the meat of the album comes in high-strung, melodic hardcore numbers like "Leave Mine to Me," "Marked," and "Individual." Even "Slumber," an unusually mellow pop song, passes muster because Graffin brings the same vein-popping intensity to its chorus that he does the rest of his work. "Television" suffers from the tuneless guest vocals of Rancid's Tim Armstrong, but apart from that, this is another masterwork. Grade: A-

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Badly Drawn Boy

The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Willie's comments: Badly Drawn Boy is the moniker which British songwriter Damon Gough has adopted for himself. For myself, the name always conjures up images of the title character in Scott Dikkers's wonderful comic strip Jim's Journal. Much like Jim, Damon seems to harbor no particular aspirations to greatness, contenting himself with exerting relatively little effort on anything, and convinced that pretty good is good enough (this is borne out by his sloppy live show). It's this sort of laziness that is the most frustrating aspect of Badly Drawn Boy's first LP, The Hour of the Bewilderbeast. It's a very good album by anyone's definition, but moments of true beauty occasionally peek through the cracks and suggest what might have been if Gough had spent a little more time on his songs. Bewilderbeast is largely a folk-rock album, hitting every touchstone from Dylan ("Pissing in the Wind") to early Bowie ("Say It Again") to Elliot Smith ("Stone on the Water"), with simple, nature-inflected lyrics that strike a fine balance between earnest sappiness and self-conscious pretension (many songs suddenly incorporate a line or two of French).

The tunes are unfailingly hummable and enjoyable, but the album is bogged down with instrumentals and songs which use repetition in place of actual melodic development. "Everybody's Stalking," for example, is a subversively mellow twist on Stone Temple Pilots-esque grunge/funk, and "Magic in the Air" is blissful chamber music, but each is lacking that one great idea it needs to push it over the edge into masterpiece territory. Bewilderbeast could've used more songs like "Once Around the Block," which sounds like jazzy Neil Finn, or "Disillusion," which is basically acoustic disco (a concept which might sound horrid, but is actually exhilarating), to liven things up. I may sound like I'm being overly harsh about an album which I actually do like a lot, but in some ways, albums that almost graze greatness are more frustrating than flaming failures. Grade: B+

About a Boy soundtrack

Willie's comments: Along with completely ripping off their predecessors' uneasy love of both sentimentality and gross-out jokes, American Pie auteurs Paul and Chris Weitz have one other pilfered cinematic habit that confirms their position as the poor(er) man's Farrelly brothers: their tendency to drop uptempo pop songs into their films whenever the action threatens to lag. For the soundtrack to their film adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy, then, it was an uncharacteristically inspired idea to recruit Damon Gough to write both the movie's score and nine or ten full-fledged original songs for placement in the film (all of which are collected on this album). Though not a runaway success a la Magnolia, the About a Boy album is nevertheless a fine exhibition for Gough's songwriting talents. Granted, many of the compositions here are slight to a fault (none moreso than "Donna and Blitzen," which is a loungey Christmas song that wouldn't sound terribly out of place on Dean Martin's Jingle Bell Baby Rock) and Gough occasionally has to make an audible effort to rein his experimental tendencies in to fit the film, but Mr. Drawn Boy still manages to stretch his musical imagination quite a bit. The infectious waltz "Above You, Below Me," for example, strikes the perfect balance between sweeping orchestral blossom and rock smarts without falling prey to pretentiousness on either side, while "File Me Away" is a charming, bossa-nova-tinged popper. Even the instrumental pieces are memorable, for the most part; rather than relying on John Williams-esque strings-'n'-horns, Gough employs everything from simple acoustic guitar figures ("I Love NYE") to hilariously cheesy electro-funk ("S.P.A.T.") to get the mood across. The peppy "A Peak You Reach" is the only song that can really compare with the greatness of The Hour of Bewilderbeast songs like "Once Around the Block," but for a light musical snack, About a Boy is definitely worth your time. Grade: B

Have You Fed the Fish?

Willie's comments: For all the disclaimers Gough issued about how the About a Boy soundtrack wasn't really the follow-up to The Hour of Bewilderbeast, I can't help but wonder how he then expected to get away with releasing a "proper" follow-up that's every bit as slight as About a Boy, only less cute. Pleasant as a warm bath and just as energetic, Have You Fed the Fish? is a frustratingly tentative record that sticks mainly to midtempo acoustic-rock songs without any of the confidence or catchy charm that won him a following in the first place. Despite the presence of such talented collaborators as Jon Brion, Joey Waronker, and Pete Thomas (assuming that's the Pete Thomas from the Attractions), songs like "Born Again," "What is It Now?" and "The Further I Slide" waddle around and float away on ice floes of powderpuff songwriting as uninspired and generic as David Gray or Howie Day. "I Was Wrong/You Were Right" recaptures some of Bewilderbeast's off-the-cuff appeal, but this album too often errs on the side of tastefulness- nice though the string arrangements are for some of these songs, I wish they didn't have to come at the expense of his DIY vigor. Take "All Possibilities," for instance: it's basically the same formula as his previous disco excursion "Disillusion," but it falls flat because there's no energy to it whatsoever. There's no question that Gough is a talented musician- sweet lyrics and interesting melodic turns pop up every now and again here- but he sounds like he simply can't be bothered with any of that here, since he can come up with something reasonably listenable by half-assing it. I want to believe that the man has a masterpiece in him somewhere, so I'll stay tuned, but Have You Fed the Fish? mainly hits like an awkward silence. Grade: C

READER COMMENTS:

Tom McKeown writes: Some thoughts on your Badly Drawn Boy reviews. I basically agree with your view that he's a lazy sonnafabitch, but I think I'm a bit more optimistic that he's improving over time. I really didn't like 'Bewilderbeast' - for me, the problem wasn't the amount of filler, but the fact that some of the catchiest ideas were tucked away in short, one minute compositions whilst the actual songs were - with a few exceptions, such as 'Once Around The Block' and 'Pissing in the Wind' - pretty unmemorable. My favourite track on the album, for instance, was 'Fall In A River', which ought to have been made a full length song. For the 'About A Boy' soundtrack, I thought BDB produced, strangely enough, a more cohesive album, though I agree that 'Donna and Blitzen' is an unbelievably cheesy way to end an album. And as for 'Have You Fed The Fish', I do think it's the best of his albums that I've listened to (I haven't got around to his most recent offering, 'One Plus One Equals One'). Although, yes, there's still too much filler here - and it's not even good filler this time - there's a whole clutch of good, fully realised pop songs, 'Forty Days, Forty Fights' being a personal favourite. You mention 'All Possibilities' as lacking energy, but to my mind it has just the right amount, mainly due to the horn section - too much energy would spoil the mood of the song, which seems to aim for a balance between tired satisfaction and nervous anticipation.

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Barenaked Ladies

Gordon

Willie's comments: "If I Had $1000000" is funny, yes. "Brian Wilson" and "Be My Yoko Ono" are catchy, yes. But this debut album from these folky Canadians, taken as a whole, is nearly interminable. Despite some sturdy songwriting ("King of Bedside Manor," "Hello City") and a few genuinely clever lyrical moments, it's kind of dull. "Box Set" provokes a few honest smiles from a tale of an aging one-hit wonder, but I thought it was much funnier when I was mishearing "greed" as "green" in the line "Hear my song in an ad for a bathroom cleanser/ They say it's greed." Wince-inducing songs like "I Love You," "Enid," and "The Flag," however, quickly erode much of the goodwill you might have toward the band. Grade: B-

Born on a Pirate Ship

Willie's comments: In an ill-advised move, BNL songwriters Stephen Page and Ed Robertson jettison most of their jokey instincts on this album in favor of letting their winsome, hypersincere sides run wild on cloying songs like "Call Me Calmly" and "Break Your Heart." And the melodies are just as draggy and banal as the lyrics this time round. "Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank" provides some much-needed tension, but it's too little, too late. Grade: C-

Rock Spectacle

Willie's comments: I cannot for the life of me understand the popularity of this live album. It's composed of performances of BNL's most popular tunes ("Brian Wilson," "The Old Apartment") that are virtually identical to the studio versions, only with the added annoyance of thousands of fans shrieking along with the lyrics. This mindless cheering sucks the fun right out of "If I Had $1000000," but most of the other songs weren't much fun to begin with anyway. Grade: D

Stunt

Willie's comments: The critic for Entertainment Weekly described this album perfectly: It's not BNL's cleverness that's so irritating per se, but it's that they insist that you know just how clever they are (I'm paraphrasing). Page and Robertson think they can freestyle and namedrop like the Beastie Boys, but they seem to think that their arrogance in doing so is masked by the humor of it all, which it isn't. "One Week" was dreadfully overplayed, and though I'm always a sucker for speed-singing, it got old after a few listens in a way that, say, "Sam" by the Meat Puppets never does. The rest of the album basically follows "One Week"'s example, with some Pirate Ship balladry thrown in for no good reason. Grade: C-

READER COMMENTS:

Leigh Walton writes: I won't write a screaming diatribe about how great BNL are and what a terrible person you are for criticizing them on your site, 'cause that'd be stupid.

I will point out that you noticeably didn't include "Maybe You Should Drive," the album that I feel is their strongest. I strongly suggest you buy a copy, or at least borrow one or pirate the mp3s for reviewing purposes.

I'll admit it's hit-and-miss. "Intermittently," "Everything Old Is New Again," and "Alternative Girlfriend" aren't very spectacular. Pretty much every other song, though, is excellent. Mostly in the lyrics, but the arrangements, performance, and everything else are also good. Still, when I think of BNL I think first of songwriting. Ed and Steven are really, really great writers. The lyrics, sometimes witty, sometimes powerfully emotional, always really intelligent, are the star attraction.

Have you heard the album? Do you agree?

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Syd Barrett

Barrett

Willie's comments: Barrett was the original guitarist for Pink Floyd, and prided himself on making an unholy racket on that band's full-length debut, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. After going crazy and leaving the band, Barrett recorded this album which managed to influence an entire generation of indie-popsters (Tobin Sprout, Yo La Tengo, etc.). Most of his avant-garde guitar abuse is gone from Barrett, and is replaced with solid hooks, gorgeously downcast melodies, and a few enjoyable musical goofs. Of the latter, "Effervescing Elephant"- a silly, tuba-driven story about jungle creatures- is good, ridiculous fun. However, most of the songs are based around an acoustic guitar, an organ, and Barrett's unstudied vocals. "Baby Lemonade" is practically anthemic, while "Dominoes" resembles the Turtles' "So Happy Together," but is all the more personal for eschewing that song's uplift. This one really is a must-have. Grade: A

READER COMMENTS:

Kenneth Fairfield, Jr. writes: my favorite song on "BARRETT" is "Rats." But I think his first album "The Madcap Laughs" is his best and one of the most beautifully disturbing albums I've ever heard. It's quite possibly my favorite album of all time, if I had to choose...but that's prolly cuz I'm insane and spent about a year being completely obsessed with Syd. He's the reason I began playing guitar and writing songs. How can you have not listened to and reviewed "The Madcap Laughs" yet? Shame! And after that, check out "Opel," which I also prefer over "BARRETT."

