Gary Glauber
Reviews:
September,
2005

Scroll down for the latest from Cardinal (classic reissue), OK Go, Dave Dill, The Click Five and The Pozers

Cardinal
Cardinal

(Empyrean Records)

Release Date: June 7, 2005

www.wishingtreerecords.com

There's great news for fans of Cardinal. This long out-of-print classic album has been re-issued and completely re-mastered (by original engineer Tony Lash), and the new version also features 11 bonus tracks and liner notes from principals Richard Davies and Eric Matthews.

It was 1994. Richard Davis' previous band The Moles had just dissolved after a tour from his native Australia to the U.S. and England. His songwriting already had gone through a transformation; he was concentrating on one instrument at a time, rather than writing songs for a whole band. He returned to Boston and it was there that he introduced himself to drummer Bob Fay. Fay in turn introduced Davies to a neighbor of his, one Eric Matthews, freshly dropped out of the music conservatory at San Francisco and a talented arranger and instrumental composer. While all three were of different temperaments and sensibilities, music became the conjoining link.

Davies remembers this as "a short happy carefree time when Cardinal was probably the best band in the world." Fay's drumming balanced Matthews' careful manner and Davies' inclination to believe that the music stopped when the song stopped. It was a magical chemistry: Matthews' orchestral perfectionism coupled with Davies' earthy simple feel. Their voices even sounded good together, becoming additional instruments in the songs they created.

They went to the west coast to record (in three weeks) what eventually would become the lone release from Cardinal. It was a classic that earned accolades and rave reviews from critics all over. Listening to that music again now, it still retains a magical flavor. There's a stark beauty to the simple arrangements, a testimony to the merged creativity between these two men. As Davies puts it, "It's easy for the right people to make good music."

Bob Fay went on to Sebadoh shortly thereafter, and both Davies and Matthews have gone on to solo careers in the decade or so since. But there's no denying the special music of this album. Davies reckons that there are two types of Cardinal fans - "the ones who hear what's on the surface and think they've got it, and then there's the ones who keep listening and start to discover the mystery of it, and I think they're more rewarded."

The bonus tracks include five four-track demos that pre-date the studio versions. Davies contends that the studio "west coast versions" were the aftermath of the original more-spirited "east coast" real Cardinal. These 4-track versions, while rougher hewn, do contain clues as to the musical magic that was occurring at the time. The chemistry is most obvious. There also are three tracks from the infamous and long out of print "Toy Bell" EP (all of which were three-way co-writes between Fay, Davies and Matthews).

The brief life of the band known as Cardinal produced inventive and intelligent music, oblique small narratives that were heartfelt and touching and, endearingly hypnotic. The merging of the two men's disparate styles produced something that was far greater than the sum of its parts. And now the re-release is a bit of a Disney ending, according to Matthews. It's an aural snapshot of what he terms "the life of a band a little too good to exist then or now." Thankfully, that life lives again, a re-mastered keepsake for ardent fans that were there the first time around and an educational treat for those hearing the music anew.

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OK Go
Oh No

(Capitol Records)
Release Date: August 30, 2005

www.okgo.net

When their self-titled debut three years ago, OK Go established themselves as a band that made fun music, intelligent yet not overly pretentious, radio-ready and slickly produced. It was refreshing and light, the sort of smart rock that worked well as mere summer fare. That was then, this is now.

These poster boys for NPR's This American Life wanted to show more of their live rock and roll energy this second time around. For their sophomore turn, they enlisted successful producer Tore Johansson (Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans) to capture that energy. The band sought a rougher hewn result, both stripped-down and revved-up, something that would better exhibit their frenetic, worldly-wise view of rock. The Chicago boys flew to Sweden to record this one.

Happily, the 13 songs on this new collection reflect all that and then some. The references to past bands and smart aleck attitude that pervaded that first album are transformed into something new - an infusion of modern rock smarts that, at times, may have one questioning whether this is the same band.

The rock scene has changed some in the past three years, and OK Go has made the adjustments. The album leads with "Invincible," an uber-catchy rocker about the hypothetical situation that might occur when aliens coming to destroy the earth encounter this powerful and invincible past girlfriend and her death ray eyes. It's amusing and infectious.

