The Other Side Of The Galaxy 08.19.05: 4 Reviews And A Wedding
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 08.19.2005
Jason Mraz, Orange Park, Dido Live and Better Than Ezra, plus I dance. No lie.
I’ve been writing quite often about the environments and situations in which music has played a part of my life. In the process I have slightly neglected discussing some current releases at a time when I’m currently in one of my “spending sprees” that I get into. Sometimes I just want to find new music—either new releases or new artists, or else wise just catch up to some older purchases that were on my “Buy eventually” list.. So this column will be an attempt to play catch up, with mini reviews of four recent purchases.
Jason Mraz—Mr. A-Z Atlantic Records
This is Jason Mraz’s follow up to his break-through hit album Waiting For My Rocket to Come, which contained “Remedy” and “You and I Both”, both radio heavy singles. Mraz’s style is to be the self proclaimed “wizard of oohs and ahhs”, concentrating on flow and the interaction between words—“it’s all about the wordplay” he reminds us in the first single “Wordplay. It’s a word and idea that Mraz loves to use and to include in his lyrics—and with good reason. Mraz does a pretty fly for a white guy job of rhyme and clever puns on most of his songs. The style works particular well on fast paced tracks, including the songs “Geek in the Pink” and “Clockwatching”. The latter song in particular is probably the album’s highlight with the stop and start rhythm that is sewn wonderfully into the fabric of the song.
The song style, like Mr. A-Z’s previous albums is a fusion of mainstream friendly guitar rock as well as blues and dance influences. Sometimes this combination works—“O. Love”, and sometimes they fail miserably—“Did You Get My Message?”. “Geek in the Pink” falls somewhere right in the middle. These fusions of musical genres seem to be following in the line of the compositions of Justin Timberlake, Jamiroquai and Michael Jackson—hip hop rock. It’s a bastard chemical composition with explosive results whether they be positive or negative. In the end, it’s the more straightforward, boppy rock songs such as that make the better impression. Later, more dramatic numbers such as “Plane”, “Please Don’t Tell Her” and “Song for a Friend” are excellently executed, but other numbers such as “Bella Luna” “Mr. Curiosity” and “The Forecast” make you want to excellently execute the album about of your stereo system. As it turns out, it’s not all about the wordplay after all. Mraz’s lyrical skill is not enough to make this album rise above a middle of the road record, albeit a listenable one.
Rating: 6.0
Orange Park—Songs From The Unknown Young American
This was a “just because I want to buy” and it paid off dividends… this is a very good find. This debut from Orange Park kind of reminds me of The Marvelous 3—upbeat rock that is commercial enough to get crossover attention doesn’t get too poppy for its own good. This is a solid rock album all the way through, with fast and catchy (“Save Me”) intermingling with more intense and deep (“Once In My Life”). Other highlights include, “Sorry”, “Miles Away”, “Half as Much” and “You and Everyone Else” That song in particular has some excellent harmonies and seems to have the biggest rock out moment. It takes a lot for an album to keep rocking even towards the deep tracks, and this album does keep the rock quotient up there. It’s also a good driving or travel album. I wish there was more to say, but this is one of hose albums where a recommendation should just speak for itself. Listen to this album and you won’t be disappointed.
Rating: 7.0
Dido Live (at the Brixton Academy)—CD/DVD BMG
This is a DVD and CD combo pack of a late 2004 recording in Dido’s home country of England—and the hometown advantage clearly is evident, as this is one of the finest concert DVD releases I’ve heard in quite sometime. Usually its difficult to maintain a quality concert performance with some kind of longevity when the artist only has two albums out, but Dido seemingly does it with ease. She takes 17 out of the 24 tracks she has in her repertoire and makes the right musical choices in how they are performed so that they sound fresh, vibrant and important. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dido’s new album, but the live interpretations on the new material such as “Sand In My Shoes” and “See You When You’re 40” helped to breathe new life into these songs and made me come around to them once again. It also helped to have many favorites from Dido’s debut album represented, including “Honestly Ok”, “Take My Hand” and “Hunter”. All of Dido’s singles are represented on the album, including beautiful renditions of “All You Want” and “White Flag”.
