FEATURED REVIEW............................................................28 AUG 2006
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Artist:
RHETT MILLER |
Make no mistake about it: whatever near-misses, tragedies, and run-of-the-mill bouts of depression may be lurking in his past, Rhett Miller really, really likes himself. When asked by Rolling Stone what he’d like to replace his “alt.country” label with, Miller, apparently laughing, responded: “Kick-ass rock & roll! No, I guess I would call it lyrical rock & roll with loud guitars. It gets a little long though. How about f*cking good?”
We’d like to think he’s joking, but we’re afraid that, by the end, he wasn’t laughing. We here at CHEEZEBALL.NET, on the other hand, haven’t been able to stop laughing. And we'd be more than happy to revoke Rhett's alt.country credentials.
According to SF Weekly, Miller has described The Believer, his second solo release away from the Old 97’s, as “George Gershwin does T. Rex’s The Slider.” He’s being a bit generous. The musical range of Cheap Trick infused with the lyrical depth of Air Supply would be a more honest assessment. Or maybe it’s reminiscent of nothing so much as really bad REO Speedwagon.
What went wrong? How does the front man for the formidable Old 97’s put out a collection of trite, cheeze-infested schlock? And, perhaps more confusingly, why is nearly everyone in print journalism falling all over themselves to praise The Believer while peppering their reviews with references to Miller’s “swoon-inducing” good looks?
Only Laura Sinagra, writing for The New York Times, bothers to mention that Mr. Hunky Drawers is “still better when part of a real band, caught up in the rollicking Texan brushfires of the Old 97’s.” Otherwise, obviously infected by the miasma of Miller’s inflated sense of his intellectual prowess, critics are lining up to testify on behalf of Miller’s wit and The Believer’s lyricism.
O.K., yes, the album is born of tragedy. The title track eulogizes Elliott Smith, who committed suicide in 2003, and, for good measure, Miller weaves in his own suicide attempt at the age of fourteen (apparently a combination of Valium and lighter fluid?!?). Tragic, indeed. But eulogizing suicide and airing the sordid details of your own depressing past does not make you any smarter than does, say, including Albert Camus and Kurt Vonnegut among the acknowledgments on your CD. (Yes, Miller actually includes Camus and Vonnegut in the credits.) It all adds up to a lame inventory of Miller’s pseudo-intellectual aspirations.
Thus far, almost every review of The Believer seems to reference the track “Singular Girl.” The critics are just beside themselves over Miller’s reference to “plate tectonics” and his clever turn of phrase, “Talking to you, Girl / Is like long division.” If being able to craft an analogy around “plate tectonics” makes one “literate, funny, sexy, and geekishly scientific,” as Andy Langer of Esquire describes The Believer, then we are indeed living in a world of lowered expectations.
“Ain’t That Strange,” meanwhile, sounds like it could have come off the cutting room floor of the B-52's project Cosmic Thing. Seriously. Give it a listen. Can't you imagine Fred Schneider crooning his way through the line “a bad transmission from deep, deep space"?
Other notable missteps on the album include “I’m with Her" (which contains a “sha-la-la-la” interlude) and “Fireflies" (an ill-advised duet that takes us down a worn-out Oedipal road). According to SF Weekly, “despite repeated entreaties, the 97’s passed on the moody ‘Fireflies,’ so Miller included it on The Believer as a duet with Rachel Yamagata.” Learn to take a hint, Rhett.
In summation: Pop fluff masquerading as wit and insight. The Old 97’s need to reel in their front man. Four cheezeballs.
kw
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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