S. Salzman writes: thanks for two great reviews and comments.. and hey! i love Rats too! i read a teen book a few years ago and it was about tow kids who could shape-shift-..they became rats and wandered in London... and also wandered the English countryside....and Rats decribes the feeling. there... and of al the reviews i have read putting Barret(album and the artist)down...one thing that upsets me... how come they never mention just how friggin great Syd's sense of rhythms and timing were/ his acoustic and electric solo rhythms cook! and he was a tone- meister ... jangly, edgy and the true psychedelic screaming guitar sound... the one.you know, everyone imitates when they are trying to replicate that sound? listen to the guitar solo (and he certainly wasn't known for his solos) on Gigolo Aunt! Now thats a meaty tone!!! and one other thing- if you listen to the outtakes (or bonus cuts as they are called on the crazy diamond set.)..notice how all the songs sound great even with Syd all alone without any embellishment..some even sound better... Am i Biased? yeah sure! but after all this time- i gotta say ... He stands alone...he sounds like no one else-yeah there are others who have tried to sound like him but he is THE DUDE.. and geeee... without him.... what themes would roger waters have made his three biggest selling albums about?lets see insanity,the dark side ,, the music business,hmmmmm....

and SYD played and wrote his own way in his own time=and because of it we got a glimpse into something very different...and something that will never happen again... he let us in there for a brief time...and if you can't listen to Effervescing elephant and smile and thinks its cute.. well i feel sorry for them ! thanks

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Remedy

Willie's comments: Upon its 1999 release, this debut album by British DJs Basement Jaxx was hailed as the be-all, end-all of house music. Proponents of this theory argued that the duo's songs melded Daft Punk's effortless infectiousness with a number of different sounds and timbres that prevented the repetition inherent in house music from becoming dull. For evidence of this, one need only point to the album's first single, "Rendez-Vu." The song is an instant house classic: It's as stupidly catchy as that Eiffel 65 song, but made palatable for more (ahem) sophisticated tastes by using fun tricks like vocoderized vocals and a sample of a yowling cat. However, those who awarded Album of the Year honors to Remedy evidently overlooked the fact that the album is thereafter extremely uneven. Basement Jaxx's love of sound does enliven some otherwise dull numbers- the increasingly frantic, Caribbean vocals to "Jump n' Shout," the telephone ringing in the background of "Always be There" (nice Kraftwerk reference, that). But more often than not, the songs are just that: dull. In fact, the album sort of does a nosedive into uninteresting background music after "Always be There," until things perk up again on the slow, sexy closer, "Being with U," which comes complete with finger snapping! For those not deeply into house music, this might make a good introduction, as the songs are often complete with choruses and recognizable melodies. However, it's unlikely to make the uninitiated understand the potential of house music, either. Grade: B-

READER COMMENTS:

Evan P. Streb writes: Wow. I can't believe you reviewed Remedy and didn't mention "Red Alert". That's easily one of the best dance songs of the 90s. Period. "And the music keeps on playin' on and on!"

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The Bats

Silverbeet

Willie's comments: Unpretentious, tuneful, and full of warmth, New Zealand’s Bats belong to the same hypercreative subset of indie rock as Barbara Manning, the Pastels, and Yo La Tengo. Frontman Robert Scott used to be in the Clean, an overrated (though influential) post-Velvets mess of a group, but in the Bats, his gift for calmer, prettier melodies got to reign. On this, one of the band's earlier albums, the Bats actually sound like a less apoplectic Midnight Oil, with Scott tossing off humbly anthemic choruses as effortlessly as our President tosses off malapropisms, and filling his songs with vague lyrics rather than charged political screeds. (Even the one issue-oriented song, the environmental flag-waver "Green," is a little fuzzy about what it's trying to say.) Guitarist Kaye Woodward provides the album's delightful boy/girl harmonies, and even if the murky "Stay Away" is Silverbeet's only song that is gripping enough to force you into active rather than passive listening, the pleasures to be gleaned from the chiming, smooth sound of the Bats are best absorbed when you're feeling relaxed anyway. Grade: B+

Spill the Beans EP

Willie's comments: This is a good place to get to know the Bats, since most of their albums sound pretty much exactly like this EP, and Spill the Beans itself costs less than $6. It's great indie rock, and if "Empty Head" is less than perfect, that's a criticism that can't be leveled at the beautiful likes of "Make It Clear," "Give in to the Sands," "Under the Law," and the title track. Grade: A-

Couchmaster

Willie's comments: On this album, frontman Robert Scott and his cronies play easygoing, semi-jangly guitar rock that’s as catchy as it is gorgeous. “Work It Out,” “Land ‘O’ Lakes,” and “Knowledge is Power” in particular are top-notch, R.E.M.-ish delights, but the whole album is one of those subtle treasures that may not make the sort of impact on you that a masterpiece like, say, Beck’s Odelay does, but is no less magnificent for having more modest aspirations. Grade: A

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Beach Boys

Pet Sounds

Willie's comments: Pet Sounds is one of those IMPORTANT albums whose influence and impact often overshadows its quality. And, like The Velvet Underground & Nico, the Beach Boys' opus isn't quite the masterpiece it's always made out to be, when you listen to it without regard for its place in rock history. While Brian Wilson's revolutionary, multilayered production sounds just as beautiful and fresh as ever, the songs themselves don't always fare so well. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a truly perfect song- an unmatched portrait of teenage longing- and it's gratifying to hear the Beach Boys finally singing songs that in no way involve cars or surfing, but a lot of the songs are forever mired in the 60s. "Don't Speak," for example, has a ridiculously simple melody (and I don't mean that in the good way) that would be dismissed as lazy songwriting these days. "God Only Knows," "Sloop John B," and "Hang On to Your Ego" are standouts (though I prefer Frank Black's version of the latter), and, sure, the album is a lot of fun, but its importance really seems like more of a right-place-right-time deal than a result of the album's goodness. Grade: B

READER COMMENTS:

Joe Hinchcliffe writes: I really think it's a brilliant album, and deserves all the credit it gets (especially since no other Beach Boys album gets any, or as much as least, unjustly). It's an incredibly beautiful album and shows Brian Wilson's genious talent for arranging, producing, and especially songwriting. It's the peak of The Beach Boys (along with "Good Vibrations") and shows Brian Wilson's talent for production abilities (and an album like Friends or Love You are masterpieces that show Brian Wilson's brilliant ability to use minimal production). "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is one of those absolutely perfect pop songs, and "God Only Knows" and "Caroline No" are beautiful God-like ballads that could be used as hymns at church. At first i didn't think much of the instrumentals, but now i think "Lets Go Away For Awhile" is a beautiful idiosyncracy, and the title track has one hell of a groove. Absolutely A+ for me. One of my all time personal favorites.

LoadesC writes: I agree that Pet Sounds is a bit overrated. It hasn't survived the test of time like the Velvet Underground has. My Beach Boys ratings:

Today! A-
All Summer Long B
Pet Sounds B+
Party! B-
Smiley smile B+
Wild Honey B-
Sunflower B+
Surf's Up B+

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Beastie Boys

Licensed to Ill

Willie's comments: I really wish the Beastie Boys had used actual drums on this album instead of the tinny 808 drum machine. While it works on vaguely new-wave-based songs like "Posse in Effect" and "Girls," the synthesized percussion distracts from the three-way rapping and lyrical charms of "Rhymin & Stealin" and "Time to Get Ill." That said, Licensed to Ill is a bona fide classic. There's no denying that the party anthem "Fight for Your Right" sounds a bit dated by now, but there's also no denying that it's still infectious. "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" is the best of the band's non-jokey songs, effectively making them seem as powerful as they boast, and "Brass Monkey" is hilariously stupid. As for "Girls," there's no worse song to hear drunken frat boys shouting along with. However, if you listen to it without the distractions of tubthumpin' idiots, it's a pretty funny song (and catchy, too!). The whole album is good, snotty fun. Grade: A-

Paul's Boutique

Willie's comments: I read once that it was this album that necessitated some sort of legislation within the recording industry regarding distribution of royalties among artists whose songs are sampled by other artists. Why? Because, as produced by the Dust Brothers (who would perfect their art on Beck's Odelay), Paul's Boutique isn't made up of songs so much as collages of classic rock riffs and stolen beats and basslines, atop which Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D rap about girls, car thieves, and their own hip-hop prowess. Gone are the anthemic chants of "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Fight for Your Right"; the Beasties have, by this point, come into their own as lovers of old-school funk, but they haven't yet mastered the genre the way they would on Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. Songs like the sinister, sputtering "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" and the galloping "Egg Man" are tight-knit rap manifestoes, but the omnipresent samples sometimes compete with the rhymes and rhythms of the songs (dropping a line from Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" into "Hey Ladies" works fine, but there doesn't seem to be much point in inserting a bit from "Suzy is a Headbanger" by the Ramones into "High Plains Drifter). "B-Boy Bouillabaisse," a medley of half-finished songs, also makes this album seem a bit sloppier than it actually is. Still, the Beasties being the Beasties, things never get dull on Paul's Boutique- it's fascinating throughout. It's just not nearly as much fun as their best work. Grade: B

Ill Communication

Willie's comments: Jenny got really mad at me for this, but the following lyrics, from "Get It Together," made me laugh very hard and are still my favorite B-Boys rhymes: "I eat the fuckin' pineapple Now & Laters/ Listen to me now, don't listen to me later/ Fuck it because I know I didn't make it fuckin' rhyme for real/ But, yo, technically, I'm hard as steel." If jazzy raps with words like those sound like your idea of a good time, you shan't be disappointed. If the thought makes you angry, you might still like the funky instrumentals (but you can also get those without the scatology on The In Sound From Way Out). Grade: B+

Hello Nasty

Willie's comments: On one hand, I'm happy the Beastie Boys have finally grown up and started writing thoughtful, mature songs (for all its cliches, "Remote Control" is pretty insightful. And catchy to boot!). On the other hand, I miss the hilarious, misanthropic lyrics from years past, from hits like "Girls." And, while "Song for the Man" is an excellent jazz-rock song, some of the other, non-rap tunes on Hello Nasty are basically useless, like the one Lee "Scratch" Perry sings. Oh well- it's a really long album, so, despite all the missteps ("Three MCs and One DJ" is lazily constructed), there's more than enough good stuff on this album to keep me happy. "Super Disco Breakin'" and the destined-to-be-a-classic "Intergalactic" are the best songs they've done so far. Grade: B

READER COMMENTS:

Beau Mihalek writes: Good reviews, however the drum beats on Rhymin' and Stealin' are lifted from Zep's When The Levee Breaks, and don't sound like tinny fake ones to me.

