Sinister: Everybody's trying to make it another 60s retro record

[Scott Plagenhoef]

Well, as I usually do, I have to agree with Nick (who despite his apologies
is always a pleasure to read) when he says:

I'm just with the Dossinger boy in detecting a current of 60s pastiche that
I don't ultimately think brings out the best in the band.  Where do I detect
this current?  Well, on the basis of some of the new songs that I have heard
live (not all of them making it to the album) and other people's
descriptions of 'Legal Man' and some of the tracks on the album.  It was
'Dirty Dream Number Two' that first got me worried.  A favourite of many, I
know, but for me the first time I heard it was the the time it sounded best,
unlike other tracks which grew and grew on repeated listening.  There's
something about pastiche that precludes a song really mattering, having a
life of its own.  Now I know this could all be idle speculation, and the
album might not be one big 60s fest, or it might confound my prejudices and
*be* a 60s fest and still wonderful, but I was just wanting Reid to know
that he wasn't the only one with slight worries.

The pastiche quality to the band's later work which may simply be a result
of the democratization of the songwriting process -- and not just simply
sharing lyrical composition, but the assumption that working so long in the
studio on this album suggests that the band is constructing the music more
as a group rather than simply taking songs that Stuart had written over the
period of a few years and following his direction/instruction (or are
repeatedly second-guessing themselves). Even the rave-ups on "Arab Strap"
are newer compositions than, say, the more ethereal "Simple Things" or
"Sleep the Clock Around," which -- if I'm not mistaken -- dated back a few
years before their official release. Based on the unreleased songs and
descriptions of the new ones, Stevie's fingerprints seem to be more
pronounced -- and he does seem to be the archtypical rocker of the group.
Exactly why this results in covers of Northern Soul songs such as
"Landslide" I don't know.

That said, I agree with Nick that this doesn't bring out the "best of the
band," which is arguably the sensibility of Stuart's lyrics, but his
(stuart's, not nick's) -- for the lack of better words -- disaffected,
winsome outlook on the world *was* likely to be altered when he went from
writing songs for himself on a four-track to doing so in the glare of the
public with the knowledge that they would be recorded and released. The
relative innocence of the band's early work, when they didn't expect to
reach an audience of any size, frankly can't be duplicated now. Otherwise,
they may be guilty of karaokeing themselves.

On a more personal, wank-off note (which it could be argued that every post
is), I risked damaging the list's good name by dubbing my fantasy Major
League Soccer team Sinister FC, but after the first week of thrilling First
Division American soccer action our list's namesake sits in first place out
of the 2,400 or so participants -- and all this without being able to afford
to purchase the Chicago Fire's two-goal hero Hristo Stoichkov. Strange how
an aged legend can have his career resurrected playing against a bunch of
former American college boys, eh?

Have a lovely weekend,
scott.


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