Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)

Artists who are tagged with the deadly "critical favorites" label tend to have a very brief commercial existence, if, indeed, they create a meager blip on the old product sales radar at all. There are many reasons for this simple rock & roll fact of life, the foremost being that rock critics (this writer included) tend to be overeducated shitheads with an arts and literature background, an elitist crowd grabbing free promos and a spot on the guest list even while they're damning the latest pop icon with faint praise. Critics tend to shun the sort of "lowest common denominator" rock far too frequently cranked out by the labels in favor of more esoteric work.

The funny thing about "Art," though, is that it tends to sneak up and bite you on the ass. Yesterday's artistic obscurity is tomorrow's influence, and the seldom-heard and often under appreciated work of folks like Alex Chilton, Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock, et al will be a part of that next Top Forty sensation. The critic's job is to discover and recognize the quiet genius of the aforementioned and let you know how woefully "unhip" you are since you obviously passed on buying their records in favor of the new U2 or Van Halen sets...which brings us, in a somewhat roundabout way, to Robert Pollard, Guided By Voices and Bee Thousand.

Pollard is one of those rare finds in rock & roll, a completely innocent and unjaded thirty-something school teacher toiling away in an artistic netherland in his spare time. Bee Thousand is a visionary work; absent is the simpleminded posturing and preening evident on even the most sincere "alternative" release. There are twenty songs crammed into a thirty-six minute space, reminiscent of the Minutemen in their economy and scope. Whereas D. Boon created from the viewpoint of a punk aesthetic, Pollard wraps his work around some forty years of rock & roll history.

Musically, Bee Thousand offers scraps of British and American pop, discordant punk, spacey guitar riffs and quick thrusts of a dozen different sharp-edged influences. Pollard's lyrics are sheer poetry, often times oblique, literary gems hidden beneath the mix. Many of the songs here consist of nothing but a single verse wrapped around sparse instrumentation and, I'll admit, that I often times haven't a clue what Pollard is singing about. A few mental gymnastics under the headphones have assigned meaning to a number of songs, but most remain a mystery.

Is it the critic's lot to deify that which we don't really understand? Sometimes, perhaps, but the main weapon in the critical toolbox is the ability to recognize that something is going on in a song, that the artist is doing something important and extraordinary. With Bee Thousand, Guided By Voices has used a familiar musical language to expand the barriers of thought and expression in rock lyricism. Although they may never rise above their currently-growing status as "critic's darlings," the influence of what Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices are doing today will be felt in the years to come. (Scat Records/Matador)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Bee Thousand from Amazon.com)

The dB's - Like This (2006)

Formed in 1978 in North Carolina by guitarist/songwriter Chris Stamey, bassist Gene Holder and drummer Will Rigby, the dB's stood at the forefront of the late-70s/early-80s Piedmont "jangle-pop" movement that included Mitch Easter's fondly-remembered band Let's Active and performer/producer Don Dixon's various projects. Peter Holsapple, a former bandmate of Stamey's, hooked up with the trio later the same year and the band moved to NYC in search of fame and fortune. Sadly, they couldn't get a stateside record deal, instead signing with British imprint Albion for the release of two excellent pop/rock efforts, 1981's Stands For Decibels and 1982's Repercussion. Although both albums were critically acclaimed, they were ignored by the masses – much like Big Star's first two albums, an obvious touchstone for the dB's sound – and Stamey left the dB's in '83 to pursue a solo career.

With Holsapple fronting the band, the three remaining members recorded Like This in 1984. Influenced, perhaps, as much by the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield as by the British Invasion, the album added more of Holsapple and Rigby's roots rock sound to the pop formula, moving beyond Stamey's art-rock maneuvers to deliver an ingratiating collection of songs. It's no stretch of the imagination to say that Like This paved the way for folks like Matthew Sweet and Velvet Crush to follow, influencing contemporaries like R.E.M. and the Fleshtones as well. Like This opens with the charming "Love Is For Lovers," a spry song with great vocal harmonies and hook large enough to reel in any listener, a song prime for covering by the right artist. "Love Is For Lovers" sets the table for the feast to follow, songs like the beautifully bittersweet "Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)," which matches lofty vocals with lush, intricate instrumentation and mournful lyrics.