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The Beatles

Rubber Soul

Willie's comments: Rubber Soul isn't as groundbreaking as the White Album or as ingratiating as Sgt. Pepper, but it is perhaps the Beatles' most melodically rich album. Bands from NRBQ to Supergrass have pilfered vocal lines from this LP, and for good reason: It's hard to come by songs as distinctively hooky as those featured here. "Run for Your Life" is wonderfully demented, while "Drive My Car" is good, naive fun (if your local deejay hasn't killed it for you by playing the "Beep beep/ Beep beep/ Yeah!" part before every traffic update). "I'm Looking Through You" is a terrific Paul song, featuring the multitalented Ringo on the discordant Hammond organ part. I could go on and on about the other great songs- "Nowhere Man," "Wait," "You Won't See Me"- but suffice it to say that Rubber Soul is a thoroughly enjoyable (albeit flighty) album that is refreshingly free of clinkers. Grade: A

Revolver

Willie's comments: This album marked the Beatles' final graduation from being an abrasive (if frequently catchy) rockabilly band to being a brilliant, psychedelic outfit. There are those who insist that this album tops even Sgt. Pepper, but Revolver isn't as consistently surprising or fun. As wonderful as the bass-driven songs "Taxman" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are on their own, their close resemblance to each other- and to "Doctor Robert"- is distracting within the space of a 35-minute LP. George's Indian excursion "Love You To" just sounds like a beta version of Sgt. Pepper's "Within You Without You," too. That said, there are lots of deserved classics here, from the peppy "And Your Bird Can Sing" to the moody "Eleanor Rigby" to the masterfully dopey "Yellow Submarine." I won't say it's an essential album, but if you see it used, it's worth dropping eight or nine bucks on. Grade: B+

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Willie's comments: This album routinely tops "Best Album of All Time" surveys among both critics and commoners, and while my heart is with Radiohead's OK Computer or the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin, there's no denying that Sgt. Pepper is a masterpiece. From a production standpoint, it was definitely groundbreaking, from George Martin's tasteful string arrangements to John Lennon's insistence upon recording dog whistles at the end of the album, to confound pet owners who were listening to it. But for all the superb production, it's doubtful that Sgt. Pepper would be so fondly regarded if the songwriting wasn't so spectacular. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is my favorite Beatles song of all time, with its twisted carnival charm, but George's sitar-based "Within You Without You" is a treat, and "With a Little Help from My Friends" is terrific, though you wouldn't know it from listening to Joe Cocker's Wonder Years version. A thoroughly fun album, with tunes that will stick with you for the rest of your life. Grade: A

Magical Mystery Tour

Willie's comments: The first half of this album is the soundtrack to the odd short film from which it takes its title, and the latter half is made up of songs that were recorded around the same time. As a result, it should come as no surprise that Magical Mystery Tour is nowhere near as cohesive as Sgt. Pepper- in fact, quite a bit of it seems like filler. "Flying" is an instrumental which illustrates just how important the Beatles' voices were in providing their songs not only with melodies, but with comforting, familiar timbres; the song seems lost without a singer. "Blue Jay Way" is one of the dullest numbers George ever wrote, while "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "Your Mother Should Know" also entirely fail to register. However, subtract those four songs and you're left with nothing but classics. "The Fool on the Hill" is my favorite Paul song ever because of the way the melody trots along happily and then suddenly takes a shortcut through the bad side of town in the chorus. "I am the Walrus" is an inspired, hilarious bit of drug-induced nonsense (and by the way, it's "Goo goo ga joob," not "Koo koo ka choo"), and "Strawberry Fields Forever" is gorgeous. "All You Need is Love," "Penny Lane," "Hello Goodbye," and the title track are all on here as well, making this tour a trip worth taking. Grade: B+

The Beatles (aka "The White Album")

Willie's comments: This double-album is, for my money, a document of rock 'n' roll rebellion a hundred times more brilliant, incisive, and subversive than The Velvet Underground & Nico. The Beatles' flouting of music industry conventions is all over this album, evinced in the lack of cover art, the sarcastic self-referentiality of "Glass Onion," and the unlistenable musical experimentations of "Revolution 9" and "Wild Honey Pie." However, that's not to say that The Beatles isn't full of terrific Liverpuldian hooks and melodies- "Dear Prudence" is among their most beautiful ballads, while "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Rocky Raccoon," and "Piggies" are lighthearted pop pleasures. The second disc is largely uneven, with great numbers like "Honey Pie" and "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" straddling comparatively dull fare like "Birthday" and "Helter Skelter." For all that, though, the Fab Four's enthusiasm for charting new musical territory without regard for mainstream acceptance is both palpable and contagious throughout. Grade: B+

Abbey Road

Willie's comments: I'm going to make some enemies with this one, but Abbey Road is really pretty boring, for all the critical acclaim it gets. Don't get me wrong- there are quite a few great songs here, like "Come Together," "Carry That Weight," and the absolutely gorgeous "You Never Give Me Your Money." Also, the medley of nonsensical numbers on the second side ("Sun King" through "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," I think) is a hoot and a half. However, the album as a whole is unfocused, with songs like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" never really locating a central melody, and "I Want You (She's so Heavy)" is ugly and interminable. Even "Here Comes the Sun," with its beautiful tune, is marred by dissonant harmonies. Maybe it was a result of internal conflict within the band, but 30 years after its release, Abbey Road just sounds lazy and sloppy. Grade: B-

Anthology 2

Ginny's comments: It's nice that the Beatles are so legendary and all, but Anthology takes the legend a bit too far with 6 or 7 different versions of the same song- often not even bothering to "take out the outtakes" if you will. Although it's the best of the three Anthologies, you've gotta wade through a lot of crud put on these discs to amuse the obsessive Beatles' fans before you hear the quality part of it. Luckily, they chose a nice selection of songs, including "Strawberry Fields Forever," (about 4 different takes) "I am the Walrus," and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." When the Beatles were GOOD. Grade: B

Willie's comments: Eschewing most of the false starts and interview clips that made Anthology 1 so horrible, number 2 limits itself mostly to stripped-down versions of the songs that had such complex, lush arrangements on Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, the White album, and Magical Mystery Tour. Sometimes it's interesting ("Norwegian Wood"), sometimes it's overkill (all the "Strawberry Fields Forever"s), but it never rises above musical archaeology. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to just listen to the original albums instead. Grade: C+

1

Willie's comments: This latest repackaging of the Beatles is based around a nifty gimmick that renders the album all but impervious to criticism: it collects the band's 27 number one hits (according to Billboard and Record Retailer) onto one CD. Add to that the original singles' artwork from around the world and brief liner notes by George Martin that are rife with sentence fragments, and voila- instant essential album, right? Right. It's pointless to quibble about the songs that were omitted from 1- terrific, important numbers like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "In My Life," and "The Fool on the Hill"- because, like it or not, they were never number ones. Besides, those songs all appear somewhere on the Beatles' two greatest-hits compilations 1962-66 and 1967-70 anyway. Those two compilations, in fact, illustrate why the concept behind 1 was necessary to begin with: those compendiums do an astonishingly good job of summarizing the Beatles' catalog, but you're still looking at four CDs- and sixty dollars- between the two. If you're going to pare the Beatles' work down any farther than that- especially onto one affordable CD- you're going to have to make some tough choices, so what better way to pick the songs that appear on the album than to take the certified number ones? Sure, the concept reduces the oeuvre of the Fab Four to a mere academic exercise (and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd always heard that the absent "Please Please Me" went to number one), but how can you be so churlish when you've got "Yesterday," "Eleanor Rigby," "Come Together," "Day Tripper," and so forth all on one album? Unless you've got money to burn, or at some point the Beatles come out with a "create your own greatest-hits CD" program like the Beastie Boys did, you'd best keep your mouth shut and make do with this affordable, thoroughly great- and consistent- set. Grade: A

READER COMMENTS:

Didier Dumonteil writes: Your site is a joke!the ratings of Beatles albums are guaranteed to net nothing but horselaughs.Don't mention them if you're not able to understand that without them,without their breakthrough circa 1965 there won't have been any REM -that I like a lot too-.Listen to "what 's the frequency kenneth?" pure revolverwith the backward tapes. Stick with Bjork,Drake and don't care with Great music

Ryan Maffei writes: Well, it looks like someone's finally smart (Will, I mean). The post-merseybeat era Beatles managed to define art-pop with the groundbreaking Rubber Soul (A+), overdid the art with the uneven but admirable Revolver (A-), taught other artists how to really craft an album with Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (A+), nearly surpassed it with Magical Mystery Tour(A)'s truly magical flipside lineup, gave listener's three sides' worth of genius (and a supplementary dollop of crap) with The Beatles (B+), masqueraded about a dozen excellent songs under suppressing artiness on the forgivable Abbey Road (A), and dashed their reputation to shreds with the under-written and under-developed Let it Be (C). What a career, eh?

And now for the best tracks from each:

RUBBER SOUL: Impossible to choose. Every one of the fourteen tracks could be the blueprint for what a perfect pop song should be. However, "Nowhere Man" seems to be the favorite.

REVOLVER: "For No One". "Rigby" introduced a world to the concept of unflinchingly cynical pop, but McCartney actually improved on the style that "Eleanor" created later on the very same album with this dark beauty.

SERGEANT PEPPER'S: "A Day in the Life". Alternately wistful and dreamlike, and horrendously disturbing; the Beatles had finally managed to create an impenetrable atmosphere with a recording studio.

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: "I Am the Walrus". Anyone who isn't completely blown away by this relentlessly madcap, daring wall-of-sound should burn in rock'n'roll hell along with Dee Snyder.

THE BEATLES: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". In a sea of Lennons, McCartneys, and even Starrs, who'da thunk that George Harrison could've contributed the most emotional, powerful piece out of the 30 on here?

ABBEY ROAD: Another impossible choice, but not because everything's as solid and great as on Rubber Soul--it's because few tunes are given enough time impress me. I do know that "Golden Slumbers" has a brilliant piece of McCartney vocal work, though.

LET IT BE: No thank you. But if you must know, "I've Got a Feeling" is a fitting piece of career-closing nostalgia, and "Let it Be" is just beautiful.

