98 the Hard Way: Borderline 4s Week One

Rather than do the whole daily update thing for this portion of the project, I'm going to do a weekly post summing up the albums I re-visited and the results of that re-visitation. That way there's some meat to the posts - especially the ones from days that I work when I only have time to really listen to a couple of albums - and a set format that's easy to replicate each time.

So, what's the purpose of this section of the project? Well, like I said in my EP summary post, the ratings I'm working with are basically gut instinct first pass ratings. These had proven to be a bit unreliable in the past, so to try and normalize things and ferret out the growers that I hadn't given enough time to I'm going to give all the borderline 4 star rated albums I flagged another listen. There are a few possible outcomes from that process; either I was overly generous on first pass, was in the general ballpark or hadn't let the given album work its charms on me for long enough. As a result, these posts will summarize the week's listening into four headings...

• Albums that are getting bumped up into the four star category. These will be further revisited in that section of the project.
• Albums that aren't getting bumped up, but which would populate the very uppermost tier of the 3.5 star rating. These will get the review and download link treatment as seen in the EP section.
• Albums that are remaining at the 3.5 star rating's lower tiers. These will just be summed up briefly.
• Albums that are dropping down to a 3 star rating. Once again, these will be summed up briefly with more emphasis on how they fooled me initially.

So without further ado

WEEK ONE (April 21st-27th)

Total Albums Revisited: 28

Albums Dropping to 3 Stars: 7

• Song of Kerman The Unamerican Sounds of Song of Kerman (Moo Cow) The passion is there in spades, but the execution isn't. Sometimes an excess of the former can cancel out the latter but not in this case. [6.6]
• Griver / The Exploder A Split Twelve Inch Recording (Skylab Operations) Griver's side held its ground admirably, but The Exploder's never came close to being very noteworthy. [6.4]
• Mark Helias' Open Loose Come Ahead Back (Koch) The interplay was enough to convince me that this might be fairly great, but the songs never quite connected.[6.5]
• Clemencic Consort Troubadors (Harmonia Mundi) Fundamental otherness drew me in on first pass, second pass didn't turn up anything truly noteworthy besides said otherness. [6.2]
• Michel Doneda Anatomie des clefs (Potlach) I remembered the sporadic bursts of horn playing adding up to a fairly satisfying whole. That doesn't seem to be the case. [6.1]
• Brass Knuckles for Tough Guys Noise Man Kills Him (Divot) I was swayed enough by the most propulsive moments to overlook the fact that most of the time the songs are weirdly incomplete. [6.4]
• Teodoro Anzellotti Erik Satie Compositeur de Musique (Winter & Winter) The pieces are still exceptional, especially the Gnossiennes, but the translation to accordion robs them of a lot of character somehow and doesn't imbue them with enough new character to compensate.[6.7]

Albums Staying at 3.5 Stars: 15

• Marteau Rouge ...un jour se lève (Self-Released) Very, very Ruins-y improv with a decidedly darker tinge to its production. The parts that hit hit hard, but they're broken up by material that's just not quite there yet. [7.4]
• Fabulous Trobadors On the Linha Imaginot (PolyGram) Comes damn close to being elevated if only because of the loose, zydeco-influenced vibe of the production gives it nice degree of ramshackle charm. Shave it down to 45 minutes and we'd have a much better contender. [7.7]
• Selfhaters The Abysmal Richness of the Infinite Proximity of the Same (Tzadik) Minimalist jazz that I always come away from thinking 'that should have been boring...' yet never reveals itself as such. May not be exceptional but is certainly recommendable. [7.0]
• Bruce Ackley Trio The Hearing (Avant) No matter how formulaic it becomes, the juxtaposition of the straight bass lines and Ackley's more uninhibited flights of fancy works consistently for me. [7.2]
• KCE Japan Sound Team Metal Gear Solid (King) If not for the (necessary given its origins but still irksome to me) recycling of the same general themes in new tempos this might get the plus distinction. What's here is interesting enough though, more Martial Industrial than Video Game Music to my ears. [7.6]
• Krzycz Trauma (Nikt Nic Nie Wie) At points it's more interesting in theory than in practice, but when the sludge/noise rock/screamo hybrid works and works for sustained periods of time it's incredibly noteworthy. [7.3]
• Hellworms Crowd Repellant (Alternative Tentacles) Same issue that I have with Victims Family applies here: for all the skill apparent the songs never quite stick. [7.2]
• Nels Cline and Devin Sarno Rise, Pumpkin, Rise (Volvolo) There's a lot to be said for the atmosphere - tense as hell, sonic equivalent of looking at a nuclear wasteland - but it doesn't get to the sort of queasy-making grandeur that Cline's other albums in this vein achieve. [7.7]
• The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra Live in Japan '96 (DIW) The one-two punch of the Dolphy medley and Schlippenbach's "The Morlocks" sets the bar too high for the rest of the material to reach. [7.8]
• The Keller Quartett Die Kunst der Fugue (Bach) (ECM New Series) Perhaps I've just been spoiled by Yo Yo Ma's Bach cello suites, but this seems far too cold and distant. Excellent composition and performance, but the piece itself doesn't do much for me. [7.3]
• Komeda What Makes It Go? (North of No South)  Comes across as the Swedish version of Stereolab in both good - impeccably crafted lounge pop! - and not so good - no sexy French vocals! - ways. [7.6]
• Joel R.L. Phelps and The Downer Trio 3 (Pacifico) Phelps is still one of my favorite vocalists, but bar a few songs here he doesn't seem to be as invested as previously. Still makes his mark, but nowhere near as deeply. [7.1]
• Black Box Recorder England Made Me (Chrysalis) Slight musically, but Haines' wry, mordant lyrics coupled with Sarah Nixey's vocals give it a certain cachet for me. [7.8]
• Denman Maroney Hyperpiano (Mon$ey Music) Incredibly interesting sounds come out of this one, but they're also kind of annoying and haphazard at times. [7.5]
• Susie Ibarra and Dennis Charles Drum Talk (Wobbly Rail) These were two of the most dynamic and exciting drummers in the jazz world at the time, but while they both thrived in ensembles putting the focus on them isn't all it should be. Some splendid moments though.[7.3]

Albums Being Elevated to 4 Stars: 2

• Shpongle Are You Shpongled? (Twisted)
• Franklin Building in A and E (File Thirteen)

More on these in the next section

Albums in the Upper 3.5 Star Area: 4

Sea of Cortez Age of Anxiety (Voice of the Sky)

There are three bands at work here. All three bands are heavily indebted to Unwound and Shotmaker in various proportions. All three bands are anchored by some fast-paced but not overly busy drumming. All three bands have a slight desert-baked vibe that makes them sound at a bit of a remove from the rest of their obvious peers. Basically, all three bands are decidedly the same band, but they come at it from three different angles. This is at once the best and worst part of Age of Anxiety, because while it ensures that there's enough variety to keep things interesting it also gives the album a bit of a hodge-podge feel that detracts from the experience a bit.

The first band is the most Unwound-indebted of the lot. Hell, the vocalist in this band may as well be Justin Trosper for all I can tell - same detached, slightly hoarse voice, same inflections. This is the band that gives Age of Anxiety its biggest triumphs, namely the fluidly shifting opener "Break Right Now" and the slow building yet frantic "Reset All Controllers." This is the most consistent of the three units at work here, and given that it's the mode that Sea of Cortez operate in about half the time they're the biggest reason I might hold this up as a high quality hidden gem of a release. If you pared back Age of Anxiety to an EP containing the material in this vein it would be an easy 4 stars from me.

The second band is the most problematic aspect of the release. This is mostly due to the vocalist residing in that weak, thin, reedy range so prevalent among the most run of the mill emo acts of this time period. The band behind him is decidedly on a different level from those acts, but any time that this particular vocalist rears up in the mix it drags the album down enough to be noticeable. Essentially, the tracks on the album that I have the least trouble skipping past if I'm in a more cursory mood are courtesy of this make of the band.

