well, he listed how it feels as one of the 20 best of the decade, so he
must have some level of fandom. cut the kid some slack. i disagree but i
hear his point. some of the lyrics are cheesy and detract from otherwhise
great songs (ex. television , One). but like i posted before, i still
like the album.
josh
On Fri, 9 Jun 2000, Zen Arcade wrote:
>
> The fact that this guy doesn't even pick out the "Rain Song" connection and
> the fact that this album is pretty much as loud as Diary anyways pretty
> much tells me he's heard SDRE a few times at parties or on his college
> radio & that's about it. Interestingly enough, that's about all his
> opinion is worth.
>
> ~ rs ~
>
> At 11:16 PM 6/8/00 -0700, you wrote:
> >Here is a review that is on pitchforkmedia.com (the rating is out of 10):
> >
> >
> > Sunny Day Real Estate
> > The Rising Tide
> > [Time Bomb]
> > Rating: 5.9
> >
> > Are you ready to admit the
> >Peter Gabriel
> > factor? Or, even more
> >frightening, the Yes
> > and Rush factor? Not only
> >does The Rising
> > Tide dip its toes into
> >sucking whirlpools of
> > late '70s arena prog, but it
> >stands as one of
> > those albums that forces listeners to ponder the
> >inevitable third act of
> > even their most fond bands, wherein Our Hero
> >finds his fate in a bloody
> > climax of vocal effects, drums solos,
> >eco-conscience, last-flash
> > valiance, and fatal flubs. And while this
> >specific Hamlet hasn't yet
> > expired from the poison tip, his muse Orphelia is
> >long gone, and the
> > audience knows all about the venomed chalice. So
> >what course
> > brought Sunny Day Real Estate to this misfortune?
> >The largest
> > finger-pointing targets are producer Lou Giordano
> >and the paring of the
> > band into a trio.
> >
> > Giordano, most widely known for his work with
> >Live, dunks Sunny Day
> > in a vat of liquid and covers them in chrome. The
> >reflective surfaces
> > serve only to magnify and spotlight the
> >occasional songwriting errors.
> > On past efforts, frontman Jeremy Enigk's
> >passionate bleating benefited
> > from indecipherability. The mystic and emotional
> >force stemmed from
> > his foreign throat. With greater control and
> >pronunciation, Enigk now
> > recalls a piping Jon Anderson, specifically "We
> >Have Heaven" from
> > Fragile. Giordano floats crystalline vocal layers
> >above a flat silver
> > landscape of swooning, fervent arena rock. With
> >this highlighted
> > clarity, Enigk can derail a track with one
> >jutting word.
> >
> > On "Rain Song" (there's that pesky, generic,
> >Rainforest Caf�-brand
> > environmentalism), Enigk drops his voice to
> >repeat, "And it's candy,"
> > which isn't completely terrible until juxtaposed
> >to the surrounding,
> > fluttering castrato sighs. The real rub is how
> >Enigk enunciates the
> > bulging word like "khaan-DEE." It sticks out like
> >a bellybutton on a
> > supermodel. Similarly, "Snibe" becomes the
> >fist-pumping
> > "Mah-KET-place!" and "Gov-UN-ment!" song (or
> >"that vocoder song")
> > and "Television" is remembered at best as the
> > "Tell-eh-vhiz-sheun-eoooo-ooo-yeoooo-ooooo-uooo"
> >song (or "that
> > digital didgeridoo song"), if at all. To further
> >frustrate, Giordano
> > laminates the uncountable layers of strings,
> >pianos, plucked
> > acoustics, and synths with tacky corn syrup. The
> >obvious signifiers
> > scream, "Hey! Lookee! I�m pretty," as much as
> >slow-motion, auburn
> > lighting, and slow dissolves do in a John Woo
> >film.
> >
> > Occasionally, the drama and props pay off. "The
> >Ocean" slowly drops
> > rippling pearls into molten quartz with sweeping
> >effect. It's the loveliest
> > the band have ever sounded. The closing title
> >track shimmers like
> > vintage Cure sloshing around inside a glass
> >goblet. And Sunny Day
> > must have been lucky band number 1,000,000 to
> >name a song "One,"
> > as it tugs, dances, and punches with seductive
> >pomp. Otherwise, The
> > Rising Tide sits awash in new age imagery-- the
> >ocean, rain, angels,
> > the ocean again. How It Feels to Be Something On
> >mesmerized
> > intimacy, introspection, and Eastern textures.
> >Here, that's all been
> > discarded for Big Themes and Big Guitars--
> >alright for a Saturn drive
> > through suburbia, but not the silk blanket you
> >want to snuggle under.
> >
> > After their temporary break-up, Sunny Day Real
> >Estate regrouped with
> > fresh spirit. The resulting album sounded like a
> >band rediscovering
> > itself over a batch of superb Enigk solo tracks.
> >Yet Enigk has gone
> > from exhaling, "If I break down/ All that I am,"
> >to preaching: "Snibe is a
> > monster. He is willing to hurt others to retire
> >rich and ugly. He kills the
> > innocent to protect his control. Snibe is the
> >greed of money and
> > power. Snibe is in all of us." Somebody's been
> >subscribing to The
> > Nation. The best justification for the extended
> >metaphor of "television"
> > as "women" is that "she's in my head/ like
> >television" and "she's cool
> > and she's free/ like television." Well, at least
> >she's not cable, then.
> >
> > The songwriting here feels wrung from "jams."
> >Splashes and driving
> > rhythms replace intricacy and mood. Drummer
> >William Goldsmith
> > devotes the album to his high-hat. "Pish pish
> >pish pish pish" go the
> > little cymbals, as our British readers giggle. As
> >Enigk wobbles his
> > fingers over newly acquired bass strings and
> >belts lines like "disappear
> > into the sun!" it's hard to avoid Rush
> >comparisons. The power trio with
> > socially conscious singer/bassist equation also
> >recalls the Police. But
> > time transplants Mercury Rising-era Sting into
> >Zenyatta Mondatta.
> > Meanwhile, "Faces in Disguise" mimics the soft,
> >slow ooze of Peter
> > Gabriel's rainstick ballads. So, essentially,
> >this is the pop record '70s
> > prog bands would make in the '80s-- Big Generator
> >and Power
> > Windows for a new generation. Aside from two
> >major blunders nothing
> > is overtly offensive, but simply lachrymose and
> >lactose. Sunny Day
> > habitat needs candlelight and rugs, not spotlight
> >riggings and astroturf.
> >
> > Is this a certain progression for rock bands of
> >this ilk? Chalk some of
> > the scars up to Enigk's vocals being thrown into
> >focus. But what
> > makes maturing singers spit political slogans and
> >earth-friendly
> > spiritualism? Cash and high-hats are easy
> >culprits. For the benefit of
> > audiences, songwriters in emotional bands are
> >best left in states of
> > emotional turmoil. Sadly, Enigk seems to be
> >generally comfortable
> > with himself. That's no fun.
> >
> > -Brent DiCrescenzo
> >________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
>
>
>
