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Contents: ABBA, Ryan Adams, Aerosmith, Tori Amos, Arcade Fire, At The Drive In
ABBA
The Best Of (1975)
While ABBA wrote some fine pop songs later in their career, it certainly took them a while to get to the level of 'Knowing Me Knowing You', 'Dancing Queen' and 'The Name Of The Game'. Listening to this mid career compilation, it's a wonder that they managed to retain faith in their own ability, let alone a record contract. The most appealing aspect of ABBA's best work was the intricate production of Bjorn and Benny, creating delightful mini-pop symphonies. Throughout most of the songs here, they are still honing their craft and the results are often clumsy. While ABBA's lyrics never progressed far beyond the realms of boy and girl, they did gain a lot more subtlety at some point.
The only two songs on The Best Of that rank with ABBA's best are 'Mamma Mia' and 'S.O.S.', contrasting tense verses against soaring choruses, while the silly 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' somehow carries through on a wave of euphoria. Elsewhere, there's plenty of potential but even more crudity. Banal themes pervade 'Ring Ring', 'Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)' and 'Bang-A-Boomerang', while 'Nina, Pretty Ballerina' isn't any better than its title suggests. 'Honey Honey' is almost a good song, until it gestates into a cheesy duet. Worst of all is 'People Need Love', with a disgusting pseudo- reggae arrangement and a hideous key change. ABBA did develop significantly beyond this point; this compilation simply has too few diamonds buried in too much rough. And ABBA are a group who appeal to children, so there's no good reason for Anna-Frid to show so much leg on the rear sleeve.
Gold (1992)
This career spanning retrospective is much better, hitting all the high spots like 'S.O.S.', 'Fernando', 'Take A Chance on Me', and 'The Name of the Game'. There are still far too much cheesy pop toss-offs to make this a consistently enjoyable listen, especially the New Zealand version which concentrates too much on their early career with irritating songs like 'Ring Ring' and 'Rock Me'. But when Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus manage to pitch their musical ambitions at an appropriate level, with creative arrangements and lovely harmonies, they produced some of the most enduring pop music of the 1970s. Like all accomplished pop writers, they are adept at writing memorable choruses, but often the verses and the bridge have their own set of hooks and are equally catchy. The arrangements are often meticulous; even though there's often little experimentation with texture, there are lots of interesting instrumental hooks that liven up the songs. While the lyrics are mostly relationship based, there's often a degree of sophistication that's unexpected for a group that has English as its second language; there's a trajectory from the unmitigated ecstasy of 'Dancing Queen' and 'Waterloo', through the bittersweet nature of 'The Name of the Game' and 'Knowing Me, Knowing You', to the post-relationship analysis of 'One of Us' and 'The Winner Takes It All.'
There are lots of spectacular highlights: the beautiful 'The Name Of The Game', with a nice subtle horn part, has a stripped down arrangement that never becomes overbearing, 'Take A Chance On Me' has a wonderfully creative a capella introduction, 'Dancing Queen' is infectiously fun, while 'The Winner Takes It All' is a heart rending ballad. Unfortunately, for every gem there's a song that's eminently skippable; 'Money, Money, Money', 'Ring Ring' and 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' are all repetitive and grating, the disco oriented songs ('Lay All Your Love On Me', 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)') aren't as commendable as the other songs from their later era, while the Benny-fronted 'Rock Me' and 'Does Your Mother Know' are ultimately disposable. 'Chitiquitita', 'Fernando' and 'Voulez Vous' are all good individually, but placing them all in sequence indicates some sort of strange ethnic fixation formula. I'm sure there's one great ABBA compilation waiting to be made, with a whole album full of sophisticated pop, but they're obviously obligated to pander to public taste and include all the songs that were hits at the time. As it stands, Gold is pretty uneven, with some of the best pop music ever made and some of the most irritating.
Ryan Adams
Gold (2001)
The former leader of alt-country outfit Whiskeytown, Adams launched an incredibly prolific solo career with 2000's Heartbreaker. Since then, he's been recording solo releases at a phenomenal rate, while still having time to play rock's bad boy, talk himself up incessantly and date a succession of movie stars and actresses. He's developed a reputation for being difficult, he even walked out of a concert when a fan suggested that he play 'Summer Of '69'. He even plays the rock star part to perfection in the liner notes, thanking everyone from "The Grateful Dead and Black Flag at the same time" to "Winona Ryder...dam girl" at the same time; got to maintain that musical credibility and that celebrity status. While previous album Heartbreaker is largely grounded in country music, Adams is far more concerned with ripping off classic rock for this release; it's a breath of fresh air to hear the rootsy instruments featured constantly. Adams knows how to surround himself with talent, using producer Ethan Johns, Heartbreakers' keyboard player Benmont Tench and Chris (son of Stephen) Stills to help create an authentic rock sound.