The third band is the most Shotmaker-leaning of the three. They're the one whose songs are the most energized, frantic, driving and focused of the whole album. They're the side of Sea of Cortez that gives them the most character out of the three we're talking about. Unfortunately though, this is also the band that shows up the least often, only really rearing up on the excellent album highlight "Negative Space" and the brief "Discovering the Wonders of the Universe." Actually, scratch that 'unfortunately' - really, the fact that this side of the band is relegated to the background more often than it's given the spotlight is its biggest asset. While I'd appreciate more stuff in that vein all told, the fact that this side of the band is kept on a leash as it were makes their brief moments in the sun that much more powerful.

In the end though, it's the fact that all three of these bands are sides of the same coin that makes Age of Anxiety stand out from the rest of the late 90s emocore scene. The disjointedness it creates aside, it gives the album a degree of depth that so many similar bands of this era would kill for, and a degree of unpredictability that makes each listen that much more exciting. It may be the reason I don't give the album a higher rating, but it's also the reason I find the album much more replayable than most of its peers. [8.0/10]

Dose One Hemispheres (Self-Released)

Dose One is an acquired taste. His voice is so nasal that it makes Aesop Rock sound like DMX by comparison. His flow comes across as haphazard and jagged at first. His lyrics are abstract to the point of impenetrability. He's not normal, in other words. In fact he's incredibly odd even in the realm of the most abstract hip hop. You won't like him, but you will never have heard any thing like him either. Even if you hate him with a fiery passion like some seem to, you can't exactly accuse him of being lazy or formulaic.

The thing is that, underneath all the impenetrable weirdness there's a skilled craftsman at work. That's probably more clear here than on his later output if only because he's front and center for most of the release. It's also his most normal sounding outing, very much rooted in his history as a battle rapper rather than the abstracted realms he favors nowadays, which might make it the most palatable entry point for the uninitiated. Sure, a lot of the beats are a bit substandard and overly minimal for my tastes at times, though the ones that are more carefully constructed - "Spitfire" and "Etherial Downtime" namely - make for album highlights, but the unadorned quality puts more focus on the skill that Dose has as a rapper.

He's verbally dextrous to a fault for one. Just listen to "Spitfire" where he and show-stealer Lionesque - seriously, why has she not done more shit since this? - wind around each other wit ha sort of practiced fluidity that elevates both of their performances if you want an example of that. On the other hand though, he also has a facility with finding these weird inflections and phrasings that sound fundamentally wrong if you remove them from context but sound absolutely perfect in the sphere of the song itself. That's what i mean when I talk about him as a craftsman first and foremost; he's not going to use every moment of this tape to demonstrate his skill in straightforward ways only, he's going to find the best way to work within the song even if it might sound weird or, well, wrong if you pull-quote it. And while this is his "normal" album, it's not without hints of his more avant leanings either. "Etherial Downtime" especially seems like the template for his later triumphs, with its moody piano loop and overlapping vocals that make it stand out from the rest of the album.

So this is probably the least representative Dose release on the whole, but that's probably why it's the one I'd suggest trying first. Think of it as acclimatization; you need to see if you're on the right wavelength to dive deeper into his stuff, so it makes sense that you should go with the toe dip of weirdness that is Hemispheres over something much more rewarding as an album but also much further removed from normalcy like Ha or Circle. You'll probably come out of this with an idea as to whether or not you even want to continue on or not, and it's easy to see why you might not, but you won't go into shock from the outre if you start here. [7.9/10]

Jackie-O Motherfucker Flat Fixed (IMP)

The main word that comes to mind as I'm listening to Flat Fixed is 'transitional.' After two LPs of very, very weird, all over the map freak folk/post-rock experiments, this double LP finds the boys and girl at the core of JOMF honing in on the parts of those albums that worked the best and developing them as best they can. As such it feels like the sort of missing link between the more freewheeling early material and the more expansive and focused stretch of albums that the band released between 1999 and 2005 - which is probably the best six album stretch any artist even tangentially related to post-rock can be said to have. It also feels very much like a dry run for the material from that era, the album where they figured out exactly what worked in what proportions by fiddling around with it more than usual.

What I'm trying to say is that while Flat Fixed could probably be said to mark the beginning of JOMF as I know and love them, that is as the makers of an intensely atmospheric and evocative post-rock/free-folk/jazz hybrid that so few can be said to even begin to approach, it's also oddly incomplete as it were. It's the album where they figured things out, and the process of the figuring was laid out quite plainly in the record itself. You can hear them trying various degrees of the alchemy from their earlier days, most notably on the almost electronic sounding "Dot Riot," in the attempt to get the balance just right. It's the very essence of a transitional album, at once very much a step in the right direction but still a bit too hesitant to pull it off with the right degree of aplomb or consistency.

That's not to say that its a write off though. Even if the early going is a bit choppier than I'd come to expect from this gang, there more than enough to recommend therein. "Turtles" is straightforward and pretty, almost like the material that would make up Flags of the Scared Harp a full 7 years later. Both "Bewitched" and "Ferrarris" are worthwhile even if they don't have the room to breathe that JOMF benefits from the most. "Honey" is almost there, as close as the album has come so far to properly dialing in the right mix of elements, but it hold s back where it needs to push forward and winds up feeling like a missed opportunity. "Dot Riot" is a definite step back into their older style, though it's played much more low key and subtle than that might indicate. The thing is that, "Dot Riot" aside, none of the tracks are bad at all, in fact most of them are great in comparison to the last two albums' material. They're just not quite there in light of what the band could do so effortlessly not even two years down the road.

That said though, when they do get the balance right on the album's final two tracks it's breathtaking. "Wolf Brother Blues" is a seventeen minute suite that would sit proudly next to any of the best songs from the forthcoming run of albums, pretty much defining the JOMF sound from here on out with its seamless blend of free jazz saxophones over an epic folk base. "Crazymaker" takes that blueprint in all manner of new directions over the course of its 24 and a half minute run time, but never goes so far afield that it loses the center. The build up to these two tracks is mildly frustrating at times, though the first 5 tracks are not without their charms, but the payoff is 40 of the best minutes of material JOMF have ever laid down and it's more than worth the effort to get there. [8.1/10]

The Stickmen The Stickmen (Self-Released)

As far as I'm concerned, the key to good noise-rock is that you don't shortchange the rock half of the equation in favor of the noise. It's all well and good to be punishing, feedback drenched noise-mongers, but if you're not also doing something akin to rocking as you do that you've missed the point. In a nutshell, that's why The Stickmen work for me so well. Underneath the intoxicating haze of psychedelic/bludgeoning guitar fuzz and incredibly well integrated turntable scratching that resides at the forefront of their self titled debut album there's an honest to goodness rock band that's pushing things forward in the most driving, insistent but not flashy way possible. It's a balance that's difficult to maintain, and at a few points herein they don't quite get it right either, but when they do it's utterly fantastic.

Let's just get back to that turntable thing though, because that's about where these guys separate themselves from the pack on their best material. You wouldn't necessarily think that turntables would make for a great addition to noise rock, but the way that Matt Geeves works it into the fabric of the band's sound, almost acting like its a second guitar more than anything remotely DJ-ish, allows for the songs to really come alive. More specifically, it lets guitarist Aldous Kelly push out riffs while Geeves provides the texture thus satisfying the noise and rock halves of the equation without stepping on each other's toes. Take "Creep Inside" for instance, where Kelly can devote his guitar solely to the double-picked surf riff at the song's core while Geeves can fill the background with just the right amount of percolating noise to act as an ideal backdrop. It's a unique set up, but it doesn't rely solely on that novelty to get its point across. Add in the perfectly propulsive rhythm section and you've got a recipe for some interesting, inventive times ahead.

