Album Reviews

THE DAMNED
Grave Disorder
(Nitro)
Punk rock is supposed to be disposable, forgotten as its fans and practitioners mature. Apparently someone forgot to inform the Damned of this, as the band is creeping up on its 25th anniversary as vital as ever. To be sure, singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Captain Sensible and their cohorts have grown in sophistication over the years, but they still uphold the ideals of doing things exactly their own way, public acceptance be, uh, damned. Over the years the group has absorbed elements of Goth and power pop into its fast 'n' loose guitar rock base with positive results, and Grave Disorder is something of a culmination of their career-long experimentation. Singalong melodies and sugar-fueled rhythms meet sizzling guitar licks and monster movie keyboards, with Vanian's commanding baritone acting as the eye of the storm. That whole energy + melody thing is still a killer. It also helps that the record contains a fine batch of songs. The Damned thumbs its nose at celebrities ("Neverland," "Would You Be So Hot [If You Weren't Dead?]") and religion ("Amen," "W"), pays tribute to horror movies ("Beauty of the Beast") and forbidden pleasures ("Absinthe"), fantasizes about murder ("Thrill Kill"), indulges in some angry political commentary ("Democracy?") and even sings a couple of love songs ("She," Vanian's ode to bassist Patricia Morrison, "Til the End of Time"). The most memorable tune is "song.com," which may not make any incisive points about the Internet revolution but is so crammed with killer hooks and soaring choruses it doesn't matter. Grave Disorder is simply Damned good rock music. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Lords of the New Church, the Saints, the Misfits

GARMARNA
Hildegard von Bingen
(Northside)
Swedish postmodern folk quintet Garmarna is not the first artist to adapt the spiritual chants of 12th century abbess/mystic Hildegard von Bingen to a musical setting. Jocelyn Montgomery, in collaboration with David Lynch, released the memorable Lux Vixens a few years ago, and various traditional recordings of these pieces abound. But Garmarna uses the 800-year-old texts to move into the future, rather than dwell on the past. They've always augmented their traditional Nordic folk with percolating dance beats and digital textures, but armed with von Bingen's sacred lyrics they've made the transition from sample-enhanced folk group to folk-flavored dance band. Fortunately, the band's sense of melody remains intact, and frontwoman Emma Härdelin's magnetic vocals are as attention-getting as ever. Fiddler/programmer Stefan Brisland-Ferner keeps the rhythm high in the mix without overwhelming the swirling tunes, while Härdelin swoops and glides through the atmospheric soundscapes like a falcon in flight. "Euchari," "Paso" and "Salvatoris" spike their groovy punches with honest-to-Jehovah hooks, while "Unde Quocompque" grabs a partner and a tab of X and heads straight for the dance floor. While the band barely resembles the same entity that recorded Vittrad not too many years ago, their logical evolution is complete. And they had to go back only 800 years to do it. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Enigma, Afro Celt Sound System, Hedningarna

JOHN HIATT
The Tiki Bar is Open
(Vanguard)
Hoosiers are an odd lot—part Midwestern reticence and part gregarious open-space charm, one foot in the blackened alluvial soil and the other firmly planted in the ethereal collective subconscious. The Indiana-born, Nashville-based John Hiatt is just such a conduit for our collective pain. Hiatt taps into some of the elemental emotions that touch us all while giving us more to chew on.

1987's breakthrough Bring the Family gave plenty to masticate. "Memphis in the Meantime," "Thing called Love" and "Learning How to Love You" offer an optimistic appraisal of love, whether it's love of a city or another human being. The Tiki Bar is Open feels like a companion piece to Bring the Family. Like Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends, it's optimism and loss, a Zen Koan—not one without the other. Fourteen years later there is regret and oddly enough, release. "Come Home to You" exemplifies this feeling as a prodigal man, desperate for redemption, human and visceral, yearns for the return of grace and fire. The title song has a drinker's lost love of the ritual: "Thank god the tiki bar is open/Thank god the tiki torch still shines." In this offering he extols the virtues of abstaining from drink for 17 years—yet he still pines for the tiki bar to exist as a talisman of sorts. Think of it as nostalgia without the hangover.

A resplendent storyteller, Hiatt spins compelling, lyrical story-songs—you cock your head to understand the narrative. His voice is stringent —aged pine bark streaked with turpentine: acidic, raw and pungent. Love of life is his fodder for telling truths. Blythe Christopher [buy it]

For fans of: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen (pre-nationalism phase), John Fogerty

HUM MACHINE
No Joy in Mudville
(Cancer Records, PO Box 2703, Madison, WI 53701)
Over the course of four albums, Madison's Hum Machine has carved a piece of the alt.rock pie for itself with college radio airplay across the nation. And no wonder—with their crunchy guitars, plainspoken vocals and melodic songs, they're a natural for the format. Five years ago they would have been major stars, opening arena tours for the Toadies. Now they content themselves with regional club jaunts, eager DJs and increasing word-of-mouth, building an audience the old-fashioned way. Regardless of the music's changing commercial fortunes, the band carries on playing the rock they clearly love. Country, folk and even a bit of flamenco (at the beginning of "Mica") spice things up, but it's mostly exactly what you'd expect from this kind of group: catchy, midtempo anthems with vaguely emotional lyrics. If you like this sort of thing, you'd be hard-pressed to find better than "Marstown" or "Looking For a Witness." Fans of MTV's Alternative Nation, take note. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Breeders, Idlewild, Soul Asylum

TRANSATLANTIC
Bridge Across Forever
(Radiant/Metal Blade)
Transatlantic is a so-called "supergroup" (a term most musicians despise) made up of leading lights from the contemporary progressive rock scene. Neal Morse of Spock's Beard, Roine Stolt of the Flower Kings, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater and Pete Trewavas of Marillion started this multinational side project as an attempt to pay tribute to the 70s prog they grew up with. Their first album SMPT:e, while pleasant, was dominated by Morse and thus sounded more like a minor Beard album with different musicians. However, with a tour under its belt and a better sense of what it wants to accomplish, the quartet offers up Bridge Across Forever, a vast improvement on which they sound like a real band. The long songs sound like Morse and Stolt actually collaborated on the writing, and their mutual love of the Beatles ensures that the results, no matter how complex, are unfailingly tuneful. The soulful Morse shares lead vocals more often with all four members, which adds both some contrast and a delightful call-and-response feel to the tracks. Musical virtuosity abounds, but it's always put to the service of the songs. For this band, as with each member's home team, expert musicianship is more important in terms of craftsmanship than hot soloing. Morse and Stolt's melodic invention on keyboards and guitars combines with the well-oiled rhythm machine of Trewavas and Portnoy to keep the songs from getting tedious, despite the length of epics like "Suite Charlotte Pike" (13:20) and "Stranger in Your Soul" (25:34). In fact, the longest song, the opening "Duel With the Devil," is also the best, needing every second of its 26:33 to get its tuneful, passionate point across. This record's sense of cohesion is so tight that even the title track, which is essentially a solo Morse track, sounds of a piece within the whole. Bridge Across Forever fulfills the promise of this soon-to-be legendary gathering in spades. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Kansas' Leftoverture, Ad Infinitum