Published on Jan 23, 2001
Have you ever listened to an album, stopped at some point and
said to yourself, “They’re trying to tell me something?” (Charles
Manson is excluded from this conversation.)
It’s rare if I ever have that kind of feeling as I listen to
something, but that’s exactly what I found myself doing when I
first listened to
Tweaked, the 1995 release from Chicago rockers Enuff Z’Nuff.
I had made it halfway though the disc, and was listening to “It’s
Too Late,” when I stopped the disc and said out loud, “These songs
are all connected.”
I don’t know if this was the intention of Chip Z’Nuff and crew,
nor do I claim to have any inside knowledge on the story behind
this disc. But what I
do know without a doubt is that
Tweaked is the most ambitious disc that Enuff Z’Nuff had
tackled to this point in their career, and it is an incredibly
satisfying listen, even if the outcome of the story I’m hearing is
left a bit open-ended.
The story that ties this disc together seems to be the decline
of a musician into the world of an addict after being spurned by
the love of his life. As the tale opens on “Stoned,” our hero is
pleading for his inamorata to save him from the hell he knows he’ll
fall into should she leave him: “People all around me seem to /
Love to get me on the thing / Oh my darling you could save me /
Take me home I’ll be your king”. Despite the title of this track,
this song could have easily been the key that Enuff Z’Nuff needed
to re-open the doors to mass popularity; the guitar work has more
hooks than a bass fishing competition, and the track is one of the
best the band has ever produced. (It still sounds great live, too –
something I can vouch for as of December of last year.)
Apparently, our hero’s pleas fall on deaf ears, as he quickly
descends into the rush of the scene on “Bullet From A Gun” – but
the fun quickly wears off, and the rocker knows he’s in the grip of
addiction in “Mr. Jones” – and while he sees the mess he’s made of
things, he can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel to get
himself out. The see-saw battle of hope versus hopelessness
continues to act out its play in the next two tracks, “My Dear
Dream” and “Life Is Strange”.
Desparate to free himself from his prison, our hero tries to
reach out again to his beloved, in the hope that she’ll save him
from his self-inflicted hell on “Without Your Love”. The
hope/hopelessness saga then picks up again on “We’re All Alright”
(with a slight nod to Cheap Trick) and “It’s Too Late”.
Our hero seems to hit the bottom in the songs “If I Can’t Have
You” and “Has Jesus Closed His Eyes,” suggesting that his
desparation for salvation is reaching the point of being
unbearable. The latter is another wonderful track from the band,
and ranks up there with being one of their most thought-provoking
songs.
Here is where I admit the story becomes fuzzy for me. The final
two songs of the album proper, “Style” and “My Heroin,” could
either be seen as our hero finally recovering from his addictions
and looking back at the foolishness of his ways, or it could be
seen as the view of an outsider who has watched this whole tragedy
unfold and can keep silent no longer. (The addition of the bonus
track “How Am I Supposed To Write A Love Song?” seems to support
the former; you could view it as our hero reacts from the constant
spurning his beloved has shown him. Or, you could say it didn’t fit
the story, which is why it wasn’t originally included.)
I refuse to go out on a limb and say that this is an
autobiographical work, since I have too much respect for Z’Nuff (as
well as the rest of the band, though my contacts with them have
been briefer) to make any kind of speculation without knowing every
single fact. And the only fact is: I don’t have enough concrete
knowledge of the band’s history to make a bold claim. But I can say
that
Tweaked is a powerful anti-drug statement, warning people of
what lies ahead behind the euphoria of the first rush – and the
picture it paints isn’t pretty.
But how is
Tweaked musically, you ask? If you try to listen to this as
just a collection of songs, it’s difficult to get through at first.
But if you try and follow the story line (at least the one I
heard), the music makes much more sense, and the disc reveals
itself to be one of the best that Enuff Z’Nuff has recorded. Pity
that more people don’t know about this disc; they’re missing one of
the best concept albums to hit the market – and one that thankfully
doesn’t hit the listener over the head with the fact that it is a
concept disc.