Given all that, it's hard to say why I don't like this more than I do. Maybe it's the degree of sameness that can seem to overtake things towards the end, or the fact that the slower tracks don't play to the band's strengths and kinda drag things to a halt. Fact remains that when the band's working on all cylinders, and they are doing that for about half the tracks here, they make some of the most unique and peerless noise rock of any time period. It's a crime that it's so hard to come by - only 500 were made, self released by the band in their native Tasmania and given the reverent tone that everyone in this article adopts when speaking about the band I'd wager that the people who own those 500 copies aren't about to let go of them - but when you do get your ears on it you'll be in for a real treat. Trust me. [8.0/10]

98 The Hard Way: Rock Week Part 5 - 'A golden bird that flies away, a candle's fickle flame'

So, thanks to a persistent sinus infection that made concentrating on writing and posting difficult plus a full work schedule, ROCK WEEK lasted a few days longer than I had initially anticipated. So here be the final sections of that so as to get it done with and move on to bigger, brighter things in the re-listening of all my borderline 4 star albums. Enjoy.

The Flys “Got You (Where I Want You)”

The Nostalgia Factor: Weirdly low. Don't get me wrong I liked it a lot when it was gaining traction, but not in a way that made me remember it as a particular favorite. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I's spend the better part of the few minutes after I heard it trying to fathom how it was a hit of any size at any time, but in a good way. [10]

Ten reasons why this is probably my single favorite modern rock hit of the late 90s:

1. The lurching, mysterious and creepy vibe that it carries from the first bars.
2. The weirdly chorused vocal effect that singer Adam Paskowitz' voice is treated with.
3. The lack of aggression in what is pretty much an unabashed stalker song.
4. The subtle shift between the verse and the chorus vs the jarring transitions that post-grunge favored.
5. The far too well considered lyrics. They don't read as predatory until it's far too late to turn back.
6. 'I think you're smart' for example. Subtext abounds.
7. The jarring shift into the bridge section that actually carries through for the rest of the song instead of receding.
8. The integration of the rap from the bridge into the final chorus.
9. The bass solo that it ends with...and the fact that only then do you realize that it's been driving the whole song with the guitars as window dressing.
10. The fact that it sounds like nothing else from the radio landscape of 1998.

Hard as it is to believe considering that I don't recall liking the song this much on its initial release, this is pretty much the blueprint for the modern rock songs I've loved for more recent years. It's dark, moderately menacing, subtle and well considered on almost every single level – hell, even the rapped bridge that should be a detriment to it works in its favor in the end – so much so that I can't help but love it more and more every time I hear it now. But really it boils down to the fact that this sounds about as far removed from the rest of the songs I'm tackling here as you can get without leaving the confines of rock radio. That sort of black sheep quality allows it to stand out in a way that's easier to appreciate in hindsight than it would at the time. You could also say that this would be ground zero for my love of stalker songs/the tendency I have to read more predatory vibes into otherwise innocuous songs, which counts for a lot since this is my list and everything.

KISS “Psycho Circus”

The Nostalgia Factor: Comically low. Another one that I recall inspiring a large eyeroll upon hearing it. [3]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: My eyes would roll so hard that I'd be looking at my brain. [2]

There is literally no reason I can think of for this song to exist, let alone for it to have been remotely popular, other than the fact that KISS diehards will eat up anything the band offers to them like it was manna from heaven. I'd like to think that this wold be a sort of breaking point for a good portion of those people as well though, because even by the alarmingly low standards that KISS has this is impressively awful. It's also 5 and a half minutes long, which no KISS song should ever be even if it's not a fucking wormburner like this one.

Rob Zombie “Dragula”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderately high. Zombie at his campiest was right up my alley at age 13 since it involved horror imagery and scantily clad ladies. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd appreciate the catchiness of the whole thing, but not enough to over ride how cheesy I find the whole endeavor. [5]

This is the sort of thing where the nostalgic aspects don't wind up having any bearing on my appreciation of the song now. I loved it when I was 13 because it was made for me when I was 13. It was camp horror pop-metal with gratuitous dancing ladies in the video, basically the stuff that every red blooded 13 year old lives and breathes until he actually gets laid. With the distance I now have from that age it becomes more and more obvious that the appeal this held for me at one point wasn't due to the music itself but the image associated with it. That said, the song isn't exactly bad or anything, just base-line catchy and nothing more. It really doesn't help that the lyrics don't make a lick of sense even in the scope of Zombie's horrorshow ethos.

Lenny Kravitz “Fly Away”

The Nostalgia Factor: Low. This song always seemed incredibly lazy and underwritten even before I knew how to verbalize that thought. [4]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: My hatred of the entity known as Lenny Kravitz would literally know no bounds. [2]

This is yet another of my 'there's no excuse for this' reviews, because literally, there fucking isn't. It seems to have a level of contempt for the concepts of originality and depth that few songs can be said to possess, from the first verse where the rhyme scheme is pretty much plagiarized from a 5^th grade rhyming dictionary on through the chorus which seems to think that 'yeah, yeah, yeah' is an acceptable way to make up for a lack of lyrics. To be brief, there's is absolutely no redeeming quality to this song, not one moment that convinces me that there's even an illusion of anything below the surface here. It's just Kravitz testing the waters to see how little effort he can get away with putting into a song and still have it be a hit. The answer, considering how ubiquitous this still is 13 years later, was a resounding 'none, at all' from the part of humanity that I routinely tell to go fuck itself.

Goo Goo Dolls “Slide”

The Nostalgia Factor: Low. The Goos were always a bit of a nothing band for me, never really hitting but never really aggravating either. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd definitely like it a bit more than “Iris” but I'd still be at a loss as to why it's even moderately adored. [5]

To be fair, there's a lot more to like here than I might have claimed even a month ago. Even the fact that its oddly hookless winds up reading as a good point, as not letting the need for a showstopping chorus get in the way of the story that the song's trying to tell is at least modestly admirable. That said though, it's still a bit of a cipher on melodic level, which is at once frustrating and refreshing since even the worst songs here have some sort of melodic thread to follow. It's repetitive, sure, but the repetition doesn't seem to have any sort of reasoning behind it other than formula. It makes for a strange reaction on my part, where I find myself more intrigued by how this sort of a song could be so widely adored than having any opinion of the song itself.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Do You Wanna Get Heavy”

The Nostalgia Factor: Nonexistant. Weird shit went on with the RPM Alternative 30 at the end of the year leading to quite a few really left field “hits.” [n/a]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Really? This was the lead single? Not “Attack” or anything with an actual hook? [5]

So yeah, at the end of 1998 something really weird happened to the RPM Alternative 30. What was generally a can-con heavier shuffling of the two concurrent American rock charts took a very decisive left-field turn for the final two months of the year, during which time Skinny Puppy, Flipper, Scratching Post (an independent metal band) and Talvin Singh all had singles in the top 10. At the helm of this time period? A middling track from JSBX. “Do You Wanna Get Heavy?” never struck me as a good album track, let alone one that would be a single under any circumstances, but for all of November and December it was the #1 song on the Canadian alternative charts, even securing itself a #6 position in the year end top 50. It's baffling to be honest, because like I said this sounds like a mid level filler track, not a hit single.

Kittens “Moose Jaw”

The Nostalgia Factor: Nonexistant, once again. Really, the weird shit that went on in the Canadian charts at this point is almost comical. [n/a]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Really? This was a hit? Even in the weirdness of late 1998 I find it difficult to fathom that this sort of grinding, sludgy noise rock had any audience at all...but I'll take it regardless. [7]

Even less hit single sounding than JSBX, but that has less to do with its quality than its unrelenting ugliness. Seriously, this sounds more in line with Children of God-era Swans and early Unsane than anything remotely popular at this point in time, which just goes to show you how fucking weird the Canadian alternative charts decided to get a year's end here. But aside from its decided lack of mass appeal there's a lot to enjoy here, particularly the grinding/driving main riff and breathless delivery that anchors the track. Of course to really get into it you probably need at least a passing familiarity with the more uncompromising end of noise-rock, and in that realm it's a bit less than worthy, but overall there's nothing much to hold against it.