The concert is filmed beautifully, with excellent color quality and dramatic sound quality even in Dolby 2.0. The cameras don’t cut excessively between Dido and her players but rather gives each considerable time to make an impression on the viewers’ eyes. From time to time there are even some surprising moments of camera work, such as the revealing of wind chimes underneath a keyboard. In addition, Dido’s between song dialogue is endearing and honest, giving new insight into the meanings behind songs such as “Take My Hand” (about her wanting to experience sex as an adolescent” and “Life For Rent” (which Dido explain she wrote when he apartment burned down and she was at her lowest moments). This is one example of that rare type of concert DVD’s where you actually get to understand what is going on behind the music, as opposed to the usual fluff explanations from the performer.
The CD that is included as a bonus features twelve of the seventeen cuts from the DVD, and the right choices were made in the representation of the concert. Overall, this was not only a worthwhile buy but one that blew away my preconceived expectations. This is a must purchase for Dido fans and well worth a listen for anyone else. Rating: 8.5
Better Than Ezra—Before The Robots Artemis Records
Better Than Ezra released a new album earlier in the year, which went mostly disregarded. However, this release was also a pleasant surprise as far as quality went. Sometimes Better Than Ezra has the tendency for their music to become a bit over-dramatic and almost compulsory, but when they get the balance between emotion and explosion right, the band comes into its own. This release is no exception, as lead singer Kevin Griffin’s intonations are sometimes restrained and touching (“Daylight”, “Breathless”), sometimes emotional and captivating (“Special”, “Our Last Night”) and sometimes just over saccharine and obnoxious (“It’s Only Natural”). There are also sometimes when Griffin and the entire band’s music starts to sound eerily like U2 as far as bombast and over-indulgence. “Special” seems to follow The Edge’s style of guitar work, but it is an excellent homage and a fine song in its own right. “Overcome” works as a Bono-led ballad to less effect.
It is the songs that are clearly in the Better Than Ezra style that come through the most effectively—the aforementioned “Daylight”, “American Dream”, “A Southern Thing” “Juicy” and “Hollow” all ring true and are excellent inclusions to the album. “American Dram” in particular is a shining example of the “storyteller” type song that carries through a theme. “Somebody woke me up before I found my American Dream”, is what we find several characters saying in their life experiences. It’s a thought-provoking concept wrapped in brilliant guitar work and intonation. BTE also re-recorded “A Lifetime”, from their previous album Closer. While I thought the earlier version was fine as it was, this revamp does change the song for the better, especially with the electric guitar pulsing through the verses and solos. Overall, this is a very well done release that deserves more attention and more sampling from inquisitive consumers.
Rating: 7.5
A Wedding
So last week, on the hottest day of the year here in New York, I was an usher at my close friend’s Tracy and Scott’s wedding at the church in Columbia University. Aside from my rented suit pants snapping off at the house of the bride before we left and the insane amount of sweat I lost while in the bird suit, it was probably one of the most fun and most enjoyable days I’ve ever had in my life. The father of the bride took care of those falling pants with some pins and suspenders, and while I was not exactly the most confident they wouldn’t fall off half way through the wedding vows, they held up remarkably well. As far as the heat goes, well, vast amounts of water were consumed before the ceremony, at the receiving line (which was outside on a near by bridge that connected the campus area) and at least the air conditioning was turned up to the max in the dressing area and the reception hall.
Now there are two remarkable things concerning music that must be mentioned. The first would be the betrothed’s first dance, which was to Ben Folds’ ”The Luckiest” and performed live by the bride’s brother Joe and another close friend April. Together, they used to play in a small Brooklyn band called echoic before full time jobs and college separated the band’s players. Together, these two performed a beautiful duet of the song and the married newlyweds were very taken by the emotions of the moment. The second remarkable thing of the night was that I… actually…danced. Yes, I have to admit that any all reports you hear of me cutting moves on the dance floor are in fact one hundred percent accurate. Now, this is significant because I almost NEVER dance—I never go out to clubs to dance and I certainly don’t like to break out some smooth moves at receptions. I don’t know whether it was the Pinot or just the fact that I was surrounded by all of my closest friends and no one would tease me whether or not I was doing well or if I sucked (and surprisingly I did pretty well for myself), but I was out there, doing my thang. Don’t expect to catch me doing it again, but for a while, all that mattered that night was dancing and having fun…and not losing my pants. I think I succeeded on all three accounts.