The danceable catchiness continues with "Do What You Want," a hue and cry to follow one's desires ("What could go wrong?") shaded with clever lyrical ponderings like "How did wrong get so right and lead me stumbling through the dark of night?" "Here It Goes Again" continues the fun, a song about losing control every now and again.

The band switches gears a bit with "A Good Idea At The Time," getting down and dirty a la classic Stones, yet retaining the sass and intelligence: "I appreciate your courtesy, your well-learned politesse, but you got yourself into your own mess / You know the demon's in the design: a good idea at the time." Similarly, "No Sign Of Life" is a bluesy bit of optimism in the midst of a social crowd's troubling times.

One of my favorites here is the charming soft ballad "Oh Lately It's So Quiet," giving lead singer Damian Kulash a chance to flaunt his falsetto side. It's a tale of a man claiming to be beyond a particular obsession (don't bet on it), contemplating who might be next: "Whose sheets you twist, whose face you kiss / whose house are you haunting tonight?"

"It's A Disaster" is a pleasant little celebration of an incredible mess because "it's all we got now." Like almost any track here, this could be a radio single. A far less happy song is "Let It Rain," which seems to be obliquely about a woman's inadvertent death by carbon monoxide poisoning.

My choice for single would be "A Million Ways," in which Tore Johansson's influence can be heard big-time. This sounds like OK Go's "Take Me Out," what Franz Ferdinand might produce with a little more humor. This is a listing of such ways (less than a million, actually, but the idea comes across fine) that includes: teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming, hissing and playing the crowd.

"Crash The Party" is an invigorating rallying cry to girls who aren't the prettiest and guys who aren't the height of sartorial cool to crash the party and "burn holes in the carpets, kicking, shouting, dancing on the tables all night long."

Kulash and his cohorts specialize in strong lyrical lists, the kind that gave their first single "Get Over It" an added guile. The same sort of thing occurs in the lyrics of "Television, television," where a steady barrage of clever words assaults the listener with punk rock charisma.

"Maybe, this time" examines a situation where someone who is always right just might be wrong. "The House Wins" looks at the injustice of this world, where "you don't have to be alone to be lonely." It features a nice middle section where things break down to simple components before returning to a full band production. In the end, the band's philosophy is simple enough: "you might as well give in."

The band is comprised of Damian Kulash, Jr. (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), Timothy Nordwind (bass, vocals), Dan Konopka (drums) and while the recording also has the guitar, piano and keyboards of Andrew Duncan, he has since left the band and been replaced by Andy Ross.

Oh No seems chock full of potential hits that could fit well beside a playlist that includes Franz Ferdinand, Jet, Spoon, Hot Hot Heat, The Strokes or others. The band has managed to retain the fun and cleverness and power-pop harmonies while rocking far harder and grittier than in the past. It's a consistently engaging album that deserves repeated listens, proof that OK Go can adapt to the times and do it well. They still might not be changing the world with their music, but they've matured in a way that will keep them deservedly in the public's eyes and ears for a time to come.

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Dave Dill
See You In The Sunshine

(Pickled Sun Music)

Release Date: June 16, 2005

www.notlame.com

by Gary Glauber

From Cranston, RI, comes the fourth and arguably best release yet from local singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist pop wunderkind Dave Dill. Dill's ostensibly soft, understated rock sounds are painted with musical colors from a broad classic rock palette. There are hints of many musical predecessors in these lovely original tunes, from Brian Wilson to Paul McCartney to Led Zeppelin and beyond.

Dill is a musical tour-de-force on See You In The Sunshine, not only writing and producing the songs, but acting as recording engineer and playing all the instruments (including all vocals and harmonies). The results are a genial collection of melodic songs driven by an acoustic sensibility and a philosophic lyrical stance that accepts whatever curves life may have in store.

The opener "Starting From Zero" is a sweet ode to eternal conformity, "a circle that never ends," with strong hints of Brian Wilson/Beach Boy influences in the harmonies (and some Steely Dan and intriguing sonic touches as well).

"Hope You Know" is a nice melodic mid-tempo rocker about not being able to express one's love to the object of that love. To me, I hear elements of the mid-1980s , from Wings to a host of others, yet that kind of presentation works with a strong song.

