Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Leapfrogging the Competition
4 Out Of 5 Stars

They'd have pulled three stars just for the fact that they lifted the band name from a Monty Python "MTV News/Rolling Stone" parody skit, but then Toad The Wet Sprocket were a band that didn't want to be conventional. They had an acoustically based rock-pop foundation that was lead by singer Glen Phillips and bandmates that all crafted songs for the band. Phillips, along with guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss lead off with a pair of modest albums, "Bread and Circus" and then "Pale." The songs "Way Away," "Come Back Down," and a different version of "Jam" come from this first duo, and show the band mastering an REM style of jangle pop.

The band refined their sound quickly and the next two albums were the band's watersheds. "Fear" came first and popped up Toad's first top 20 single in "All I Want." Easily one of the better jangle pop songs top come from the 90's, it masked the albums darker themes. "Hold Her Down" is a diatribe against sexual abuse, while "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" is a lush take that follows the good things that life serves you, just as the title states. There was also the stately waltz-time "Walk On The Ocean." "Dulcinea" (which translates roughly in Spanish to a sweet lady) contained more of the same themes, with a sense of whimsy. But the singles were also the toughest of Toad's career to date; "Fall Down" (which squeaked into the Top 40) and an edit of "Something's Always Wrong," again using REM as a starting point. In my opinion, the best two Toad The Wet Sprocket CD's.

It took a couple of years and an odds and ends compilation titled "In Light Syrup" (again with the Monty Python references, from which the jangly "Good Intentions" comes from) before 1997's "Coil" appeared. Toad seemed a bit more somber, and they must have liked the album a lot afterwards, as "Come Down," "Crazy Life," and "Whatever I Fear" all made this best of's cut. It was also the band's highest charting album, peaking at #19. There's three new songs, a redone version of "PS," and the two previously unreleased in the US tunes "Eyes Wide Open" and "Silo Lullaby." Both are good representations of the band's overall sound and dynamic. I may have even bumped this up an extra star had they included their version of KISS's "Rock and Roll All Night" set to roughly the same arrangement as "Walk On The Ocean." But not to be.

Taken as a whole, this is one of those Greatest Hits collections that serves the band well. There are a couple of songs I would have wished for ("Windmills" would be a big one for me), but I am certain every fan has a quibble to make. "PS," by playing with the recording chronology, feels like an album made as a whole and not as a collection culled together without thought. That's how all best of's should be, and Toad The Wet Sprocket" get the treatment they deserve.

PS: Glen Phillips still records and tours, and has several decent solo CD's under his belt.

By Tris McCall/The Star-Ledger

...and if we don't exactly feel fine, we can sure be proud of everything R.E.M. accomplished.

Yes, R.E.M., the outfit that discovered a way forward for guitar-rock in the synthesized '80s, is hanging up the six-strings. After a three-decade run marked by classic albums, sold-out worldwide tours, and even the occasional hit single -- "The One I Love," "Losing My Religion," "Everybody Hurts" -- the storied Athens, Georgia group is calling it quits.

The distinctive R.E.M. sound was one fashioned from old elements. Guitarist Peter Buck drew jangling inspiration from the Byrds and the Beatles' "Rubber Soul." Bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry imparted some of the swing of '60s AM-radio pop and the backline growl of garage rock. And singer Michael Stipe approached his simple folk melodies with the melancholy of James Taylor.

Yet the group, to paraphrase their friend Robyn Hitchcock, spelled a brand new world with the same old letters. With his swirling twelve-string arpeggios, the self-effacing Buck inverted the role of the guitar hero. Mills and Berry drove the songs into murky, kudzu-choked territory. And with his initial onstage shyness, his partially mumbled delivery and allusive lyrics, Stipe redefined what a rock and roll lead singer could do. In a sense, R.E.M. was the first truly egalitarian rock band to hit it big in America. There were no stars; no grandstanding; nobody was mixed any higher than anybody else.

                              On early records, the vocals were often buried behind Buck's deft guitar patterns and Mills' thick, swampy bass. Frequently Mills' backing vocals provided a countermelody as important to the song as the main tune. And Stipe's voice was treated as an instrument like any other -- one more thread in a tapestry of sound -- and the lead singer did not seem to object in the slightest. In so doing, Stipe became the unoffical (and somewhat reluctant) flagbearer for the entire college rock movement then providing an alternative to the endless parade of hair-metal acts on MTV. But upon further inspection, Michael Stipe had quite a lot to say.

"Murmur" (1983), the band's first full-length album, addresses difficulties in communication and being heard: which, as it turned out, accurately represented the frustrations of Generation X, forever drowned out by the voices of the Baby Boomers. "Could it be that one small voice doesn't count in the world?," asked Stipe on "Shaking Through," one of R.E.M.'s first great songs. Stipe was not a storyteller -- instead, fascinated by the sound of words, he painted with phrases, allowing repetition and alteration to carry the emotional weight of his poetry. Sometimes Stipe would change a single word in a sentence, or change a single syllable in a word, and in so doing, deepen the meaning of his verse. It was a technique copied by countless college rock lyricists.

By "Fables of the Reconstruction," (1985) the band's third album, the haze was lifting. R.E.M. became defenders and poets of the American south, incorporating elements of colloquial speech into its songs ("Good Advices," "Can't Get There From Here") . Stipe also became an ardent critic of the Reagan Administration. "Document," the band's most overtly political album, was also its commercial breakthrough. Released in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal, "Welcome to the Occupation" assailed American intervention in Central America; "Exhuming McCarthy" drew a connection between the Red Scare and then-contemporary foreign policy; "Disturbance at the Heron House" poked fun at the arrogance of the establishment. "It's the End of the World As We Know It" was not an explicitly political song, but it shook the skeleton of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Once again, R.E.M. had captured the tenor of the times in broken verse. "Document" would be the band's last album for an independent label: after its success, R.E.M. inked a lucrative deal with Warner Brothers. The college rock underground had grown up.

