It is sad that a band like Garbage (with no offense to the
\nband’s talented members and the quality music that they make) has
\ngained such acclaim and popularity for its ‘unique and seminal’
\nbrand of rock music, when much before Garbage was even formed, a
\nband named Curve had introduced to the world the same sound, and
\nfailed to catch substantial attention of critics and the public
\nalike, despite its musical superiority to Garbage. As a matter of
\nfact, during the time
\nCuckoo<\/i> was released, Butch Vig from Garbage had just
\nfinished producing one of the finest grunge albums of the nineties
\n(Smashing Pumpkins’
\nSiamese Dreams<\/i>), after having basked under the spotlight for
\nthe gargantuan success of his earlier collaboration — with
\nNirvana, to produce one the most influential albums of all time (
\nNevermind<\/i>): Garbage was nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n
In the early nineties, grunge was big. “Electronica-rock,” which
\nis “the” music of the present times, was still in the nascent
\nstage. Such was the time, when the Halliday \/ Garcia duo of Curve
\nreleased
\nCuckoo<\/i>. With the underground music-scene teeming with grunge
\nbands, an electronica-rock album like
\nCuckoo<\/i> was out of place, and ahead of the times. What is
\neven more unique about this band and this album is the strong
\nfemale presence, in the form of Toni Halliday. With her beautiful
\nvocals — angry yet forgiving — in the midst of loud layered
\ndistortion and winning the battle over the synthesized melodic
\ncacophony, Toni and her band-mate Dean Garcia can be said as the
\nharbingers of the “feminist-industrial” sound, which is now the
\nstyle of music for a number of female-led rock bands.<\/p>\n
Leave alone the argument of whether Curve was ahead of its time
\nor not, as an album,
\nCuckoo<\/i> excels. Not in accordance with its hard-hitting first
\nsingle “Missing Link,” which is probably the only actual hard rock
\nsong of the album, the rest of
\nCuckoo<\/i> is sophisticated, melodious and layered. With live
\ndrums used sparingly (to be precise, on just three songs), the
\nalbum is full of interesting drum-scapes, supported by
\nconspicuously groovy bass-lines. The layered guitars have a lush
\n“shoegazer” effect, which suit perfectly to Toni Halliday’s smooth
\nand melodic vocals, and her laidback gothic style.<\/p>\n
The lyrics are quite smart in a lot of places. In the rather
\nindustrial “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,” Toni wraps up
\nthe whole song in one line: “We won’t be happy till we kill each
\nother.” Or, in “Turkey Crossing,” the words, “All my traits are
\ncharming \/ I know you know that \/ they live beyond their means \/
\nyou might consider that a failure \/ I am finished with you, please
\nbe finished with me” are sung bluntly, giving an added lyrical
\neffect to the textured guitar work of the song. Of course there is
\nan appreciable “feminine” presence in the lyrics: “My mind was
\nbigger than the world, my choice was being born a girl\u2026I
\nunderstand when your patience deserts you\u2026I think I’ve loved
\nbut I am not sure \/ can someone tell me what I’m here for?”
\ncaptures Toni in a woebegone and somber tone, as she ends
\nCuckoo<\/i> with the touching and sensitive title song.<\/p>\n
For its brilliant production (the album is primarily produced by
\nthe industrial guru, Flood, who has worked with the likes of Nine
\nInch Nails, Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins and U2, assisted by
\nAlan Moulder), its smart lyrics, and its mesmerizing singing
\nperformance,
\nCuckoo<\/i> is definitely one of the best albums of the nineties.
\nAdd to all this, its seminal sound, and you get what is called a
\n“must buy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":26768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7050],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38040","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-curve","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38040"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}