10.12.2005
Please return it
I saw the Posies for what will likely be the last time last night. The band may well soldier on, breaking up and reuniting over the years to the consternation and relief of an ever-shrinking group of people who care, but I'm out. After watching them bludgeon their best songs in an assaultive set that completely lacked dynamics, I have decided that I'm fine with listening to them on CD.
I last saw the band at South by Southwest in the mid 1990s, and they were just as abrasive then. This was around the time of their fourth disc, Amazing Disgrace, which found them cranking up the guitars in a misguided attempt, one assumes, to grab hold of the grunge bandwagon as it drove away. I had hopes that now, 10 years later, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow were a bit more comfortable, more aware of their strengths and willing to embrace them. There were signs of hope. Their latest CD, Every Kind of Light, is their strongest since Frosting on the Beater, mixing tough guitars with sweet vocals. Instead, they proved to still be the scrawny pop kids acting tough, much to the detriment of their songs. They both have fantastic voices that blend magically, and each has a command of pop hooks that, when properly deployed, led to some of the finest power pop songs of the 1990s. But the Posies are clearly a band that doesn't like what their best at, and not terribly good at what they want to be.
The night wasn't a total loss. Oranger, which opened the show, was great, a power pop band that knows how to strike the right balance between power and pop. They rocked, but you could still discern the guitar hooks and vocal harmonies. If the band had lead vocals of the caliber of Auer and Stringfellow, they'd be dangerous. In fact, I'd have enjoyed the show much more if the two Posies singers had left their guitars at home and let Oranger provide their backing (Oranger's bassist actually does double duty with the Posies, so they're part way there). I have a copy of Oranger's latest, New Comes and Goes, and like what I've heard. That one will definitely move up in the rotation.
Changing gears, a short review I wrote of the latest Snatches of Pink CD appears at PopMatters today. It's one of many capsule reviews on the page. I really wanted to like the disc, having been a fan of the band back in the early '90s, but it was a pretty lackluster listen.
I last saw the band at South by Southwest in the mid 1990s, and they were just as abrasive then. This was around the time of their fourth disc, Amazing Disgrace, which found them cranking up the guitars in a misguided attempt, one assumes, to grab hold of the grunge bandwagon as it drove away. I had hopes that now, 10 years later, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow were a bit more comfortable, more aware of their strengths and willing to embrace them. There were signs of hope. Their latest CD, Every Kind of Light, is their strongest since Frosting on the Beater, mixing tough guitars with sweet vocals. Instead, they proved to still be the scrawny pop kids acting tough, much to the detriment of their songs. They both have fantastic voices that blend magically, and each has a command of pop hooks that, when properly deployed, led to some of the finest power pop songs of the 1990s. But the Posies are clearly a band that doesn't like what their best at, and not terribly good at what they want to be.
The night wasn't a total loss. Oranger, which opened the show, was great, a power pop band that knows how to strike the right balance between power and pop. They rocked, but you could still discern the guitar hooks and vocal harmonies. If the band had lead vocals of the caliber of Auer and Stringfellow, they'd be dangerous. In fact, I'd have enjoyed the show much more if the two Posies singers had left their guitars at home and let Oranger provide their backing (Oranger's bassist actually does double duty with the Posies, so they're part way there). I have a copy of Oranger's latest, New Comes and Goes, and like what I've heard. That one will definitely move up in the rotation.
Changing gears, a short review I wrote of the latest Snatches of Pink CD appears at PopMatters today. It's one of many capsule reviews on the page. I really wanted to like the disc, having been a fan of the band back in the early '90s, but it was a pretty lackluster listen.
