Top Ten Albums of 2013 - #8
Toad the Wet Sprocket's New Constellation
Editor's Note: This is the 3rd in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2013. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published just after the new year. Stay tuned!
Toad the wet what?
I remember thinking this when "Something's Always Wrong" became popular on the radio in the mid-90's. Today, that's probably the same reaction the band is getting from a new generation of fans, 16 years after their last album Coil.
Maybe their name doesn't make sense, but the songs that these guys craft have never failed to grab me, mostly owing to the lyrical genius that fronts most of the vocals - Glen Phillips. Sometimes you hear a song at just the right moment in your life that it actually seems like someone's choreographing a TV-style soundtrack for you. "Throw It All Away" was one such time, where Thoreau's "Simplify!" credo combined with the Asian Philosophy class I was taking in college to make for a really profound midnight walk, the memory of which still centers me when "reality" intrudes on reality.
Does New Constellation have more of these life-impressing gems? Yes. Are some of them not available anymore due to Kickstarter hijinks? Also true.
Unfortunately, there are four tracks that were only part of the Kickstarter fundraiser that helped the band release the album that didn't see any physical release. All four of these tracks (one of which was a Glen song from his second solo effort) should have made it onto the album, either by making it a double album or by replacing some of the songs that make the second half of the album drag its heels through Same Tempo Land. "Friendly Fire" in particular is the best throwback tune they wrote, a perfect bridge from 16 years ago to today.
Nevertheless, it's good to hear a solid effort in 2013 from a 90's band I have always enjoyed. I'm looking at you, almost every other band from the 90's.
Speaking of throwbacks, check out the fabulous use of the old Chicago Mac font in Glen's phone-shot video for the title track:
Album Highlights: The Moment; Golden Age; Enough; Friendly Fire; I'm Not Waiting
Editor's Note: This is the 3rd in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2013. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published just after the new year. Stay tuned!Toad the wet what?
I remember thinking this when "Something's Always Wrong" became popular on the radio in the mid-90's. Today, that's probably the same reaction the band is getting from a new generation of fans, 16 years after their last album Coil.
Maybe their name doesn't make sense, but the songs that these guys craft have never failed to grab me, mostly owing to the lyrical genius that fronts most of the vocals - Glen Phillips. Sometimes you hear a song at just the right moment in your life that it actually seems like someone's choreographing a TV-style soundtrack for you. "Throw It All Away" was one such time, where Thoreau's "Simplify!" credo combined with the Asian Philosophy class I was taking in college to make for a really profound midnight walk, the memory of which still centers me when "reality" intrudes on reality.
Does New Constellation have more of these life-impressing gems? Yes. Are some of them not available anymore due to Kickstarter hijinks? Also true.
For everything you've taught meThe album proper has a few of its own, the aforementioned "The Moment" being a great example. "Golden Age" is another one in the same strain, with echoes of fan-favorite "Windmills" in it. "Rare Bird," though not making a presentation of any deep philosophy, still draws the sort of poetic imagery at which Phillips excels.
Here's the one I learned the best
There is nothing but the moment
Don't you waste it on regret
- from "The Moment"
Unfortunately, there are four tracks that were only part of the Kickstarter fundraiser that helped the band release the album that didn't see any physical release. All four of these tracks (one of which was a Glen song from his second solo effort) should have made it onto the album, either by making it a double album or by replacing some of the songs that make the second half of the album drag its heels through Same Tempo Land. "Friendly Fire" in particular is the best throwback tune they wrote, a perfect bridge from 16 years ago to today.
Nevertheless, it's good to hear a solid effort in 2013 from a 90's band I have always enjoyed. I'm looking at you, almost every other band from the 90's.
Speaking of throwbacks, check out the fabulous use of the old Chicago Mac font in Glen's phone-shot video for the title track:
Album Highlights: The Moment; Golden Age; Enough; Friendly Fire; I'm Not Waiting
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