John Schlegel writes: Abbey Road is "lazy and sloppy"? That's my favorite Beatles album! Side one has so many great songs (the only one I'm not too groovy on is "Because"), and I happen to like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," thank you very much; nice, cutie-pie melody, and funny lyrics to boot. And the suite that comprises the second side blows my mind every time I listen to it, but whatever. Unlike you, I am of that flock that finds Sgt. Pepper's to be a bit overrated (though it's definitely a fabulous album). It has some mind-blowing songs ("A Little Help from My Friends," "She's Leaving Home," "A Day in the Life"), but I find some parts of it boring--like, for example, "It Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"! Ha-Ha! Sorry, that was mean. You dissed "Silver Hammer," but that's not my favorite Beatles song or anything.

As for their other records, I actually agree with you that Rubber Soul is probably the biggest highlight from their early output (I also adore Hard Day's Night), and Revolver and the White Album are great but a little overrated; I love the former, but the later has some moments that are a little TOO weird for my tastes. Then again, I'm into Robyn Hitchcock, Midnight Oil, and XTC, so why am I harping on weirdness? I guess I just contradicted myself. Oh, well . . . I get tired of hearing people constantly rave the Beatles, so your rigid ratings are refreshing in thatregard. But, at the same time, you have to admit that it is pretty hard for THE BAND THEMSELVES to ever be overrated. There was really nothing quite like their music before, and there hasn't really ever been anything quite like it since.

tnahpellee@yahoo.com.au writes: Actually, even after the break up, the Beatles [Jonn, Paul, George and Ringo] were still wonderful. I think Ram is one of the greatest albums of all time, same for Ringo's chronically dissed Bad Boy album, from 1978. So many of the solo Beatles albums are, in fact, of high quality. There are a few I don't care for, Venus and Mars, Thirty Three and a third, Pipes of Peace and Rock N Roll to name the few. But most of the rest are of high quality. I think the music made by Paul McCartney after he left the Beatles is WAY superior to the stuff he did with the Beatles. When he was with the Beatles, John would always write the rockers, George would get into the folk stuff and Ringo has a trademark with hillbilly so Paul was basically stuck writing these peppy little pop songs, permanently: Got to get you into my life, Here there and everywhere, For no one, Good day sunshine, Lovely Rita, Getting Better, When I'm 64, Your Mother should know, She's leaving home, Fixing a hole, Hello Goodbye, Fool on the hill, Penny Lane, Maxwells Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling!, She came in throguh the bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, Two of us, The long and winding road, Let it be. Those songs all sound pretty similar, too. There are a few exceptions, I've got a feeling, Elanor Rigby and Get back, but that's hardly anything. The double white album gave them all a chaneg to break out of that mould, it allowed george to become a rocker, John to become a balladeer and Paul to become a hillbilly. But when I picked up my first Wings album, London Town, a shining, metallic folk album with some psychedelic touches, I couldn't believe Paul could write such material. It was so diverse and it seemed Paul coudl write anything. I wont ever forget the surprise I got when I heard that. Being away from the other guys allowed Paul to really expand. The same happened with the other three, though I do feel as though John's best days were completed as a Beatle. Actually his solo career is my least favourite, and that's not becuse of Yoko. But back to the actual Beatles, I think their early stuff is REALLY underrated. The melodies to the album Please Please Me and the second half of A hard days night are really unique and original. For example, the last four songs on A Hard Days Night have such original melodies that you wonder if it's still pop music. And there's no way I could ever not like the sheer passion and energy of the first three albums.
For the revered stuff:
Rubber Soul A+
Revolver A
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band B+
Magical Mystery Tour A+
White Album A
Abbey Road A
Let It Be B-

Tom Liron writes: It's a shame what you wrote about the beatles. each one of these masterpiece albums deserve better

review. I think that because you review too many albums maybe your judgement about these beatles album is fucked up. for example - revolver is definitely an album wich deserve a or a+. This is my opinion about it :

The first side of it is perfect, with classics like "taxman", "eleanor rigby", "yellow submarine" (one of the best ringo songs and be sure it's not dopey. the lyrics are very nice) and "she said she said". The 1st side also include the great "i'm only sleeping", the indian ispired by (with sitar) "love you to" wich is way better than sgt. pepper's "within you, without you". This song had a mystical feel and he is great. There is also "here there and everywhere" wich is a beautiful quite song.

The 2nd side is not as good as the 1st side but he had is moments like "good day sunshine" and the excellent rock tune "and your bird can sing". The other song of the 2nd side are a little bit weaker but remember it's the beatles and weak beatles song is not definitely a bad song.

All in all revolver is a must have for beatles fans. this is a great album and he is worth buying just for the 1-9 songs. revolver is also one of the 4 masterpieces albums of the beatles. the other are sgt. peppers, the white album and abbey road. and the controversy about : what is the best beatels album is definitely about this four.

dark.arkive@gmail.com writes: Reviewers are at their worst when describing their favorite band; strings of exclamation points, tossed off 'A' ratings, and sentences undergoing some variance of 'if you don't own this you're a loser/freak/Coldplay fan' make those sections tiresome quickly (your Yo La reviews and your buddy Scott's Zeppelin reviews are generally exceptions to that rule). Beatles reviews usually are either the epitome of this trend or the equally obnoxious opposite: the overly harsh, sneering 'Nah nah, I hate the Beatles, ergo hipsterdom is mine'. It is refreshing to find neither in yours.

Ironically, my opinions of their classic period albums ('65-'69) may be the exact opposite of yours.

Sadly, Sgt. Pepper's production, which was unquestionably groundbreaking in 1967, sounds somewhat dated (although not nearly as much as that of Pet Sounds) now that albums like Loveless, Endtroducing, and Kid A have continually redefined sonic auteurship in pop music. Likewise, Rubber Soul's ultra-influential memes have been copied by better bands too many times for me to actually listen to it any more.

Abbey Road and Revolver are unquestionably flawed; the former's attempts at maturity are crippled by the band's ever-present silliness, and the latter is one of the strikingly least cohesive pop albums I've ever heard. But I still dig 'em both. Abbey Road's second half is worth the gargantuan mistake of 'I Want You' (both their longest song and one of their worst, hardly coincidental) and Revolver's songwriting is unerringly strong, even if each track sounds like it's never been acquainted with the ones around it.

...aaaand then the White Album, the only Beatles album I continually return to, and the only one that would crack my top 50 albums. Huge, dense, sprawling, absurd, incoherent, bloated, sketchy, nightmarish, and beautiful as all hell, without ever seeming to know it. The least smug, and therefore best, of their works.

Besides which, without "Wild Honey Pie", there would quite possibly be no Pixies.

Damn good reviews, Will, if the fact that I love them while disagreeing with them completely is any indication.

David Dickson writes: Tsk, tsk. Somebody had the nerve to harp on the Beatles' sacred cows. Well, I'll be a Holstein. Moo.

Seriously, for what it's worth, I am one of those obnoxious mutants known as "Beatle fanboys." I firmly believe they could do no wrong--well, at least during their post-Help! period. Here's my one-paragraph summary of their career, expressed in letter grade language:

Please Please Me--B-
With the Beatles--B+
A Hard Day's Night--B
Beatles for Sale--B
Help!--B+
Rubber Soul--A
Revolver--A-
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band--A
Magical Mystery Tour--A-
The White Album--A+
Let it Be--B+
Abbey Road--A PLUS! (Ginny, Doolittle review, Copyright 20Something)

That last one's my favorite album ever, actually. I think it has something to do with the fact that it combines the trademark Beatles "hooky melodic exuberance" with "bombastic smoothly-produced emotion" for the first time. The other records were just the former without the latter.

But see, for us Beatle-nuts (har! CHEW on us. . . okay, that didn't work at all), that hooky melodic exuberance is all we need. No other band from either the '60's or beyond seems to have that weird, freakish combination of melody, confidence, singing ability, and versatility all at once. Bands like Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers may have two of those attributes, and bands like Pink Floyd and the Smashing Pumpkins may even have three--but the Beatles? All four. (One and one four all.) So THAT'S why you have us weirdos giving them A's all over the place. They just have that COMPLETENESS, y'know?

Although I definitely agree with you that Sgt. Pepper beats Revolver to hell. Whoever decided Revolver was the best ever must have been Black Francis in disguise.

SEE ALSO: GEORGE HARRISON

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: ELVIS COSTELLO; SUPER FURRY ANIMALS; ERIC CLAPTON

WRITE COMMENTS ABOUT THE BEATLES

Beck

Mellow Gold

Willie's comments: When I first heard Beck's debut album, I thought it was little more than a folky Ween rip-off. The cacophonous "Sweet Sunshine" and "Mutherfuker" seemed like pointless one-offs, and the slowed-down vocals of "Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)" pointed to a fascination with sound that overshadowed any interest in constructing useful melodies. A few listens later, however, I realized how truly great this album is. "Loser" and "Beercan" are pure genius, "Mutherfuker" is an exhilirating bit of noisy excess, and the folkish tunes are haunting despite their ironic flourishes (kazoos, for example), particularly "Steal My Body Home." I still think "Sweet Sunshine" is a Ween rip-off, but it's still cute in its own way. Grade: A-

One Foot In the Grave

Ginny comments: Grave features a young, aspiring Beck who is just getting comfortable in his anti-folk shoes. As is featured in his later albums, Beck begins experimenting with nonsensical lyrics and fun noises, as is the case with "I Get Lonesome" and "Cyanide Breath Mint." He doesn't leave the entire album to nonsense, however, and offers tracks with emotion such as "Asshole." This album was a great launch for Beck. The intimate acoustic guitar and soft vocals are back in Mutations, hinting at Beck's long time love that began with this album. Grade: B+

Willie's comments: It's amazing that Beck was able to wring such a wide variety of styles and moods out of the inherent limitations of folk rock (save for the bouncy hardcore of "Orange Peel" and the electric buzz of "Cyanide Breath Mint"), but he does so with great skill on Grave. The album ranges from anthemic ("He's a Mighty Good Leader") to wistful ("Asshole") and everything inbetween. It's a far cry from the noise collages of Mellow Gold, but it's not a step backward- or forward, either. Sideways. Just as good. Grade: A-

Stereopathetic Soulmanure

Ginny's comments: Do you remember when you were young and you'd sit on the floor with a wooden spoon or something and just bang everything with it and you thought it sounded like really good music even though it was just loud? If you still do that, and you still think that it sounds like good music, this is the album for you. Beck must have had some pent up energy from childhood that he turned into this album, because all it is is a bunch of painful, tuneless white noise. I love Beck dearly, but someone should have taken away his wooden spoon and handed him a feather on this album. Grade: F

Willie's comments: This one is a step backward, however. An interminable collection of stupid joke-folk tunes ("Satan Gave Me a Taco") and idiotic noise bursts, Soulmanure literally doesn't have a thing on it that's worthwhile. Even fans of pointless, idiotic noise (Korn fans) will find this alternately too irritating and too bland to listen to ever. Grade: F

