CD44hi
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[Editor’s note] The writer approaches his personal point of view on the latest work from Better than Ezra. But before doing so, he shares some anecdotic background on his experience with the group. *Readers be warned,* some spoilers are presented, which could ruin the “first encounter” with the work in question and bias the listening approach.
On the general subject of “Better than Ezra”: I was chatting with Dave1 one afternoon at one of those “informal” meets at Hirsch’s place. If I remember correctly, the purpose of the session that afternoon was to audition a new amp in a balance configuration. While listening to the amp I decided to change to a CD I had brought over, a familiar CD, to listen to on the amp. Well, it so happened that the cd in question was BTE’s Deluxe. Dave, that was hanging out at the listening table muttered: “wait is this Hirsch’s?” It seems that there is very little overlap, if any, between his music inventory and Hirsch’s. So he was trilled to finally find *one* Cd in common. Once I told him that the disc was mine, from there, somehow the conversation turned into the issue of this group’s popularity. I have always been intrigued by the lack of attention to this band. Their most popular material is indeed “deluxe,” but other albums like “Friction, baby” follow real close in the ranks of BTE aficionados. Yet overall, through the years this band has never really “hit it big.” But Dave argued that they are way more popular overseas. This point was well taken in my case, as I learn of BTE, specifically, I bought “deluxe,” while I lived outside US. And indeed it was an immensely popular album at that time, but so it was here in US as well. Yet, I personally do not have any evidence that the popularity of any of their other albums is indeed proportionally higher outside the US. Do you, reader? In fact, this issue of “why, why, why” has been brought up in the music forum more than once before. I think goose and gloco have posed the dilemma in the past years.
But, from our little chat, came out a suggestion. Dave proposed I should check their most recent work “Before the robots.” So I did. But before telling you about this album, I have to say that I have enjoyed, and witnessed, how BTE has changed and also tried to keep up with the changing times. I always considered “deluxe” as a “singles” album. Every song in that album can be considered self standing, IMO. On the other hand, “Friction, baby,” “How your garden grow” are works, in my humble opinion, that stand as a theme production. One is better off listening to the whole album to get the picture. (a rather extreme and complex example of this would be Matt Elliot’s stuff-drinking songs-). Other work like “closer” was an attempt to “mingle” with the times, but in my opinion it fell short of the intended objective. Maybe it did not develop sufficiently, but we’ll never know, right
--I think "before the robots" fits in the "singles" type category, but with an interesting twist...--
On the specific subject in question: Enter “Before the robots.” In my opinion, this is a very intimate production. Themes in songs range from pop-sy tunes, (buy hey listen to the lyrics) to jammin’-ballads, as I call them. Actually, on a first listen, this production did not grab me as anything special. But then, I listened further, paid attention to the lyrics, it became a virtual rollercoaster of images, ranging from personal feelings to dark tales of mischief. But unlike the “theme” albums to which I referred before, here the songs are purposely mixed, conceptually intermingled, as to give that rollercoaster effect. I, for my brief comments bellow, have not followed this order. Instead, I have ripped them from their intended order to try and provided my “artificially-generated” interpretation and try to provide some coherence to my comments.