Metallica “Turn the Page”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. This would have been around the time that I started to actively despise modern Metallica (read: I'd finally heard Ride the Lightning) but this one didn't aggravate me all that much. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd be plenty aggravated by it if only because it's so over-done compared to the original. [4]

Oh James Hetfield's alternative voice, how easy you are to mock. Your lack of emotion, your purposeful ugliness, your “attitude”...it's difficult to get past you in the best of circumstances is what I'm driving at here. You certainly have your place, but a cover of Bob Seger's ambivalent ode to touring life isn't it. You seem to invert the meaning of the song, turning what was actually a fairly subtle dissection of the touring rock star persona into a celebration of the same. You don't seem to get that “Turn the Page” is supposed to be a moderately sad song about the emptiness of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. When Seger sang 'Here I go, playing the star again' the undercurrent was 'why do I even bother anymore?' When you sing it, that meaning is totally lost in favor of needless bombast. The blame isn't wholly in your corner though, really the whole band seems to have missed the point of the slight, subtle arrangement that the original had and instead seemingly felt it necessary to bludgeon it into a mid-level modern day Metallica rocker. Really, the whole cover is misbegotten after the first few lines, but I can't help but lightly praise it in light of what was to come from you guys...that's to say the production is actually moderately real sounding vs the processed to hell shit that we'd be faced with soon.

Cake “Never There”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. I didn't hear this song all that often upon its release but the few times I did I do recall enjoying it. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd feel more than kindly towards it. It's certainly different from the rest of this batch which certainly lets it stand out a bit. [8]

The real charm here comes from the small touches. The backbone is the usual Cake thing of detached delivery over vaguely mariachi tinged alt rock, but things like the brief intrusions of phone sounds or the full band 'HEY!'s that pop up occasionally are what really make this one of the band's better moments. Essentially, if you like one Cake song you're gonna like 'em all, but its nice to see that even within that formula there's room for variation, no matter how slight it may seem.

Everlast “What It's Like”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. I was too young to have any residual nostalgia for House of Pain – though I was at least passingly familiar with “Jump Around” - so this just struck me as a fairly good song. The whole acoustic rap thing gave it a bit of a novelty appeal as well. [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Well meaning as it may be, the whole ISSUES! tone of the song kills my enjoyment of it to some degree. [4]

I am about to make a comparison that you can pretty easily disassemble, but that won't stop me: this song is like the movie Crash – not the Cronenberg one – in all the wrong ways (not that there are many right ones but that's another rant for another time.) It's a surface-level examination of various social issues – homelessness, abortion and street violence – that assumes that by merely bringing the issues to light it can be said to have depth. In some ways it's even worse than Crash because it boils all three vignettes down to the trite notion of 'if you haven't been there you can't say anything about it.' It's moderately infuriating on that level to be honest; it may mean well but it doesn't really say anything about the issues it wants to shed light on. Once you get past that, or just ignore it like I do most of the time now, there's not much else of note to discuss. It's refreshingly simple but not to a degree that that's necessarily an asset, and Everlast's flow is much better suited to this type of thing than it ever was to full on hip hop. If only it were a bit more objective and exploratory than clearly biased and cliched that might give it the makings of a great song, but such is not the case and we end the year on a bit of a dud.

98 The Hard Way: Rock Week Part 4 - 'Beautiful garbage, beautiful dresses'

So, thanks to a persistent sinus infection that made concentrating on writing and posting difficult plus a full work schedule, ROCK WEEK lasted a few days longer than I had initially anticipated. So here be the final sections of that so as to get it done with and move on to bigger, brighter things in the re-listening of all my borderline 4 star albums. Enjoy.

Eve 6 “Inside Out”

The Nostalgia Factor: Pretty high. The fact that the band was barely older than I was at this point in time and were all over the place weighed pretty heavily in the song's favor. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: The whole 'band being not much older than I was' thing would turn into a detriment pretty quickly. [4]

Yeah, it's obvious now that these lyrics are nothing more than a high school kid trying to write something deep. It's almost laughable how badly this has aged on that front, but otherwise it's still a decent if fairly faceless slab of pop-punk of that distinctly late 90s/early 00s variety. It's definitely easy to see why it caught on though, because even if the lyrics are utter shit the melody is incredibly catchy, so catchy that occasionally I find it distracting me from the lyrics. That's as good a quality as you can expect this to have, honestly.

Fuel “Shimmer”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. Another one that I remember fairly well but can't say for sure whether or not I had any strong reaction to. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd know in my heart that this was extreme middle of the road post-grunge...but I'd still like it more than most things on this list. [7]

Look, I can't not give this an inflated grade. Three reasons: 1. Cellos. I'm not immune to well-deployed cello even in the most faceless of circumstances. 2. Knowing where the band went hereafter I appreciate the restraint on display. 3. The fucking cello. I'M ONLY HUMAN GODDAMMIT! LET ME HAVE MY FAULTS!

Barenaked Ladies “One Week”

The Nostalgia Factor: High. I loved this song when it first came out, probably for all the reasons I'll go into below for hating it because... [9]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. [2]

Oh dear...well let's just get it done with; I hate this song. Hate hate hate this song. I hate it not because it's a novelty but because it holds that novelty up like it's something to be congratulated for. I hate it because it thinks it's clever when all it's really doing is making pop culture references. I hate it because the verses have no logical connection to the rest of the song on a lyrical level. I hate it because it's still inescapable 13 years later when you'd have thought that the 'lol white nerds trying to rap!' thing would have aged as well as a piece of gouda that you left out on the counter for 13 years. I hate it because 90% of the time when people say they hate BNL it's because of this song and this song only. I hate that this was the song that broke the band in a big way when Stunt has, by my count, twelve infinitely better songs. But most of all, I hate the fact that I can still sing along to every. God. Damned. Word of it like some sort of involuntary reflex.

Watchmen “Any Day Now”

The Nostalgia Factor: Mild. I had much stronger feelings for “Stereo,” their previous single, because it actually rocked the fuck out. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: It might be a revelation on a small scale. [8]

The key difference between the two Watchmen singles form this era is as simple as this: one actively strives for some sort of anthemic quality while one effortlessly achieves it. The key to why “Any Day Now” works much more easily than its counterpart comes down to the fact that Daniel Greaves' vocals are much, much better suited to the band's less rocking songs. On their rockers Greaves has to stretch his voice to fit in with the surroundings, but on songs like this he glides in effortlessly and gives the song an added depth that can't really be summed up in words.

Smashing Pumpkins “Perfect”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. I wasn't as vehemently against it as I was with “Ava Adore” but I still just thought it was an inferior retread of “1979.” [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Actually, 'inferior retread of “1979”' still sounds about right. [5]

It's weird that despite my new found appreciation for Adore as a whole the singles that were chosen for it still ring a bit hollow to me. I understand why they were chosen, but that doesn't stop them from being among the lesser lights of the album. This especially feels very much like a barely disguised sttempt to repeat the success of “1979” only replacing the manufactured nostalgia with swooning romanticism and maybe adding a bit more of an electronic vibe if only to remind people that the band isn't the same as they were a few years prior. It's perfectly serviceable but also inherently forgettable.

Beastie Boys “Intergalactic”

The Nostalgia Factor: This would have been my first exposure to the B-Boys – I missed the whole “Sabotage” thing by a year or so and was still 2 years from discovering Licensed to Ill – so I'm pretty sure I loved the shit out of it. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Beastie Boys are one of those bands that I can't appreciate that much now that I'm not a teenager. Sorry. [4]

Even in their more mature albums there's still a great deal of inherent immaturity to the Beastie Boys' songs. Maybe it's that on some level I will ever not see them as the same guys who made stuff like “Fight for Your Right to Party” or “Girls,” but I find it hard to really relate to any of their stuffas anything but some soret of tossed off juvenile lark. Maybe there are a few exceptions to this along the way, but “Intergalactic” certainly isn't one of them. Despite some interesting things on the production side of things – that pitch-shifted 'another dimension' loop single-handedly justifies the song's existence – it's still just another in a long line of Beastie Boys songs that don't connect on any level.