There's a Fender Rhodes, mid-1980s "happy feel" as well to "Along The Way," a song that confronts the difficulties encountered "along the way," that it's often hard to make it when all alone or even when supported by others. As Dill notes, "still you never know." Dill shines on both guitar accent fills and a well-executed solo here.

"Dreams" is a seven-minute song of contemplation that serves as the epic centerpiece of the album. There's a folk-pop aura to it, and a real solo McCartney feel (it's a broad piece that could well be Dill's "Mull of Kintyre"). The lyrics contain poetic musings on escaped dreams and a spiritual journey: "Sewn from the landscape / more spirit than form / and I think I see you / So sad, but there's more / you won't answer / and I won't ask you anything / If dream sold on the side of the road come true / It seems like they just might have escaped from you."

"Snow on Medway" is a lovely instrumental interlude, a minute and a half of sweet guitar as gentle snowfall. The second short interlude is a vocal play on a confession of love that shifts from confession to a more playful "You know you know" (which makes me think about the playfulness of The Beatles' "You Know My Name").

There are many facets to Dill's music. One of these is devoted to a sort of acoustic blues, as witnessed in the wistful "Light In The Canyon," wherein harmonica and sweet guitar-picking evoke visions of the south and the west.

The title song has its share of infectious riffs and harmonies, and again allows Dill to show his virtuoso skills on guitar. The song itself is an assurance of sorts that reflects some of the themes of these other songs, that we're all here together on a long road that is life, through the sunshine, the rain, even the lonely days as well.

My favorite track here is "Train Is Leaving," which strongly recalls some of the sweet earlier acoustic songs of Led Zeppelin. There's no vocal approximation of Robert Plant, but there's an airy jazzy feeling to the strummed guitars, bass and percussion lines. It's another cleanly produced, intricately layered piece of pop heaven, quite literally about not wanting to be late for a leaving train (though I'm sure larger metaphorical meanings are welcomed too). There's a nice locomotive type coda as well, proclaiming "all aboard - don't be late!"

The CD closes with "Further Up, Further In," another song of exploration and searching that has good sonic psychedelic accents, and features some harmonies (and lyrics and rich guitar licks) that recall the likes of early Yes.

With See You In The Sunshine, Dill has created a rich collection that shows more of its style with each listen. There's plenty that hearkens back to other golden eras of music, yet enough originality to stand on its own. Dill's craftsmanship, both in the songwriting and in the execution of the material, is excellent. It's a most impressive one-man show, and puts you on guard to watch for other Dill releases still to come.

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The Click Five
Greetings From Imrie House

(Lava Records)

U.S. Release Date: August 16, 2005

www.theclickfive.com

Take five handsome and talented young musicians playing sweet power-pop with rich harmonies and memorably melodic songs, and market the heck out of 'em. That's the basic formula behind the sunny upcoming success of The Click Five, who seem programmed for stardom, being on the receiving end of their management's full scale media and merchandising whirlwind blitzkrieg (heck, the CD even comes with a trading card of one of the five - collect them all, we're urged!).

Such slick packaging might rub many in much the wrong way, but ruffled feathers should be smoothed by the music itself. Produced and mixed by popmeister Mike Denneen (Aimee Mann, Fountains of Wayne, Guster, Gigolo Aunts), Greetings From Imrie House is a quality collection of eleven songs, all radio-ready; the video for the first single already actively vying for space daily on MTV's TRL.

While there has been outside assistance on the marketing end (the band all dress in matching ties and suits, a throwback to an earlier era), and while there are some guest cameos by established musicians (more on this later), what this quintet of youngsters (none older than 23) has accomplished largely has been due to their own hard work. We're talking impressive Queen-like five-part harmonies and a genuine melodic pop sensibility, the kind that demands songs be memorable.

The backbone of The Click Five certainly would be the contributions of keyboardist Ben Romans, who has written or co-written eight of the eleven offerings here. While his keyboard sounds occasionally echo the type of melody counterpoint effectively done by The Cars' Greg Hawkes, Romans has a solid respect for what has gone before; his songcraft benefits from his knowledge of pop history.

