With assistance again from an assortment of musical friends on French horn, sax, and violin, the core Gibson/O'Neil/Nichols trio creates yet another lovely set of rushed indie guitar pop songs that define the form perfectly without sounding like lazy stereotypes of the same. Kicking off with the fun instrumental "White Rabbit," led with a sample recording of a nightingale that plays throughout the song, Caveat Emptor is anything but a "let the buyer beware" offering. With 16 songs running over 37 minutes, things go by ...
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With assistance again from an assortment of musical friends on French horn, sax, and violin, the core Gibson/O'Neil/Nichols trio creates yet another lovely set of rushed indie guitar pop songs that define the form perfectly without sounding like lazy stereotypes of the same. Kicking off with the fun instrumental "White Rabbit," led with a sample recording of a nightingale that plays throughout the song, Caveat Emptor is anything but a "let the buyer beware" offering. With 16 songs running over 37 minutes, things go by quickly, but not so much that distinct, heartfelt impressions can't be left. O'Neil and Gibson both take their vocal turns with their quietly committed ways around things, and if their lyrics can't always be easily captured, the emotional flow continues, both in lighter and darker ways. Performance-wise, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on; if the core performances are straightforward enough, tweaks surface more than once here and there. "Beautiful Name" starts with a crazy scraping sound that could be just about anything. Standouts include "1991," a slightly updated remake of their "1990" single, and the rumbling murkiness and angst of "I Met You as a Baby." The snarky sense of humor which leavens the band's work crops up as always. Sometimes it's in the music, like the backing "bum-bum-bum" bits on "Candlesticks," other times in the liner notes. "Here Is the Blade" is described as "like a chase sequence at the end of Benny Hill," while "Go and Tell Your Father" is mentioned thus: "Dear Wilson Phillips, you can only make another LP if you put this on it!" Then there are the lyrics, thus this from "Beautiful Name": "And look at me/I'm so f*ckin' ace," or from "Last 3 Weeks": "There's no good reason why I came here/Except to spread disease." ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi
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Add this copy of Caveat Emptor to cart. $32.65, new condition, Sold by Music Fiendz rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from South Hackensack, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Feel Good All Over.