Odelay

Ginny's comments: Even though I'm an art student, it still baffles me at times how some things can be considered "art" (a lot of childish looking Picasso art, for instance) to anyone other than the pretentious. On Odelay, Beck was able to have fun with noise and nonsense and end up with an album that is, to many, considered a masterpiece. He gives us many flavors of songs that are (for the most part) easy and fun to hear, from "Jackass," light-hearted and spirited to "Novocane," which is loud, yet somehow hilarious. I think Beck has found the answer to masterful art- if it pleases the artist, it doesn't matter who does or does not like it. Grade: A-

Willie's comments: If someone gave you an hour to summarize every album ever made, what would you do? Beck made Odelay, and met that challenge more precisely- and entertainingly- than anyone else in the world possibly could. Incorporating elements from rap, folk, indie rock, punk, jazz, country, funk, and even 50's commercials, Beck synthesizes everything into one endlessly likeable musical smorgasbord. People who criticized the hilariously catchy "The New Pollution" for sounding a little too close to The Beatles' "Taxman" missed the point entirely- Beck is trying to represent every moment in popular music up till 1996. That's the Beatles part of popular music. This whole thing is pure genius- and it's all as catchy and listenable as all get-out. Grade: A+

Mutations

Ginny's comments: What makes Mutations so interesting, yet beautiful in its simplicity is that Beck recorded it within a matter of a few weeks while on tour. While most bands tend to tire of the music scene altogether while touring, Beck's sanctuary from the stresses of tour is his guitar- recorded in this satisfyingly lengthy album that could be considered a mature version of One Foot in the Grave. Aside from all those soul-searchin, bile-spewin lyrics lies the heart and soul of the album- the melifluous acoustic guitar accompanied by the mystical sitar. All this while working on a new studio album and touring the country. Wow. It's nearly too good to be true. Grade: A

Willie's comments: Beck goes pop? By his standards, yes. What you have here is a surprisingly calm and sincere album of folk-based ditties that is entirely free of the irony so prevalent on previous outings. Songs like "We Live Again" and "Cold Brains" are smooth and flawless enough to be entirely radio-ready, while the heartfelt "Nobody's Fault (But My Own)" shows just how far Beck's songwriting has progressed since the old days. This isn't the "official" follow-up to Odelay (as DGC took great pains to point out upon its release), but rather a between-albums diversion, so it's easy to forgive Mutations for being a tad one-note and just relax in its gentle beauty. Grade: A-

Midnite Vultures

Willie's comments: Crimony. This is not an album that Beck needed to make. It's supposed to be a soul/funk party album, but, despite sporadic moments of giddy fun, this is a big letdown given the perfection that Beck is capable of. He reportedly spent several sleepless months putting these songs together, and the effort is evident on tracks like the Peter Gabriel-esque "Milk & Honey," which seemingly contains every timbre known to man, organized to hypnotically weird effect. However, too many songs on Midnite Vultures just don't have the anthemic hooks that a good party album requires: "Sexx Laws" is infectious, but "Broken Train," "Nicotine & Gravy," and "Peaches & Cream" are irritating and draggy. The album's coda, "Debra" (whose original title was "I Wanna Get With You and Your Sister Debra"), is a soulful parody of R&B horniness, but despite Beck's amazing falsetto voice, it's a joke that's already been done to much more hilarious and explicit effect by Ween and South Park's Chef. The only truly perfect songs here are the aforementioned "Sexx Laws" and the thrillingly bizarre technopop of "Get Real Paid." I give Beck credit for continuing to try new things and to undertake new experiments with every new album, but Midnite Vultures is nonetheless underwhelming. Grade: B-

Sea Change

Willie's comments: [WILLIE'S NOTE: I wrote this review before Beck was outed as a Scientologist himself, and just wanted to give myself a couple Prescient Points.] Wrong and ignorant as it might seem, Beck Hansen does have his detractors. I can't fully understand their mindset myself, any more than I can understand how a person would be drawn into Scientology or the KKK, but as best I can interpret their aesthetically confused (possibly under the influence of some mind-altering chemical agent) ramblings, the argument goes something like this: Beck might have a few good ideas, but he's all attitude. Whether he's taking on the role of a freaky-ass white George Clinton (Midnite Vultures), a postmodern musical collagist (Odelay), or even a straightforward indie popster (Mutations), he feels a need to put snarky quotation marks around everything he does. He's always been too bratty to really be pretentious, and too pretentious to really be bratty, but Beck always has an off-putting smugness about him that borders on arrogance and makes it hard to fully enjoy his music. These people are obviously paint-huffers, but regardless, Sea Change should make these misinformed souls re-evaluate our favorite post-everything ragamuffin.

There is not an iota of attitude on Sea Change. It's the Beck album you never imagined Beck was capable of making: a heartbreak album that's marked by whiskey-soaked songs of loneliness, despair, and suckerpunch reality. Most of the songs revisit the folksier, acoustic-based territory of Mutations or One Foot in the Grave, but it's not for fun this time around. A single knowing smirk would derail the crushing effectiveness of tunes like "Guess I'm Doing Fine" (an honestly gorgeous old-school country tune that singlehandedly trumps Wilco's entire discography) and "Round the Bend" (on which an apocalyptically sad string section presents the sounds of giving up), and Beck is smart enough to keep things humble here. He doesn't even sound like himself on some tracks; "It's All in Your Mind," for example, is sung in a gentle, clear voice entirely free of the histrionics that usually mark his delivery. If anything, a working knowledge of the ironic cool that he usually purveys makes Sea Change all the more affecting. The emotionally shattered exhaustion of lines like, "We're so tired now, altogether in a snakepit of souls" would be scorching on any record, but coming from a guy who usually sings about discount orgies on the dropout buses and mixing business with leather, it's hard to doubt the veracity of what he's singing.

Producer Nigel Godrich (OK Computer, Mutations, R.E.M.'s Up) is again on-hand to wring every last drop of musical gold from the filthy washcloth that is Beck's broken heart, and his presence is vital to Sea Change's success. Beck's songwriting is the best it's ever been- check out the wonderfully strange melody on "Little One"- but Godrich is his safety net on songs like "End of the Day," which aren't really throwaways to begin with, but are brought up to the rest of the album's standards by subtle production flourishes like the barely noticeable multitracking on Beck's voice. Ultimately, though, songs like the muted funk of "Paper Tiger" and the mirage-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel "Lost Cause" would sound great even with Lou Barlow acting as producer, because they're so brutally open and beautiful in their sorrowful, slow beauty. It's another landmark album that will hopefully get Beck the respect he deserves from you anti-Beck philistines. Grade: A+

Guero

Willie's comments: Though my record-reviewing regimen is hardly what one would call "disciplined" to begin with (or "reliable"... or "necessary" if you're kind of a jerk), I put off writing up Guero for a long, long time. Why would a fairly big Beck fan do such a thing, you ask? Because every time I considered it, I realized that reviewing Guero would mean sitting down and closely listening to it at least a couple times, which is a task that struck me as requiring so many more kilowatts of energy than I am capable of producing that the very notion would exhaust me to the point where all I could do is head for the couch and watch some South Park DVDs. It is a drainingly uneventful record, is what I'm saying. In theory, it's another of Beck's wacky genre-splicing good-time collage albums, but in practice, there's exactly one song that contains any sense of fun, discovery, or relevance. That would be the utterly delightful single "Girl," an upbeat bottle of pop energy which bops along to the breeziest, most complex and catchy melody Beck has ever let himself sing. It's a mighty steep drop-off to everywhere outside of that song, though. Where Midnite Vultures at least had the confidence of its own overproduced horndog convictions, Guero is a charmless, slogging retread. Not only does it play like a nearly song-for-song copy of Odelay, but by track five ("Black Tambourine"), Beck is already recycling melodies from track one ("E-Pro," which is itself a foolish attempt to build a song around a recognizable Beastie Boys sample, succeeding only in reminding the listener of what a superior concoction "So Whatcha Want" actually is), and seemingly daring you to maintain any interest. It's as if Beck and the Dust Brothers- again retained as producers- think that if they lay down enough midtempo, dubby rhythms and breakbeats, we won't notice that there's not a hell of a lot going on with the songwriting, because that's about all songs like "Earthquake Weather" and "Go It Alone" consist of. Sometimes a slide guitar joins the non-fray, but that's generally as imaginative as the production gets. (For the record, I also sort of like "Hell Yes" in spite of myself, mostly because I'm amused by the chorus, with its vocoder, Japanese-girl spoken bits, and lyrics like "I'm cleaning the floor/My beat is correct." Those who find the song as lacking as the rest of the disc are not necessarily wrong, though.) Too bad, because Beck's cannibalism of his own career would be almost forgivable if he at least went about it wholeheartedly; instead, Guero is so timid, lazy, and uninspired that it's an active bummer. After all, it's hard to shake one's booty when the dancefloor is covered in flop sweat. Grade: C-

Guerolito

Willie's comments: On a mission of mercy, 13 musicians, including big names such as Boards of Canada, Ad-Rock, and Air, each remixed a song from Guero, and the results are assembled on this disposably diverting companion disc. For the most part, Beck's vocals are retained intact but are demoted below the new electronic production, so there's not much of a center to the proceedings. That is, it feels less like a collection of Beck remixes and more like a breakbeat compilation that happens to feature Beck. The guest artists can hardly be expected to work alchemy on such underwritten songs, though, so even the overall listenability is a step up. At its best, Guerolito illustrates how much more enjoyable Guero could've been with a little creative effort: frequent Beastie Boys collaborator Mario C. doesn't do much to "Earthquake Weather" except give it some much-needed atmosphere, while Air scraps "Missing"'s tired arrangement in favor of a simple, effective Tears for Fears-style nostalgia glaze and Diplo dizzies up "Go It Alone" with some welcome contrapuntal percussion. Most tellingly, Dust Brother and Guero co-producer John King himself turns in a perfectly dandy revision of "Rental Car" with little more than some ominous Casio lines and old-timey vocal samples. Ultimately, despite these improvements and a couple interesting reversals (the Islands turn "Que Onda Guero" into a twee, organic festival of woodwinds; El-P ratchets up the tension of "Scarecrow," smashing its ostensibly celebratory buzz), Beck's absence and the leftover Guero malaise make this kind of a nothing project. Not that remix albums are generally "desert island list" fodder in the first place, but Guerolito is noteworthy for being better than its stagnant source and not much else. Grade: B-

READER COMMENTS:

John Schlegel writes: I am not a Beck fanatic or anything. But considering that I just downright loath most '90s music, comparatively speaking, I find Beck to be easily one of the most creative and talented musical masterminds of his time. I do absolutely LOOOOOVVVEE Mutations, perhaps the Beck album you can adore without being gargantuanly into the artist; definitely his masterpiece. I once had a used copy of the widely praised Odelay, but for some odd reason, that album just never did a whole lot for me. It's not "bad" per se, but personally, I just never "got" it. It has some great songs though, like the singles and this other country-fried one I don't remember the title of. And, I should probably add, the man seems to be a prominent live performer--at least judging from his frequent appearances on Saturday Night Live.