"Amplifier," a tragic, dark-hued tale of love, loss and suicide sports clever lyrical gymnastics supported by a solid rhythm and snakelike guitar licks to pierce the wall of sound. "A Spy In The House Of Love" displays the boy's Southern funk side, with a loping rhythm and Holsapple's soulful vocals while the fierce, rocking "Rendezvous" features Holsapple's nifty fretwork and some of Rigby's best drumming, the rhythms hitting your ears like a tidal wave. "White Train" documents a meeting with the devil, a story of sin and salvation and a heaven-bound soul with a twangy rockabilly soundtrack and fine harmonies from the trio. The CD reissue of Like This offers bonus tracks in the form of "Darby Hall," a Gothic tale with ethereal vocals and delicate instrumentation and a largely disposable and unnecessary remix of "A Spy In The House Of Love" that robs the song of its original energy.

As written by history, the dB's chose to release Like This and jump into a tour opening for R.E.M. rather than wait for their label, Bearsville, to sign a distribution deal with Warner Music. The label folded shortly after the album's release, leaving the band high and dry and dooming the album to commercial obscurity. Although they would later sign a deal with R.E.M.'s label, IRS Records, for their 1987 release The Sound Of Music, the dB's would never get over their "cult band" status and broke up after their fourth album. With Like This finally restored on compact disc, pop/rock fans can rediscover this long-lost musical bridge between Big Star's groundbreaking early-70s albums and '90s-era popsters like Matthew Sweet, Jellyfish and the Posies. Enjoy! (Collector's Choice Music)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Like This from Amazon.com)

Greg Dulli - Greg Dulli's Amber Headlights (2005)

As frontman for '90s-era critical darlings the Afghan Whigs, Greg Dulli was responsible for bringing a measure of soul to a rather barren alt-rock landscape. While most bands of the decade – particularly those from the over-hyped Seattle scene – acted like they had never heard of R&B music, Dulli's songwriting for the Whigs injected a sense of history and energy into the band's rocking sound. Despite a shot at the big time with two major labels, the Afghan Whigs never rose above cult status and eventually drifted into the oblivion of talented bands that never received the hearing they deserved.

Dulli started the Twilight Singers as a side project while the Whigs were between record deals, recording songs in New Orleans with a varied cast of friends, experimenting with sounds and ideas like trip-hop and folk that laid beyond his regular band's milieu. Nothing if not prolific, after the break-up of the Whigs and the release of the first Twilight Singers' album, Dulli began yet another project: a collection of rock-oriented material that he hoped would provide a signpost to his musical future. However, the songs were shelved after the death of his friend, filmmaker Ted Demme, and although several of the tunes would later be reworked into Twilight Singers songs, the originals remained lost to time.

Until now, that is. Greg Dulli's Amber Headlights collects nine songs from those 2000 sessions, presenting them in their raw, unvarnished form. The songs rock hard, possibly more than anything else that Dulli has recorded, and display an undeniable heart of gold beneath the varnish of clashing guitars and amped-up, funky rhythms. The material sounds eerily timeless, not like the Afghan Whigs or like the Twilight Singers, but rather like vintage '70s-era rock & roll where the boundaries between black & white, rock & soul were constantly blurred and artists were able to play what they damn well pleased. There are some good songs here, one or two even verging on greatness, and all would sound wonderfully exciting on the radio.

The vocal harmonies of "Black Swan" sound like the Eagles while its riff-happy interludes sound like Rush to these ears, verging on a power metal vibe. The folk-pop of "Pussywillow" sounds amazingly contemporary, predating artists like Bright Eyes or Iron & Wine, the song chiming brightly like a bell and sporting Dulli's tender duet with Petra Haden. The dark-hued "Wicked" slowly unfolds from its quiet opening into a droning, hypnotic, psychedelia-tinged dirge while "Get The Wheel" is a blues-tinged tale in a John Hiatt vein. Dulli's lyrics are smart, introspective and universally accessible, displaying no little skill in creating a sense of both time and place. Although Dulli may never create music sounding exactly like this again, Greg Dulli's Amber Headlights is an excellent road trip into the artist's past, a rock solid collection of songs that can stand proudly with Dulli's best work (old and new) as well as with anything any other musician is creating these days. (Infernal Recordings)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Greg Dulli's Amber Headlights from Amazon.com)

Sublime - 40 Oz. To Freedom (1993)

Sublime have been popping up everywhere these past few months, with material appearing on an impressive number of compilation discs and soundtrack albums. Regardless of whether the band has the "manager from hell" shilling for them to get so many choice cuts placed or that somebody out there in rockland actually has some taste is irrelevant, the fact is that Sublime are one of the hottest, funkiest, freshest bands that these tired ears have heard in a long time. If you don't believe me, grab a taste of 40 Oz. To Freedom.

