Published on Jun 21, 1999
You’ve got to hand it to a band like Blue Millenium: not many
bands would create music that can’t be easily pigeonholed and make
it so entertaining.
Their disc
Vintage Hi-Fi is an interesting collection of what I could
only term “pop” music that is certain to entertain the listener –
though I would question just how radio would choose to program this
disc. I mean, it’s not rock, it’s not jazz – it’s just light pop
with a beat that you can get into and lyrics that occasionally make
you think.
This nine-piece band out of Austin, Texas mixes all the Memphis
soul of a solid horn section with beats that have a bit of jazz
hidden in them, all laid on a lyrical bed that mixes as much
traditional pop fare with
The World Almanac – with even an occasional pinch of reggae
thrown in for good measure. Sound scary? Don’t let it intimidate
you; it’s actually quite pleasing to the ears.
The leadoff track, “Ready For Radio,” isn’t the strongest way
for the album to kick off, namely because Blue Millenium is exactly
the kind of band who don’t neatly fit into any radio
classification. (I guess that doesn’t mean the band couldn’t be
ready for airplay; after all, their chops are flawless.) If this
track does anything, it helps to prepare the listener for a journey
unlike any they’ve ever taken musically.
Blue Millenium shows often that they have brains behind the
beat. “Cool Papa Bell” is probably the only song I’ve ever heard
dedicated to a star of Negro League baseball, tying his career into
the image of modern-day kids playing stickball in the streets of
New York. This track has a groove that will get you locked in from
the beginning, and has proven to be a track I went back to often on
this album just to enjoy listening to it.
And let’s be honest, when was the last time you heard
Death Of A Salesman mentioned in a song lyric? Sure, the
track of the same name really doesn’t talk about the book past
mentioning it – though the melancholic existence of the song’s
subject seems to have the same delusions of grandeur that Willy
Loman had in the play. Of course, I could be reading way too much
into this, but unless someone from the band wishes to correct me,
I’ll stick to my interpretation.
Vintage Hi-Fi‘s greatest success lies in the solid grooves
that are anchored in very good songwriting. Tracks like “Little
Sister,” “Jamaican Moon” and “Notch In Your Bed” all hook the
listener from the start, and you almost feel sorry when the tracks
do finally end. Without a doubt, Blue Millenium have mastered the
skill of writing pop-oriented songs; now all they have to do is
find the right outlet.
Closing the album is an 8-minute groove-based jam session,
“Compared To What”, which seems to fly by despite the length of the
track. The only thing I would have changed about this one was the
brief reference to the song “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” near the
start; some of us have spent most of our lives trying to forget
songs like that. Other than that, free up the funk, and let it
flow!
Vintage Hi-Fi is the type of album that you might not give
consideration to on first glance, but once you’ve listened to it,
you’ll wonder how you went for so long without giving it a shot.
This disc is hopefully just the first step towards serious success
for the band; Lord knows they have the talent, both in songwriting
and execution, to make a name for themselves.