Cole Bozman writes: well, I'm no scientologist, but I can't say I like Beck that much either. [RAMBLE.MODE: ON] I've heard all four of his "major" releases, and really, aside from parts of Midnite Vultures (ignoring the horrible lyrics), it just didn't do anything. if I didn't remember clearly getting each album from the library, I couldn't tell you that I actually listened to them. I vaguely remember "Loser", but that could just be from seeing the video on whatever crappy video channel I was watching at the time. it completely passed me by, basically. I don't get what's so great about him. and no, I don't give a crap about his smug indie personality, either. and what the hell's this, the FLAMING LIPS are backing him now? WHY?! I'm never going to see the Lips live if they keep pulling this kinda shit.

oh, uh..what was I saying? oh yeah. Beck sucks. you're delusional (but feel free to fire back with a scathing comment about my Silverchair reviews or whatever). later.

THIS ARTIST ALSO APPEARS ON: A LIFE LESS ORDINARY SOUNDTRACK; TIBETAN FREEDOM CONCERT ALBUM; SUBURBIA SOUNDTRACK

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: FOREST FOR THE TREES; AIR; PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Belle & Sebastian

If You're Feeling Sinister

Ginny's comments: If you've heard of this band, you probably already love them. If you haven't, then you must. This group of seven(!) Scottish band members possess a unique sound all their own- so overwhelmingly light-hearted one feels as if they are floating away while listening to them. Sinister is Belle's first major release and, although it's a tad homogenous, it offers some dark lyrics that are comfortable when you feel alone in a world of fakes (think: Radiohead) (Radiohead aren't fakes; their lyrics are like that) such as "Stars of Track and Field Are Beautiful People" and "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying." Good driving music, good sleeping music, good everything music. Fullfills FDA's recommended daily allowance for goodness. Grade: A-

Willie's comments: Upon first listen, the only song to really stand out on Belle & Sebastian's breakthrough album is "The Boy Done Wrong Again," a pensive little folk tune with the most gorgeous melody I've heard in quite some time. The rest of the songs initially just come across as affable, interchangeable guitar strummers that are never less- or more- than pleasant. However, if you listen a little closer (and are able to get past the abrasive opener, "The Stars of Track and Field"), Stuart Murdoch's complex, tuneful, witty gems become more engrossing: "Judy and the Dream of Horses" and "Like Dylan in the Movies" in particular. If You're Feeling Sinister still lacks the ensemble charm of its follow-up, The Boy with the Arab Strap, but it's still a nondescript little pleasure. Grade: B

Dog on Wheels EP

Willie's comments: Four top-notch songs with inventive arrangements, gorgeous melodies, and Stuart Murdoch's trademark lyrics about tragic characters. There's not a whole lot to say about this EP- it's entirely of a piece with the rest of B&S's canon- except that it shouldn't be overlooked simply because it's an EP (despite its prohibitively high price). The title track is indispensable due to its clever, mariachi/Stereolab vibe, and the closer, "Belle & Sebastian," contains the band's most heavenly chorus ever, but be forewarned: The part that goes, "Poor Sebastian went too far again/ Crashed his car in the rain" will be stuck in your head for quite some time. Grade: A

Lazy Line Painter Jane EP

Willie's comments: The second in the band's between-album trilogy of EPs is something of a misfire. The title track features Abba-esque vocals by Monica Queen, whose theatrical approach to singing is more than a little exhausting. "You Made Me Forget My Dreams" and "Photo Jenny" aren't unpleasant, but are also uninspired and unremarkable. The sole keeper, "A Century of Elvis," is one of Stuart David's spoken-word outings, and proves once and for all that his somewhat aimless stories benefit from the lush backing that B&S provide, rather than Looper's sterile mechanics. For the most part, this EP is as slothful as its titular artist. Grade: C

3..6..9 Seconds of Light EP

Willie's comments: After a few months' respite following Lazy Line Painter Jane, a reinvigorated B&S returned with this mini-masterwork. It's still an EP, which is an irritating enough format, but it contains five great songs. "A Century of Fakers" takes the backing track from the previous EP's "A Century of Elvis" and fashions it into an entirely new song thanks to Stuart Murdoch's melodic gifts. "Beautiful" and "Put the Book Back on the Shelf" are similarly charming, but the two bonafide classics are the unlisted final number (an apology to the makers of the old Belle & Sebastian TV program "for all the trouble we've caused") and "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie," which is the band's fastest song ever recorded, and a contender for their catchiest. Grade: A

The Boy With the Arab Strap

Willie's comments: This time ‘round, Stuart Murdoch plays down his fondness for rockin’ acoustic guitar thrashing in favor of gentler, more well-thought-out melodies. The result is something like Simon & Garfunkel, if Paul & Art were more willing to throw bagpipes and Moogs into the mix, or to veer off into free jazz compositions like the wonderfully weird "A Space Boy’s Dream" (penned by Looper’s Stuart David). With a trilogy of opening songs as strong as "It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career," "Sleep the Clock Around," and "Is It Wicked Not to Care?" how can you go wrong? Grade: A

Lazy Line Painter Jane 3-EP box set

Willie's comments: The three EPs released between If You're Feeling Sinister and The Boy with the Arab Strap (all reviewed above) are included in this box. I wish the band had just compiled the three EPs onto one disc, like the Beta Band did on The Three E.P.'s, but priced at around $18, Lazy Line Painter Jane is still a pretty decent value. Grade: B+

Legal Man EP

Willie's comments: Typical of B&S's unpredictable whims, this 3-song diversion was released only weeks before their full-length album Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, and contains what are presumably outtakes from that album's sessions. The title track is hilarious- a psychedelic go-go number that plays like the Beatles' "Taxman" rewritten for the Austin Powers soundtrack. "Judy is a Dick Slap" is even weirder- a full-on, instrumental Stereolab tribute that is followed by some delicate piano noodling. Finally, "Winter Wooskie" is a solid, "normal" Belle & Sebastian song. Legal Man is even more slight than the rest of the band's work, but it's also their first effort that could be described as fun. Grade: A-

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant

Willie's comments: With literally hundreds of musical contributors to this album (well, not literally...), B&S's fourth LP had many high hopes going for it before its release. The Boy with the Arab Strap benefitted immeasurably from the songs that Murdoch didn't write- "Is It Wicked Not to Care?" "A Space Boy's Dream," and "Seymour Stein"- so it was natural to assume that the Scottish consortium would make similar magic with Fold Your Hands Child. Well, they didn't. Falling prey to the "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome, this album consists of little more than forced attempts at eclecticism. "Beyond the Sunrise" and "The Wrong Girl" are both tinged with country music; a genre that does not allow for the usual subtlety of Belle & Sebastian's fragile pop. "The Chalet Lines" is Murdoch's searingly painful portrait of a rape victim ("[My friend] asks me why I don't tell the law/ Oh what's the fucking point of it all?") that would be a tremendous emotional success if the music had any forward propulsion at all. As it is, the song meanders along for a minute or two, stops leisurely, and then starts up again. It's tedious when it should be haunting. There are a few decent numbers- "Woman's Realm" and Sarah Martin's "Waiting for the Moon to Rise"- but the only song with a melody that even touches the brilliance of Dog on Wheels or The Boy with the Arab Strap is the epic opener "I Fought in a War." The band is talented enough to be forgiven for this album-length indulgence (not that I'm recommending you buy it), but let's hope they're a bit more focused next time 'round. Grade: C

Dear Catastrophe Waitress

Willie's comments: Following a mini-album of songs and musical scoring they did for Todd Solondz's film Storytelling (which I have yet to investigate because the film left such a bitter taste in my mouth), B&S recruited ex-Buggle Trevor Horn- who just this year has also produced records by Seal and Tatu- to helm their full-length return to form. And it's a brilliant marriage of band and producer, as most of the tunes here have a sunny buoyancy that seems odd for this smirky crew, but is enthusiastically sustained for most of the record. Honestly, it took me five or six listens for this album to click with me, as I was initially put off by the occasional tendency to squander a song's momentum (as on the opening single "Step Into My Office, Baby," which lets a great, stomping hook float away into the ozone midway through), as well as Murdoch's continuing, sadistic fascination with putting his lyrical characters through hell (on the title track and "Lord Anthony"). Once I listened close enough to realize that those were the exceptions on this otherwise pop-happy album, however, little gems started leaping out at me everywhere. "Piazza, New York Catcher" is a beautiful acoustic track in which Murdoch sympathetically(!) narrates a cozy-but-passionless romance and yet still finds room for a hilariously nasty joke about Mike Piazza's questionable sexuality ("The catcher hits for .318 and catches every day..."). The lengthy "Stay Loose" is a surprisingly angular, retro-styled track that suggests a less sterile 10cc, and "I'm a Cuckoo" gives Steely Dan a similar poke in the ribs. With peppy strings, horns, and other instrumental syrup drenching the songs, Waitress's flightiness could easily have crashed this project into a marshmallow mountain, but the band deftly avoids becoming cloying or (for the most part) too smug as they bop their way through hook after hook. Instead, you get an album that's nearly as comfortable and- once you get into it- gently emotional as The Boy with the Arab Strap. Grade: A-

READER COMMENTS:

Nick Karn writes: This band kind of goes against my musical tastes being a reaaaally lightweight pop band, but somehow I was introduced to them through the song "Sleep The Clock Around" on a mix tape and I absolutely fell in love with it, and had a similar reaction to seeing the "Is It Wicked Not To Care?" video from 120 Minutes on eMpTyV, so I definitely had to get 'The Boy With The Arab Strap', and was I ever impressed. A phenomenal pop album where every song is a little gem of its' own. "Dirty Dream Number Two" in particular is probably one of the more heavenly, addictive songs I can think of - I'd probably give that one at least an A, maybe A+. B&S really have a certain charm about them in the atmosphere (which is very rich with background nuances as well) that pulls me in, and there aren't all that many bands whose melodic sense blow me away more. Since then I've acquired 'If You're Feeling Sinister', which I think is a little inferior (probably A-), despite critics and fans overwhelming praise of it - still "The Stars Of Track And Field" and "Like Dylan In The Movies" are great, and 'Tigermilk', which I haven't fully gotten used to yet, but after a couple listens it's probably a B or B- in my book - the melodies and arrangements aren't as focused as they would be on the following two full lengths, but there are still some interesting songs like "Electronic Renassaince". I haven't heard any of their EPs yet (though I probably should) or their new album [Fold Your Hands], but you're certainly not the only reviewer I've seen who's kind of 'ehh' on it. I'll still probably check it out anyway, since I'm a recently converted fan.

