Fractionals

Well, that was disappointing. I like Derek Miller, but we often disagree and this is one of those cases. I admit his line about "[making] the debut record the Constantines narrowly missed" got my goat, but I'd already heard the record once, and it hadn't done much for me then. I've listened 4-5 more times since just to give it a fighting chance, but... nope.

I mean, how can a two-minute song like "Wrong Lens, Wrong Film" seem so long? Yes, it's a dizzying array of different guitar parts they've got stacked in there, but I never get the feeling they're doing anything with it all. This is the record the Constantines missed if they were simultaneously more impacted on by electric blooze and DC hardcore, but for the former I prefer George Thorogood or Buddy Guy (seriously, have you heard Sweet Tea? "Baby Please Don't Leave Me" is a flat-out stunner, especially coming right after "Done Got Old", and "I Gotta Try You Girl", well...) and for the latter: Like Nick Southall, the only Fugazi album I really like is The Argument (although I'm not quite as err, intense about it as he is). Plus, for reasons that hve nothing to do with Tiger Bear Wolf, I recently had occasion to listen to The Constantines again, and you know what? It ain't missing anything. The whole thing is solid, but I have yet to hear anything as affecting as "St. You" from most of their contemporaries and "Young Offenders" remains one of Those Songs that precious few bands get to have (and look at their second album - they've got at least one more of Those Songs in "On To You", and a bunch more candidates).

"The Rats" is about the only place this album works for me, and I'm not sure why; partly because I can hear what Derek says about the guitars for once, but if it's different from the rest of the music here it's in a very miniscule way. Tiger Bear Wolf is simultaneously tiring in its frenzy and boring in its ceaselessness, which is a neat trick to pull off, I suppose. What I love about the Constantines that elevates them ever so slightly for me over their many contemporaries is their bleeding, romantic heart as exemplified by Bry Webb and his voice and his lyrics (but certainly lived by the rest of the band, as well), the kind of commitment and promise that led my dad to once telephone me from a music festival at midnight to say that he'd just seen them live and they did indeed "fucking rock". That they are quieter than Tiger Bear Wolf (although only "quiet" in such relative terms) is actually I think laudable; maybe my discontent with this album is summed up by the fact that the Cons could make an album full of lower-fi "National Hum"s if they wanted to, but I seriously doubt if this band has any "On To You"s in them.

Oh, and the Constantines are better than post-Girls Can Tell Spoon too, while I'm on the topic. Shine A Light (still the review of mine I'm most embarrassed by, fact fans!) may not be as... consistent as Kill The Moonlight, but with the exception of "Vittorio E" and maybe "Small Stakes", "Paper Tiger" and "Jonathan Fisk" if I'm feeling generous, it's better.