Drive Like Jehu - 1994 - Yank Crime

The band's second and, unfortunately, final album, Yank Crime is as worthy and awesome as its predecessor, losing not a jot in the change from independent to major label status. Including some longer, more complex tunes this time around, Drive Like Jehu is otherwise essentially unchanged, fusing brawling, crisp rhythms and high volume intensity with technical complexity, feeling like a mad science experiment gone completely out of control. Aside from the guest backing vocals on the frazzled angst explosion "Luau!" by fellow San Diego music fiend Rob Crow, it's again all down to the band's four members, with drummer Trombino providing the strong, take-no-prisoners mix. Perhaps even more than the debut, Yank Crime solidified Drive Like Jehu's reputation as kings of emo. While use of that term rapidly degenerated to apply to sappy miserableness by the decade's end, here the quartet capture its original sense, wired, frenetic, screaming passion, as first semi-created by the likes of Rites of Spring. Whether making it short and sweet, as the surprisingly gentle instrumental "New Intro" demonstrates in three minutes, or taking time, like the nearly ten-minute conclusion "Sinews," the band wastes not a note. Froberg's sense of intense, almost accusatory delivery is astonishingly dramatic throughout, whether in full cry or with a touch of restraint, as on the rhythmic chorus of "Do You Compute." His guitar partnership with Reis is still in full cry, creating honestly epic zoned and screaming feedback roars and waves -- the aforementioned "Do You Compute" is one fine example, as is "Luau!," which builds to a awe-inspiring, eternally ascending rise. While a recording of the band's incendiary live shows would be the best way to remember the quartet, Yank Crime is a thoroughly excellent if unexpected way to bow out, artistic rock that actually, honestly, and totally rocks.

1 Here Come the Rome Plows Drive Like Jehu 5:44
2 Do You Compute Drive Like Jehu 7:12
3 Golden Brown Drive Like Jehu 3:14
4 Luau Drive Like Jehu 9:27
5 Super Inison Drive Like Jehu 7:24
6 New Intro Drive Like Jehu 3:32
7 New Math Drive Like Jehu 4:06
8 Human Interest Drive Like Jehu 3:24
9 Sinews Drive Like Jehu 9:12

¡Aquí!

No Doubt - 2000 - Return Of Saturn

Return of Saturn is an almost defiantly mature record about two things: Stefani's exploration of a troubled romance and her own romantic ideals, plus a serious attempt by the group to not only keep new wave alive, but to make that adolescent music relevant to an older audience. It's a high concept, but Return of Saturn is filled with satisfying contradictions. It's melodic, but deceptively complex; it can seem frothy, but it's never frivolous. No Doubt's desire to expand the emotional template of new wave is the perfect match for Stefani's themes -- she may be writing about love, but she's not writing adolescent love songs. Fragments of her teenaged romantic fantasies remain, but she's writing as a woman in her late 20s. She's tired of being another "ex-girlfriend" -- she wants to fall in love, get married, and have a family. It's a subject that's surprisingly uncommon in pop music, which would alone make Return of Saturn an interesting album. What makes it a successful one is that the band delivers an aural equivalent of Stefani's lyrical themes. They also begin with their adolescent musical ideals, adding depth and detail to their pop-ska foundation. They balance their non-ironic love of new wave with contemporary production and a sensibility borrowed from classic rock: that albums are greater than the sum of their parts. Surprisingly, they pull it off -- it's a far stronger record than Tragic Kingdom, even if the catchiest numbers don't have the same swagger and punch as their previous hit singles. So be it. With Return of Saturn, No Doubt have made a terrific, layered record that exceeds any expectations set by Tragic Kingdom. Not only have they found their voice, they know what to do with it.

1 Ex-Girlfriend Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 3:32
2 Simple Kind of Life Stefani 4:16
3 Bathwater Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 4:02
4 Six Feet Under Kanal, Stefani 2:28
5 Magic's in the Makeup 4:21
6 Artificial Sweetener Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 3:54
7 Marry Me Kanal, Stefani 4:38
8 New Dumont, Stefani 4:26
9 Too Late Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 4:16
10 Comforting Lie Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 2:52
11 Suspension Without Suspense Stefani 4:10
12 Staring Problem Kanal, Stefani, Stefani 2:43
13 Home Now Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 4:34
14 Dark Blue Dumont, Kanal, Stefani 10:30

¡Aquí!

Maestoso - 2007 - Caterwauling

14 years passed between Wooly Wolstenholme's solo debut and his second set, and another decade was gone before a third album appeared, credited to the artist's new solo moniker Maestoso. 2004's One Drop in a Dry World, was swiftly followed by Grim, and a mere two years went by before Caterwauling landed on the shelves. While One Drop was an exuberantly diverse musical affair and Grim a wildly creative concept set, Caterwauling neither explores new musical territory nor presents an overarching theme. A far more introspective affair, here Maestoso seems intent on solidifying his musical ideas. There again, the artist is not immune to current events or their antecedents, tracing the long historical trek of the "Soldier of Fortune" across a free-form jazzy, prog rocker. Flipping the coin, Maestoso then follows a patriotic young enlistee down "The Road to Nowhere." The latter's a perfect pop/rocker, and almost reminiscent of the Jam at their epic heights. Maestoso's sympathetic portrayal of both these characters is belied by the heavy-hitting "Shoes," a requiem for war's multitudinous innocent victims, that begins in quiet beauty, then explodes into progressive metal-laced rock. This triptych of death is the set's only concessions to current climes, bar the sarcastic expose of our "Pills"-popping culture, with the rest of the album given over to more personal affairs. There's a trio of moody, yearning numbers in the center of the set -- the revelatory "Closure," the emotive rocker "Always," and the introspective "I Don't Like You." One can draw one's own conclusions that the group is book-ended by "The Collector" and "Tonight Could Be the Night," electrifying numbers both, but representing death and beginnings respectively. The lilting "Matilda Yarrow," in contrast, is a gentle lullaby, "Strange Worlds" a succinct sci-fi story set to a grandiose pop backing, and "Blossom Hill" a return to simple pastoral pleasures. Joined once again by Kim Turner, Steve Broomhead, and Craig Fletcher, alongside a guesting Geoffrey Richardson and Jake Fletcher, the music and arrangements are magnificent, the quieter numbers glistening, the rockers spectacular. Not as immediately mind-blowing as One Drop, nor as cohesive as Grim, Caterwauling, instead strengthens the links to Wolstenholme's own past with Barclay James Harvest.

1 Caterwauling 0:49
2 Soldier of Fortune 11:36
3 The Road to Nowhere 4:08
4 Matilda Yarrow 5:04
5 The Collector 4:04
6 Closure 2:44
7 Always 4:06
8 I Don't Like You 3:33
9 Tonight Could Be the Night 4:10
10 Shoes 3:43
11 Strange Worlds 2:16
12 Quicksand 5:30
13 Blossom Hill 3:53
14 Pills 3:11

¡Aquí!