Joe Friesen writes: The only standout on "If You're Feeling Sinister" on firist listen is "The Boy Done Wrong Again"? That's the only song I dislike on the whole thing. And since when have Belle & Sebastian ever done anything that could be called "abrasive"?

You know, Willie, sometimes I think you and I are very different people.

And, about "The Boy With the Arab Strap": About a year and a half ago, I was driving home late at night. I had "Arab Strap" in my CD player, and I tried to put another CD in thinking I'd already taken "Arab Strap" out. This basically broke my CD player, but I could still listen to "Arab Strap". Since I friggin' hate the radio, this basically left me with nothing to listen to in the car but "The Boy With the Arab Strap" until I took the whole thing apart to fix it three months later. It drove me absolutely CRAZY, and to this day I cannot listen to it without it inducing my gag reflex. But thankfully I'm still not sick of "Sleep the Clock Around". It's always been my favorite B&S song, and I can listen to it today no problem.

SEE ALSO: LOOPER

SEE ALSO: GENTLE WAVES

SEE ALSO: THE REINDEER SECTION

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: THE BUGGLES; DAVID BYRNE

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Ben Folds Five

Ben Folds Five

Los comments du Ginny: Ben Folds is skinny balding guy in his early thirties. What he lacks in aesthetics he makes up for in charisma in his music. "Philosophy" offers us a view into the twisted id of Folds set to the tune of floofy piano playin. Other songs are less of a joke and are, well, genuine, such as the shy "Best Imitation of Myself." Because this is Folds' first album, he added some "filler" songs ("Jackson Cannery," and "Alice Childress") which the album would be shorter, but better without. Alas, this album sets Folds aside from the rest of the blandness that runs through the radio unharnessed. Whatever is even better, cuz that phrase rhymed. Grade: B

Willie's comments: Alternately clever and frustrating, Ben Folds's debut album is fatally short on catchiness. Except for the brilliant and affecting "Best Imitation of Myself" and the carnival-tinged underdog tune "Boxer," Folds meanders aimlessly, never quite stumbling on a proper melody. I find "Jackson Cannery" peerlessly irritating, and by the song Folds sings about his uncle (I forget the title), his adenoidal vocals evoke "Weird Al" Yankovic, which is distracting to say the least. Grade: C

Whatever and Ever Amen

Ginny's comments: Ben Folds doesn't like generic radio music. His novel idea of taking beautiful piano melodies and adding bitter, dark lyrics became an instant hit with the intellectual listeners, but sadly, his songs (I give you "Brick") were also a hit with the rest of them because no one really listened to the lyrics (except to the infamous "Song for the Dumped"). This makes Ben Folds live a bit unbearable at times, but he makes up for it by being such a cool guy. Grade: A-

Willie's comments: Yes, like everyone, I love the funny rave-up rockers "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" and "Song for the Dumped" off this album, but lately, I've come to be even more fond of the ballads, which surpass the best efforts of other bands by light years. For example, the painful details of a failed relationship that make up "Smoke" and "Selfless, Cold, and Composed," and the heartbreaking "Brick" (whose lyrics you people really should pay attention to- She's getting an abortion! It's not a happy love song!). That said, the album is still a lot of fun, with bouncy tunes like "Kate" and the swing-ish "Steven's Last Night In Town" lightening the mood a little. Grade: A

Naked Baby Photos

Ginny's comments: Why Ben Folds and co. came out with a B-sides album after only two albums under their belts astounds me. Folds had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with enough folderol to make a complete album. Most of the songs sound like crappily recorded bootlegs (even the swearing is hard to make out in "Song for the Dumped"), and the studio songs consist of nothing other than Folds and friends goofing off with the recorder on. "Tom and Mary" is as close as this album comes to an actual song, but fails to even resemble the beauty of Whatever. It's eating up a space in my CD holder that could be used for something better- say, an album by The Kingsmen. Grade: D

Willie's comments: Couldn't have said it better myself, Gin. Grade: F

The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

Ginny's Comments: One of the first things that drew me to Ben Folds was the self-parodying mantra the band clung to so adamantly: pop music written to essentially mock pop music. When I listen to Messner, however, Folds seems to have become what he's been against from the beginning. Messner contains some masterful piano playing. Folds can flat out play the piano and that is an established fact; however, he seems to have become mesmerized with his piano playing to neglect other important aspects of his music such as content. The lyrics range from boring and trite ("Narcolepsy," "Don't Change Your Plans") to sophomorically self-conscious ("Army," "Your Redneck Past") to eye-rollingly corny ("Regrets"). He mentions LA and rednecks too many times to be taken seriously. And unless this album is full of esoteric jokes and stories about Jane and Lorainne, etc., Folds is just pulling rhymes out of thin air. "Hospital Song" offers the only promising lyrics about a hospital patient who just discovered he's dying, however, the lyrics are a mere 2-3 lines set to the most boring tune Folds has ever created. "Lullaby" begins as a wispy, gentle tune that devolves into meaningless ramblings and hackenyed rhymes ("we took a small flight/in the middle of the night/from one small place to another... with my aunt grandpa and brother.") If that doesn't make you want to gag, it will just as easily make you wish you were a narcoleptic and sleep through this one. As a side note, if you are looking for a great piano player that hasn't strayed into Crapland, try Brad Mehldau- famed pianist for his outstanding versions of Radiohead songs. I'm counting on you to make the next one a smashing one, Ben... Grade: C-

Willie's comments: I'm beginning to think Whatever and Ever Amen was just a happy fluke. This thrown-together collection is bursting at the seams with creative strain, and there's not a song in the bunch as well-written or thought-provoking as those on Amen. "Hospital Song" comes close, with some truly disturbing, sad lyrics set to a slow, tinkling tune, but it's vastly outnumbered by tuneless crap. I really wanted to like this one... Sigh. Grade: D+

READER COMMENTS:

Matthew Clothier writes: Is it me, or does Ben Folds' piano and singing sound startlingly like Joe Jackson? Does anyone know who Joe Jackson is or did I just create him during one of my blackouts...I really enjoyed Whatever and Ever...especially "Kate" but I just can't seem to lose that pesky Joe Jackson comparison.

David Berson writes: The Joe Jackson comparison is abit there, but to me they sound more like Squeeze than anyone else. I keep expecting to bust out playing "slap & tickle" anytime I hear them on the radio or at work. I've never really seen the interest in the band. They can write good pop hooks but they also seem to have no originality whatsoever. They need strong psychedelics.

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS

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The Beta Band

The Three E.P.'s

Willie's comments: The consensus about this collection of the band's early EPs seems to be that the songs are far too repetitive and far too long. This latter criticism is well-founded: songs often clock in at around 7 or 8 minutes, with the aptly-titled "Monolith" stretching out past 15, and none of them really need to. But the idea that the Beta Band is too repetitive is kind of silly, when you consider that the same people who complain about the repetition are often die-hard Stereolab fans. On The Three E.P.'s, the songs are often country-based trip-hop numbers that repeat one simple hook over and over and over- and they're as entrancing in their way as any drone-rock masterpiece from Stereolab, Yo La Tengo, or the Silver Apples. "Dry the Rain," "The House Song," "Push It Out," and "She's the One" might not have a whole lot happening over the course of the song, but it's all effectively hypnotic, spiced up with catchy melodies, too. And The Three E.P.'s is a much better hybrid of country and electronica than that Luke Vibert/B.J. Cole album, anyway. Grade: B+

The Beta Band

Willie's comments: As musical experimentalists go, The Beta Band are as fearless as anyone. Whereas bands like They Might Be Giants generally bend musical genres for some logical reason, The Beta Band gathers up as much musical material as they can and throws it all down on tape, to hilariously weird effect. Their debut studio LP is full of oddly-structured pop songs, constantly altering lead vocals (sounding variously like Beck, Sting, and Hunter S. Thompson), Kraut-rap hybrids, bizarre noises and wonderful stream-of-consciousness lyrics like “Listened to the Beach Boys just a minute ago/ Wild Honey/ It’s not their best album/ It’s still pretty good.” “Round the Bend” is as catchy as the Band gets, even though it is grounded by a strange orchestral sample and a cuckoo clock, while “The Beta Band Rap” starts off as a circa-1940 commercial jingle before locking into a white-boy groove, and jutting off into rockabilly skronk. It’s all good-natured, catchy weirdness, even if the songs do tend to get bogged down with surprisingly frequent moments of inertness. Grade: B

Hot Shots II

Willie's comments: After publicly disowning their self-titled debut (in a fit of overreacting, if you ask me- no one can deny the greatness of "'Round the Bend"), the Beta Band finally starts writing songs that sound like songs on Hot Shots II, albeit songs that don't lose the band's snarky sense of humor or kitchen-sink approach to arrangements. "Squares" and "Gone" would sound perfectly at-home on an album by Portishead or Alpha if not for the distinctively cheesy-smooth vocals of Stephen Mason, while "Dragon" culminates in the most tantalizingly happy refrain of the year: "I've never been the type to sing all night, but aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" The songs are tighter, more concise, and catchier than anyone could've predicted from their previous work (the band also integrates electronica elements a bit less overtly here than their tourmates Radiohead have been doing), resulting in an album that withstands- and commands- compulsive relistens. At the end of the album, the band falls into cutesy stream-of-consciousness rambling, on the somewhat annoying "Eclipse" ("The music we make is not particularly good... the people with the answers lie, so no pizza for them") and "Won" (a lengthy sample of Nilsson's "One" turned into a rap song- not as bad as it sounds, but still too long). The first nine songs are spectacular enough to make for a great listening experience in their own right, however. Grade: A-

Heroes to Zeros

Willie's comments: On their final album (they broke up a few weeks after its release), The Beta Band sounds lost, unable to conjure the atmospheric magic of their previous album or their earlier, nonchalant rhythmic poppiness. Instead, it just sounds like they've spent the past few years listening to Interpol and Gomez, and uncomfortably tried to fit the former's droney guitars and the latter's production-happy blues-rock influences into their own laid-back style of composition. It just flat-out doesn't work. Mason's cocked-eyebrow delivery, while perfect on the shuffling likes of The Three E.P.'s and the spare Hot Shots II, is too passive to carry energetic tracks like "Assessment" and "Out-Side," which just leaves the insubstantial arrangements to wobble back and forth between a couple chords, with chintzy electronic percussion occasionally cropping up. He fares better on "Space," a successful, halting lope around Hot Shots II territory, and the pretty "Simple," but on the remainder of the mellow tracks, like "Wonderful" and "Pure For," his repetitive chants of love don't make for particularly compelling listening, considering the fact that the arrangements sound simultaneously strained and underthought. It's a bummer that, for all their talent, the Betas never came up with a true masterpiece, but Heroes to Zeros is pretty clearly the end of the line. Grade: C

