Published on Aug 12, 2002
Maybe they just couldn’t handle the pressure. I mean, let’s face
it; all it seems I’ve done for the last two years is tell you how
damned good Nickel Creek and their solo incarnations — Chris Thile
and Sean Watkins — are. So I went into the second album from
newgrass wunderkinder Nickel Creek,
This Side, expecting great things, and came away strangely
unsatisfied.
Worst thing is, I can’t tell you why. A lot of things on here
are done right. The musicianship of Thile, Watkins, and Sara
Watkins is, as usual, stellar. So one supposes the answer needs to
lie somewhere else. After multiple listens — and I do mean
multiple — I think, however, I have three possible answers.
One, the overall sound of the album. I don’t know whether to
blame the engineer, the production, or the session bass players
(more about that in a moment), but the bottom end seems to have
gotten knocked out of
This Side. The production and engineering is competent, but
seems to shortchange the sound on the deep end of things. A track
like “Smoothie Song”, the CD’s opener, rarely seems to really
resonate in the deep end of the harmonic range; there’s no damn
cojones to it.
Second is the songwriting. There are some good band-penned songs
on this CD (specifically “Speak”, “Seven Wonders” and “This Side”).
But “Green and Gray” and “Brand New Sidewalk” just didn’t work for
me at all, and two of the three covers (“Hanging By A Thread” and
Carrie Newcomer’s “I Should’ve Known Better”) seem forced and
awkward. An uneven mix of songs at best; there’s no “Reasons Why”
or “When You Come Back Down” on
This Side.
Finally is the bass sound — or the absence thereof. Bass was
provided by what seems to be two session players; nowhere is it
really featured, and often it’s drowned in the mix; again, the
album seems unsupported and thin in many areas. It’s interesting
that they are touring with an entirely different bassist, Derek
Jones; perhaps that’s why.
There are a couple of excellent tracks on the CD. “Seven
Wonders” is poignant and wistful, “Beauty And The Mess” breaks out
of the thin sound with a driving, bass-heavy sound, and “House
Carpenter” is a great cover of a traditional band.
In the long run, though,
This Side suffers from a shallow sophomore slump. There are
times where Nickel Creek shows the brilliance they captured on
their first CD, but there just aren’t enough of them.