Album Reviews

Coincidentally (or not?) this more than one year old release came to my attention, and I first played it on the daythe Exile on Main Streetreissue hit record stores. The band has been around for 15 years and has nine albums. I plead appalling ignorance but better late than never.

The opening track channels the classic Stones album just as the others devilishly pull quotes from your favorite '60s and '70s power pop records without sounding tired or derivative mostly because of the smart lyrical core that reduces the musical quotes to a pleasing shell. Frontman Adam Levy's wry lyrics challenge even the excellence of Difford/ Tilbrook's word play though what's on Levy's mind is current 21st century ennui.

 The title tune includes the pleasing line "analog rules in the digital world" in a song about the current drab state of being and "the Sunshine Committee"'s earnest attempt to make things more cheery.

They succeed here mightily despite the depths of the digital disconnect outlined in the disconsolate "Fiber Optic Paramour." "Good Fight" digs out of the hole advising to not "throw in the towel" in a tune more reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie than something from forty years ago.

When you get to the "Paperback Writer" opening of "Balaclava" your juices will jump even as you realize the lyrics are about a suicide bomber's final thoughts. Ski mask or "Charge of the Light Brigade" or both, the song's title is as clever as the lyrics. It's a scary, sinister song wrapped in a colorful Beatle-esque cloak.

You'll have to dissect the final two tunes yourself but they are equally good, channeling Sly and Andy Partridge in one and I'm not sure who (if anyone) in the other but I'm sure you'll have your own ideas while enjoying the extended outro vamp packed with distorted guitar solos and horn stings.

Before you know it, it's over and before you know it, you'll again be hitting the start button for another go 'round. The arrangements are neat, the musicianship nimble and there's not a seam showing in this 24 minute witty, tuneful and soul-searching extravaganza.

Sound quality is serviceable. They try but after listening to the real Exile..theirs is the Emenee version (youngsters look it up). Now I have to go back in reverse chronological order and discover these mighty Minnesotans. Start here and odds are you'll want to to catch up too.