Published on Jul 21, 1997
Since briefly tasting success with the popularity of their
single “Roll To Me,” the Scottish band Del Amitri has been trying
to distance themselves from the slower, acoustic-tinged numbers of
gloom, doom and depression they have become known for.
Their fifth album,
Some Other Sucker’s Parade, is more in the pop vein that is
meant to win them more precious radio airplay. A friend of mine who
has connections to the band warned me, “You’re probably not gonna
like this album, seeing how you loved
Change Everything.” (Apparently she also related to the band
that, when I was listening to their debut album, I commented I was
going into insulin shock. Now the band won’t return my phone calls
– proving it’s costly to speak your mind.)
I hate being told what I’m going to think. Worse, I hate to
admit that she was partially right.
Lead singer/bassist Justin Currie still is one of rock’s lovable
mopes – he puts into words the feelings of fear of rejection and
commitment that most men feel. The lead single, “Not Where It’s
At,” captures that feeling to a “T” – our hero finds himself
attracted to a woman who is just not interested in him. This song
is not getting near enough airplay that it deserves – maybe the
poor performance recently on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” scared
some radio execs off.
The comparison between the television performance and the studio
version also brings up an interesting dilemma:
Some Other Sucker’s Parade features quite a bit of vocal
overdubbing. How Del Amitri intend on pulling this off live will be
interesting – or could be disastrous.
“Through All That Nothing” is a track which continues to grow in
power on each listen. The tempo is much slower than I would like
from Del Amitri, but the musicianship on this one, combined with
one of Currie’s best vocal performances, carries the track. Another
one of the excellent cuts on this album is “Medicine,” a number
about someone trying to destroy their true identity as a means of
escape – though we are given no clues why this escape is necessary.
I find this song disturbing – only because a friend of mine went
through something almost exactly like this, and the subject matter
hits home. Currie is correct in his declaration that the cure –
here, assuming a new persona – is often worse than whatever you
were running from. Also noteworthy is the BoDeans feel of “Life Is
Full,” a raucous little number that shows off the Dels in their
most creative and enjoyable.
With the change of focus comes an addition of a tinge of funk to
the songwriting – both “High Times” and “Cruel Light Of Day” get a
groove slapped onto them. On the latter track, Currie starts
getting daring on the bass. Three words: It’s about time! Currie’s
bass lines have recently tended to either be one-note thumps or
progressions up the neck of the instrument. It’s interesting to
hear the fingers and strings fly here.
From all I’ve said so far, one would think that
Some Other Sucker’s Parade is their best album.
Unfortunately, it isn’t. While “No Family Man” features some of the
band’s crispest acoustic work I’ve ever heard, the lyrics grow
stale real quick. The lyrics also take a hit on “High Times,” where
they occasionally border on inane – sample: “Don’t crash my
spiritual plane.” Say what?
“Won’t Make It Better” has a style that I’ve heard in other
bands – though I can’t think of one name to save my life right now.
I did enjoy the falsetto harmonies, but I wish there have been more
lyrical development. The title track also suffers in the lyric
department. And if the drum beat sounds familiar, one needs only to
listen to early efforts of Rod Stewart. Two words: “Maggie May.”
‘Nuff said. Also falling below par are “Funny Way To Win” and “Make
It Always Be Too Late.” On the latter song, you know Del Amitri
means heavy business by the use of a minor key – and I hate it when
they want to talk heavy business.
On this album, Currie does sound like he’s the happiest he’s
been in some time – “Through All That Nothing” proves that. But for
every “Not Where It’s At” and “Mother Nature’s Writing,” there’s a
“What I Think She Sees” waiting to knock the band off its pedestal.
Iain Harvie’s guitar work is good, but like Currie and his bass
lines, I wish he would just cut loose and put his six-string
through a workout.
Some Other Sucker’s Parade is easily Del Amitri’s most
challenging album to listen to – even more difficult than
Twisted. To be honest, I didn’t like that album until I had
listened to it about a dozen times. I’ve tried plowing through this
one several times, and it’s just too difficult to complete in one
sitting. (Ask me in a year what I think, and there’s a good chance
my opinion of this album will be higher.) And while I fully expect
to get flamed for some of my thoughts, it’s not like I didn’t give
the album a fair shake. I listened to the whole disc twice just
before publishing this, and my opinion still hadn’t changed.
Nouveau fans may be disappointed there’s not another track
similar to “Roll To Me” on
Some Other Sucker’s Parade – thank God. And in retrospect,
it is another decent effort by the band. But I’d be hard-pressed to
say it beats their early wonders
Waking Hours and
Change Everything. If anything, this may be a warning sign
that the brooding martyr act is starting to wear thin – and that
Currie and crew shouldn’t be trying to force themselves to become
pop stars. Fact is, they were closer than they ever realized until
this one came along.