The first track, “burned,” eases you into the album, a pop-sy tune that sets lyrics with objective proximity to fumbling feelings of possession. Then, “daylight” let’s us know, BTE, is maturing, lyrics are deep with meaning, beautiful, somewhat unattainable desires are transduced, with good beats and percussion especially good for headphone listening. It progresses further with “Overcome” as it presents a darker side of feelings, and “special” incorporates a good dose of musical lust in the picture with great tact. In “lifetime” I find a more traditional BTE story been told in good form, full of remembrance, a la “this time of the year” style. The theme is expanded and reaches summit in “our last night,” melancholy is finally in full force here. In “hollow” listeners that are familiar with BTE’s portfolio will smile, as lyrics mix lines from previous works, in an unexpected fashion, that caught me by surprise, the overall theme here is: -so what have be done in all these years?- But then, with a musical pun, “our finest year” tries to approach this subject with hope and good-feelings. Some tunes are full of playful naughtiness like “it’s only natural,” “juicy,” this one is right down silly playfulness, 70’s style, yet well executed in my opinion, say lyrics. Incidentally, the darkest stories of wrong turns and mischief are told in “american dreaming” and “a southern thing,” both stories are told in an upbeat rhythm that makes it easy, real easy, to miss the sarcastic point of their stories. The last song of the album, “breathless” is a beautiful, lusty, sad, acoustic-like ballad, nice percussion, timely beats…, it sincerely left me breathless, wanting more…
On the general subject of “Better than Ezra”: I was chatting with Dave1 one afternoon at one of those “informal” meets at Hirsch’s place. If I remember correctly, the purpose of the session that afternoon was to audition a new amp in a balance configuration. While listening to the amp I decided to change to a CD I had brought over, a familiar CD, to listen to on the amp. Well, it so happened that the cd in question was BTE’s Deluxe. Dave, that was hanging out at the listening table muttered: “wait is this Hirsch’s?” It seems that there is very little overlap, if any, between his music inventory and Hirsch’s. So he was trilled to finally find *one* Cd in common. Once I told him that the disc was mine, from there, somehow the conversation turned into the issue of this group’s popularity. I have always been intrigued by the lack of attention to this band. Their most popular material is indeed “deluxe,” but other albums like “Friction, baby” follow real close in the ranks of BTE aficionados. Yet overall, through the years this band has never really “hit it big.” But Dave argued that they are way more popular overseas. This point was well taken in my case, as I learn of BTE, specifically, I bought “deluxe,” while I lived outside US. And indeed it was an immensely popular album at that time, but so it was here in US as well. Yet, I personally do not have any evidence that the popularity of any of their other albums is indeed proportionally higher outside the US. Do you, reader? In fact, this issue of “why, why, why” has been brought up in the music forum more than once before. I think goose and gloco have posed the dilemma in the past years.
But, from our little chat, came out a suggestion. Dave proposed I should check their most recent work “Before the robots.” So I did. But before telling you about this album, I have to say that I have enjoyed, and witnessed, how BTE has changed and also tried to keep up with the changing times. I always considered “deluxe” as a “singles” album. Every song in that album can be considered self standing, IMO. On the other hand, “Friction, baby,” “How your garden grow” are works, in my humble opinion, that stand as a theme production. One is better off listening to the whole album to get the picture. (a rather extreme and complex example of this would be Matt Elliot’s stuff-drinking songs-). Other work like “closer” was an attempt to “mingle” with the times, but in my opinion it fell short of the intended objective. Maybe it did not develop sufficiently, but we’ll never know, right
On the specific subject in question: Enter “Before the robots.” In my opinion, this is a very intimate production. Themes in songs range from pop-sy tunes, (buy hey listen to the lyrics) to jammin’-ballads, as I call them. Actually, on a first listen, this production did not grab me as anything special. But then, I listened further, paid attention to the lyrics, it became a virtual rollercoaster of images, ranging from personal feelings to dark tales of mischief. But unlike the “theme” albums to which I referred before, here the songs are purposely mixed, conceptually intermingled, as to give that rollercoaster effect. I, for my brief comments bellow, have not followed this order. Instead, I have ripped them from their intended order to try and provided my “artificially-generated” interpretation and try to provide some coherence to my comments.
The first track, “burned,” eases you into the album, a pop-sy tune that sets lyrics with objective proximity to fumbling feelings of possession. Then, “daylight” let’s us know, BTE, is maturing, lyrics are deep with meaning, beautiful, somewhat unattainable desires are transduced, with good beats and percussion especially good for headphone listening. It progresses further with “Overcome” as it presents a darker side of feelings, and “special” incorporates a good dose of musical lust in the picture with great tact. In “lifetime” I find a more traditional BTE story been told in good form, full of remembrance, a la “this time of the year” style. The theme is expanded and reaches summit in “our last night,” melancholy is finally in full force here. In “hollow” listeners that are familiar with BTE’s portfolio will smile, as lyrics mix lines from previous works, in an unexpected fashion, that caught me by surprise, the overall theme here is: -so what have be done in all these years?- But then, with a musical pun, “our finest year” tries to approach this subject with hope and good-feelings. Some tunes are full of playful naughtiness like “it’s only natural,” “juicy,” this one is right down silly playfulness, 70’s style, yet well executed in my opinion, say lyrics. Incidentally, the darkest stories of wrong turns and mischief are told in “american dreaming” and “a southern thing,” both stories are told in an upbeat rhythm that makes it easy, real easy, to miss the sarcastic point of their stories. The last song of the album, “breathless” is a beautiful, lusty, sad, acoustic-like ballad, nice percussion, timely beats…, it sincerely left me breathless, wanting more…