Sublime's 40 Oz. To Freedom kicks out a crazed blend of funk, rap, rock, ska and Latin-flavored jazz, mixing in a healthy dose of found vocals, random media samples and exquisite noise. There's the prerequisite ode to the sweet leaf, "Smoke Two Joints," complete with realistic sucking bong sounds, as well as "Let's Get Stoned," with its vibrant '60s-style guitar work and reggae rhythms. A wonderful homage to one of rap's legendary artists, "KRS-One" pays a great deal of respect to those who have blazed the trails before them. A handful of covers scrambles things up a bit on 40 Oz. To Freedom, ranging from an unexpected reading of the Dead's "Scarlet Begonias" to a forceful rendition of Bad Religion's "We're Only Going To Die For Our Arrogance." Above all else, Sublime infuse their work with a high-spirited, reckless abandon. Truly joyful performances like those on 40 Oz. To Freedom are too few and far between in today's alternative rock world. (Skunk Records/MCA)

(Click on the CD cover to buy a copy of 40 Oz. To Freedom from Amazon.com)

Sublime - Sublime (1996)

We've been watching Sublime's constant growth in popularity during these past few years. With electric live performances, a pair of solid indie label releases and well-timed placement of individual songs on a variety of soundtrack and compilation albums, Sublime managed to create a widespread buzz on the street with their original blend of punk, rap, reggae/ska and psychedelic-tinged hip-hop. They were poised for greatness, perhaps the hottest, freshest band to break-out of the indie rock world since Nirvana.

After completing the band's self-titled third album – a major label deal between their indie label Skunk Records and the multi-national MCA – Sublime frontman Brad Nowell succumbed to the plague of drug abuse that is so widespread in the rock world these days, overdosing on heroin last summer. The loss of their charismatic, extremely talented singer/songwriter/guitarist has turned Sublime's greatest artistic triumph into their sadly-lamented swan song. Nowell was the architect of Sublime's unique sound, the band his artistic vision in the flesh. Without him, the trio no longer exists.

It's a damn shame, too, because Nowell and Sublime created in Sublime, the album, a multi-textured, complex work that stands as one of year's best efforts. An artistic masterpiece that fuses the multi-cultural influences that drove the band with a myriad of musical styles, Sublime ties together Southern California street culture, in all of its wonderful diversity, into a splendid musical document. Produced with great care and precision by Paul Leary and David Kahne, listening to these grooves is like walking down the sidewalk in some great street bazaar. There's Hispanic hip-hop, Cali-styled hard-core punk, honest Jamaican reggae and a shopping list full of other musical and cultural influences absorbed with glee by Nowell and exhibited on Sublime.

Nowell was an impressive guitarist, with still-maturing technical skills and an ear for the hot riff. He had a fine vocal range, able to shout with the best of them or caress his lyrics like a long-lost love. His greatest talent was as a songwriter, however, an artist capable of boiling complex subjects down into street-smart simplicity. An fine example would be the song "Pawn Shop," with a dark reggae rhythm punctuated by Nowell's wicked guitar riffs and vocals repeating the line "down there at the pawn shop." After admonishing us that "it's a nifty place to shop" Nowell brings this short, six-line song home with the closing lines, "what has been sold is not strictly made of stone, please remember, it's flesh and bone," summing up the emotional toll that is extracted by poverty as symbolized by the pawn shop, known on the street as the "poor person's banker."

There's plenty of excellent material to be found on Sublime: "Under My Voodoo" is a punk-tinged psychedelic rocker that evokes the spirit of Hendrix; "Get Ready" mixes sly hip-hop and ska beats with a tale of music, marijuana and the law; the sexual antics of "Caress Me" are underlined with the hilarious line "I'm hornier than Ron Jeremy;" the sprightly, electric "What I Got" is a joyful exclamation of life and love while "Paddle Out" outlines "all the best spots in the land," a lesson in geography provided in innocence from a homeboy seeing the world outside of the 'hood for the first time.

Only time will tell if Bradley Nowell receives the acclaim he so richly deserves, whether he'll be deified alongside legends like Darby Crash and Sid Vicious or sadly slip into obscurity. For a single, shining moment, however, with the release of Sublime, he has received an artistic immortality that will surely withstand any test of time. (Skunk Records/MCA)

(Click on the CD cover to buy a copy of Sublime from Amazon.com)