Anyway, to me, a perfect album is one I can listen to all the way through without skipping a track. This is very much a Gen X, CD-oriented way to look at music. I know most people listen on ipods now and just don't upload the songs they don't like. I'm kind of glad that isn't my mindset, however, because some of my favorite songs had to "break" for me before I could enjoy them, and that meant repeated listens. You might think a lot of albums would fall into this criteria but almost every album I love has a weak spot. On OK Computer, it isn't Fitter Happier (oddly enough), it is Climbing Up the Walls that I find to be the most disposable track and I often skip it.
The other qualification is that the album has to be 10 tracks or more. Still Falling, by Virgil Shaw, is incredible and I listen to it all the way through, every time. However, it is only 9 tracks. It is kind of easier to produce nothing but gold when your track count is so low.
So, with that in mind, I want to talk about the Beta Band's 3 EPs. I know, the first of the series and it isn't even a proper album. The Beta Band rose to prominence in the late 1990s on the strength of three EPs (Champion Versions, The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos) and "Dry the Rain" (a track so good, I put it on almost every mix I have ever made for a woman). You may know the song if you have seen High Fidelity as it gets a nice showcase there.
They were signed to Regal records and started working on their admittedly "fucking awful" debut LP. To gather interest in the Beta Band, Regal gathered up their three EPs and released them as a single album in 1998.
At first listen, I don't know if anyone would call this album "perfect." For one thing, there is a huge obstacle awaiting the listener at track 7 but we'll get there.
The album starts off with "Dry the Rain"...a folksy, acoustic guitar strum and odd percussion, with some accordion and other sundries thrown in, add to a great building song (the 90s were full of songs that went from quiet to loud and anthemic way before The Arcade Fire was around). You would think putting their strongest song first would hurt them but I think it is the perfect gentle gateway into the weirdness that follows.
Track 2 is "I Know"...this is a musical exercise built around a cool little bass riff. Again, hand percussion instruments are used and the guitar doodles around, in and out of the song. This track is when it clicked for me that the lead singer, Steve Mason, just wanted to use his voice like another instrument to be sampled. Meaning lyrics don't mean much to the Beta Band but, like Beck, they evoke a definite mood with their mumblings and fumblings. I doubt this would ever be someone's favorite song but if you are chill enough to let it unfold, it casts a bit of a spell.
Track 3 is "B+A", an instrumental built up around a repeated guitar lick and a pulsing percussive beat. I think Ratatat would build their whole career around this song. Every now and then, the pattern breaks but it keeps getting more and more urgent as it goes until disembodied voices wail unintelligible vocals deep in the mix. It is almost the sound of descending into hell.
"Dogs Got a Bone" is the final track of the first EP. A nice bookend to "Dry the Rain" as it is a more conventional folk-pop song. Now that we now what to expect from the Beta Band, they have taught us how to listen to them with the first three tracks, the fourth comes off as quaint but true to their sounds.
The Patty Patty Sound may have been music made on a dare to scare away potential fans. I think it is the hardest of the EPs to love but once it earns your respect and trust, I think it is the most rewarding.
The first song (track 5 on the album) is "Inner Meet Me." Mason uses his vocals as samples and repeats a refrain of "inner meet me on the inside" over and over. Slowly, a beat comes in and then more vocals get layered over the refrain and they start repeating. From this swirl of hypnotic rhythms erupts the chorus, as catchy and heartfelt as "Dry the Rain." Another fascinating way to build up a song.
Then, shit gets weird. Track 6 is "The House Song" which may be the single strangest track I have ever loved. Again, Mason's vocals are sampled and looped, music plays backwards...eventually a rap made entirely of gibberish (as far as I can tell) breaks out like a kid fooling around. Maybe this is a parody of House music but it works as its own weird little entity.
Track 7 is "Monolith." It lives up to its name. At almost 16 minutes long it might be a musical journey through the history of civilization. There are bird noises and tribal chants that rise and fade as the song meanders through its running time. More a sound collage than anything else, it is still fun to listen to. I was ready to skip this track the other day when I relistened but the moment never came where I thought, ok, that is enough. Your mileage may vary.
The musical dare of the Patty Patty Sound concludes with "She's The One." You think it is going to be a lazy rewrite of Dry the Rain with a Jew's Harp but it furthers Mason's obsession with circular lyrics and vocal manipulations. I think this middle EP is all about the Beta Band figuring out where their limits are. Nothing in these four tracks are radio ready and I love them.
The third EP seems to be based on a different dare. We know these weirdos can make long, sprawling sonic experiments, but can they produce four tight, poppy songs? The answer is...kind of.
Track 9 is "Push It Out" should sound familiar by now, it is a repeated vocal sample that repeats as the music builds around it. Horrible confession, this song gets caught in my head when I have to crap. It never turns into anything more than the repeated lyric and the building groove but it acts as a sonic sorbet for the last three tracks.
"It's Over" has a sexy upright bass riff running through it. The cumulative affect of this track is one of utter sadness to me. The breathless delivery of lyrics and the Spaghetti Western interlude just add to the feeling that someone had a showdown with their true love and lost.
"Dr. Baker" seems to be proof that the Beta Band don't need 16 minutes to get weird. Piano, a strangled cacophony of robot cats being murdered (maybe?) and the usual trick of sampled and distorted vocals meet with a glockenspiel (I think) seem to create a character sketch here but I always lose track of the narrative, if there is one. Not easy listening but still fun, I think.
Finally, they wrap it up with "Needles In My Eyes." These seem to be the tracks designed to pull in listeners so the Beta Band can sucker them into listening to their more esoteric songs. Needles in My Eyes might actually be the lazy Dry the Rain rewrite I was expecting for the whole album. Regardless, it is still damn strong, with a singalong chorus and organ accents throughout. Although these 12 tracks begin and end on an almost conventional note, what they achieve in between is pretty damn awesome.
This is how I felt about music coming out of the 90s, that we were going to move in a bold, new direction. People were using the past to dig around and find a future in music (remember that ska, swing and ragtime all made reappearances in the 90s). I thought Beta Band would be on the vanguard. However, they admit they were rushed through the production of their self-titled debut (which still has moments of brightness but is overall a mess).
Their album Hot Shots II had a few glimmers of hope but it seems like their sound went from all over the place, free-wheeling, anything can happen, kitchen sink rock to just a folk rock band with a DJ. By the time their final album, From Heroes to Zeroes came out, I had stopped listening. Like a lot of bands that start out hungry, they lost their edge and faded away. It happens to the best but at least we will always have this album to listen to.
No comments:
Post a Comment