Elastica

by

Elastica

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I always forget how good Elastica's eponymous debut album is, so it's a pleasant surprise to pop it into the stereo. There's nothing particularly revolutionary about this record (although having three out of four band-members being female is, sadly, still something of a rarity), but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in spontaneity. This is a fun, bouncy, catchy bunch of songs and no mistake.

The tracks don't deviate from their guitar-bass-drums sound. They're all short and fast-paced. It's slightly punkish sounding, with a harder edge to it than most of the rest of the Brit-pop that was out around this time. There are some really nice melodies running through here. It's hard, but not too hard -- tuneful, but not too tuneful. A few of the songs are great, and none of them are bad. There's nothing on here that's any worse than solid.

The album has a very consistent sound (perhaps a polite way of saying all the songs sound the same, which is a fair criticism, but since I like them, it's not something I'm going to complain about). If you liked "Connection" (which was all over the airways when this first came out) you'll probably like this; if you hated that song, then the rest of the album probably isn't your cup of tea either.

Oh, and Suede fans will note that Brett Anderson gets a song writing credit in "See That Animal" (did every song he was writing in the mid-90s have some reference to animals?!).

As has been noted in nearly every published review of this CD, and as even a superficial listen to it bears out, Elastica was influenced by Wire. To complain about this, however, is like complaining that The Rolling Stones were influenced by Chuck Berry, that Interpol were influenced by Joy Division, or that REM were influenced by The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, and Big Star. Music is a continuum, an evolving dialog with listeners. That Elastica use Wire as a starting point is perfectly fine with me! Our heroine's troubles with heroin meant that her muse was killed as quickly as it came, but she left behind a very nice monument to the sounds of agitated punk girl group rock - circa mid 1990s (now approaching two decades old). No, it's not groundbreaking or original, but it is good. If any of the foregoing review interests you, check this CD out. If not, you'll survive if you pass it by.