Published on Sep 24, 1999
From the first ten seconds of
Deconstruction, with its pseudo-African chanting, vicious
drum line, and stinging guitar, you know that whatever guitar maven
Meredith Brooks does do with this CD, it’s not going to be boring.
By the time you’re fully into the first track, “Shout”, with its
tongue-in-cheek lyrics (“You’re driving home and the traffic’s not
budging/Laying on the horn, adding to the mess/Then Y2K shuts down
LA/Now you’ve got somethin’ to really figure out”), you know Brooks
has dodged the bullet and turned out another solid CD full or rock
and roll that makes you think, laugh, and feel.
I admit to being biased. I liked Brooks for the moment I first
heard the cheerily irreverent “Bitch”, and my copy of
Blurring The Edges may be ready to expire from overplay.
However, that second CD is always the hardest (see the recent Corrs
review). Brooks handles it simply — she evolves, does a few
different things, does a few of the same things, and does at least
one audacious cover that’s enough to make your head hurt.
Said cover is a drum-driven version of sugar-sweet ’60s folkie
Melanie’s “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)”, a treacle-laced tribute
to Woodstock. Brooks, with the help of rapper Queen Latifah, turns
it into a middle finger in the face of complacency, an angry,
joyful denial of anything less than Woodstock’s idealism. Brooks
believes, and that makes it work.
Brooks doesn’t seem afraid to step away from the sound of the
first CD. From the heavy keyboards on “All For Nothing”, Brooks’
voice somewhere between rapping and spoken jazz, a bitter, sad
analysis of the end of a relationship, to the almost Tori Amos
sound of “Nobody’s Home”, she shifts like water, dancing across the
spectrum of rock. Other notables include the funky “Back To Eden”,
the arrangement and instrumentation more than a nod to one of
Brooks’ musical influences, Todd Rundgren; “Careful What You Wish
For”, a brief flirtation with very light progressive metal; and the
acoustic “Sin City”. These all
work, and work brilliantly; Brooks is a musical chameleon —
her rapid slide from style to style a dizzying, exhilarating
process that leaves you exhausted and happy by the time the soft
“Back To Nowhere” closes the CD.
The sole miscue on the album: “I Have Everything”, a guitar
ballad reminiscent of Sheryl Crow. The melody doesn’t flatter
Brooks’ voice, and the guitar and drum work is no better than
average. Had the entire CD been like this, we would be bandying
about the hackneyed “sophomore slump” cliche; thankfully, this is
it, and the next track, the acidly funny “Cosmic Woo Woo”, yanks
Deconstruction back on track. I think part of the reason I
enjoy Brooks’ work is that she’s not afraid to be funny, both
poking fun at herself, her industry, and random targets within
range.
Deconstruction is a heck of a second effort, a damn good
piece of rock and roll, and doesn’t take itself too seriously to
boot. It comes heartily recommended.