BUILT TO SPILL: ULTIMATE ALTERNATIVE WAVERS (1993)
1) The First Song; 2) Three
Years Ago Today; 3) Revolution; 4) Shameful Dread; 5) Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup;
6) Get A Life; 7) Built To Spill; 8) Lie For A Lie; 9) Hazy; 10) Built Too Long
(parts 1, 2 & 3).
The classic associations that usually spring up
in any account of the story of Built To Spill are Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.
— two of the major «ugly-guitar-sound» combos of the Eighties, both of which
transparently influenced Built To Spill, the former in terms of freedom of
sound and experimental approach, the latter in terms of «dirty jamming» which,
in turn, goes all the way back to Neil Young, Pete Townshend and the like
(echoes of whom are also sometimes heard in the music — ironically, one of the
kick-ass riffs upon which they stumble in the ʽBuilt Too Longʼ jam happens to
be the riff that Pete often played live in the jam section of ʽMy Generationʼ).
Curiously, though, my first association with these guys concerned neither Sonic Youth
nor Dinosaur Jr., but rather a somewhat more distant and less frequently
quoted relative — Television! If anything, Built To Spill for the 1990s (and
this is especially obvious on this
first, and still very much derivative, album) were exactly what Television were
for the 1970s: a small-format, but large-ambition band, with a vision expressed
through a haughty, sternly determined manner of singing and all sorts of
challenging guitar interplay, combining elements of folk, punk, drone, blues
improvisation, and noise. In other words, grand prog-rock deconstructed to fit
the limitations of a small guitar-based combo — something that must probably
require a lot of clout and a lot of skill to do right.
Television did it perfectly all right; as to
Built To Spill, while my respect for them even in this early incarnation is
enormous, I am not too sure if Ultimate
Alternative Wavers, a rather boldly self-aggrandizing title as it is, truly
constitutes «great» music. There is no denying the feats of imagination that
went into the construction of these songs: this is not «math-rock» as such, since
the music does not demand perfect rhythmic precision at each nanosecond, and it
is definitely not the «nuts-rock» of Primus, either, but the song structures
are quite complex and challenging all the same. The band core, consisting of
Doug Martsch on guitar/vocals and Brett Netson on second guitar and/or bass,
like to go from folk to rock to funk to noise and back within the same song —
this is why the songs usually take quite a bit of time to develop, but this is
definitely not wasted time: the only
track on which the band members could be accused of a little self-indulgence
is the closing jam ʽBuilt Too Longʼ, whose title is already self-ironic, but
even there we have a distinct three-way partition that indicates... well, composition.
On the other hand, the same approach also
reveals the major weakness of Built To Spill: a lack of obvious purpose to this music. Sure you could
address this criticism to the likes of King Crimson as well, but, first of all,
Built To Spill do not rock as hard as King Crimson, second, they do not have as
many impressive riffs as King Crimson, and third and perhaps most important,
their level of technical mastery, though easily comparable to Television,
hardly even begins approaching the Fripp/Belew standards, so you do not have
this extra bonus of being totally dazzled
by the performances, though you might be amused or intrigued by them. These are
interesting songs, sure enough, but I
have a hard time «feeling» them.
As an example, take the first song,
conveniently titled ʽThe First Songʼ because, indeed, it is not easy to come up
with a better title. It seems to be a poetic complaint about the hardships of
living in a world in which the protagonist does not really belong: "How
can I not believe in things that everybody else sees?" The music does seem
to be tailored accordingly, with minor key folksy strumming à la Led Zep, woman-tone-heavy electric
wailings, and brooding psychedelic solos weeping over each other from two or
three different guitars — yet somehow none of this translates into
conventional desperation that could break your heart. I don't know, maybe it's
something to do with Doug's voice, which I find rather bland and «just
decent», or maybe it is the lack of a well-defined core theme for the song
(they seem to just be happy to move from Led Zep to Hendrix to Television to
The Cure and shove in more, more, more without being afraid of disorienting
the listener — which is exactly, I believe, what is happening), or maybe they
don't get the best possible production... anyway, something just doesn't click,
as formally cool as the entire experience could be called.
When they wind up the tempo and crank up the
volume, like on ʽRevolutionʼ or ʽGet A Lifeʼ, songs whose titles, lyrics and
moods «call to action», the overall effect is the same: the music is more
complex than on your average Neil Young song, but the cumulative reaction is nowhere
near as violent — when Neil really gets into it, it makes you want to kill
(with love, of course — what else?), but when Doug and Brett get into it (like
on the aggressive solo section of ʽGet A Lifeʼ), it makes you go... «wow, cool
sonic overlays, dudes». Like when they solo on ʽLie For A Lieʼ, in these short
little «telephonic» bursts of bubbly melody: cute and weird, but not quite as
meaningful as, for instance, when Talking Heads do so on Remain In Light songs.
