If there’s one particular flaw of “jam oriented” bands, it lies
\nin their albums. Skimming through my collection to find an album to
\nreview, I fished through my “jam band” section. Big Head Todd and
\nthe Monsters, Dave Matthews Band, Rusted Root and Phish to be
\nparticular. And to be honest, each album from these artists are not
\na bad investment at all. But, I’ve used each of these CDs as more
\nfor “mood music” than appreciating the impact of one particular
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
A deck of cards, a six pack of beer and a couple of friends
\nover. A common phrase that come out, “put on some Dave Matthews” or
\n“Put on some Big Head Todd” when those three things are mixed. And,
\nby listening to
\nStrategem<\/i>, I can see how the behavior is justified. By all
\naccounts,
\nStrategem<\/i> is an excellent follow-up to Big Head Todd and the
\nMonsters gold album,
\nSister Sweetly<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Recorded in Boulder, Colorado, a place that has become home to
\nthe Monsters, it has a rich, relaxed feel. Lead singer Todd Park
\nMohr seemed to be striving for a blusier feel than the more
\npop-oriented
\nSister Sweetly<\/i> or
\nAnother Mayberry<\/i>. The title track and “Candle 99” are some
\nof the best and loosest material the band has recorded. Indeed, in
\nthe fall of 1995, when
\nStrategem<\/i> was released, my friend and I took our
\nmountainbikes to ride in one of our state parks. Autumn leaves, a
\nlong stretch of road and a Newcastle brown ale,
\nStrategem<\/i> was a damn near perfect soundtrack for that
\nday.<\/p>\n
That all said, even in the right environment,
\nStrategem<\/i> doesn’t tug at the heartstrings. This could be due
\nto Todd Park Mohr’s “goal” of the album. In the liner notes, he
\nsaid many of the verses in the album were an attempt at “koans”. A
\nkoan is a riddle that a Buddhist meditates on to empty the mind of
\nthoughts.<\/p>\n
“You make me feel good outside\/You were a good public affair”,
\nMohr sings on “Greyhound”. While most of the album has stronger
\nlyrics than this, I did feel that koan-age was established. In my
\ncase, sometimes that isn’t a good thing.
\nStrategem<\/i> is so relaxing, it’s untimately a safe release,
\nslightly edging out Hootie and the Blowfish. True, Big Head Todd
\ndoesn’t aim to fill your head with tales of paranoia and isolation
\nin a computerized society, but there’s no tension that Mohr creates
\nin some of the characters in
\nSister Sweetly<\/i>.<\/p>\n
As the lyrics are relaxed, so is the music. Bassist Rob Squires
\nand drummer Brian Nevin give a solid, rhythmic base to each of the
\nsongs. With the exception of “Wearing Only Flowers”, there’s no
\nmusic hook that reaches up and grabs you.
\nAnother Mayberry<\/i> was full of those hooks, and though it
\ndidn’t sound as mature as
\nStrategem<\/i>, I do like the album more for that exact
\nreason.<\/p>\n
The album closes with “Shadowlands”, a song that shouldn’t work,
\nbut does thanks for Mohr’s soulful delivery and the band’s fluid
\nperformance. It’s also a perfect closer for what was a left-field
\nalbum for the Monsters.<\/p>\n
At times pensive, at other times, simply playing it safe, the
\nband gave their fans an album that took a couple of listens to
\nfully set it. No “Bittersweet”, no “I Closed The Door” not even a
\n“Circle” in the bunch. Still,
\nStrategem<\/i> has enough off-kilter charm to satisfy a Big Head
\nTodd fan. For first time listeners though, I would look elsewhere
\nin their collection before picking this one up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7277],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38723","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-big-head-todd-the-monsters","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38723","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38723"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}