All five of the band members cut their musical teeth while in various Boston-are high school bands, doing originals and covers, covering a wide realm of styles. They later came together in the apartment building that lends its name to this CD, a sort of rock fraternity house with occasional heating problems. Lead guitarist Joe Guese recalls that they all wanted to play a similar style of music. He and bassist Ethan Mentzer and drummer Joey Zehr joined Romans there in Boston. They just needed a frontman, and Zehr recruited his friend, lead vocalist and guitarist Eric Dill, who had just finished at Purdue University.

The rest, as they say, is history. While the band has only been together two years, those have been some hard-working times. Starting at Boston's club scene (including a three-month residency at the Paradise), the band later ventured into fronting arena-sized concerts by the likes of Alanis Morissette, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac and Ashlee Simpson. Everything went well, and the hard work continues. The band recently has been on tour with Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, Lifehouse, Aaron Carter and Tyler Hilton.

The CD opens with an infectious Mentzer/Romans ditty entitled "Good Day," a three-minute sparkle piece that features tight, crunchy guitars and even tighter harmonies. It's boy band meets The Cars meets contemporary pop, all kinds of time-tested pop tricks are on display - this band knows its stuff.

That's even more evident with the band's first single, the very catchy "Just The Girl." Borrowing a song from the drawer of known pop-hit-writing commodity Adam Schlessinger of Fountains of Wayne (and Ivy and The Oneders from That Thing You Do!). The band execute Schlessinger's writing par excellence, displaying perfect nuance in both vocal and instrumental hooks. The lyrics are standard fare about a love for a mysterious girl who doesn't respond in kind, though I do like this line: "She laughs at my dreams, but I dream about her laughter / strange as it seems, she's the one I'm after."

"Catch Your Wave" opens with big guitars that work a variation of the MTV theme. Again, the song proves highly catchy, a sweet confection of harmony and melody (with peppy yet subtle keyboard accents). "Resign" is yet another dulcet offering, playing like some upbeat new age song from a quarter century ago (but with better vocals and harmonies).

There are two covers here. One is another Adam Schlessinger song, "I'll Take My Chances," originally done by the ultra-talented Swirl 360 (who are changing their name to Killing Sky prior to a new release coming soon), the other is the Thompson Twins song "Lies." The Click Five manage to cover these songs in their particular slick pop fashion, laying claim to versions that work well enough, particularly on "Lies." That rendition might be enough to send people to their closets in search of skinny ties.

"Friday Night" is their anthem rocker, an ode to a predetermined time for teenage lust (and a day away from The Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night," another well-packaged hit from another era).

There's a slightly harder rocking edge to the guitar-driven song that Romans co-wrote with Kiss' Paul Stanley, "Angel To You (Devil To Me)." Perhaps this is due to the guest guitar cameo by The Cars' Elliot Easton (who proves he still is the master of the twenty-second lead bridge, even after all these years). It's perhaps the most powerful song here, and another polished group effort.

The likely follow-up single would be "Pop Princess," a Romans song that seems destined to be on the playlist of every girl of the current MTV generation's iPod. Here, The Click Five come across very much as this year's OK Go or Rooney, making all the right power pop moves.

The band pulls out the strings (Larissa Maestro-Scherer on cello, Ruth Collins on violin) at the start of "Time Machine," adding another element to their pop arsenal. It's a great song with nice changes of mood and tempo, replete with a bounty of incredible harmonies.

The closer is a nice mid-tempo ditty bemoaning the fact that there's no easy way to communicate the end of things called, appropriately enough, "Say Goodnight." It's a pleasant ending to a very polished debut album.

Boston is no stranger to pre-packaged bands surrounded by hype (can anyone say "New Kids on the Block"?), but these five seem to have more talent than most. As a result, they deserve the success that no doubt already is headed their way. This is light fare, sunny harmony-drenched guitar pop that should find appeal for youngsters (girls love 'em, boys want to be 'em) and for oldsters too (recalling bands like The Cars and other new age memories). Young or old, *Greetings From Imrie House* serves up some tantalizingly infectious listening, melodic power pop that should extend the summer well into the fall.

