Archive Review: Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Pale (1990)

There is a school of thought which subscribes to the theory that the particular genre of music known as “jangly pop” (a la This Mortal Coil or The Cocteau Twins, as opposed to the Byrdsian 12-string variety) must include numerous trademarks: thick, unintelligible vocals caressing deliberately obscured lyrics, surrounded by lush, sensual, almost over-orchestrated instrumentation. The listening experience should be, in the main, one of a subtle emotional stimulation of the aural senses with few, if any, jagged edges of intellectual pretense with which to disturb the mesmerized stereophonic participant. Just as there are exceptions to every rule, a fly in every jar of ointment and so on, so also exists, thankfully, Toad the Wet Sprocket.

With the release of Pale, the band’s rapid follow-up to last year’s engaging debut, Bread and Circuses, Toad the Wet Sprocket takes the cliched formula present in so much “jangly” pop music and turns it on its ear. Sure, you’ll find plenty of the aforementioned somber vocals and tender, ringing six-string wizardry within these grooves, but you’ll also find something else: a rare and welcome insight into the human condition tethered only by the band’s artistic limitations. The entire spectrum of human emotion and experience is explored within these lyrics, from the self-questioning introspection of songs such as “High On A Riverbed” or “I Think About” to the wrestling lovers found in “Jam” or the dreadful loneliness and tragic heartbreak in the album’s closer, “She Cried.”

Toad the Wet Sprocket’s lyrics are both poignant and pointed, reflecting not only the writer/sing’s feelings and thoughts but, presumably, many of the listener’s as well. This intellectual and emotional honesty, coupled with the band’s exciting and still-maturing musical talents make Pale a welcome respite from the lyrical (and emotional) vacuity found in far too much pop music. Pale offers the listener the best of all worlds, delivering an entertaining and thoughtful package which manages to both stimulate and hypnotize. (Columbia Records, released January 16th, 1990)

Review originally published by Sound Shop’s Play Magazine, March/April 1990...