Published on Apr 30, 2000
Early this year, Luscious Jackson announced that they would not
be together. With the alternative music scene a little smaller than
a blip on the current music scene, the industry met their breakup
with an indifferent shrug. I had my own opinions regarding their
breakup. First, I was a little stunned when I heard the news.
Though they already lost a member and were whittled down to a
trio last year, they still had enough creative batteries in them to
make on of the best albums of 1999:
Electric Honey. To top that, they also stole the show at a
couple of Lillith Fair appearances. Yet, I can’t help but admire
them for shutting it down. They had a great career run. And they
left near the top of their game. Not that many bands can leave on a
strong last album AND a solid tour to boot.
Luscious Jackson, with the help of the Beastie Boys and A Tribe
Called Quest, helped create a trippy sub-genre of rap. These bands
proved you could be cerebral and still have the beats to back your
raps up. Luscious Jackson made it a point to explore their
boundaries and incorporate different styles into their music. Their
breakthrough album,
Natural Ingredients, remains a great cornerstone in the
early ’90s alternative music scene.
The band pulled off quite the coup by hiring U2-collabarator
Daniel Lanois for their album,
Fever In Fever Out, their second-to-last album. Snatch a
great producer, snag Emmylou Harris for a guest vocal slot and
continue what you’re doing before: lock and load and out comes a
classic. Well, almost.
The problem with
Fever In Fever Out is something many bands do: put their
most ear-catching, strongest song first. You know the drill: you
hear a great song on the radio, buy the album and its right smack
there on track one. The track, “Naked Eye,” was probably Luscious
Jackson’s biggest hit. It also is a representation of what made
them so good. Drummer Kate Schellenbach lays down a great
percussion while Alex Young does some additional drum looping. Jill
Cunniff’s sexy, airy voice hooks you and the chorus is so catchy,
it makes N-Sync sound like Philip Glass.
You’re elevated from listening to it, now come three songs,
“Don’t Look Back,” “Door” and “Mood Swings” that set you down and
mellow you out. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But, the
listener is definitely discombobulated after hearing “Naked
Eye.”
Still, plenty of surprises wait in
Fever In Fever Out. “Under Your Skin” and “Electric” are
catchy enough to make you want to come back and give them a second
look. And the real zinger comes in the middle of the album. “Take A
Ride” is an grand, complex jam session that steers you one way into
a dreamy, sleepy state, but then takes a full rhythmic left turn
and drops a memorable chorus toward the end, “Live slow, die old.”
Simple yes. Effective? Hell yeah.
Guest-favorite Emmylou Harris (everyone from Bob Dylan to
Midnight Oil) drops in on “Soothe Yourself.” And unlike other guest
appearances, Harris provides a great deal of support for the song.
You don’t feel like she’s in the album to fill some sort of
“coolness quota.” The song also sets the stage for the kick-back
last third of the album.
“Why Do I Lie?” and “One Thing” are good tracks, but like the
last half of the album, they start to lump themselves together
until it sounds like a jam session made up of half-constructed
songs. “Faith” is the only exception to this rule. If the album
were to end on this track,
Fever In Fever Out would have been a more powerful release.
Instead, the album closes with “Stardust,” a fine tune in itself,
but it’s the type of song that you’ll go three minutes before you
realize the album is over.
The album is still great for a warm spring day. There’s enough
variety and musical diversity in
Fever In Fever Out to keep you wanting to explore the spacey
gaps between memory lapses while you listen to it. “Naked Eye”
hooks you and is one of the best songs to listen to with all of the
windows down in your car while you’re in a good mood. Fortunately,
there’s enough in
Fever In Fever Out to motivate you to go beyond track
one.