1) 10 Million BC; 2) It's Alright; 3) Some Kind of Velvet Sunday Morning; 4) Travel Without Arriving; 5) Migraine; 6) Give Me Back My Wig; 7) Nothing Matters; 8) So Long Johnny; 9) L.V.M.F.; 10) Nothing Means Nothing; 11) Hard Old World; 12) Nowhere No Way; 13) Vaso Loco; 14) I'm Alive
Peter Buck is bored after the R.E.M. retirement, records an album for funsies. No more, no less. Leave all expectations behind and you might find something to raise a smile.
Key tracks: "10 Million BC", "Nothing Matters", "Vaso Loco"
Despite his public persona being Mr Grumpypants, Peter Buck's solo debut is actually a fun, lighthearted effort - and it's not too surprising that's the case. Buck's attitude to music has always been very grounded - rather than go on about artistic merits and deep concepts behind each note, he's the kind of guy who plays music because he finds it fun. He's never been one to take the lead or complain that he didn't get enough creative spotlight in his former day R.E.M. day job. He's also expressed his dislike of the typically lengthy and detail-focused album recording process several times in the past, preferring to record things quickly and by the gut. Thus, Peter Buck turning out to be a lighthearted, quickly recorded set of songs written and recorded purely because he found it fun to play some new tunes with his friends, with the spark of inspiration being Buck's battle against boredom rather than anything more auteur-like, makes perfect sense.
Because of his cooperative role in R.E.M., the question of what a Peter Buck solo album would sound like has never had even hint of an answer. As it turns out, it contains a lot of things. Rough garage rockers, The Velvet Underground-pastiches, hip-hop loops, keyboard ambiance, novelty covers and sweet singer/songwriter pop all all appear in semi-random fashion, peppered throughout by random banter ("if that ain't art, I don't know what is"). The plethora of guest vocalists contribute to the patch quilt feel and the album comes closer to a ragtag compilation of obscure songs from the 60s and 70s than to something largely helmed by one artist and his vision. The occasional lead vocal from Buck himself, gruffing and huffing his way through a distorted microphone, is there mainly just to give the occasional reminder on whose name the album is released under.
Take it only by its songwriting and it's hardly an impressive album, even less so if you expected Buck to bring over anything even reminiscent of the R.E.M. catalogue here. There's a few songs where it feels like some time was actually spent the writing of the song, such as the upbeat shout-along "So Long Johnny" and the psychedelic rock offshoot "Nothing Matters", though even they feel a little like pastiches rather than something to judge on their own merit. But taking the album at that face value almost feels like missing the actual point. Peter Buck - the album - wasn't created out of artistic expression and it's not going to offer it. It's silly and it's fun, and it never tries to be anything beyond that. Its best parts are the ones that represent that side of it the most: the ridiculous hip-hop loop "LVMF", the punk rock freakout "Vaso Loco" and the infectious hard rock of "10 Million BC" are the most memorable takeaways from the album, none of them anything to write into a review about as songs but all surprisingly infectious stupid fun nonetheless.
The album's random nature, the incredibly limited release and Buck's own motivations for doing it all speak for it being a deliberately low-key release made purely for personal kicks and laughs. But it has its simple charisma I can't deny, even if it'll likely take me the same five years between now and the next time I play it as it did between now and the last time I listened to this. It's the kind of album you completely forget about but which will one day turn up in a shuffle and get you smiling for a moment, because it's goofy enough to charm you for a while even if it's a complete throwaway otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if Buck himself thinks the same way, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment