Golden Smog could be called a supergroup as it is a combination
\nof members from the following bands: Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks,
\nWilco, Run Westy Run, and the seventies cult band, Big Star.
\nHowever, there are two reasons they are not a supergroup: 1) Of all
\nthese groups, only Soul Asylum has had the commercial success and
\nname recognition. 2) Supergroup albums are usually easygoing,
\ninformal jam sessions that bide time before their regular group’s
\nnext release. That is the opposite of what Golden Smog has
\naccomplished on their latest release
\nWeird Tales<\/i>. One could say that
\nWeird Tales<\/i> surpasses much of the work these folks have done
\nwith their “real” bands. (I exclude Run Westy Run because I am not
\nfamiliar with their work, and Big Star for their important and
\ninfluence on rock and roll in general).<\/p>\n
You know something special is about to happen right on the first
\ntrack with the exuberant and wry “To Call My Own”, which was
\nwritten and sung by Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy. This jangly
\nrock song captures Soul Asylum at its best with Dave Pirner-esque
\nlines like “We welcome you with broken arms”. This and his other
\ncontribution, the folk rock song “Reflections Of Me” suggest that
\nMurphy should probably do more of the writing for Soul Asylum.<\/p>\n
As good as the Murphy songs are, I think it is guitarists Gary
\nLouris of the Jayhawks, and Kraig Johnson of Run Westy Run that
\nreally have the standout songs on
\nWeird Tales<\/i>. Louris wrote the incredible “Until You Came
\nAlong” which is the best country\/folk rock song I’ve heard this
\nside of Neil Young. Imagine combining Young’s clever lyrics with
\nthe 12 string guitar sound of the Byrds, and you get an idea of
\nwhat this song is like. “Jane”, a song Louris wrote with fellow
\nbandmate, bassist Marc Perlman, is a poignant song about a troubled
\ngirl that would also make Young proud. Another Louris song, “White
\nShell Road”, is an edgy, allegorical tale and probably the most
\n“alternative” sounding song on
\nWeird Tales<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Louris also co-wrote a few songs with Johnson: the funky, change
\nof pace rocker “Keys” is a lot of fun. And on a very different
\nnote, the closing song “Jennifer Save Me” is a slow, moody piece
\nwith a wonderful piano part from Louris. The quirky “If I Only Had
\nA Car” is an interesting throwaway.<\/p>\n
Alone, Johnson comes up with the powerful “Making Waves” a drug
\naddict dying in the bathroom, which ends with the haunting words:
\n“Are you in there?\/Hello hello hello\/ I’ll Be Out In a While.” On
\nthe opposite end, he also provides the pleasant pop song “Looking
\nForward To Seeing You” which has nice harmonies.<\/p>\n
Wilco’s leader Jeff Tweedy’s contributions are more subtle but
\nvery effective, especially his solo acoustic number, “Please Tell
\nMy Brothers”, a sweet song about missing his family. “Lost Love” is
\nanother poignant tune about guess what. And the experimental “All
\nThe Same To Me” is a strange, dreamlike song with eerie echo
\neffects.<\/p>\n
Jody Stephens, the original and current drummer for Big Star,
\nkeeps the beat, and co-wrote the song “Fear Of Falling” with Louris
\nand Tweedy, another tasty country rock tune with a nice piano,
\nharmonica, guitar and bass combination. Despite the countryish
\nnature of the material, some songs, particularly “Jennifer Save
\nMe”, recall some of Big Star’s gentler moments.<\/p>\n
The only complaint I have with
\nWeird Tales<\/i> is the pacing of the album at the beginning. The
\nCD as a whole has different moods and tempos, but there are too
\nmany midtempo songs at the beginning. I would have liked to have
\nheard one more uptempo number near the beginning of the track
\nselection. But most CD players can easily solve that problem.<\/p>\n
\nWeird Tales<\/i> isn’t all that weird. Despite a few experiments,
\nit celebrates the classic songwriting of the seventies. I think the
\nsibling rivalries that must have developed during these sessions
\npushed everyone to do their best work, and I can only hope they can
\nbring back the magic they made here to their respective bands.
\nWeird Tales<\/i> is an unlikely classic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":27464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7332],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38834","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-golden-smog","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38834","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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38834"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38834"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}