R.E.M.'s first steps as members of the major label establishment were tentative ones: despite spawning hit singles, "Green" (1988) and "Out of Time" (1991) lacked both the focus and the fire of the band's earlier work. But with the elegaic "Automatic For the People" (1992), R.E.M. composed a modern American masterpiece. The album, a series of profound meditations on mortality and perseverance, aches from the first winding riff of opener "Drive" to the final lingering notes of closer "Find the River." But "Automatic" is not depressing: It is a hard Georgia stare at an unbeatable foe who we all must someday face. The band came away from that encounter with their most straightforward song yet -- "Everybody Hurts," principally penned by drummer Berry, with words for a potential suicide so comforting that they could have been penned by a preacher. In one stroke, Stipe the Mysterious had become a Great Communicator.

On subsequent albums for Warner Brothers, R.E.M. chased -- and occasionally captured -- the thoughtful grandeur of "Automatic." But the band never truly recovered from the 1997 departure of Berry, who put away his drumsticks two years after collapsing onstage in Switzerland from the effects of what would later be diagnosed as a brain aneurysm. Stipe, Buck, and Mills never tried to replace Berry; in fact, for many years, they barely tried to rock at all. Yet R.E.M. had one punch left for those who'd counted them out -- "Collapse into Now," released earlier this year, recaptured some of the energy and expansiveness of the group's late-'80s work. At the time of its release, it seemed to be the sound of R.E.M. turning a corner. Now it'll be remembered as the epilogue to one of rock music's most rewarding -- and inspiring -- underdog stories.

In The Jingle Jangle Morning
5 Out Of 5 Stars

This best of was released in 1967, after four full length Byrds albums. It was the peak of The Byrds' creativity and influence. Despite a fluid lineup, they crafted a sound that fell somewhere between the folkiness and beat poetry of Bob Dylan and the melodic propulsion of The Beatles. For many listeners, The Byrds were the band that introduced them to Dylan, and for other to Pete Seeger. Even today, Roger McGuinn's jangling twelve string Rickenbacker guitar holds sway in groups ranging through Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, R.E.M. and The Decemberists.

This expanded edition still sticks to the guidlines, as it stays to singles up to 1967. While this may annoy fans of the country rock that began to dominate once "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" was released, it does make for a consistency in sound. (2003's "Essential Byrds" covers the following peeriod in addition to the first four albums.) It also shows the songwriting prowess of the band members, specifiaclly McGuinn and Gene Clark. They could take folk (Seeger's "Turn Turn Turn") or psychedelia ("Eight Miles High") and still shape it for their signature sound. Clark's own "Fell A Whole Lot Better" was such a landmark that Petty chose it for his first solo album, "Full Moon Fever." (And for a really twist, find Roxy Music's version of "8 Miles High.")

One of the real tests of a greatest hits collection is if it holds together as an album. "The Byrds' Greatest Hits" does exactly that. By mixing in the groups superb singles with prime album cuts, it makes the CD play like a unified whole. It holds up as one of The Byrds most endearing and enduring albums.

The Decemberists create their Own Reckoning
4 Out Of 5 Stars

After a discography laden with concept albums, song suites and journeys into progressive folk-rock, The Decemberists use "The King is Dead" to tighten things up and concentrate on songs. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable album that highlights their brightest components in a folk-rocking context. The tangled lyrics and thoughtful structure are all still their, just this time unencumbered by awkward or forced transitional periods.

The focus this time is on Americana; "The King is Dead" takes cues from Neil Young and The Byrds as well as early R.E.M. (Peter Buck is a guest on several songs here, as well). In fact, "The King is Dead" often sounds more like an R.E.M. album than "Collapse Into Know" does. Guest vocalist Gillian Welch adds terrific harmonies to such "Reckoning/Document" soundalikes as "Down By The Water" and "Rox In The Box." It also showcases multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, who slides from everything from Pedal Steel to Bouzouki and reveals him as The Decemberists' secret weapon. It's Funk's instrumental work that gives vocalist and main writer Colin Meloy the wide variety of canvas that "The King Is Dead" paints its portrait of Americana on. In my opinion,  their best offering to date.

Juicy Bittersweet
4 Out of 5 Stars

Now reunited for the new century and feeling like they are back to basics, Power Pop Maestros The Posies reconnect with "Blood Candy." Awash with glistening guitars, British Invasion harmonies and some exhilarating experiemnts, this album was a surprise to me after hearing of it from a friend. Had I grabbed it earlier, it could have easily made my favorites for 2010.

Main men Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow have constructed an album that combines the harmonies of The Hollies with guest appearances from Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers. There are touches of REM mingled with John Lennon imitative vocals. You get the feeling that "Blood Candy" is something of a tribute to Alex Chilton, whom Auer and Stringfellow worked with often as Big Star sidemen. The haunted story that jangles amid "She's Coming Down Again" and the quirky "Accidental Architecture" would have fit in on a Big Star (or even a Cheap Trick) album, while "For The Ashes" and "Holiday Hours" are lovely in the same vein.

"Blood Candy" is likely none of the things I supposed of its creators, but as an addition to their already stellar catalog, it stands well. The Posies are still making stellar music long after their expiry date - and for those of us who find it, it's a treat.