10 Tonics & Twisted Chasers
I wasn't entirely sure whether I should even include this one in the list of 'proper' studio albums. Back when I was listening to GBV via the 'big playlist on shuffle' (passim), when tracks from Tonics cropped up, they gave me the impression that it was a compilation of out-takes, demos, etc. à la Suitcase, or something like Dead Letter Office (more on which below). However, given that the Wikipedia entry describes it as 'a standalone album... initially released as a 19-track limited-edition fanclub-only vinyl LP in 1996', and that I've picked up via the GBV Facebook group that many consider it a 'proper' LP, I've decided to include it.
I'm sure you have your opinions as to whether that's the correct decision...
The Album
Breakfast is the plan
I have previously noted that one of my initial difficulties in getting into the GBV back catalogue was the prevalence of very short songs that, frustratingly, didn't develop or expand as I expected/wanted them to. And so, it's a little ironic that my favourite track on Tonics turned out to be the 40-seconds-long 'Ha Ha Man'.
It's sublime: a compact barrage of ragged chords and uplifting melody that does everything it needs to do - i.e. put a an admiring grin on your face - in less than a minute. I have no idea what it's about, but in its fleeting duration it throws in fabulously random phrases such as, 'His merchandise is sublime... I think breakfast is the plan... a ridiculous concept.'
Pure hot tar
Regarding the 'demo compilation' vibe, it's certainly true that some songs on Tonics sound much more fully formed than others. 'Dayton, Ohio-19 Something And 5', for example, is a forcefully earnest yet celebratory paean to local life ('Man, you needn't travel far to feel completely alive') driven by a lovingly ragged arpeggio. Not for the first time, the lyric takes Springsteen's hometown nostalgia and channels it through a darker, edgier lens: ' Children in the sprinkler, junkies on the corner / the smell of fried foods and pure hot tar.' 'Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth' takes a similar, though more downbeat and melancholy approach.
Another of the more fully realised tracks is 'Optional Bases Opposed', a sprightly, poppy affair with a winningly circular riff and catchy hook. 'Girl from the Sun' is a murky, pugnacious smear of garage punk.
Creamy music
There are also several tracks that have a distinct 'demo' air about them. Often, this is because of the use of a drum machine, which sometimes feels a little restrictive, making the songs a little more pedestrian than they might have been otherwise. 'Top Chick Silver Chord' and '158 Years of Beautiful Sex' are the least hampered by this factor: the former bolstered by a urgently keening melody; the latter (despite the slightly queasy reference to 'creamy music') is elevated by the brief barrage of abrasive guitar towards the end.
On the other hand, 'At the Farms', although it has a certain stately grandeur, is dragged down by its soporific percussion. There's an enjoyable abrasiveness about 'Maxwell Jump', but ultimately, it's little more than a simplistic chorus refrain in search of a proper song.
The purely acoustic numbers are a mixed bunch. Top of the pile is the folky, sparsely emphatic 'Key Losers'. The concise 'Is She Ever?' is touchingly regretful. 'Sadness To The End', however, feels a little thin and aimless. 'Look, It's Baseball' is undoubtedly atmospheric and, in places, rather pretty. In a different context it might have been a striking interlude, but it suffers a little by being surrounded by so many other potentially striking interludes.
A girl named Edison
In my introduction to the blog, I referenced Robert Pollard’s Guide To The Late 60s, which included three Beefheart albums, and you can certainly hear a bit of The Captain in several songs here. Pick of the bunch is the gloriously messy and spasmodic 'Satellite', which gains extra marks for rhyming 'I'm in love with a girl named Edison' with 'her sweetness is my only medicine.'
Elsewhere, we get funky Beefheart ('Jellyfish Reflector'), cocktail bar Beefheart ('Universal Nurse Finger'), free jazz / Mike Garson on Aladdin Sane Beefheart ('Wingtip Repair') and psych-wig-out Beefheart with a bit of Devo and Sonic Youth thrown in ('My Thoughts Are A Gas').
Vanity's airport
The album, overall, is rather light on percussion, with several tracks consisting of little more than voice / electric guitar / acoustic. This works best on the hesitant, pensive 'Knock 'Em Flying' and the crisply malevolent 'Long as the Block is Black'. 'Reptilian Beauty Secrets' also throws in some creepy industrial background noise to great effect.
The loose, rambling 'The Stir-Crazy Pornographer' revisits the 'call to arms' energy previously seen in songs like 'Trampoline', 'Jim Crow' and 'Common Rebels'. 'The Kite Surfer' is a sparse, intense grind full of impenetrable imagery: 'Made you race in vanity's airport... now the single cash old ladies / a vending quest of clicking fingers.'
Concluding track 'The Candyland Riots' is a ponderously tender, vulnerable lament with a dystopian air: 'While the war raged on... How did you escape? / Your door was locked / the exit's blocked.'
There's lots to love about Tonics, although it takes a number of plays to get your head around it. It has an enjoyably playful, challenging spirit.
With Under The Bushes Under The Stars, I noted that, 'The experimental sound collages and brutally truncated snippets are notably absent. The rougher, more challenging edges have, to a large extent, been sanded down.' Here, we have an album that reverses that approach.
Whilst there's plenty of energy and innovation here, it doesn't quite hang together as a coherent album; certainly not in the way that Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes do.
- Satellite
- Dayton, Ohio-19 Something And 5
- Key Losers
- Ha Ha Man
- Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth
- Jellyfish Reflector
Album rank:
It's become clear that I'm going to have to use two decimal places to separate these albums...
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