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18
'DeCGTNXPer/e / 8, / 996
gig at New York City's Mercury
Lounge, the band seemed out
of touch with each other and
the audience. The set was a
mere 30 minutes and Schelzel
even forgot the words to "Be
tween Something and Noth
ing," which he announced be
forehand as "A cover of our
selves.”
Six songs into the album,
on "Past Future Perfect."
Schelzel finally seems himself,
alone with his acoustic guitar,
lamenting about the past while
drowning away his sorrows in
the present. "Does it strike you
as an odd thing/how a man
keeps remembering/with a fu
ture meets the past/and then
slowly fades away...." The
song is saa and wonderful at
the same time, but I can only
wonder if Schelzel is singing
about himself.
Bottom line: All the ele
ments that make The Ocean
Blue unique are present — lilt
ing pop songs with swirly melo
dies and surreal vocals — I just
don’t think the album will win
over any new fans. Maybe I've
just grown up since 10th grade.
Kevin Raub
TWEEZER
Piece of Freak EP/
Spitting Records
Why is it bands think that
by sounding like a bad cross
between the Corrosion of Con
formity and Nine Inch Nails they
are entitled to the fame and for
tune of both? Tweezer is appar
ently one of these bands. If there
is one thing a hate more than
people trying to get the atten
tion of MTV or Rolling Stone by
writing childishly violent songs
with no thought whatsoever be
hind them, it's people who do a
particularly bad job of it. This 7’
has four sloppy hard-core/metal
scngs that fall perfectly into this
category. The vocals can basi
cally be summed up with the
phrase "incoherent screaming,"
which is just as well consider
ing the lyrics seem to have no
purpose w+iatsoever except to
offend as many people as pos
sible. The worst part is, all that
aside, Tweezer is a fairly d'xent
band. It’s a shame such good
music has to be obscured by
such obnoxious singing. If only
they were an instrumental band,
this EP would be well worth my
money, but as it stands, this is
one of the worst wastes of vinyl
I've ever seen. (Spitting
Records, 427 Sinclare Ave. NE..
Atlanta, Ga.. 30307)
Jenna Epps
IRIS DEMENT
The Way I Should /
Warner Brothers
Much like Emmylou Harris.
Iris Dement's earlier recordings
(Infamous Angel and My Life)
garnered widespread critical
acclaim, turned a large portion
of Nashville on its collective
ear... and weathered fair to
bad record sales. What made
both of those albums (espe
cially Infamous Angel) so
graceful, haunting and ulti
mately semi-revolutionary was
Dement's steadfast refusal to
give in to country's preconcep
tions aoout what a woman
should look like, sound like ana
sing about: very little on either
of these records could be mis
taken for Shania Twain or
Martina McBride. Dement sang
about her unraveling faith in
God (at least the God of her
parents' religion), about cling
ing to convention and tradition
while trying to grow, about ac
ceptance of guilt, pain, the
death of her father and. most
movingly, (in "Sweet Is The
Melody") about a slow waltz on
a dark dance floor. Unfortu
nately, The Way I Should marks
a new beginning for Dement,
one that finds her incorporat
ing battalions of twangy elec
tric guitars, Hammond organs,
rudimentary pedal steel lines
and, most importantly, a loud,
tight drum kit that finds its way
onto almost every track. I won't
fault D ment for branching out:
almost every significant female
country vocalist in the past 25-
30 years (Dolly Parton, Loretta
Lynn. Tammy Wynette,
Emmylou Harris, etc.) has
changed her sound (with or
without a producer's influence)
with varying degrees of suc
cess, but in attempting to
change, she's only succeeded
in sounding... normal. How
ever. not many apologies can
be made for the bulk of
Dement's songwriting on this
project. "Trouble" is a lame
Bonnie Raitt-ish toss-off featur
ing Delbert McClinton; "Waste
land Of The Free" (while well-
intended) comes off sanctimo
nious and preachy; “Letter To
Mom" is a powerful diatribe
against the sexual abuse of
children delivered in a ridicu
lously cliched two-step; and
"Quality Time” namechecks
Beavis & Butthead to justify a
rhyme scheme. Occasionally,
Dement shines with the magic
of the past (the beautiful
“When My Morning Comes
Around," “Keep Me God" and
"Walkin' Home"), but her high,
lonesome, reedy tenor voice is
just not enough to buoy this
record. My advice? Pull down
My Life from the shelf, and
wait.
Jason Slatton
3i,r,
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