First of all, the real gem of this record isn't on the actual proper record anyway - Pop it into your computer and get some very refreshing trombone and jazz drums, cocktail piano and walking bass on "Boats on the Water". Completely opposite of the computer beats and totally organic - you can hear the room rumble with the kick drum. There's also a few commentary tracks on the CD that Schneider historians will be interested in, and a few recording geeks will be interested to hear how some of the songs were recorded. Stoners will love the "Magic" video. Four bonus tracks live as MP3's on the disc, the aforementioned along with another were for a soundtrack to a movie that never came out, and the other two MP3's are songs from Schneider's high school days. You can really tell, too.
The proper album is a far cry from the dog-lapping-water looped, recorder and toy instrument playing that was the first Marbles album, and a lot of the charm on that one is gone from this release. A striking resemblance to The Rentals is prevalent throughout, heavy Moog inspired hard snappy snare songs - some of the best are even similarly (all right, identically) named, like "Move On." Maturing doesn't necessarily have to mean getting boring but justifying a break from the Apples in Stereo's heavy distorted rock rhythms with with some forgettable songs is ultimately disappointing, but there are some songs that really make me feel good about the late 90's. Jeez, that was, like, a long time ago.
"When You Open" harkens back to Olivia Tremor Control's glory days, a little bit of psychedelics with strongly rooted back-beats and catchy melodies. It's been a damn long time since that sound has found it's way back into albums, and the whole Elephant 6 thing has long been dead - but one can't help but wish a little bit that this is signaling a return of the best days of that cabal.
Starting at track 6, the album really starts to get into the groove, with the slight hiccup of the circus-inspired bossa-nova organ beat of the title track. The first half of the album gets bogged down in some bad MIDI and drum sampling, but the strengths are really in the live drumming, fuzzy guitar, and simple Moog lines. "Hello Sun" has pounding drums and a simple hippie refrain. "Cruel Sound" and "Move On" pretty much the same formula, and "Blossoms" brings back the lovely horns and really thick guitar sounds. This track is a good ode to Pet Sounds symphonics and instrumentation. |