Published on Sep 3, 2001
In the course of this job, one hears enough bands who draw upon
various musical influences, but they don’t quite know which way
they want to steer their own musical ship.
Clyde is one such band. Their self-titled debut mixes the worlds
of alternative with rap – granted, not an original combination
anymore – but there’s occasionally some touches of Elvis Costello
heard in the vocal styles. This 10-song disc suggests the band has
promise, but they need to decide just what they want to be when
they musically mature.
Oh, this isn’t to say that
Clyde is an immature album, or that the band – vocalist
Scott Moses, guitarist/vocalist Michael Bergman, bassist Taylor and
drummer Hamboussi – are immature in any way. But what they bring to
the table on
Clyde, while sonically polished, suggests that the band is
still very much in their musical youth, and that some rough edges
will need to be polished off before they’re ready to stake a claim
at the big time.
I’ve read one or two reviews of
Clyde, mostly while searching for the album art. (One of
these days, I’ve got to re-hook up that scanner.) I honestly don’t
remember who said it, but one writer suggested that the alt-rap
combination didn’t work, then admitted they don’t like rap at all.
Well, I’m someone who
does like rap, and I’ll be the first to admit that, at
times, Moses gets a little carried away with the raps. On some
tracks such as “Push The Bully,” it works well and captures the
emotion of the moment. But on the album’s opener “Leaving,” Clyde
starts laying out an interesting musical pattern when the flow is
absolutely halted by the delivery of the lyrics in rap form. Zack
De La Rocha might have been able to get away with this while he was
in Rage Against The Machine, but in Clyde’s case, it simply
clashes. (For that matter, while I’m no prude when it comes to
language, one has to wonder whether some of the usage, as in the
song “Everything,” was needed. The song was powerful enough as it
was.)
The Costello influence comes into play on songs like “Crazy,”
where Moses is able to demonstrate his vocal ability well. If only
the second half of
Clyde held up as well musically, which would have given the
band further room to display their talents. It’s not that the songs
are bad; it’s that the energy level seems to dip severely, leaving
songs like “Mine,” “Good Guys Finish Last” and “As Good As You
Hate” in the cold. Then again, this energy sag is something that
affects even mainstream artists, so at least they’re in good
company.
Clyde is the kind of disc that almost acts as a crystal ball
for an independent band, but provides only a cloudy look into the
future. I can’t say for sure whether Clyde has what it takes to
become a major player on the scene, but this disc suggests that
there’s a good chance they’ll at least be somewhere on the playing
field.