4Play

Oct. 20, 2004

Green Day - American Idiot - Warner Brothers
They could’ve just churned out another decent album of simple punk-pop radio hits, but they didn’t. Green Day really broke the mold here by stretching out, taking a risk, and putting together a concept album that’s as close to a rock opera as it gets. With 21 tracks telling the story of the main character (and the two sides of his personality), the trio still sound like themselves on certain tracks (“St. Jimmy” and “She’s A Rebel” among them), but they take brave steps into new territory on other tunes, referencing everything from Pink Floyd to The Alarm to The Kinks. The songs here are as much an overview of Green Day’s influences as they are new Green Day tunes - echoes of David Bowie, The Police, The Ramones, Johnny Cash, and many others are heard as fragments of ghost melodies that drift through the band’s self-created landscape of disaffected, unfulfilled youth. It’s a risk well taken.

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World - Sub Pop Records
Crisp and shifty, with touches of both XTC and the Beach Boys, The Shins’ latest, led by the clean, emotive vocals of James Mercer, is a standout collection of songs. Stepladder melodies run up and down while Casiotone keyboards, acoustic guitars, and the occasional tambourine keep things at an interesting level of texture. Standout songs include the folky “New Slang,” the quirky-catchy “Girl Inform Me,” the prettily-plucked guitar work of “Weird Divide,” and the Art Garfunkel-esque “The Past and the Pending” - they’re not all as immediately memorable or as accessible as pop music might be thought to be, but upon repeated listens, you’ll soon find yourself humming along. If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll discover that this isn’t the happiest of albums, with lyric themes running the gamut from loneliness to deception - but the misleading melodies will send the messages of these pills down with a spoonful of pop sugar.

R.E.M. - Around the Sun - Warner Brothers
R.E.M. have seemed a little adrift on their past few albums - both Monster and Up somehow failed to deliver the timeless alt-pop tracks that the Atlanta band have become known for. Fans had, of late, even worried that R.E.M. might have seen the last of their chart success. But this album shows that Michael Stipe and crew have still got a lot more in them - it just took a few years for it to surface. With both political and emotional topics to sing about, this is a hopeful album that has much more heart than the band has shown in recent years - and that makes a huge difference in the way these songs come across.
The pretty opener, “Leaving New York,” is full of darkness and regret and delicate piano lines; “The Outsiders” showcases a sense of urgency; “I Wanted To Be Wrong” calls to melancholy; and “The Boy in the Well” keeps its feet on the proverbial floor. It’s a satisfying listen that reminds us why R.E.M. have earned a permanent place among alternative rock’s classic and necessary bands.


Cake - Pressure Chief - Sony Music
If there’s one thing that Cake has learned in their 14-odd years as a band, it’s that they don’t have much interest in reinventing themselves. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, given the catchiness of their singles to date. Even the clip-n-stencil cover art is consistent with previous albums - you could frame them all and have a lovely coordinated wall mural - and perhaps that’s the point. Cake has, intentionally or not, founded a kingdom of their own making, where Cake fans know they can always return from their fruitless pop-music-seeking quests to find that the band has recorded yet another reliable album of certifiable, familiar-sounding hits. This album is no exception - from the opener “Wheels” to the re-evaluative “Take It All Away,” the detached harmonies of “Tougher Than It Is,” and their bouncy remake of “The Guitar Man,” it’s simply Cake emulating Cake - and sometimes that’s all you want.