Creed “What's This Life For”

The Nostalgia Factor: I hated it. I couldn't tell you why I hated it but I distinctly remember finding it utterly insufferable. [3]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Urge to kill...rising....rising...[2]

It's far too easy to hate Creed. They're just a trainwreck of all the worst traits of post-grunge – the Vedder wannabe baritone, the predisposition to maudlin ballads, the lack of interesting instrumental choices – but a trainwreck that isn't even compelling to analyze beyond the fact that it's a fucking trainwreck. It's impossible to analyze where things went wrong because it was all wrong from the start. And that's before you get to Jesus-pose purveyor Scott Stapp and his incredible lack of subtlety on either a lyrical or a vocal level...it's a misbegotten venture that only yielded pain for all involved.

Everything “Hooch”

The Nostalgia Factor: High. It very much sounds like the summer of 1998 as though that sort of thing could be bottled into a 4 minute song. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: It would still sound distinctly like summer, and that sort of vibe really works for me. [8]

Any song that can be summed up as 'summery' will get an automatic pass from me. I'm not even a huge fan of the season itself – autumn's more my thing all told – but if a song can put me in that sort of mind state it usually winds up being a favorite. “Hooch” could be a failure, an amalgam of all the things that I hated about Dave Matthews Band and their HORDE counterparts, but the fact that those opening chords automatically make it seem like its 21 degrees Celsius and I'm lounging around a hastily assembled campfire with a few empty bottles around me, one more on the go and my friends nearby in similar states of contentment. That's saying a lot of the song because those aren't exactly specific memories I associate with it, but ones that come to mind when I think of summer. It's all in the weird connections my mind makes, but that doesn't diminish the song's quality at all.

Big Sugar “The Scene”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate/High. I think Big Sugar were one of the few classic-rock-indebted bands I dug even a bit in my younger days, mostly because the swagger was at the forefront. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'm still not immune to the swagger, though I find it a bit stilted nowadays in this context. [7]

In some ways you could argue that Big Sugar were pretty much the mainstream version of something like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, taking most of their cues from old school blues rock but updating key parts of that ethos to reach their intended audience. In Big Sugar's case those updates are at once less invasive and more distracting, since on a sonic level this doesn't sound like it could be from any time except the late 90s but in terms of style it's decidedly trowback-y in its Stones at their most blues-indebted tone. It works far better here than in a lot of other Big Sugar singles though, and like I said earlier, the swagger is irresistible even when the lyrics hedge decidedly towards the nonsensical. Plus it's got those bad ass guitar solos to elevate it, and I'm nothing if not a sucker for a badass guitar solo.

Korn “Got the Life”

The Nostalgia Factor: The fights I got into with my mom trying to convince her that there wasn't a problem with me owning Follow the Leader...yeah, says it all right there. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd be surprised at how well it holds up to be honest. It's easy to see how this would break the band in a way that their previous singles didn't, and I'm perfectly OK with that despite my lukewarm stance on the band as a whole. [8]

This would probably be ground zero for the shift in alternative rock radio that occurred at this point in time, the shift from post-grunge to nu-metal that marked a notable downturn in overall quality for the format as a whole. If only the subsequent deluge had even a fraction of the quality present here...I really wish I could just dismiss this as not only the cause of the most problematic of nu metal's crossover material but as part of it but I just can't. This is a massive, massive track, wedding elements that should not work together – a disco beat, a Mr. Bungle bass line, chaotic yet precise guitars, Davis' usual raging vocal – into a fully functional whole that I could understand causing the shift I'd probably spend the better part of next year's overview raging against. Yeah, it's good enough that I can forgive it for letting Fred Durst become a superstar, that's the type of thing we're dealing with here.

Hole “Celebrity Skin”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. I seem to recall thinking it felt a bit incomplete, almost like it was missing a verse at the end or something...other than that I can't remember finding it too good or bad overall. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd be shocked at how much better Hole worked as a pop-rock band than they ever did as a grunge one. [7]

Minority opinion here, but I honestly think that Hole were a much better band when they finally decided to stop trying to be even remotely punk influenced. Both of their previous outings were third tier efforts in their respective sub-subgenres, but Celebrity Skin, while not exactly earth-shatteringly great or anything, was a damned good slice of straightforward pop-rock. The title track is pretty much emblematic of all the things that this version of Hole got right, trading in their rough edges for a more glammed up sound, concealing the bitterness with an excess of melodicism and masking world-weary resentment of the star lifestyle with angelic harmonies – a department where new recruit Melissa Auf der Maur proves her mettle admirably. The layers that the band's sonic makeover adds to the process really gives the material here the sort of staying power that even their previous best material could only dream of achieving.

98 The Hard Way: Rock Week Part 3 - 'Oh I couldn't bee more obvious'

So, thanks to a persistent sinus infection that made concentrating on writing and posting difficult plus a full work schedule, ROCK WEEK lasted a few days longer than I had initially anticipated. So here be the final sections of that so as to get it done with and move on to bigger, brighter things in the re-listening of all my borderline 4 star albums. Enjoy.

Semisonic “Closing Time”

The Nostalgia Factor: Fairly high. I even remember that at one point we had an unknown French-Canadian chanteuse come to our school to perform and she closed her set with a fairly good rendition of this. [9]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: That's an impossible parameter to hold this up to, honestly...but I'd at least think it was decent power pop instead of feeling oh so burnt out on it thanks to overexposure. [7]

Like I said back in the one-hit wonder write up, the law of diminishing returns rears up on this one hard. I won't deny that it's a good song by any stretch, but every time I hear it nowadays my first thought is more along the lines of 'man, I never want to hear this again' than on its objective quality. A note to radio programmers: some songs just aren't made to stand the test of time.

Brother Cane “I Lie in the Bed I Make”

The Nostalgia Factor: Nowhere near as high as for “And Fools Shine On” but I remember enjoying it well enough.[6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd find it highly serviceable, maybe even slightly noteworthy. [6]

This is almost another one where I'm hard pressed to understand why it was a multiple week number one in the mainstream rock world. There's nothing here that screams 'I am a song that represents the state of radio rock in 1998, play me multiple times you fools' but then again there's also nothing that makes me feel all that unkindly towards it either. I almost wish that more of it was in line with the first 'I couldn't be more obvious' in terms of delivery, but there's also a modicum of restraint on display along with a weirdly paranoid sense of humor that gives it a bump in my estimation. It may not scream 'hit single' but I wouldn't hold that against it.

The Wallflowers “Heroes”

The Nostalgia Factor: Given that I hadn't heard the Bowie version at all I remember thinking this was pretty great actually. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Given that I now know the Bowie version...[4]

Now that I understand exactly how watered down this is compared to Bowie I get the backlash that this received almost instantaneously. Transforming the near-breathtaking emotional nakedness of the original into a detached, tossed off mumble, re-casting the immense synths and Eno's marvelous production as a simple pub rock progression...there's really nothing that this version gets right. Being attached to that shit-pile of a Godzilla remake probably didn't do it any favors either.

Smashing Pumpkins “Ava Adore”

The Nostalgia Factor: High, but not in a good way. Let's just say that I didn't have much love for this at age 12 given that I had Mellon Collie in my veins where most people had blood. [4]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I've come around to Adore in the interim, but I still think this is one of its weaker cuts. [5]

Here at least I understood the backlash. This certainly doesn't sound like the Pumpkins we knew and loved, but as with its parent album I've come to see that as a strong point here. It still feels weirdly off in a bad way though, the lyrics especially seem very first-draft like even for Corgan, but it ends up having some kind of awkward charm to it in the end. I like it a lor more now tha nI did at 12, but that's not to say it's without its problems.

