Published on Jan 28, 1998
Often when I walk the aisles of the Pierce Archives (50 percent
off of Green Bay Packers merchandise), I’m struck with a feeling I
can only call “Where-Are-They-Now? Syndrome.” So many bands have
come, made a strong impression on the music world, then disappeared
without a trace.
Of course, when I go back to listen to some of these groups, I
can understand why they’ve disappeared into the netherworlds. One
such band is School Of Fish, who released two albums on Capitol
before being eaten up by the musical equivalent of the Loch Ness
Monster. (Memo to the Spice Girls: You’re next.)
And while their self-titled debut album does contain some great
numbers, for the most part it is filled with unimpressive rock that
is indistinguishable from countless other acts.
Led by Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward, School Of Fish first
grabbed our attention with “3 Strange Days,” a quirky little number
that works in some mild Middle Eastern influences with a snappy
drum beat provided by M.P. and a crunching guitar riff that is
instantly addictive. As for the lyrics, I have no clue what
Clayton-Felt is talking about — maybe this is all he remembers
after going on a three-day bender, I don’t know. But the fact that
this song still gets airplay is testimony to how fresh it was in
1990.
The other highlight here is “Speechless,” a number which sounds
like they’re using baritone guitars — the rhythm lines are a
little deeper and richer than a normal guitar sound, and add a
special texture to this one. Clayton-Felt again puts in a great
vocal performance — and one wonders what the fate of this band
would have been had this track been released as a single and
heavily promoted.
But after that,
School Of Fish takes a turn for the worse and fills the
remainder of the album with the same effluvia on both sides. “Rose
Colored Glasses” and “Under The Microscope” both sound pretty
similar, while “King Of The Dollar” and “Wrong” are both failed
attempts to master two different styles of rock — one all-out, one
psychedelic… and don’t think I didn’t catch the mild lift of a
riff from The Rolling Stones for a second.
Surprisingly, the album’s closing number “Euphoria” restores a
little of my faith in this band, and makes me wonder why they
didn’t explore this musical road a little more. It sure wouldn’t
have hurt matters.
School Of Fish disappeared after their second album
Human Cannonball stiffed – kind of a shame, because for all
the mistakes I’ve pointed out, Clayton-Felt and crew did show signs
of brilliance on
School Of Fish. Too bad those moments were not enough to
save this album from relative obscurity.