Album Reviews

JACK & THE BEANSTALK
Cowboys in Sweden
(Parasol)
Led by singer/songwriter Joe Algeri, Australia's Jack & the Beanstalk plays power pop. There's almost nothing more to say. The 'Stalk has every jangle, hook, harmony and crunch in its proper place—this band is what's meant by the phrase "textbook case." While that makes the quartet sound dull and unimaginative, it's not meant that way. Algeri and his mates don't need to add bells and whistles (though handclaps are OK) because they do what they do exceptionally well. Algeri writes irresistible, ultra-melodic pop tunes with occasional C&W undercurrents, and sings them in a voice best described as achingly winsome. "She Drives a Volvo," "Two-Sixty-Five," "Pop Fantasy" and the Vox organ-spiced "Heard It All Before" ring lovely, loud and true. Finishing the record with a slate of live tunes, including a nifty take on the Dictators' "Who Will Save Rock 'n' Roll," Jack & the Beanstalk should warm the coldest heart. Michael Toland

For fans of: Velvet Crush, Super Deluxe, the Byrds

SCOTT MILLER & THE COMMONWEALTH
Thus Always to Tyrants
(Sugar Hill)
Not the Scott Miller that leads West Coast psych popsters the Loud Family, this Miller was the frontman for defunct Knoxville, TN quartet and Steve Earle favorite the V-Roys. That band picked up a sizable cult following with their poppy, energetic roots rock, and fanatics will wet themselves when they hear Thus Always to Tyrants. Those who've not already succumbed to the band's voodoo, however, may feel differently. Working with a variety of musicians in Nashville and beyond, Miller produces the same kind of tight, well-crafted nuggets as he did with his band, with an added dollop of maturity. It's hard to knock clever songs like "Daddy Raised a Boy," "Mess of This Town" and "Room on the Cross," a witty piano ballad that Miller calls "the first slacker spiritual." Alas, it's also hard to endorse these songs. Miller hits all the right notes, mixes all the right elements together, dots his i's and crosses his t's, but his tunes seem a little too clinical somehow. There's loads of craftsmanship here, but little room for the kind of beer-fueled recklessness that made the V-Roys so engaging live. Only "Absolution" and "Goddamn the Sun," both recorded with Knoxville pop knockabouts Superdrag, reach the kind of dizzy rock 'n' roll heights to which Miller's reputation alludes. There's really nothing wrong with Thus Always to Tyrants, and V-Roys fans should rush out to buy it post-haste, but skeptics should probably wait for further developments. Michael Toland

For fans of: the V-Roys, the Old 97's, Bare Jr.

THE NEATBEATS
Mercurial...
(Get Hip)
Japan's dapper Neatbeats apparently missed rock 'n' roll's evolution past, well, gosh, 1964 at least. The period recreation of early 60s rock/pop on their second album Mercurial... is so spot-on, complete with vintage amps and guitars, you'd think they came up playing the Star Club in Hamburg in 1962 instead of growing out of a 90s instrumental combo called the Death Dealers. They use the same strategy as did the early Beatles by combining bubblegum hooks and sunny harmonies with R&B licks and rockabilly drive. It's a necessarily limited approach, of course, but it works for the Neatbeats. Guitarist Takashi "Mr. Pan" Manabe's originals ("Do the Global Twist," "Before It's Too Late," "Beatific Morning") fit so accurately alongside classic covers like "Farmer John," "Reelin' and Rockin' " and "Just a Little Bit" you could play them for a blind baby boomer and he'd swear they were recorded 35 years ago. If you think the Beatles were never better than on With the Beatles and Please Please Me, you might feel Mercurial. Michael Toland