54 40 “Since When”

The Nostalgia Factor: Mild. I was much bigger on 54 40's earlier material and this struck me as a bit..well, wussy. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd have a much greater appreciation for the heavy retro vibe this one was based on at the very least. [7]

I get what happened here now. After the failure of Trusted by Millions – at least I recall it being seen that way – Neil Osborne realized that it was time to grow up. Gone are the bratty over-enunciated vocals, ditto the more alternative rock leanings of their past successes and in their place we get a nice 60s electric piano riff and much more mature vocals and harmonies. It makes so much sense that the band had to head in this direction to remain viable because they could actually pull it off with style and grace vs the stilted awkwardness of their previous outing. It's a good song too, but one I respect more than I enjoy.

Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. Was never a big fan of Goo Goo Dolls on the whole and was even less of a fan of ballads, so despite it's omnipresence it never really registered all that much. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I would humbly request that you kill it. Preferably with fire. [2]

This is just the worst...OK, not the absolute worst I'll have to put up with here but certainly one that I really wish I didn't have to remember at all. Take your big book of ballad cliches, throw them all together, set the production to 'heartstring tugging earnestness' and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. The results will be very much along the lines of “Iris.” I can't even begin to see a trace of originality, genuine emotion or even thought that wound up in this song, and yet it's one of the few enduring hits from this batch. Goes to show that when your music basically throws up a neon sign saying 'CRY NOW!' every time the chorus arrives you don't need much more to capture anyone's attention.

Days of the New “The Down Town”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. Unlike “Touch Peel and Stand” this one was actually popular in my neck of the woods, but I don't recall having strong feelings about it one way or the other. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd have a hard time reconciling its apparent megahit status with just how faceless and uninteresting it is. [5]

I guess that the lesson to be learned from this endeavor is that the phrase 'multi-week #1 on the mainstream rock chart' is pretty much interchangeable with the phrase 'song you will have a hard time remembering not even 5 minutes after you listened to it.' Now you know why Three Doors Down and 00s Foo Fighters are the chart's biggest success stories.

The Tragically Hip “Poets”

The Nostalgia Factor: I'm Canadian. That should tell you all you need to know. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd at once appreciate it more and find it more insufferable. [6]

There's a certain balance that The Hip have to maintain in order to keep from aggravating me. They can rely on Gord Downie's lyrics and vocals to an extent but not to too large of one. They can indulge in The Band-aping classic rock a la Canada to some extent, but they need to temper it with some darkness or moodiness to make it stick. They can go for anthemic or literate, but they can't really try for both simultaneously. “Poets” basically exists to toe all of those lines, and as such it's the quintessential Hip song while also being one that I'm remarkably lukewarm on. While it's definitely far from being horrible, it does accentuate all the qualities of the band that make them very much an acquired taste for those who haven't been indoctrinated to them from an early age.

Harvey Danger “Flagpole Sitta”

The Nostalgia Factor: High. I could actually say that 13 year old me did consider this his favorite song of all time at one point. [10]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: One of the few things that 25 year old me and 13 year old me would be able to agree on the relative awesomeness of. [9]

Consider this one of the last gasps of alternative rock before nu metal became the new standard for the modern rock charts. Or at least one of the last quality tunes to tread as close to the top spot as this did. Also considertaht if you look at it on paper it should be a tonal mess; misanthropic but not angry, negative but fully major key, decidedly anti-humanity but welcoming and inclusive all the same – hell, even my mom likes it. That sort of mix-n-match should not work anywhere near as well as this does, and yet here we are a full thirteen years past its initial ascent and it's still one of the best songs you'll hear on your local rock station occasionally. Usually this sort of qulaity one-off fades into obscurity, but “Flagpole” is still in the zeitgeist and it still hasn't worn out its welcome. Good on it I guess.

Sloan “Money City Maniacs”

The Nostalgia Factor: Once again, I'm a Canadian. We're constitutionally obligated to love Sloan at all ages. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd think it was one of their best singles, honestly. It holds up remarkably well. [8]

The key is the third verse. Until then it seems like you're working with two separate songs joined by a nonsensical but incredibly catchy chorus, two songs that share a chord progression and nothing else. It makes the song feel totally disjointed...but then the two songs come together without a hitch. Then the next time you hear the song it stands out from the start that Sloan know exactly what they're doing. They've got all the elements in place, the slow building intro, the established theme, the wah-infected guitar solo, the handclaps to make this feel familiar rather than specifically derivative. More importantly, they've got the rapport that can only come from years of playing together to pull it off with aplomb.

98 The Hard Way: Rock Week Part Two - 'The noise that keeps me awake'

The Rolling Stones “Saint of Me”

The Nostalgia Factor: Low. I do remember it quite clearly but I never had strong feelings for it one way or the other. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: Those not-strong feelings are quite resonant, actually. [5]

Look, late period Stones is what it is. 'What it is' to me is a weird mix of past their prime rockers justifying their existence as a touring outfit and well-aged rockers who can still write a decently catchy tune without much effort even a few decades past their heyday. I respect their later works a lot more than some, essentially, but I still can't say that it's essential on any level. “Saint of Me” is pretty representative of this divide; it's a decent tune all told, a bit of a lazy hook but otherwise solid, but it's in no way necessary, nor deserving of the success it garnered. It's not bad though, and that does count for a bit in the grand scheme of things.

Our Lady Peace “Clumsy”

The Nostalgia Factor: So, so high. Grade 7 was the year that I lived and breathed Clumsy, and this was the highlight of the album at that point. [9]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd probably get too caught up in the moodiness to realize how much Raine Maida's vocals grate at my nerves. [8]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that subtlety is the key to making post-grunge above average. Compare this to the rest of OLP's single output; it doesn't even try to go big, instead remaining low key and actually somewhat insidiously creepy – the pre-chorus section especially – which in turn makes me much kinder towards it. The song essentially underplays the elements that have made me turn against the band in these post-Gravity times, namely Raine Maida's ridiculously over-emoting, en route to making the one single off Clumsy that holds up to scrutiny 13 years on. That's what subtlety earns you.

Chris Cornell “Sunshower”

The Nostalgia Factor: Low. Once again, I definitely remember it but outside of a 'wtf is the dude from Soundgarden doing with an acoustic ballad' reaction I never cared much for it either way. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd see it as preferable to most of Cornell's solo output, but pretty slight on its own. [6]

Speaking of going off-model to different results, who'd have thought that going acoustic would lead to better material for Cornell than anything else he tried post-Soundgarden? That's far more damning of his solo material than it is indicative of “Sunshowers”' quality, unfortunately, but that's neither here nor there. If anything, this is as good a vocal showcase as Cornell would be given for a while, and while the acoustic format doesn't fit his style all that well it's still a solid performance. Yeah, I'm struggling to come up with anything terribly nice to say here, but once again, this is about as good as Cornell solo got, so you should just take it and be happy-ish, I guess.

Everclear “I Will Buy You a New Life”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. I thought of it as the awkward middle child single from Afterglow, nowhere near as universal and bombastic as “Everything to Everyone” or as DADDY ISSUES as “Father of Mine” but quite nice in its own right [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd want to punch Art Alexakis in his stupid, smug face. Multiple times. [3]

I think I hate Art Alexakis. It's hard to come to this conclusion having never actually met the guy, but the way he comes across on roughly half of Everclear's singles bears the distinct hallmarks of utter jackassery by which I can not abide. This, for example, is not only incredibly lazy on a lyrical level (a lot of it sounds like a first draft that no one bothered to improve upon, particularly 'I will buy you a new car/perfect, shiny and new') but falls into the rock equivalent of the 'country folk are real, y'all' trope I find so reprehensible in country music: poor, starving artists are inherently better people than anyone else. They may not be able to take care of you, but they're PASSIONATE about something. It's in the cheap shots that the song takes in its second verse, in the dismissive way that the chorus reads, Alexakis' smmug, smug delivery. It's hard to defend it on any level, even as a pop song where past Everclear songs have won points with me thanks to their craft. This is just tossed off and hackneyed.

