Newspaper Page Text
Page 16
Flagpole Magazine
October 23, 1991
Ear Wax Facts
Chopper
Chopper (Animal Five)
Guitars and girls rule on the self-titled debut LP by
Connecticut's Chopper, a band founded by singer/song
writer/guitarist Stevo, former leader of New Haven’s
Bleached Black. On most of the ten tracks, the guitars are
Who loud and Husker Du fast, but a refined melodic sense
is evident throughout, regardless of tempo.
Although the lyrical perspective is limited to youthful
romance and all its emotional extremes, the songs survive
the clich6 minefield and are not merely juvenile. In “Catlin
Cries", a broken hearted 9th grader gains a final victorious
happiness by shooting her boyfriend at a school dance.
Even in the more serious-minded "Nice Girls (Don't Ex
plode)", which uses sarcasm to attack racism and sexism,
the world is seen through the TV-numbed eyes of an
adolescent. Granted, the point will probably go over the
heads of those who need to think about it, but the sound will
keep them dancing arid drinking their illegal beer anyway.
Stevo says that he wants Chopper to be "a band with a
very melodic, beautiful sound but which also has the edge."
Their debut offers ample evidence of both the edge and the
beauty which he desires. Lisa McDonald
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Fear (Columbia Records)
Toad the Wet Sprocket first gave us a glimpse of their
unique brand of acoustic rock three years ago on the
gorgeous Bread & Circus. Their brilliant songwriting con
tinues with their second release, Fear. The lyrics are
intelligent and the music is mesmerizing—this one album
you can’t afford to miss.
The first track, “Walk on the Ocean," is a powerful,
dreamy song which grabs the attention and refuses to let
go It’s one of those rare songs you find yourself singing
hours after the music's been off, and it manages to be
catchy without being cliche.
After this type of opening number, you might expect the
following eleven songs to be disappointing. Not so on Fear
the songwriting remains strong throughout. Toad the Wet
Sprocket can go from the knee-slapping, sing-song "Night
ingale Song" to the haunting "Pray Your Gods" with ease.
Some songs tempt you to close your eyes and drift off into
oblivious reveries, others jolt you to attention, and every
thing is done to perfection.
This is a "driving-down-the-highway-at-night" album,
carrying the listener away to Sprocket’s private dreamland.
There are shadows, rainbows and illusions waiting for you
to come and discover them, so get Fear and start exploring.
Katherine Yeske
Paleface
Paleface
(Polydor)
If Bob Ovlan
hadn't spent the
past twenty years
going off on count
less self-indulgent
tangents, he might
well sound very
similar to Paleface
The acoustic gui
tar, harmonica,
and traditional
country/folk/blues
influences are all
here, in addition to
the sharp eye of the
political artist.
The infor
mation pro
vided on Paleface’s life prior to his arrival
on New York's anti-folk scene is limited.
The liner note space in the CD booklet is
taken up by a stream of consciousness,
wide-angle dissertation on the state of the
The State, and its citizens’ TV-fazed brains. I con
clude that he prefers to let his songs stand alone, and
they are more than strong enough to do so. With a
sharp tongue and an aggressively critical attitude, he
draws a bead on nearly every ill from which we suffer
and hits the target at or near the center consistently.
The simple-minded stupidity of believing that songs
incite murder, suicide and riots is justly held up to
ridicule in "Burn and Rob", a sarcastic attack on rock
(and, by implication, rap) music as the cause of socio-
pathic behavior in the young. War-mongenng in the broad
sense takes a direct hit in "Stupid War Movies", and war as
entertainment is blasted again in the liner ramble What
ever his past may have contained, I don’t think that
Paleface spent any time in the Young Republican organiza
tion.
I doubt that there is a very large audience for the music
or the messages presented by Paleface, but that is
unfortunate. Perhaps some of the people who are into
Shimmy Disc will be enticed to pick this one up due to
Kramer's contributions on bass, keyboards and as the
producer. If so, they will hear something very unlike
Bongwater, but it just might interest them anyway. Social
commentary doesn’t have to be cliched and an axcoustic
guitar can be played as aggresively as an electric one, as
this recording demonstrates. It is worth listening to and
thinking about prior to the [Bush re-] election.
Lisa McDonald
Mary On the Dash
Charivari (Hotbed)
Having named their band after an X song and titled their
first LP Charivari, a seldom-heard word for the noise-maker
serenade given to newly married couples . it would be
reasonable to expect Mary on the Dash to be unskilled
vocalists who screech over a raucous rock and roll rattle,
fortunately, they can sing, and the music is structured but
aggressive, highly rhythmic but with a distinctly melodic
bent. Echoes of innovative sounds of the past are heard at
times in the album's boiling pot of rock styles, but the band
doesn’t sound particularly like any of their influences.
Mary on the Dash first came under the laser on last year's
Mammoth Records sampler of North Carolina -based alter
native bands. Frequency. Although their song "Salt" was
among the better ones offered on that compilation, and it
returns on me
LP, it is not
exceptional
compared to the
rest of Charivari.
The songs twist
and turn in rage
and reflestion
like caged
predators, chal
lenging us to
meet their eyes
There is a
pervasive tone
of frustration
with the appar
ent indifference
shown toward people by our creator, as well as the
personal and social cruelties humans inflict on each other
Even in the more musically restrained tracks like “Destruc
tion", a study of an emotionally misspent life, there is a
y A
Hr* ^190 SFM
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Two Special Halloween Daquiris:
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312 Washington St. • 613-0021
(Downtown Across from the Courthouse)
Rotation for the week of
23 October 1991
HEAVY
Nirvana
Chris & Cosey
Bullet Lavolta
Tribe Called Quest
Jello Biafra
Tom Waits
Ice-T
Public Enemy
Kraftwerk
Cods Little Monkey
Robyn Hitchcock
Billy Bragg
Alice’s Donut
Roosevelt
Mud Honey
Red I lot Cnili Peppers
Wolfgang Press
MC 90 Oft Jesus
Cary Clail
Soundgarden
MEDIUM
Seven Simons
1 lead Candy
Lloyd Cole
Tar Jackson
Doctor's Death
vol.5
Insane Jane
Orb
Belvis Frond
Grcul
Into Paradise
Colden Pallminos
House of Freaks
T np Shakespeare
Die Warzau
Kraftwerk
Widespread Panic
Prong
Allgood Music Co
Coil
PM Dawn
ADDS
A Luaka Bop
Smashing Pumpkins cd5
Cypress Hill
LOCAL
Bullet Proof
P.S. Jonah
Hip Heavy Lip
Wicked Annaoella
*Skinpops
AnaJelusian Dog
•Red Letter Day
•Little Debbie
The Yams
Deacon Lunchbox
Thorny Hold
The Stoncsouls
BLAH
Heavy Ethel
Liquor Cabinet
CLAMP
*Mombo Fury
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