This is the most pathetically written exercise in pseudo-journalism I've vere
read. I honestly can't even make it through this guy's verbal minefield
without cringing. At least he could reserach how to spell "Ophelia" before he
uses his novel Shakespeare metaphors. Whoever this guy is, I hope he's
delighted at the opportunity to practice his sophomore-year creative writing
skills on the marketplace, and that he gets a "B" on the American Lit paper
he's polishing up on the side. Note that he bashes Sunny Day for sounding
"prog", yet he drops Yes and Rush song and album titles with such pinpoint
accuracy you'd think he worships what he disdains. A true exercise in conceit
and a boringly typical review by somebody who just doesn't "get it."
Paul S Servis 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 Café-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
> ________________________________________________________________
> YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
> Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
> Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