Arguably the most conventional song on the
album, a leisurely ballad with a grand lead guitar melody, is ʽHazyʼ, and
perhaps not surprisingly, it also has the most soulful and relatable vocal
performance from Doug: "Hazy / Just because sometimes you make me
crazy" actually gives us a vulnerable human being, and serves as the
emotional hub of the album — too bad that it comes almost at the very end, as
if they were actually ashamed of having an accessible song like that sitting
next to all those feats of imaginative overdubbing.
Do not get me wrong: even without ʽHazyʼ, the
album would still get an unquestionable thumbs up from me — just because few of the songs
work instantaneously on a «gut level» does not mean that the album as a whole
does not work on some other level of conscience. At the very least, in the most
formal way it is a real wonder what these three guys have managed to concoct
with just the most basic of instrumentation, in an age where «alt-rock» was
already beginning to feel a little like a dirty word; no wonder that a cult was
rather quickly formed around the band, praising them for salvaging the
underground in an era when R.E.M. and Nirvana were perceived as a threat to the
underground's very existence as an «underground». To do so, however, they had
to produce music that was denser, less easily accessible, and less emotionally
devastating — had they done otherwise, you know, they risked selling as many
copies as Nirvana, and that would have been the end of small club elitism. Or
maybe Doug Martsch could end up killing himself, so thank God for them small
record labels.
Of course I'm blase and everything, but I don't recognize any complexity in Get a Life. Just a straightforward 4/4 rock song with some distorted guitar and overdubs. OK, granted - there are two or three tempo changes, but that's all, but they sound more accidental than purposeful to me.
ReplyDelete1993 you say? That was the year of Therapy?'s breakthrough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortsharpshock_E.P.
Wipes the floor with these guys.
I'm considering getting into late 80's and early 90's underground guitar music and shoegaze, because it's a genre that I'm rather unfamiliar with and that I previously dismissed as derivative. So far I acquired (but have not yet listened to) albums of My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain, Boo Radleys, Ride, Chapterhouse, and of course I was already familiar with more well-known bands like R.E.M., Nirvana, The Cure, Alice in Chains, Blur etc.
ReplyDeleteAm I missing any important bands? For instance, I have never heard of either Built To Spill and Dinosaur Jr. And what albums are recommended for first listening?
Thanks.
I would consider these "hot streaks" of three albums to be good introductions to these bands (my particular favorites are in bold):
DeleteBuilt to Spill (doesn't really belong, but you asked) - Perfect from Now On, Keep It like a Secret, Ancient Melodies of the Future
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me, Bug, Green Mind
The Fall - Too erratic for me to recommend consecutive albums, but Hex Enduction Hour, This Nation's Saving Grace, and Middle-Class Revolt are my favorites.
The Flaming Lips - Hit to Death in the Future Head, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, Clouds Taste Metallic (but everything from In a Priest-Driven Ambulance on, excluding At War with the Mystics, is fantastic, my favorite being the complete-at-last DVD+CD release of The Soft Bulletin)
The Jesus Lizard - Head, Goat, Liar
Melvins - Bullhead, Lysol, Houdini
Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Pork Soda, Tales from the Punchbowl (I can't pick a favorite here, but Sailing the Seas of Cheese is the most popular)
Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia, Sweet Oblivion, Dust
Sonic Youth - Evol, Sister, Daydream Nation (but Goo and Washing Machine are essential once you've heard those)
Throwing Muses - House Tornado, Hunkpapa, The Real Ramona (the self-titled comeback from 2003 is also excellent)
The Tragically Hip - Road Apples, Fully Completely, Day for Night
Yo La Tengo - Painful, Electr-O-Pura, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
The first two Madder Rose albums
The last two Slowdive albums
I'm sure that I'm missing some necessary bands (and I'm sure that I've covered at least some ground that you already know), but I had worse ways to spend 10 minutes. You'd do well to check out Mark Prindle's site if you want something substantial (and funny as all hell).
Wow, thanks a lot. <3
Delete@Anonymous: I'd try at least the following for alternative 80s 90s alternative guitar rock:
ReplyDeleteSonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Dinosaur Jr - You're living all over me
Dream Syndicate - Days of wine and roses
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (although many prefer slanted and enchanted)
Guided by voices - Bee thousand
Fugazi - Repeater
Slint - Spiderland
Yo la tengo - Painful
Luna - Lunapark
Shoegaze / dream pop-rock:
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Ride - Nowehere
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Galaxie 500 - On Fire
The Verve - Storm in Heaven
Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Catherine Wheel - Chrome
Sigur Ros - Aegatis Byrjun
Beach House - Teen Dream
Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde
Other Anonymous recommendations are pretty spot ons as well. You'll fidn your way from there.