Fastball “The Way”

The Nostalgia Factor: High enough. I loved the song but I never really felt that invested in it as I recall. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd wonder how a chorus that damn good could have escaped my attention for so long. Also, I'd probably throw around the phrase 'perfectly crafted pop song' multiple times. [9]

Yeah, I'll say it again: perfectly fucking crafted pop song. Try to deny it. The best part is that even though it's perfect it never feels like it was specifically engineered to be. The effortlessness of its charm is at least half the reason that it's one of my favorite rock songs from this era, because what good is being perfect if you have to reach for I all that obviously? It's also probably the most upbeat song about death that Mark Everett never wrote, painting the old couple's journey into the afterlife as a sun-soaked fantasy even in the midst of all the uncertainty. And then there's the chorus melody, anchored by that relentless piano figure and the oddly expressive yet also slightly monotone vocals but taking on a life of its own without any prompting whatsoever. So yeah, perfectly crafted pop song. It just rolls off the tongue so easily in this circumstance.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band “Blue on Black”

The Nostalgia Factor: Mild. This sort of revivalist blues rock went right over my head at a younger age. [4]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd have forgotten it already. [4]

This was #1 on the mainstream rock charts for 6 weeks. A month and a half. Yet it leaves so little of an impression that I'm hard pressed to bother reviewing the damn thing.

Dave Matthews Band “Don't Drink the Water”

The Nostalgia Factor: Pretty high actually. I remember thinking this was pretty badass at the time as compared to DMB's usual stuff. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I wouldn't find it quite as badass, but I'd still think it was decidedly better than the likes of “Crash into Me”. [8]

When the first thing that comes to mind is just how much this reminds me of The Tea Party's “Save Me” I know I'm in good hands. Once again, we're faced with a song that has me using adjectives I'd never have thought to place in the vicinity of DMB – unsettling, frantic, vaguely badass, not at all jam-bandy – and at the very least that piques my interest, but the whole song is definitely a cut above anything that they'd done before or have done since. When it gets to the end where Matthews sounds legitimately threatening for a minute or so – I'm as shocked as you are, but he literally sounds like he's got blood on his hand in that final section – with Alanis Morissette underpinning that mania with a similarly frenzied vocal it's clear that the song is actually able to cash the cheque the first part had written.

Garbage “Push It”

The Nostalgia Factor: High as fuck. Version 2.0 was among the first CDs I bought with my own money, mostly because of just how much I adored this song. [10]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd still dig it in spite – or perhaps in part because – of its insane amounts of overproduction. [9]

If anything, having a better grasp on just how much goes into making this song what it is, all the little tics and twitches that the bevy of producers at the heart of Garbage engineered into it, makes me appreciate it a lot more than I did back when I just loved the song. Back then I just loved the threatening pulse and Shirley Manson's half deranged psychopath half sex goddess presence, and while that's still a huge draw, the latter half of the equation especially, there's a whole array of other things that go into making the track so irresistible. For one, that ingenious Beach Boys sample that's used as a call and response with Manson's vocal. For another, the distortion that enhances said vocal during the chorus lead in. For another, the little almost inconsequential non-bass sounds throughout the whole track...really, it's a testament to what having three producers as your backbone can do for a your band, even if one of them is Butch Vig.

Page and Plant “Most High”

The Nostalgia Factor: Low. In case you haven't already noticed 1998 me wasn't so much for the classic rock-sounding stuff and even if this was an Albini recording that doesn't exactly disguise its roots at all. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd think is was pretty good for Zep redux. I'd also recognize the value that Albini's production adds to the venture. I'd also really resent the excessive bagpipes. [5]

As unlikely of bedfelows as you'd assume them to be, the merger of Page and Plant with Steve Albini did actually yeild some decent results. At the very least the classic rock excess you'd associate with Zeppelin doesn't get in the way of Albini's naturalistic production work at all; if anything this sounds just as vital as the stuff from III albeit in a very different way. The problem comes from the decission of someone to give the track over to a long-winded pipe solo at the end, which may fit with the vibe of the track – the pipes during the song proper add to shat is at its heart a very slight song – but cross into too much of a decent thing after about 45 seconds. A shame really because up to that point I could have easily given this a solid six.

Alanis Morissette “Uninvited”

The Nostalgia Factor: Higher than for most other Morissette songs, actually. This was actually a huge favorite of mine at the time – not enough of one to convince me to buy the City of Angels soundtrack but enough that I actively looked forward to it being played. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: In spite of the overblown nature of it, I'd probably still hold in higher than Alanis' other singles if only because it's one of the best vocals she ever laid down. [8]

I still find this song endlessly fascinating honestly. It's at once a very simple song, anchored by a minimal piano motif, Morissette's vocals and not much more, but at the same time squeezes in a dizzyingly dissonant string interlude and a guitar solo that doesn't seem beholden to its surroundings. It's the fact that it can be both of these things simultaneously and never feel overstuffed is a testament to just how well rendered a song it is. And I just need to reiterate that Morissette's vocals here are among the best in her career, getting the strong/vulnerable quality just right without going too far into either camp. It's better than pretty much anything on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, but I can understand why it was kept apart from the album tonally; this isn't obtuse or personal enough to fit in there, even if it is both obtuse and personal in its own way. Still, quite a great castoff single.

Pearl Jam “Wishlist”

The Nostalgia Factor: A bit higher than for “Given to Fly” but still not much outside of a minor blip on my radar at the time. [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd label it as pleasant and unassuming and be on my way. [6]

Two moments stand out here; the line 'I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down' which is perfectly Vedderian if such a term exists, and the fact that the line 'I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turn up' is uttered during the fade out, which is at once far too cute and a perfect way to end a song that could – and apparently did at one point – go on for a while with a continued list of obtuse wishes. Other than that there's nothing to grasp on to here; no hook, no interesting arrangement, nothing but the charm of its simple, unadorned nature. Sadly that's not enough to work for me even if I do end off with a relatively positive opinion of the song.

98 The Hard Way: Rock Week Part One - 'Devious stares in my direction'

Unlike the country charts, where for the most part I was coming to the songs fairly fresh and unimpeded by past opinions, the songs that were hits on the various rock charts I have access to were basically the soundtrack to my youth. I kept the radio in my room glued to our local rock station and reveled in the much heavier alternative leanings of the radio stations in my Dad's area whenever I went to visit him. I'm pretty sure that at this point a full half of my CD collection was made up of Muchmusic's Big Shiny Tunes compilations, which were pretty much NOW That's What I Call Alternative Music! samplers. So when I went into research mode to compile the list of songs I'd be tackling here I found that more and more often I had a single thought cross my mind.

Aw man, I fucking LOVED this song!

This makes the week's reviews a much more dangerous proposal for me. If I revisit these songs and hate them, I feel like I'm betraying myself – a version of myself I actually like nonetheless, a few years down the line this wouldn't be an issue – but if I kowtow to my memories of how much loved it when I feel just as disingenuous. What to do, what to do.

So consider this week an experiment, where both halves of the equation – 1998 me and 2011 me – will get their say. I'll start each review with a summary of where those two differ or align and a much more backwards-looking review than I would usually go for, especially in cases where the two opinions differ quite radically.

As for the songs chosen...well here's how that goes.

-Songs that were #1s on either the Billboard Modern Rock, Billboard Mainstream Rock or RPM Alternative 30 get reviewed, no questions asked.

-In order to fill out the roster to one entry per week of the year, runners up from said charts will be slotted in based on highest charting song that hasn't already been earmarked for review on the week in question.

-In the case of a tie – ie all #2 songs for a given unfilled week are possible candidates – nostalgia wins out over any other factors.

Now, let us begin ROCK WEEK!

