Inside Music Album Guide - 9/18/08

Inside Music Album Guide
Newman strikes it rich, The Quilt has too many holes
By Stephen Mason

Okkervil River – The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar) 3.5 out of 5
Forever the band-next-door, Okkervil River have always come so close to creating a classic album, and with last year’s The Stage Names, they nearly got there. The Stand Ins isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, though it does expand on similar themes such as love, loneliness, and the like. It’s propelled by engaging moments, most notably the album’s opener, “Lost Coastlines.” A soft, folk-rock number that expounds into a sonic tour-de-force of electric power, topped with Sheff’s heartfelt vocal performance. It succeeds and fails in relaying the message track to track, but The Stand Ins is still a worth entry in their entertaining catalogue.

Gym Class Heroes – The Quilt (Fueled By Ramen) 2.5 out of 5
Gym Class Heroes haven’t quite figured out who they are or what they want to do. The Quilt is made up of tunes seemingly made in the spirit of creating fun club music, but McCoy’s lyrics don’t match. There’s a fine line between being clever and annoying, and McCoy always finds his way to the latter. Take the monster single “Cookie Jar.” Musically compelling with lamenting synths and a notable appearance by the Dream, but bogged down by lines that mix races with treats. “Oatmeal raisin Asians” and “Macadamia Caucasians” may be the most laughable. And while the top half is loaded with potential singles like “Like Father, Like Son,” or “Catch Me If You Can,” the second act is loaded with boring filler. A decent effort by artists who take themselves too seriously for their own good.

The Subways – All Or Nothing (WEA) 3 out of 5
The head-banging riff that dominates “Girls and Boys” acts as a promising start by a group desperate to be respected, but never has an album lost so much steam so quickly. That’s not to say All Or Nothing immediately drops into a collection of ballads, but there is no moment that matches the tone the band sets at the start. The Subways would have been better off following their more metal and punk instincts, but they quickly find comfort in post-grunge, a genre that, like its forefather, is dying quickly in all spectrums. There’s not a song on here that you can point to as a truly weak moment. Rather, it’s a large collection of them that make up a sound that’s repetitive.

Randy Newman – Harps and Angels (Nonesuch) 4 out of 5
One of the more unorthodox singer-songwriters of the past few decades, Newman has always found himself stuck between two dimensions. One, his voice isn’t as pretty as Elton John’s. Two, his messages aren’t as genius as Bob Dylan’s. But Newman never tries to be either, and his cartoony, mush-mouthed vocals mixed with his “Aw, shucks,” lyrics make Harps and Angels a near-masterpiece. He never ventures too far outside of simple blues and ragtime melodies, using all the generic tricks along the way. And while he’s sure to make his acerbic political views known on tracks like “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” he also makes room for sincere, though comical, anecdotes as on the closing track. And to think, most people know him as the guy who wrote “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”