Published on Jun 6, 2001
OK, I admit it. I’m not a huge fan of the alternative rock
subgenre that for lack of a better word I’ll call “Little Girl
Angst” – female vocalists with breathy voices singing how weird
they are, how bitter life is, and how miserable and vulnerable they
are.
I’m not that big a fan of alternative rock to begin with, and
when you combine it with posturing angst I tend to just tune out.
However, if one likes that sort of thing, the Blake Babies Juliana
Hatfield, John Strohm, and Freda Love are seminal influences in the
field, with CDs like
Earwig and
Sunburn being classics of the genre.
Since the days of the Blake Babies, Hatfield has had a
successful career with both the Lemonheads and on her own, and
Strohm and Love have had projects of their own. Now, ten years
later, they decided to get back together and record a new CD of
material, exploring the group’s past chemistry from a maturer
viewpoint.
The question is: does
God Bless The Blake Babies manage to do this? The answer is,
depends on how you look at it. Mostly, no. On the one hand, there
are a few tracks that are good. “Until I Almost Died” is an
interesting look at how one moment can change how you look at life.
“Picture Perfect” is just a pretty good pop song, as is “What Did I
Do?”
Then there’s where the music drowns in its own misery. “Brain
Damage” is just…well…bad, a call and response paean to avoiding
reality through drug abuse that proves Darwin was right. “When I
See His Face” is a flat, dull, adolescent rock song, Christina
Aguilera on heavy downers. “On” just drones like a bad bagpipe
player. None of these songs are badly recorded or performed – the
Blake Babies are all skilled musicians – but frankly SUM41’s “Fat
Lip” summarizes this much adolescent angst in a much funnier and
accessible fashion.
This CD says nothing new and does nothing unusual. If you like
this genre of music, I suspect that
God Bless is the cat’s meow, the ne plus ultra, the Beatles
getting back together or something of the sort. From the viewpoint
of a non-enthusiast, it’s a piece of music that has its moments
when it can rise above its own content of malaise, angst, and
twentysomething drama queen follies. But they’re few and far
between. If this sort of thing is your cup of tea, then I suppose
my advice is go right ahead. Otherwise, don’t waste your time.