Marcy Playground “Sex and Candy”

The Nostalgia Factor: Off the charts, really. I'm not sure if 12 year old me would have called this his favorite song ever or not, but it would definitely have been close, as embarrassing as that is to say. [10]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'm jaded by this, honestly. Given how derivative it is of the entire 90s indie scene it's easy for me to just write it off as boring, trite shit. [4]

The reason that I decided to do this particular set in this format was inspired by the two-mindededness I have about this particular song. No matter how much 2011 me wants to dismiss it, there's little old 1998 me waving it's arms in the air going 'but...but..but...' and preventing that from happening. A part of me will always love this song, no matter how much the rest of me wants to hate it. So I'll hedge and say that more than anything else, I'm glad that Marcy Playground prepared me to be blown away by Pavement and Archers of Loaf a few years later.

Days of the New “Touch, Peel and Stand”

The Nostalgia Factor: Mild. Honestly this didn't make anywhere near as much impact in my neck of the woods as either of the band's subsequent singles did – and that's including those from II – so if I heard this at all it didn't really register. [n/a]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd be thankful that anyone used Jar of Flies as their main source of inspiration since that's never not gonna be the best Alice in Chains release. [7]

In light of how staid and frankly boring the other singles from the first Days of the New record came across as on revisit it's nice to see that the biggest one is also the one that holds up the best. That's probably because it lets the rest of the band come to the fore far more often instead of just confirming that this was a glorified solo project for Travis Meeks. Think about it, the rhythm section drives the track far more than the guitar, Todd Whitener's guitar solo is the highlight of the whole song and other than the last chorus Meeks' vocals are impressively understated. The fact that this is all done with acoustic instruments barely registers at all, which for something that could have been a huge gimmick/crutch is saying a lot about the song at hand.

Matchbox 20 “3 AM”

The Nostalgia Factor: Much higher than you'd think. Yourself or Someone Like You was one of the first CDs I owned so needless to say it had the shit played out of it in my younger days. This wasn't necessarily my favorite of the songs there, but it was definitely one I remembered. [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd finally know when post-grunge morphed into the shit pile that is adult alternative. [4]

OK, maybe that last pronouncement isn't fair on either count...you could easily say that “One Headlight” marked the real birth of AA and that the whole genre isn't necessarily a shit pile, but the point still stands. The whole sound and feel of the track lays the groundwork for the qualities of so called adult-alternative that I find the most trying on my patience; it's plodding, overdramatic, and most importantly of all, it's really uninteresting on a melodic level. Pleasant? Sure, but in a way that seems to actively discourage you remembering anything about it once its over.

Pearl Jam “Given to Fly”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. In my radio rock days Pearl Jam were out of my preferred sphere so even though I probably heard this a lot it never sunk in. [n/a]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd want a time machine to get my younger self to give it a better listen at the very least. [7]

It's oddly fitting that I only had vague memories of this song, because the whole enterprise here is incredibly vague in terms of...well, any aspect you could name really. The lyrics are obtuse and fragmented, the music is more evocative than relentless and the whole structure gives the illusion of grandeur without really going for it. Of course I'd have found it inscrutable at age 12 and more fascinating and replayable at age 25 – that's how things are meant to go here.

The Verve “Bittersweet Symphony”

The Nostalgia Factor: Cruel. Motherfucking. Intentions. [9]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd appreciate the grandeur and the downtrodden anthem angle, but would easily call bullshit on it being the band's masterpiece since I'm in that niggling minority that thinks that Urban Hymns was a huge step down for them. [6]

While my two-mindedness here is nothing compared to “Sex and Candy” there's still an inner war as far as the rating goes. This wasn't just a good song from my youth, it was a fucking iconic song, one that was inexorably linked not only to its video – everyone's favorite at the time – but later on to the final moments of Cruel Intentions – once again, everyone's favorite at the time – and countless other small moments. It's basically a symbol of my tween years in a few ways, so revisiting it bound to stir up more that its fair share of memories and any sort of dismissal, no matter how well founded, will be met with an internal round of 'but's from my inner 12 year old. And since I don't want to kick my inner twelve year old's ass the way I do my inner teenager, I have to listen a bit.

Green Day “Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)”

The Nostalgia Factor: Seinfeld finale. Need I say more? I think it was also the de facto theme for my final scout camp around this time too so there's that. [7]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd probably just dismiss it out of hand like I wind up doing with most non-resonant acoustic plinking. [4]

I appreciated the implied subtext that the parenthetical title gives what could easily be a simple, hell almost emo if you wanna go that far, 'I'll miss you baby' song. But without that extra detail, one that's been glossed over by history (when was the last time you heard this referred to as anything but “Time of Your Life”?) there's really no there there if you get what I mean. It's another one of those songs that I chalk up as being perfectly pleasant – though this one has that overdramatic, unnecessary string section to negate that qualifier a bit – without really having anything resembling strong feelings towards it.

Sarah McLachlan “Sweet Surrender”

The Nostalgia Factor: High enough. Surfacing was one of the only CDs that my dad owned for a while there, so any time we went out to visit it was the main spin given that my sister was a fan as well. It was probably the best song on there, but that isn't saying much. [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd wonder how the same person that made “Possession” fell so far so fast. [5]

The points in this one's favor are there, namely the insidious sense of mystery that the production gives it, but they're undercut by how safe the whole venture comes off as. Given that McLachlan was unafraid to go to darker places lyrically even as recently as “Building a Mystery” there's really something about this one that feels like a pulled punch. The song sounds threatening and unknowable, but the words that are put to it don't add up to much of anything really. What a shame...

Loreena McKennitt “The Mummer's Dance”

The Nostalgia Factor: Medium-high. This was another of the few CDs that my dad owned though it got a lot less play as far as I remember. Even then it struck me as a bit watered down though. [6]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd have similar 'how the mighty have fallen' reaction because her earlier material is much more resonant, but I actually appreciate it a bit more now than I did back then possibly because I'm more attuned to McKennitt's wavelength [7]

I think my dismissiveness towards this in my youth was a product of being Canadian and having a much greater wealth of moderately popular Celtic music to compare it to. And really, when you look at it next to Ashley MacIsaac's singles it comes off as a far too basic and unremarkable to make an impact. That said, in hindsight it's a much better song than I'd have given it credit for back then. It may not have the depth and swell of McKennitt's earlier material but there's a definite charm to its simplicity. And McKennitt's vocals are just as amazing as ever, which counts for a lot.

Black Lab “Wash It Away”

The Nostalgia Factor: High, actually. I remember this being an infrequent but always welcome addition to our local rock station's playlist, so I was actually moderately excited to revisit it. [8]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd wonder what kind of crack I was smoking at age 12 to think that this was welcome. [3]

This one gets into the follies of memory. Like I said, in my mind this was a highlight of the radio landscape of early 1998 – a landscape I was much more in sync with then than I am now – one of those songs that was played infrequently enough to make each play count while popping up enough that I remembered it without much prompting. I don't know exactly what about this screamed 'great damn song' to 1998 me, but whatever it was it has the opposite effect on 2011 me. This is just plain dull. There's no memorable lyric, instrumental hook or even small moment that speaks to me as if to say 'THIS is why you remembered me'. There's a void, that's all I see in here now.

Van Halen “Without You”

The Nostalgia Factor: Moderate. Even though my history with VH only went back to Balance I was well informed enough to know that the whole III debacle was laughable. [5]

If I'd Only Just Heard It Today: I'd probably just think this was a lower level Extreme song. [4]

My capsule review up there pretty much sums it up: it doesn't matter if you look at this as a misguided attempt for Van Halen to recuperate from the split with Sammy Hagar or if you look at it as a bizarro world version of Extreme circa Waiting for the Punchline, it's just a really weak song. The chorus at least tries to do something of moderate interest, but the rest of the song is just...there. Even the solo is impressively faceless, almost as if Eddie had checked out already and was just marking time until they could reunite with one of their better frontmen.