I know…when creating titles is this easy it almost takes the fun out of it.
To be honest, this most recent effort from Toad the Wet Sprocket front man Glen Phillips 
is not a bad album. Very listenable over all, with a few very good tracks. But it left me a little disappointed. Probably because of his first two albums showed such creativity both musically and lyrically, and Mr. Lemons 
just doesn’t.
The 11-song album is predominately medium-slow acoustic ballads any of which taken on their own would probably be a fine track on either of Phillips previous solo efforts, abulum or Winter Pays for Summer , but collectively they become a bit indistinguishable and slightly monotonous.
The album is not without a few stand outs, primarily the up-beat “Thank You” and a great cover of Huey Lewis’s “I Want a New Drug.” And Phillips picks up the pace a bit towards the end, with “Didn’t Think You Cared” and “The Next Day.” Any Phillips fan will still want to pick up a copy. Mixed up as part of a Toad / Phillips compilation all the tracks will stand up fine. Unfortunately, collectively the album comes up short.
Luckily that matters a lot less than it used to in an iTunes / iPod world.
P.S. Phillips is out on the road on some solo dates and then with Toad the Wet Sprocket on a number of reunion dates over the summer. I highly recommend checking out either option.
I’ve been reading the reviews about the new Pearl Jam album, Pearl Jam , about how the band is finally back and this is their best album in 10 years, and I just don’t quite get it. Not that I don’t agree it’s a great album, with strong songs from beginning to end (no throwaways!), but I guess I it’s that I don’t agree that the last 3 albums were that bad. Maybe as a die-hard fan, I’m too close to the subject though.
I managed to secure two copies of the album already. I pre-ordered a copy through the band’s fan club which came with an copy of the live show from 1992 (good set list, not great quality sound). Then my brother surprised me by gifting me a copy from iTunes. The only problem is, when you buy from iTunes, the gift can’t be returned or exchanged. Oh well, I guess there is a downside to digital music. And I digress.
So actually if I had to rank Pearl Jam albums I’d put this new one a shade behind Yield , and a shade ahead of Vitology (While “Corduroy” may be the best PJ song ever, this album definitely contains some filler). The problem with ranking albums that were released over the 16 year period is that we individually change quite over time and we remember emotions around our reaction to an album like Ten – 15 year old boy angst, music IS the most important thing in the world emotions in my case — and that affects are reaction to the album. Not to mention, that the band members have hopefully changed over a decade and a half. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the great things about Pearl Jam has been their ability to keep it fresh from album to album. Sometimes that change has led to a acclaimed masterpiece, like Pearl Jam has been. Sometimes it has led to huge commercial success, like Vs. or Last Kiss. Sometimes it’s lead to underrated classics, like No Code .
Regardless, Pearl Jam has a little for everyone from hard rockers (”World Wide Suicide”, “Severed Hand”) and tight ballads (”Come Back”, “Inside Job”) to something in between (”Army Reserve”). It’s definitely worth the $10 tab at iTunes.
Though if you are going to get one for you brother, check first.