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The Pozers
Embrace Your Addiction

(6th Floor Records)

Release Date: March 15, 2005

www.notlame.com

The music world is over-populated with trios ironically capable of playing only three rock chords in limited variations, bands that sound generic and mundane and tired. Thankfully, The Pozers are anything but that. Each of these three band members (Jim Richey, Kenny Swann, Jeff Hamm) from Dallas, Texas, sings, writes and plays multiple instruments. As such, The Pozers tend to break down the typical limits associated with a rock trio. The CD booklet contains this quotation from poet William Blake, "I must create a system of my own or be enslaved by another man's." It's obvious The Pozers seek a system of their own.

On this, their fifth release, there's a wide variety of sounds on display. There's a sort of "concept" feel to Embrace Your Addiction, songs separated by short audio clips from stage, screen and elsewhere that serve to punctuate and emphasize the music that follows.

If there's a unifying theme to this collection of 13 new songs, it's one of memories - that which is gone, but not forgotten.

The CD opens with "The Time and Place," one of Richey's compositions. It's a song of reflection and contemplation, with idle time available to ponder past regrets. There are pleasant harmonies and crunch to the pop, along with unexpected tempo shifts (from psychedelic-tinged pop to something more powerful) that elevate this above your standard pop-rock offering. There are adept lyrical flourishes as well: "Every single little word or phrase, every stage, is locked in my head / And I'm cursed to relive every single one of them until I'm dead."

Swann gives his spin on the past with "Cindy See," a song that connects to one's inner Fountains of Wayne. Cindy's gone as a lover, but her memory lives on to drive him insane, and the guitars drive home the point effectively in another melodic tune. Richey's "Lucky Face" takes a similar musical approach ("your lucky face is all I have to remember"), but raises some interesting generational explanations too (All of the normalcy that's thrust upon our age / we can't be blamed for living beyond our years, beyond our fears." John Lennon adds a sweet spoken coda to the track.

Even what seems to be a regular rock song is so much more - "Starving Artist" name-checks Nietzche, James Dean, Lennon and Marx and more, in pointing out what bohemian ideology is tossed when opening a restaurant to "feed his wallet and his mind."

Hamm notes that in "trying to write a song, that I'm trying to right a wrong." He does a very nice job of that with "Whether," a clever lyric-laden jaunt that takes a stoic stance on how things remain in a certain static condition, regardless of what goes on: "Whether we start or if we're through, what you think I think of you, whether we've got a thing to do, no matter what, it's still the same."

The verses of "When Intellects Collide" ride on top of a sweet walking bass line, a song that speaks up for the unspoken, heralding passion and the fears of letting too much love ruin a good thing (it also name-checks the film The Purple Rose of Cairo and its way of mingling artifice with what's real).

"What's The Story?" contrasts sweet lyrics of an all-consuming love with hard-rocking guitars that nearly drown out the vocals (with the exception of a "borrowed" musical line from The Beatles' "Here There and Everywhere"). Again, not standard pop-rock fare, and that's to The Pozers credit.

"Sunshine (Smiling Faces)" is another strange amalgam of styles that manages to work well (it features some fine guitar solos too). In the title track, The Pozers blend heavily psychedelic elements with hard rock noise, mixing cacophony with melody, shifting phases, moving in and out as the lyrics explore opposites ("you're everyone, you're no one" and "focusing darkness only concentrates the light").

The moon figures in two songs here. "Under The Moon" is another song of reminisce, an exploration of what could have been, a youth that ended too soon. "Lunar Eclipse" takes arena rock and infuses it with punk energy, a melodic ditty about a game-playing vixen known for breaking hearts and getting her way.

Another song that dwells about what could have been so long ago is "Hopefully," a power ballad of sorts that weighs longing versus letting go. "Everybody's High," the album closer, starts off with bong water bubbles as percussion and segues into a pseudo-rap general condemnation of the world today: "Everybody wants and everybody needs, everybody's filled with 2 tons of greed, Everybody lives and everybody loves, nobody wants to put on the gloves, everybody lives and everybody dies…everybody's high." There's a lot of lyrics here, and the song extends over five minutes, but it never seems too much.

The Pozers continue to refine their sound, and are well-served by having three distinct songwriters at work. Embrace Your Addiction does a laudable job of combining intelligence, humor, street-cred, and sarcasm within music that contains elements of what's gone before, but often strives to do new things with them. This is far from your typical rock trio, and for potential listeners, that's a very good thing.

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