Badlees release remarkable album
'Up There Down Here' features some of the band's best work
By ALAN K. STOUT
MUSIC ON THE MENU
August 20, 1999
This is the album I've been
waiting to tell you about.
It's the album you almost
never heard — the near victim of a corporate mess known best as the
Polygram/Seagram's sale. It is by far the most impressive recording I've heard
in years.
And on Tuesday, Aug. 24, it
hit record stores across America.
"Up There Down
Here" — the latest release from The Badlees — offers an in-depth journey
into the creative purview of one of America's best bands. Within its 13 tracks,
you will hear fine melodies, textured harmonies, an unwavering sense of
conviction and lyrics that could best be described as profound.
You will hear great songs.
From the passionate plea of
the "Don't Let Me Hide" to the picturesque images of "Luther's
Windows," The Badlees' fifth full-length album and second national release
provides 56 minutes of everything that can still be good about rock 'n' roll.
Resurrected is the lost art of third-person narrative songwriting. Rediscovered
is music with a sense of purpose.
Reborn are songs that can
come alive in your heart and your imagination.
Embellished with soft
instrumentation that only enhances its beauty and graced with a striking
cinematic quality, "Thinking In Ways" is a moving tale of a father
telling his son that he's preparing for death. "34 Winters" — though
never gushy — looks at the heartache of a mid-life divorce and is sung with
such feeling you can sense the sadness and, most notably, the anger of a family
torn apart.
But what makes "Up There
Down Here" so special — and may offer some insight into its title — is its
diversity and its depth. For every moment of sheer poignancy and reflection,
there are also moments of swagger and strut.
"Silly Little Man"
— a sarcastic dig on the short-lived fruits of success — comes with driving
guitars and a soaring chorus, while "Middle of The Busiest Road"
offers a fast-paced visual collage of rural Americana. "The Second Coming
of Chris" is a quirky number and again allows the band to flex its
storytelling talents, while "A Little Faith" draws on the traditional
folk sounds that have always influenced the band.
It's work such as
"Running Up That Hill," however, that lifts The Badlees above most of
the band members' modern-rock contemporaries and cements their place among
America's most important young songwriters. Although cleverly crafted through
sagacious lyrics, it is — quite simply — an offer from a one friend to another
to help in a time of need. And its poetic invitation for a return to innocence
lost and its gorgeous instrumental break, featuring mandolin and acoustic
guitar, provide for the album's single most memorable moment.
The release of "Up There
Down Here" marks more than just the arrival of a marvelous rock album. It
shows that exceptional songwriting can still be found in record stores and,
possibly, even on the radio. It is a testament that songs that are insightful
and meaningful can also come with commercial appeal and an unassuming honesty.
It is, above all, music that
matters.
