DTH Omnibus Page 5
Thursday October 26, 1989
IMUSHC
Baroque pop must be heard for full effect
Grapes of Wrath
Now and Again
Capitol-EMI Canada
Doug Edmunds
o:
nee upon a time in the short,
I sordid history of rock'n'roll,
bands thought it rather hip
to blend classical music into their
sound.
Two good examples of this prac
tice are the Stones' "As Tears Go
By" and the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby."
But the band that personified this
baroque pop best of all was the Left
Banke, whose biggest hits "Walk
Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina"
showed how tasteful orchestral ac
companiment could be incorporated
well into a pop-rock format.
Nearly 25 years later, in a period
when Zeppelin-style crunch and hip
hop dominate the alternative air
waves, Canada's the Grapes of Wrath
have released Now And Again, one
of the catchiest and most refreshing
albums of 1989.
The record stands out not just
because it avoids the current trend
of "louder is better," for there are
plenty of bands exploring quieter and
generally more melodic styles in
today's scene. What makes the dif
ference here is the seamless blend of
memorable hook-filled guitar rock and
delicate, orchestrated melodies a
blend not heard (or at least not pre
sented this well and this consistently)
since the Left Banke's brief success
in the mid '60s.
Big deal, some might say. Left
Banke? Delicate, orchestrated melo
dies? Baroque pop?! But the Grapes
of Wrath transcend this enthusiastic
critic's feeble attempts to describe
their music.
Now And Again must be heard to
be appreciated fully.
The album begins with the haunt
ing, somber "All the Things I Wasn't,"
a song which confronts the guilt,
resentment and sorrow that result
from a parent's false expectations for
his or her child. Guitarist Kevin Kane
and bassist Tom Hooper harmonize
beautifully over a lush arrangement
including acoustic guitar, cello and
oboe. Drummer Chris Hooper and
organistpianist Vincent Jones join
in on track two, jumping out of the
mix after Kane's Dylanesque acous
tic intro.
Here, and throughout the LP, pro
ducer Anton Fier, (the creative force
behind the Golden Palominos and a
talented drummer in his own right),
maintains a clean, well-balanced mix
that emphasizes the band's strong
melodic sensibilities.
The next three songs are straight
forward, rocking pop at its most in
fectious. "Do You Want to Tell Me?"
sounds like a combination of current
Let's Active and Redd Kross, while
"The Most" is full of unexpected
chord changes and a knock-out cho
rus that is impossible to resist. Clos
ing side one is another quiet orches
trated piece, "Blind," which features
a pretty string arrangement and an
gelic "la-la-la" backup vocals.
Now And Again's flip side contains
an equal amount of solid grooves,
soaring harmonies and great melo
dies, and includes some nice pedal
steel guitar on a few tracks cour
tesy of long-time session cat "Sneaky"
Pete Kleinow. There's no real stand
out cut on this side, and the songs
tend to blur together more than on
side one.
The songwriting is still strong,
however, and the last tune, ". . . But
I Guess We'll Never Know," provides
an outro which, like the LP's open
ing track, engages the listener with
its understatement and spare arrange
ment. Some records ask to be interpreted
lyrically as much as musically, while
others require a less rigorous criti
cism based more on general sense
impressions. The Grapes of Wrath's
latest LP falls into this latter cate
gory. The power of the disc lies in its
overall sound and its songs' carefully
crafted arrangements; and again, it's
the kind of record that must be heard
to be appreciated fully. Now And
Again will' probably get lost in the
shuffle of trend ier current releases,
but anyone who appreciates classic
pop rock should investigate the
Grapes of Wrath's latest offering.
It may be formula rock, but this is fluff with an edge
Babylon A.D.
Babylon A.D.
Arista
OOO 12
Alisa DeMao
Ihave a weakness for men in lots
of leather, with big hair. I freely
admit it. I'm not a closet met
alhead l'm perfectly open and
honest about it. And I'm not sorry
about it either.
Metal has suddenly become the
bandwagon of the music business,
with every group in the world pull
ing on spandex and perming their
hair in the hope of making it big.
Take it from a veteran of the B.B.J.
(Before Bon Jovi) era that is not
what metal is about. Real bands don't
wear leather because it's cool, real
bands wear leather because it's easy
to wash take a walk in the rain.
We claim no responsibility for the
bubble-gum bleach blondes currently
dominating the airwaves.
But bands like Babylon A.D. are
where the labels start getting fuzzy,
and you're forced to throw them into
the catch-all category of hard rock.
Babylon is a band that manages to
bridge some kind of musical gap be
tween the all-out raunch'n'roll finally
making a debut on the music scene
and the pop metal dominating the
charts these days. In a word, they are
accessible; fluff with an edge.
Their self-titled debut album on
Arista Records exemplifies this. It is
Arista's first metal release, allowing
both the band and the record com
pany to play it safe while being mildly
innovative. This album really breaks
no new ground it does nothing
that has never been done before. But
it is incredibly good at what it does
do: producing catchy generic hard
rock in the hope of expanding its
audience. This is an album that mu
sical snobs will know they're not sup
posed to like, but can't quite help
themselves.
I feel compelled to point out that
the album isn't perfect. I do solemnly
swear to never, never, never, read the
lyrics before I listen to a tape, ever
again. "Every time you lick my hand
My heart begins to kick" was not the
ideal way to start off a relationship
with Babylon A.D.
But they do have some good hooks.
The main problem seems to be that
everything is a hook, the end result
being hopelessly cliche. Fire-desire
my woman done me wrongwild in
the street is a time-honored formula,
but this amounts to overkill. Lyri
cally they bear a striking resemblance
to Gorky Park, but come on guys,
the Russians had an excuse. English
is a second language and they were
trying to sound like every other
American band.
Derek, the lead singer, does well
with the material he has to work
with; what I really want to know is,
what is this guy's last name? Drum-
Lyricdtlyjthey sound
like Gorky Park, but
the Russians had an
excuse . English is a
secondlanguage.
mer Jamey Pacheco and bassist Robb
Reid provide an infectious rhythm
that more than makes up for any
lyrical flaws, however. If these guys
could bring their lyrics up to the level
of their musical arrangement, they
could have a musical monster on their
hands. Tracks like "Bang Go the
Bells" and "Hammer Swings Down"
make you sing along despite the words.
Reminiscent of (now defunct)
Dokken or latter-day KISS, Babylon
combines a driving yet melodic
rhythm with power guitar. Guitarists
Ron Freschi and Danny DeLaRosa
are no better but no worse
than any metal guitarists. The po
tential is there, but again they're
banging their heads against a for
mula wall.
It's music you can dance to, or
music you can bang your head to
it depends on what mood you're in. I
know this seems hard to believe, but
it's true.
The obligatory power ballad "Des
perate" is there. With bands like Skid
Row and Guns N' Roses opening up
the radio market for a harder edge,
Babylon's first single "Hammer Swings
Down" has the potential for hit status.
The real jewel of the album, how
ever, is the bluesy "Sally Danced."
Buried at the end of the B side, this
Sunday OruiiGEi at Grooli's
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942-1740
dedication to the memory of Lean
dra Cobb, an erotic B-movie actress,
is perhaps the band's best work.
Babylon has the potential to be
come more than another Top 40
metal sensation. On the other hand,
they also have the connections to
avoid the RattDokken Syndrome in
which bands score a couple of radio
hits (or none at all) and become in
credibly successful within the sub
culture while no one outside of it has
even heard of you. Arista played it
safe with their maiden metal release.
Babylon A.D. is formula, but at least
it's good formula.
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