THIS ARTIST APPEARS ON: HIGH FIDELITY SOUNDTRACK

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Beulah

Handsome Western States

Willie's comments: By this point, it doesn't really seem like it means anything to say that any given band is a member of the Elephant 6 Recording Company. Since there are now 43 bands that are contained within the Elephant 6 bigtop, and many of those bands have nothing in common except for the fact that head Apple in Stereo Robert Schneider likes them (and, usually, an affinity for optimistic psychedelica and Pet Sounds), the whole idea of this musical community is kind of weird and random. That's not going to stop me, however, from pointing out that Beulah is- or was- indeed an Elephant 6 band, and an incredibly talented one at that. However, you wouldn't know it from listening to this spotty collection of lo-fi early tracks. Frontman Miles Kurosky and multi-instrumentalist Bill Swan recorded this comparatively stripped-down affair themselves over a period of 16 months, and while it's always listenable, it's mostly unremarkable and never especially gripping. Apart from Swan's sporadic trumpet flourishes, there's little evidence of the lush arrangements they'd later become famous for, and Kurosky's vocal melodies don't hit as often as they should, either (for every serviceable tune like "Maroon Bible," there's an attitude-over-songwriting throwaway like "Rust with Me" and "The Rise and Fall of Our Hero's Reward"). So what's left is an okay clump of guitar-based indie-pop songs that don't do much to distinguish themselves from those of a million other Pavement-and-Built to Spill-inspired acts. Even if you're a big fan of their next couple records, you really don't need this. Grade: C+

The Coast is Never Clear

Willie's comments: Their third album, The Coast is Never Clear, features a dozen summery pop songs that are as clever as Pavement, as hummable as Sloan, and as ear-friendly, production-wise, as Belle & Sebastian's best work. Those comparisons don't quite prepare you, though, for the unparalleled melodic depth of songs like "Gravity's Bringing Us Down" (which contains six distinct sections, all of which flow seamlessly and lunge straight for your catchy-bone) or "A Good Man is Easy to Kill." The horns, strings, and other bubbly instruments that occasionally pop up to contribute a flourish or two would be welcome on any album, of course, but on a record that's already as satisfyingly catchy as this one, the timbre-stuffed nature of the songs seems like an unexpected bonus- like getting a new car for your birthday and then discovering that the trunk is full of diamonds. (I may be overstating it a little, but The Coast is Never Clear is one of those albums that you buy on impulse and then congratulate yourself on having taken the chance. Pick it up today.) Grade: A

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: APPLES IN STEREO

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Big Fish Ensemble

Field Trip

Willie's comments: Big Fish Ensemble walk the thinnest line between charming musical inventiveness and irritating, sophomoric indulgence. When they're good (as they often are on this, their first real album), they play terrific dustbowl rock that can compare favorably with Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 and the Monks of Doom. Songs like "Fire Engine" and "Pabst Blue Ribbon Light" sound like the catchy score to a Western film. Also when they're good, their lyrics are eloquent enough to shoot into your heart like a poison arrow; on Field Trip's best song, "Distant," singer Paul Schwartz bemoans the way a lover has changed after moving to a big city to touching effect ("You used to feel safe in my arms, but now you think you can do anything"). However, on songs like "Houseplant," "Spare the Asparagus," and "Message from Ferdinand," their smarmy jokes quickly wear thin ("God loves you even when you fart," for example), and they begin to evoke the witter-than-thou aesthetic of the Barenaked Ladies, which makes it a bit of a chore to make it through the album in one sitting. Grade: B-

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Big Lebowski soundtrack

Willie's comments: The near-perfect, eclectic, bizarre soundtrack to a near-perfect, eclectic, bizarre film! The Coen brothers and T-Bone Burnett have assembled a collection of forgotten classic-rock jewels (Dylan's "The Man In Me," Captain Beefheart's wonderfully trippy "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles"), warped orchestral numbers, and all-out oddities (The Gipsy Kings' hilarious flamenco take on "Hotel California"). The album's centerpiece (as well as the movie's) is Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)," a genius bit of psychedelic rock. All this and a blazing new Elvis Costello tune! The perfect soundtrack to an afternoon of doobies and White Russians. Grade: A-

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Bjork

Debut

Willie's comments: After the Sugarcubes (mercifully) broke up, Bjork started a solo career, charting her own path. Sometimes that path is marked by why-didn't-I-think-of-that brilliance, sometimes it's frustratingly enigmatic, but it's almost always entirely original. Debut can be seen as the blueprints for where Bjork was heading. The album is unsteady and unfocused, with Bjork veering from enchantingly strange trip-hop to bland orchestral ballads, never quite blending the two as she would on Homogenic. Some songs are as good as anything she's ever done: "One Day," "Come to Me," and "Violently Happy" are hypnotic and infectious, while "Human Behaviour" is bolstered by a driving, dramatic arrangements (the timpani are particularly great). However, Debut is hampered by chintzy keyboards (on the otherwise fine "Big Time Sensuality"), Luscious Jackson-esque aerobicizing ("There's More to Life Than This"), and Bjork's own accursed tendency toward camp ("Like Someone in Love"). If you're absolutely in love with her later work, then you'll definitely enjoy this album, but it's not a good place to start. Grade: B

Post

Ginny's comments: It's a safe bet to say that Post is the Ice Queen's opus. Each song is masterful and unique in its own way with enough quirky noises and instruments that even Willie would be impressed. "Hyper-ballad" is a beautiful and intrinsically dark song, while songs like "It's Oh So Quiet" and "Army of Me" offer booming rhythms and elaborate brass harmonies. Bjork's quavering voice strains out each track perfectly. She has the voice power of Tori Amos's most angst-ridden songs, but can also be as gentle as the Eurythmics. This is definitely an album that belongs in every music lover's collection. Grade: A+

Willie's comments: Bjork's second album is enchantingly eclectic. "It's Oh So Quiet" is a hilarious, bipolar Broadway number, and "Cover Me" is a fascinatingly twinkly leidsong, but the bulk of the album is made up of mutated electronica. "Enjoy" and "Headphones" bear the markings of trip-hop hero Tricky (who cowrote them), but Bjork's ever-expressive singing is still the highlight. The bassy "Army of Me" and "Hyper-Ballad" are the most conventionally catchy of the lot, but bear in mind that Bjork's idea of conventional is still pretty weird. She adopts an ominous vocal tic in the former, while the latter is a song about throwing things off a cliff: "I imagine what my body would sound like/ Slamming against those rocks/ When it lands/ Will my eyes be closed or open?" Even at her most twisted, though, Bjork is unerringly listenable and captivating. Grade: A

Homogenic

Willie's comments: Putting a more sophisticated spin on her unique brand of bass-heavy, fascinatingly weird pop, Bjork spends much of Homogenic backed by a full orchestra. The strings nicely compliment the ominous undercurrents of songs like “Hunter” and “Joga”; not to mention the odd contrast they provide to Bjork’s voice and the billiard ball percussion. Songs like “Joga” and “Bachelorette” are bursting with despondent prettiness (though both are, strangely enough, love songs), while “Alarm Call” is all twisty hooks, and “Pluto” sounds like a dance club sitting atop a volcano about to erupt. “All is Full of Love” is a little too happy to fit in among these darker tracks, but it's a fine song, and I'd be silly to say Homogenic is less than completely compelling. Grade: A-

Selmasongs

Willie's comments: In 2000, Bjork starred in Lars Von Trier's beautifully wrenching film Dancer in the Dark, in which she played a woman named Selma who escapes the escalating horrors of her life by imagining herself in Hollywood musicals. Selmasongs contains seven of Bjork's songs from the film (yet it costs as much as a full-length album), but it's curiously unsatisfying as a listening experience. There's no denying the beauty of Bjork's compositions- almost every song builds a Homogenic-sized orchestral epic around a rhythm track taken from everyday sounds (trains, factory sounds, footsteps)- and Bjork's full-throated singing is more powerful than ever, but most of the songs feel bisected without Von Trier's color-soaked choreography, and don't make much sense when removed from Dancer in the Dark's storyline. You'd never know by listening to the ebullient "Cvalda," for example, that Selma is daydreaming about dancing with her best friend through the factory where they're working a grueling night shift- a juxtaposition of naive imagination and working-class pathos that moved me to tears during the film. Or that "107 Steps" actually carries a brutal undertone in the context of the film (which I won't give away). In addition, the film's most hauntingly gorgeous number- the a capella "The Next-to-Last Song"- was inexplicably excluded from Selmasongs. The only song that really warrants a spin on your stereo is the Oscar-nominated "I've Seen It All" (which should've won, Bob Dylan or no Bob Dylan), a duet in which Radiohead's Thom Yorke shows up to take the place of Dancer's Peter Stormare, and to apply his Midas touch to a song so sweeping it sounds like it could blanket the world in its sadness. Great as it is to hear two of the world's best singers belting out a song worthy of their talents, though, if you're thinking of plunking down $15 for this EP, you might as well just spend the extra five or ten bucks on the Dancer in the Dark DVD. Grade: C+

Vespertine

Willie's comments: Less an album than a twelve-song valentine, Vespertine finds Bjork skipping gaily through her unique musical fields, collecting some of the most beautiful sounds known to man and then using them to form some of the most delicate, heartwarming love songs in the history of pop music. (And who better to program the beats on this album of unparalleled prettiness than electronica duo Matmos, whose last album, A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure, was a perfectly jittery collection of real surgery noises?) There are no thumpy, theatrical tirades like "Army of Me" or "Hunter" to be found here; the arrangements gently tiptoe around Bjork's voice, with harps, chimes, bells, and unobtrusive rhythmic clicks acting as exclamation points to the pixie lunatic's musings on romantic and sexual contentment. It's not never boring or overly restrained, though; Bjork sounds like she's performing a mammogram on her larynx throughout Vespertine, squeezing, stretching, and pounding that sucker to wring every last drop of emotion from her throat. It works wonders, too- whether she's breathlessly saying "I love him" over and over in "Pagan Poetry" (the album's most immediately digestable song) or cooing about the joy of adolescent sexual discovery (I guess) in "Sun in My Mouth," each song attains the same breathtaking grandeur as the opening shot of The Sound of Music, only with better music. Bjork wants to share