As great as this record may sound, however, it doesn't stop it from being hopelessly derivative, bloated and self-indulgent. At every turn, Adams seems to be plagiarising somebody, whether it's Gram Parsons, Neil Young, The Stones, or The Replacements; they're all mixed into his giant grab bag. If 'Answering Bell' is one of the most memorable songs on the record, it's mostly because we've heard it before; it's hard not to conclude that it's a direct lift of Van Morrison's 'And It Stoned Me' with a little of The Band's 'The Weight' mixed in for good measure. Along with 'Answering Bell', the other memorable song here is 'New York, New York', with an upbeat arrangement that's positively dynamic compared to the tepid nature of most of the other songs. Aside from these two songs, there's just nothing else interesting here; I've scanned through Gold a few times trying to find something else worthwhile, but in vain. It's all quite listenable, it's well produced and well executed, but most of the material is rote; Adams reinforcing his lonesome country bad boy persona over a series of routine chord sequences. Most of these songs are good, but they're merely product and come across as artificial and hollow. For those not familiar with classic early seventies rock albums like Sticky Fingers or After The Gold Rush, Gold may seem impressive, but it's just not particularly captivating. I've heard Heartbreaker, and its stripped back and emotive performances are far more interesting; Adams just isn't the rock and roll saviour that he poses as on this album.
Aerosmith
The Best Of (1980)
I'm a sucker for most lauded classic rock bands, but Aerosmith are a definite exception. Musically, they're nothing more than a solid rock band, while Steve Tyler is the most irritating front man you'll meet in a month of Fridays. That's certainly not enough to earn Aerosmith a place in the upper pantheon of rock: The Who invented punk, Led Zeppelin popularised heavy metal, while Aerosmith's major contribution to posterity is the power ballad. Actually, 'Dream On' is my favourite song on this album; it has an appealing early morning optimism that contrasts with the predictable late night decadence (a consequence of listening to The Rolling Stones too much) that's on show for the rest of the album. Elsewhere, there's not too much to report; a whole slew of riff-rockers followed by a cover of The Beatles' 'Come Together' that adds nothing to the original, and a turgid arrangement of 'Remember (Walking In The Sand)'. 'Walk This Way' stands out among the riff-rockers because it has the catchiest riff, but the 1986 Run DMC collaboration knocks the spots off the original. The Best Of earns some respectability, because Aerosmith's basic sound is appealing and their musicianship is solid enough, but I'd suggest exploring large portions of The Rolling Stones' catalogue before bothering with this unimaginative imitation.
Tori Amos
Little Earthquakes (1992)
After a stint fronting the apparently disastrous hard rock band Y Cant Tori Read in the late eighties, Amos reinvented herself as a Kate Bush-style singer-pianist for her solo debut. The Kate Bush comparison is almost inevitable, as many of Amos' vocal mannerisms are similar, and they're both slightly offbeat, although Amos lacks Bush's mystical leanings, defining herself instead through more of a social and sexual agenda. This agenda, particularly the rape retelling of 'Me And A Gun' and the infamous line "So you can make me come/That doesn't make you Jesus" in 'Precious Things', does tend to distract both her and everyone else from her obvious musical ability, which is a shame, as she's a talented pianist and her mastery of piano-pop on the best tracks here is among the best in its genre. Further underlining her musical ability, she also handles some of the string parts on synthesiser, and does a terrific job.
As long as the music's good, I'm not too fussed about pointed and sometimes plain bad lyrics (eg "I don't believe you're leaving/'Cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream"), and four or five of these songs are flat out excellent. Opening 'Crucify' is another song that's not going to win Amos too many fans in the Bible-belt, but it's still a strong hook-filled opener. 'Silent All These Years' scores with its effective middle eight, and 'Winter' is an excellent ballad with passable lyrics on Amos' father-daughter relationship. 'Happy Phantom' is the most blatantly Kate Bush-style piece, while 'Tear In Your Hand' is perhaps the album's best song with its dramatic piano riff. Unfortunately, not all of the record is of the same standard; the first half is far stronger than the second, and the last two songs is particular hardly have a single musical idea between them. I'm not planning a Tori Amos page anytime soon, especially Little Earthquakes is generally regarded as one of her best albums and even here her lyrical agenda can be somewhat overwhelming, but this record has its moments, and fans of intelligent pop should give it a whirl.
At The Drive In can be found on the Mars Volta page
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