Rating - 4.2
Perhaps because he reached such a high level of success at an early age with his post-Nirvana, overhyped band Radish in the mid-90s, Ben Kweller seems to be going through a mid-life crisis at just 27. His new album, Changing Horses does exactly that, trading his abrasive, spontaneous brand of modern rock for a considerably softer country/folk album, most of which is a disappointment. While the Dallas, Texas native has always sported a bit of twang (“Family Tree” from his 2002 debut Sha Sha, or “Red Eye” from his self-titled 2006 release), the new songs run a fine line between genuine and cliché. Three years in the making, this album seems far too predictable to be seen as anything but Kweller’s worst work yet.
Aside from the obviously bad lyrics (“I don’t know what I like to do/But I know what I like to do”), Kweller also tries to save his worst tracks with an unnecessary abundance of slide steel guitar and other faux-country cornyisms, i.e. the truck driver handset radio outro of the otherwise energetic “Sawdust Man.” Sure he’s got a kid now, and so he’s probably been playing more Townes Van Zandt than Steve Van Zandt around the house, but someone or something needs to kick the life back into this pony. Whatever happened to the shape shifting mini-epics of “How it should be” and “Tylenol” (“Give me a fucking machine gun/To blow you the fuck away from me”) or the lyrical sincerity of “In Other Words” or “Sundress”? Is “You gotta fight, fight, fight/All the way” the best chorus he could muster over three years?
The albums closer “Homeward Bound” (not a Simon & Garfunkel cover, unfortunately) is perhaps the albums most cohesive moment, recalling the country gospel of “Let it Be” minus the choir. With just light piano and vocal accompaniment, Kweller wisely saved this relative gem for the last track, keeping people like me optimistic enough to pick up whatever he puts out next. A word of advice for Ben: Get back on that horse and pretend like this album never happened. (3/8/09)
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I read this article in the state times while ago, and just found your blog.
ReplyDeleteI think you are completely wrong about this album, If I may say so myself. To me, this seemed like a logical next step for Ben, and I'm glad he did. As you stated and are correct, Ben has always hinted at his country influences, so why wouldn't he release a country record? While you complained of mini-epics...you are correct, you don't find them here. But you don't find that in country music, where it is more about telling a story. Songs like "Old Hat" are one of his best songs in his entire catalog. No sincerity? Songs like Gypsy Rose, Old Hat, Ballad of Wendy Baker, are some of his most sincere lyrics yet! What came out of this project is one of the warmest, most genuine albums of 2009 (so far). So I dare you to give it another spin, and try to be a bit open minded to this record, instead of expecting Sha Sha 2.0
Hey I just saw this today! Thanks for the feedback...
ReplyDeleteAnd I understand what you are saying. The songs you listed (Gypsy, Old Hat, Ballad) certainly are the best tracks on the album. However, even those songs lack the clever word play that made his past works so charming and endearing. I am a big BK fan, I got into him in HS with "Sha Sha," and when most people wrote him off as a one hit wonder, I continued to follow his career, picking up all of his albums, the strange singles inbetween ("Tylenol", the "Lollipop" cover) and drove 2.5 hours (each way) to see him play a 40 minute set opening for Guster. But as a critic, I don't take the "fan" approach, rather, I try evaluate an artist's work by its faults. When an album has few or no faults then it is a landmark album. This album has a ton of faults, more than any of his previous works, and that is my main complaint. When Dylan went "country", the great songwriting was still there. BK lost alot of what made him great during his transition...