Search - the/return :: Greatest Demos, vol. 1

The Return rocks!

08/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The/return has been making music together for over five years. Lead by the deep, penetrating psychic explorations of singer/ guitarist/studio-genius Randall Watson, the/return is the result of what happens when 60's pop sensibility crashes head-on into 90's desperation: heroic pessimism. The driving, diving bass swoops of prodigy Robert Dale move octopus-like within the funkified, yet soulful backbeat of Ted Alesio: incessant, yet accessible. A true powerPOP sound for the end of the 90's!Their premier CD, Greatest Demos, vol. 1, stretches the parameters of punknascence filtered via an education of Liverpudlian influence to yield a poignant and effective perspective on the state of the soul facing the millennium... and the view isn't always pretty, but there's hope. Watson's songs attempt to bridge the isolation prevalent in so much current music, to link that isolation with something greater: hope. Calling attention to everyday myopia as rampant, Bigmouth opens the CD in a crashing, low-fi-technicolor-wash of a four-track driven to distraction as Watson and Alesio take the listener on a crash-course of modern avoidance. "Don't look away!"Outdoor Daytime hearkens back to a Kinksy lazy day. However, under the surface lies the tale of a woman forgotten, misunderstood, forever on-hold in her institutionalized life which, haltingly, yields a smile on her days outside, "under the trees."Weak pounds at the listener with its insistence on rhythm as salvation saddled with words. The imagination called forth produces desire. Beginning with the reflection of the moonbeams seen in a young woman's hair, leading to the recognition of beauty as an example of desire fulfilled, the song traces the birth of awareness, an awareness all too often neglected while the "surface" awareness seems to hold all the answers. Remember: "truth enters history upside down."Changing gears, Entitled opens slowly with a sinuous, jazzy bass riff which leads into a psychedelic chorus featuring rebounding vocals bemoaning the loneliness of the son in a world of opinions: chaos.Is This Real? takes a more personal look at this world of opinions from the father's point-of-view. The t.v. is obviously the opiate of the masses for the moment, and Nike's and flannel and violence mesh so seamlessly! Well, enough of that... change the channel. ...But then he realizes that where this t.v. and distance from his son and fear for his wife's safety and remote sensations all lead to is a brick wall. Some soulful, early-70's salsa of a groove underscores the slow pondering of the human situation in its simplest terms: without something to believe in "we're screaming, facing the stones."Well, one could either jump off a cliff, live a life in isolation like a hunted animal, or resign oneself to fate. Whatever the choice, whatever the accompanying attitude. And with an attitude of an animal, all life IS a carnivore! "Do you really want to know the answers?"Go to Hell tells the obvious as it's happened. Haven't we all heard about the person who acts like there's an interest, toys with our emotions, then drops away as soon as "greener pastures" arrive?It's All the Same... says it all. If we all act like animals, we'll all end up in the "seam" of Nike/flannel/violence... and desire it. "Skies ARE calling YOU."Finally, hope arrives! Floored turns the tables on the animal-attitude, upsetting the money-take-all attitudes of the always-reaching-for-their-wallet-set, "thinking all they need's some cash." After an apparently slow slide into a Darwinian corner , the other side, "Love," begins the sway to even the balance. Watson still doesn't care if you won't listen, or if you laugh in his face; he's still got hope for you...and the rave-up ending sends you into spasms of turning joy.What Makes You Happen? is a sure-fire cult classic. Watson, this time out, turns to look into his own mindset within the context of a person of no apparent feeling. Still, after almost two years, he doesn't know "what makes it happen."To conclude, the/return are a lot more than a first impression will offer. Give them a chance to look at what makes us all happen, and some alternative outcomes. Buy it!"