Search - Hang Ups :: Second Story

Too Much Diddling Around

Patrick F Clifford | 02/19/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I had read a lot about this band before I picked up this cd and was expecting something a little more poppy and direct. Unfortunately this sounds like a "producer's" project. I thought that this was going to be a mid-tempo, jangly, power-popish record, sort of in line with what Matthew Sweet keeps trying to do despite himself. What I found, however, is a band that throws in everything but the kitchen sink and buries promising songs in uninteresting muck. I don't think that this is overstating it at all. I imagine that this stuff might come off more honestly in a live setting (drums, guitar, voice, bass, maybe an organ), but most stuff built up around chamberlain (sorry, a bias I have a hard time getting around and probably the reason that I can't stand Michael Penn's stuff to this day)and production gimmicks betrays what power pop promises. A better record, I think, is the last Mayflies USA thing. It's simple, direct, and uncluttered. Not everyone has to sound like The Raspberries or The Beach Boys to be considered pop, but overemphasising studio gimmickery is like putting chocolate frosting on a steak.Don Dixon and Mitch Easter are gods, but it would have been nice if the band would have shown up."

Perfect Shades of Summer into Fall

David J DeCastris | Rockford, IL | 12/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album from the Minneapolis based band is quite possibly the finest set of college folk rock songs I've heard in a LONG time. Shades of early REM and the Jayhawks with historical strokes of genius coming from the Byrds, Beatles, Beach Boys and Paul Simon. It also helps that respected producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon (early REM) helped with the creative flow of this beautiful harmonious album. Tracks 7 & 8, "The Long Goodbye," and "Blue Sky," are from another planet both lyrically and musically. One of the top three artistically produced albums I've heard this year, right behind Wilco and The Flaming Lips. Rock on."

Not up to expectations

David J DeCastris | 03/12/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was a little disappointed at this effort. So We Go was one of my all-time faves. I should have known they couldnt repeat it without the guitar playing of John Crozier. Second Story is more folky sounding, lacking the lovely, fuzzy distortion atmospherics and understated production quality of So We Go. Still, this is tasty pop confection served with a few tangy twists. Absolutely worth checking out."