Published on Jan 8, 2004
After coming up with one of the most likeable albums of the
1990s,
God Shuffled His Feet, Crash Test Dummies had to conjure up
something special, as a follow up. Sadly, they couldn’t. The follow
up,
A Worm’s Life, is somehow disappointing. Though the album is
worth listening to, it is however, a very normal album, offering
nothing more than a collection of strictly ordinary songs. There is
nothing wrong about being prosaic; an album can be ordinary and
still be good. But, this particular commonplace album just seems
seriously incomplete.
The album has some great songs, like the beautifully cacophonic
“Overachievers,” the funny single “He Liked To Feel It,” the simple
but inane “Our Drive Gestures,” and the smartly written, “I’m
Outlived By That Thing?” Still, the album seems like a bit of a
disappointment, especially since it comes out as a follow-up album
to an absolute masterpiece. But, I don’t think that my high
expectations alone are responsible for the cause of my
disappointment with this album. Even otherwise, without considering
its predecessor, it would still seem as good/bad as it does
now.
One of the main reasons, I feel, is the change of producers for
this album. After the brilliant production work by Jerry Harrison
on
God Shuffled His Feet, the band somehow felt that it is
capable enough to produce an album on its own. The result —
A Worm’s Life — is produced by the band members,
themselves, and the production lacks vitality. No song is bad in
this album; it seems as if the band hasn’t done justice to most of
them, making them sound as if they are haphazardly done demo
versions of the songs.
A good production doesn’t necessarily mean that an album should
be layered. A good production can make the simplest song sound
good, by just guiding the song in the right direction. This is what
is lacking in this album: the songs are directionless. The band is
not yet ready to take on the task of production of an album.
A Worm’s Life could’ve been a whole lot better, had the band
stuck to their old producer, Jerry Harrison.