Published on May 2, 2000
It’s been some time since Eric Schenkman has been seen in the
rock & roll world. Since departing from his former band Spin
Doctors after their sophomore release
Turn It Upside Down, he’s kept a relatively low profile,
though he did appear on Natalie Merchant’s solo effort
Tigerlily a few years back.
Now, it seems that Schenkman is ready to test the waters of
being in a band again, teaming up with former Mountain drummer
Corky Laing to form Cork. Their debut effort
Speed Of Thought has its moments, but overall shows a pretty
nice sized coat of rust on these two musicians.
Now, some people might not think it fair to compare the 21st
Century work of these two musicians to the songs of their former
bands, but in some cases, the music almost begs to be held up to
that light. Granted, a song like “Pull That String” isn’t quite as
hippy-trippy as “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” or “Jimmy Olson’s
Blues” from the Spin Doctors, but Schenkman does try to capture the
groove of those songs and attempts to put a new musical spin on it.
Likewise, when you hear tracks like “Bone Daddy,” you can almost
imagine Leslie West or the late Felix Pappalardi laying down a
vocal track.
This being said, Cork does strive to create its own unique
musical voice while respecting the ghosts of the members’ past.
Unfortunately, it takes some time before Schenkman and Laing sound
like they’re comfortable in this skin. It’s not until nearly the
halfway point of the disc, on “Midnight Rose,” when Schenkman and
Laing (as well as guest bassist Noel Redding, ex- of the Jimi
Hendrix Experience) really sound like they’re confident in their
songwriting and performances. This continues on tracks like
“Waiting (You’re All I Need)” and “Sin City”.
For all of this, Cork suffers from one major problem: vocals.
Neither Schenkman nor Laing is a particularly captivating vocalist.
I don’t know whether it was intentional or not, but Laing almost
croaks out the vocal track on “Bone Daddy,” kind of like Dr. John
with a head cold. Schenkman tries, I’ll give him that, but he just
doesn’t have the charisma or the range as a vocalist that this
material almost begs for at times.
Likewise,
Speed Of Thought takes far too long to get up to speed –
though, in the album’s defense, repeat listens tend to show more
swans behind the former ugly ducklings. For each track that falls
short like “Hail Mary” and “Genuine,” there’s a track that
reaffirms your belief in the band like “Falling” or the album’s
closer “In This World”.
Still, I almost expected greater things from Cork, knowing the
musical past of its members. (Then again, I remember my
disappointment with West, Bruce & Laing;
Why Dont’cha is a record I haven’t touched in well over a
decade.) With the rich backgrounds of both Schenkman and Laing, I
admit I expected them to have the Midas touch when it came to
Speed Of Thought. Guess the touch has a layer of varnish
built up on it – but I think it’s something they can overcome.
Speed Of Thought is a tentative first step back for both
Schenkman and Laing, and is a disc that requires the listener to
invest some time into it. If you take the disc on its own value,
you’ll undoubtedly find things to like about it. If you pick it up
expecting a Spin Doctors of Mountain clone, you’ll be sorely
disappointed. If you expect to hear a meshing of the two sounds,
well, you will – but it might not be just what you expected.