Arts

Grandaddy: Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)  

By Matt Goody  

As if intending to eulogize the band he has fronted since 1992, Grandaddy singer Jason Lytle states on “Elevate Myself” that he would “rather make an honest sound and watch it fly around, and then be on my way.” And with that, Grandaddy is on its way, calling it quits after recording Just Like the Fambly Cat, the band’s fifth and final record. Entrenched in these words is a possible indication of why Lytle decided to call it quits: a feeling that the band’s sense of purpose had run its course and it was time for the denouement.

The musical strength of the group’s sound emerged out of the band’s surroundings in California. Throughout their career the band has constructed a satirical and compelling picture of their home state as a 21st century wasteland of industrial and technological rubbish, where all the ‘mod cons’ have created a disorientating, alienating, and flat out boring atmosphere. At points, like “Where I’m Anymore,” the band skillfully picks up on this theme with a hilarious send-up of suburbs full of garage sales, old exercise equipment and speed freaks. Yet for the most part, critical satire gets pushed aside and is replaced by an overarching sense of malaise and sadness, making this record a real downer throughout. The lush lo-fi sound of vintage analog keyboards still abounds, but the sense of wit and forceful guitar-driven songs found on Sumday and Sophtware Slump have been replaced with an overall tone that is far too melancholic a way to flick the ‘off’ switch on Grandaddy.

Sham 69 & the Special Assembly: Hurry Up England (The People’s Anthem World Cup ’06) (Virgin UK)

Sports theme songs have never really caught on in North America aside from a horrid Vancouver Whitecaps’ theme tune, the Chicago Bears’ rap, and of course the great Toronto Blue Jay Lloyd Moseby’s “Shaker’s Rap.” The English, however, live for their sports-related theme tunes. Though it has been a tradition that a popular group records the official theme tune for England’s World Cup campaign (this year English rock band Embrace was chosen as the group to record the official song), several unofficial theme songs always spring up.

This campaign for the trip to Germany is being led by none other then punk rock legends Sham 69, who reworked their classic track “Hurry Up Harry” and had it chosen by Virgin Radio listeners as the choice for the national team’s unofficial song. The song is totally ridiculous and at the same quite enjoyable. By ridiculous, I mean that lyrically the song is fairly generic. The lead singer has simply reworked the lyrics from the original song to form “Hurry Up England, with lines like "We're going down the pub” morphing into, "We're going to win the cup!" Pursey also lists off the key players for this years campaign, telling listeners that it is clear England is going to win the cup because “we have Lampard, Gerrad and Wayne Rooney!”

However, while the lyrics are a little silly, their simplicity is what makes the track a great rallying cry. In many ways punk rock is the appropriate genre for this type of song, because it is founded on a driving assertive sound that is accentuated with simple, but to- the-point, lyricism. More over, Sham 69 have gained a reputation as a working-class group, penning anthems for the underprivledged about comradery and banding together. One could have only hoped that this simple assertive style could have transferred to the team itself, as the stars of the English team wilted in the sun against Portugal. It might not seem appropriate to listen to a theme tune after the event is done and dusted, but it’s till an enjoyable track that hopefully will stick with the football club on the road to the European Cup in 2008.

Gram Parsons: The Complete Reprise Sessions (Reprise/Rhino)

The central theme of John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” and several other of his films as well, is that when it comes to printing the truth or the legend about a person or event, you print the legend and run with it. For Ford, this is a theme that courses through American history as the nation’s icons grow out of legends that are spun by writers, just as a darker truth festers just beneath the surface. This is most evident when it comes to cultural icons that have burned out instead of fading away. Fans of artists who have died young often go to great lengths to lionize their heroes with their small body of work, often desperately searching for anything and everything a particular musician recorded, seeing these table scraps of studio outtakes and alternative takes as further evidence of their artistic brilliance no matter how unpolished or uncompleted a particular song or album was before the artist’s death.

Take the latest Rhino release of Gram Parsons’ final two releases GP and Grievous Angel, a three-disc box set that includes numerous alternative and instrumental versions of the songs on the original records, along with a full-length radio interview done shortly before Parsons’ death. At almost $50, this set is complete overkill. While GP and Grievous Angel are good records, they are not great records like Sweetheart of the Rodeo or Gilded Palace of Sin.

A box set as comprehensive as this one suggests that before Parson’s death of a drug overdose he was still the creative genius he was when he worked with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers and this simply wasn’t the case. Most of the unreleased material is utterly forgettable and only of interest to die hard fans. The true star on these recordings is Parsons’ partner in crime, Emmylou Harris, who emerges as her own talent just as Parsons is spiraling out of control with drugs and alcohol. By compiling these songs in a lavish box set, Rhino spins the legend of an artist by suggesting this material requires its full due. Yet the alternative studio tracks on this set highlight the darker side of an artist at the end of his rope, as beneath the legend of Parsons, the grievous angel, we find someone struggling with addiction and nearing his end.