3 Out of 5 Stars Art Alexakis took the disappointments and tragedies of his life and wrote intensely personal songs about them. In 1995, this turned him into a rock star when a song about his girlfriend's suicide became an alternative hit in "Santa Monica." While Everclear wasn't doing anything groundbreaking musically, Alexakis was an oldster by the young grunge standards. His adulthood (he was already in his 30's when the hits started) helped the two best Everclear albums, Sparkle and Fade
and So Much for the Afterglow
, come off as both inspired and mature.
The hits from "Afterglow" are probably the best knows and the band's high water mark. "Father Of Mine" and "I Will Buy You a New Life" were universally understandable. Alexakis has a distinctive voice, and the band had an "Everclear" sound. As would be expected though, success took some of the edge off even if it still led to a couple of good slices of pop-rock like "Wonderful" (the band's biggest chart hit) and the hooky "AM radio." "AM Radio" also was part of what made Everclear such an odd bird in the modern rock world. Alexakis was singing about listening to transistor radios and watching "Chico and The Man" to kids that probably didn't know either.
Interestingly enough, Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile
became the band's highest charting album, and five of this album's 21
songs are from that album (Billboard peak #9). I kind of felt the band
had gotten ahead of itself by this point (and the "Vol II" of this
pairing), and the main single from Slow Motion Daydream
,
"Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" seemed a more interesting title than song.
But "New York Times" is up their with Alexakis' best songs (written
post-9/11).
There are some bonus cuts here, with a pair of soundtrack singles. "The Boys are Back In Town" cover is respectable (Detroit Rock City) and "Local God" was one of the better songs from William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. There are a pair of new songs, "Sex With a Movie Star" and "The New Disease," both good. "Ten Years Gone" sums up Everclear well, a good decade for these West Coast rockers.
No comments:
Post a Comment