Album Reviews

Well it took almost a decade but it was worth it! Whether the highly successful Pixies reunion was the catalyst or not, American Music Club (AMC) consisting of Mark Eitzel on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Vudi (Mark Pankler) on lead guitar, Danny Pearson on bass have come up with a set of songs that easily measure up with and perhaps surpass anything in their illustrious canon.

Kicking off the album with vengeance, “Ladies And Gentlemen” begins with a highly industrially-distorted electric guitar riff akin to U2's “Zoo Station.” Eitzel, meanwhile, sings his guts out with a vitriolic rage never-before-heard on an AMC album and I like it!! The demonic guitar and slightly off-key tack piano counterbalancing Eitzel's lyrics,

“if you can't live with the truth …go ahead, try to live…. with a lie”

This song is so aggressively great it almost threw me because of my previous AMC listening experiences. One would think after such an amazing tune, the follow-up song would almost have to pale in comparison right?

Wrong, “Another Morning,” is my choice for the first single. A perfect tune for college and independent radio, the song deals with trying to understand why Eitzel's partner, (friend, lover??) can find no joy in life, no reason to smile,

“…there must have been a short 5 minutes in your youth,

when you laughed like water breaking over the broken dam…”

But the subject of the song refuses to see the light and Eitzel, like any one of us at one time who has dealt with a depressed friend, must just face up to not being able to help and move on with his life. Not only is the song catchy but it really hits home to the listener in a real humanistic manner. That leads us into the album's highlight, “Patriot's Heart”. Probably the best song on the album and perhaps the best song the band have ever done. The lyrics were based on a Christmas vacation Eitzel spent in Columbus, Ohio hanging out in gay strip clubs with a friend, (not how I would prefer to spend my Christmas vacation but he got an amazing song out of it!!) The number conveys the aching loneliness of a dancer who realizes he is past his prime. With the agonizing piano sounding like a funeral procession, the dancer hooks up after hours with a stranger:

“now he knows that your good time will kill him

but the thought of getting old does not thrill him…

I'm the past you wasted, I'm the future you are obliterating”

Eitzel sings these lines with such anger and power. There is no doubt in my mind that these chilling lines refer to promiscuity and AIDS. This is such a heavy, amazing song and performance. I would love to hear this tune live to see the interplay of the musicians. The multilayered mellotron and string synths only add to the aching sadness.

“Love Is” is a slow-burning break-up tune with gorgeous string synth in sync with a haunting Hammond B-3 organ fed through an oscillator. The next song, “Job To Do” is also a slow number featuring some more industrial guitar textures especially during the solo. (I know the words “industrial” and “AMC” should not go together but somehow it works!)

“My Love Can Set You Free” is a mid-tempo acoustic number and would be my choice for the second single off the album. Bassist Pearson really leaves his stamp all over this track. For some reason I can imagine this song being used in a teenager show on TV. I'm not sure why probably because of its light wispy melody. Heck if it ever does appear on TV that would mean AMC would have enough scratch to make another album, which would not be a bad thing at all if this album is indicative of the musical direction the band seems to be taking.

“Mantovani -The Mind Reader” follows and is a great example of the superlative mixing job because while it sounds as if all the musicians were in the same room playing in real time, there are still some subtle and yet well-placed sound effects throughout the song; some slap echo here some guitar phasing there. The balance is just perfect. “Home” is next and finds Eitzel in confessional mode as he ruminates on what one must do to feel comfortable in one's own skin. Eitzel's vocals have never sounded better.

“Myopic Books” is an intellectually-titled song about the simple joy of taking time for oneself. More specifically, the soft acoustic ditty finds Eitzel in a bookstore where:

“the music they play

would be Dinosaur Jr.

and the people that work there

would be super-unfriendly

and that would make me happy”

This track conveys so well the feeling of shopping in your favorite store and dealing with the High-Fidelity-like snobs of the record staff yet that is part of the mom & pop store appeal.

“America Loves the Minstrel Show” features wicked almost Robert Fripp-like guitar runs from Vudi while Eitzel's vocal lines have never sounded so strong, so rich. This song may be his shining moment from a pure vocal ability standpoint. “The Horseshoe Wreath in Bloom” is another mid-tempo number which features great tack saloon-style piano from Marc Capelle and has a bit of that “Ballad of Thin Man” vibe to it, probably due to the Hammond B-3 organ chirping along in the background. “Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship” features a tune which is actually more depressing than the title if you can believe it! Eitzel double-tracks his vocals similar to Elliott Smith (RIP) which makes for a chilling, eerie tune.

Finally, “The Devil Needs You” closes the album off with horns, distorted guitars, brush snare drum and pure white noise all vying for attention.

All in all, this is not bad for a group that was disbanded for nearly a decade before creating this gem. Like the best wine, AMC has aged extremely well and have my vote for best album of 2004. This is easily as good as their other albums and perhaps a tad better due to the quality of the singing as well as the diversity between torch ballads and all-out rockers. Catch them live in 2005 if you get the chance, I know I will!

Ed note: Also available as a double 180g LP, with bonus track "1000 Miles," not yet auditioned