For fans of: pre-Rubber Soul Beatles, the Kaisers, the Dave Clark Five

PATTI ROTHBERG
Candelabra Cadabra
(Cropduster)
Guitarist/songwriter Patti Rothberg put out one well-reviewed album on the now-defunct EMI label a few years ago, and has been dogged by Alanis Morrisette comparisons ever since. Good god, why? The NYC-based young woman has more talent in her left earlobe than the petulant Canadian chanteuse has in her entire body. More taste as well—Rothberg avoids strident alternative pop for a thick, sensuous rock brew that adds ingredients from psychedelia, folk, power pop and even glam. Be warned, though: it's so easy to get lost in the sound of the record that it takes a listen or two to realize the strength of her songs. She can pen a clever tune like "The Wry It Girl" without winking too blatantly and lay her heart out on her sleeve in "Nothing I Can Say" without getting the floor slick with too much blood. The coalition of her charged rock sound and high quality writing makes for a truly awesome collection. She gets trippy and melodic on "Delicate Matters" and "You Killed My Time," muses prettily on "The Late Late Show" and just plain rocks on "Suffocator" and "Dish It Out." She also turns in a spectacular version of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream," a cool tribute to a key influence. Rothberg perfectly balances craft and grit, brains and heart, grace and guts. It doesn't get much better than Candelabra Cadabra. Michael Toland

For fans of: Matthew Sweet, Mott the Hoople, Michael Penn

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Blessed By the Night
(Zoomica/SPV)
European label Zoomica bills Blessed By the Night as "the definitive dark metal compilation." Dark metal? Apparently the metal hydra sprouted another head while no one was looking. Metal is already showing signs of categorizing itself to death—black metal, death metal, power metal, nu-metal, alternative metal, doom, stoner rock, and on and on. Do we need yet another category? Ostensibly so. Dark metal seems to be a variation on black and death metal that incorporates heavy doses of Goth. Beauteous female vocals, prominent (though hardly dominant) keyboards and groovy basslines augment the usual blazing guitars, lycanthropic shrieking and universal hatred. (That the majority of these groups are Scandinavian goes without saying.) It sounds unwieldy but it's actually quite a natural fit. Mixing in some world-weary decadence into the usual blood and thunder actually does both genres some good, energizing the former and, strangely, lightening up the latter. Imagine a genial cross between the Cure and Black Sabbath or a faster, meaner Sisters of Mercy, then add some light opera, and you're in the ballpark.

Some of the bands featured here, like Mayhem, Satyricon, scene leaders Dimmu Borger and the unrepentantly savage ThirdMoon, stick with meat 'n' potatoes black metal, though Borger's "Moonchild Domain" shows some imagination and Satyricon's "A Moment of Clarity" hints at a devilish sense of humor ("satyr" isn't that far from "satire," after all). On the other side of the coin, Tiamat's "Brighter Than the Sun" is pretty much straight Gothic rock, with the frontperson flaunting a smooth baritone that would make Andrew Eldritch proud; on "Erotik Alchemy" the majestic Moonspell sounds like it's sloughing off any lingering metal trappings as well. Most of the bands, however, earnestly seek the middle ground, as Satanists, vampires and Bauhaus fans engage in a perverse but captivating mating dance to the accompaniment of crunching guitar riffs, soaring vocals and sinister minor-key melodies. Lacrimosa's "Copycat," Lacuna Coil's "Halflife" and the phenomenal Gathering's "Shot to Pieces" are clear highlights, as they should be, as these pioneering bands are old hands at this sort of thing. Also above par are "Svältvinter" by Vintersong and "Bäckahästen" by Otyg, heavier tracks performed in the bands' native languages. Less impressive is "Parital [sic] Insanity" by The Sins of Thy Beloved, who cram far too many elements (including prominent violin) into a track that's not particularly well-written to begin with. Showing off all its tricks at once makes them sound unfocused. Meanwhile, Therion's "O Fortuna," a heavy metal + choir conglomeration that sounds like a Carmina Burana from hell, is simply ridiculous.

Also problematic are the skimpy liner notes. Songwriter and publishing notes are all well and good, but some more information would have been nice. Are these new songs recorded specifically for this compilation, outtakes or previously released tracks? Minimalist biographies would be helpful as well. And shouldn't genre pioneers like black metal kings Emperor and vampire rockers Cradle of Filth have been included? These deficiencies aside, if you're curious about a direction of modern metal that doesn't require baggy shorts and a small vocabulary, Blessed By the Dark ain't a bad bottle of absinthe to imbibe. Michael Toland

For fans of: Opeth, Sisters of Mercy's Vision Thing, Danzig