33 rebellions per minute
1996
Yazbek, THE LAUGHING MAN
This is another reason why 1996 was a great year for pop songs, as long as you ignore the fact that "pop", originally, was
short for "popular", although we don't force crackles to live up to the adjective "crackleular" so let's forget that. Anyway,
David Yazbek--- though obnoxious enough to trademark "Yazbek" and leave some fortchcoming Mortimer Yazbek stuck
with keeping _his_ first name--- has basically taken the XTC school of songwriting and rendered it snappy and easy-access.
For those unaware of XTC's music, it's far more important right now that you go buy their ENGLISH SETTLEMENT and
BLACK SEA than that you finish reading this, but I'll explain anyway. XTC has made a career of 1) Writing adventurous
melodies within a perfectly attractive chord structure that no-one else uses until they start imitating XTC, and 2) producing
them into an unpredictable, ultra-detailed (pick your noun) concoction/ mess. Impressive skill, and I enjoy every record
they've ever made, but somewhat alienating to many otherwise-reliable listeners (even I admit bafflement as they devote
increasing levels of neurotic detail to the creation of ever-more laid back sound).
Yazbek, working the same chord structures
and sacrificing none of that skill, brings us, for example, the anthemic power of "Fight The One-Armed Man", which might
or might not be a critique of the anti-affirmative action case made by fearful white males but sounds awfully darn
balls-to-the-wall as David sings "Wipe the grin right off that face/ fight the one-armed man and win!". "Pinocchio's Nose",
the best lyrics about advertising I've run across, filches the "Smoke On The Water" riff in good cause. "Monkey In The
Middle" and "Tomorrow" sport catchy synth hooks. "Welcome To My World" has a vaguely Mr.Rogers-ish stroll
accompanying its agreeably twisted lyrics. "The Wind" is a soft, moving ballad; "Mississippi Honeymoon" would be
obvious in its origins if I knew any ethnomusic history, I think; and "Surface Tension" puts the power in power-pop while
choosing, as the album's single most memorable chorus, "Tape over me, save yourself some dough". Any reviewer would
kill for a setup like that (we reviewers don't claim to be nice people), but I can't use it. Tape over something else. Buy this.
Who deserves the dough more, him or you? Be honest!.... Note: the Nat'l Association of Independant Record Distributors
voted this as Pop Album Of The Year. Good boys!
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