Aw C'mon

by

Lambchop

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I first encountered Lambchop through listening to the "Relax Trax" channel on Spinner.com. Every once in a while I'd hear a song that made me think, "Hey, this vocalist sounds like a more melodic Lou Reed or Leonard Cohen," and when I would click on the banner to see who it was, I'd always find it to be Lambchop. The resemblance to Reed and Cohen doesn't just stop with Kurt Wagner's gravelly (though quite appealing) vocals, either. The songs on the album are more intellectual than most modern music out there today. Take, for example, just the title of track 9, "Women help to create the kind of man they despise." I use this as an example of self-fulfilling prophecies when I teach social psychology to my undergraduates. For a thoughtful, mellow, enjoyable listening experience, give Lambchop a try.

I have all of Lambchop CDs and I still can't figure out what they're about. When I heard that they were releasing two separate albums on the same day I serious wondered whether this was "jump the shark" time. It's not.

AwCmon continues on in the vein of Nixon and Is A Woman, toning down the excessive strings of the former while adding a few sonic elements that were missing on the later. The latest "twist" is that there are more instrumentals than 'chop fans are used to.

For the most part everything works, although I can't help feeling that Kurt Wagner has been rewriting and re-arranging the same song since, oh, 1997. (There is some serious self-plagiarization on No You Cmon, but I'll save that for another review). Somehow the production (top notch as usual) comes off as austere and glossy at the same time. The instrumentals are okay (Timothy Schmidt being the most satisfying), but when you consider that this is, taken with No You Cmon, for all intents and purposes a double album, they serve as filler.

Wagner's voice is again a problem. No falsetto, but he mumbles, grumbles and spits out lyrics in a muffled staccato voice a lot here. He sounds like he doesn't want to be heard on much of this release. No matter how he sings it sounds affected.

Oh yeah...songs. Not bad, it sounds like a lot of work went into the arrangments. Something's Gotta Give and I Hate Candy are pretty good, nice and smooth. Action Figure is another highlight. There may be better Lambchop albums, but for my money there is not a better 8 minutes of Lambchop music on record than the atmospheric Nothing But A Blur From a Bullet Train, immediately followed by Each Time I Bring It Up It Seems To Bring You Down, a magical song that interrupts itself after each verse with a Disney-esque fanfare. Those songs, plus the above mentioned Action Figure make this release worth the price. I just wish the other songs were as good.