Customer Reviews

All Pain Money Can Buy

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought this CD after hearing "The Way" on the radio and thinking what a brilliant piece of 1960s-esque pop it was. From the quirky intro to the tight guitar and drum interplay, it really sounded like it could have been a long lost Beatles song covered by a band from Texas.

While "The Way" is still far and away my favorite song on the CD, there are a couple of other noteworthy standouts, of which "Fire Escape" and "Better Than It Was" are my personal favorites. Interestingly, those three songs are also the first three on the CD, and from there the music suffers a bit with capable, yet uninspired, writing (although all performances are all quite good.)

I like this CD and give it four stars; the first three songs are five star-plus performances, but the rest of the CD fails to keep the pace. Nevertheless, for these guys from Austin, this is a great beginning; I just hope that they don't lose the way.

With their debut effort "Make Your Mama Proud", they had failed, though to no fault of the music. Now with "All the Pain Money Can Buy" they've hit platinum. Their debut single "The Way" was voted as one of the most recognizable hits of 1998. Now when I first heard "The Way" I thought "Oh boy here comes another one-hit wonder." When I bought the album, my view of the group totally changed. With power pop tunes like "Better Than It Was" and "Sooner or Later" proves they love to rock, and songs like "Slow Drag" and "Which Way To The Top" shows they can play both country and funky music. Frankly this is the only group of the 90's that I can sincereley compare with The Beatles. Their riffs are strangly familiar, but yet original. The songs are at average 3 minutes long, so no song ever gets tiresome. And no two songs on the whole album sound alike. And now with their other hit singles, "Fire Escape" and "Out of My Head", they have definetly proven that they are not just "one-hit wonders."

Like most people I know with this album, or who liked this band, I first discovered them when their "The Way" music video aired. I immediately bought the CD and have been happy with it ever since, even though I'm usually into less mainstream bands. This is simply good music -- very good music -- that most people ought to enjoy, or at least appreciate.

One reviewer described this music as "upbeat Gin Blossoms." The tunes are definitely, for the most part, quite upbeat, and on the surface then this seems a very upbeat album.

If one listens to the lyrics carefully, however, this is actually a concept album with a dark/"dead-end" theme. It starts out ("The Way") with a person, or people (doesn't really matter) making up in their minds to abandon all responsibility in their lives, and live in the now insetad: "They wanted the highway, they're happier there today." The theme progresses slowly, as the person/people get further and further submerged in their fate.

By the song "Which Way to the Top?", the character(s) have come to the point where they're no longer happy and want to, make it, if not to the top, at least above their current station in life. "Won't you tell me, which way to the top? You know that I cna't stay down here.... We used to drive around in a broken down old car, but now I'm changing trains." Through the next couple songs, there are various ups and downs, hopefulness (or at least hopeful draydreaming - "Warm Fuzzy Feeling").

By "Slow Drag," however, the character(s) life has taken a turn for the worst after attempts at self-betterment which provided hope in the recent past are quickly crushed. Cigarettes and perhaps other such chemicals are useful to calm down: "every day the same old dizzy dance" and "Charlie the Methadone Man, fills out the papers just as fast as he can."

It then hits the character(s), again, that their really not "making it to the top," tensions rise and they become unhappy with their lives and with each other, one of them becomes abusive, or at least cruel, "don't matter what I say, only what I do, I never mean to do bad things to you." He eventually "pushed her away with the things [he'd] said."

So many outer forces (society, absurd and unfair vice laws, etc) are just destroying life for people (such as himself), the charater(s) reasons: "take it to the highway, you travel far and wide, caterpillars carving up the countryside." The situation becomes increasingly hopeless, even nihilistic: "No matter where it goes it's a nowhere road." The character(s) get fired from their jobs, get tired, etc.

That's my take on it, anyway. Maybe they're just unrelated songs, though. Either way, it is great music.

I got this CD as a birthday present in 1999. When I got it, I was only familiar with 2 of the songs from the radio, "The Way" and "Out of my Head", but I was very pleasantly surprised by the rest of the album. I like every song on this CD, but my favorites are probably "Fire Escape", "Good Old Days", and "Nowhere Road".

Fastball has since become one of my favorite bands, mainly because their songs are very upbeat and catchy, and you don't really hear too many bands with that kind of style anymore. When I try to explain Fastball's sound to people unfamiliar with them, I usually tell them they're sort of like Weezer, but I think they're better than Weezer. They definitely have a sound that you don't hear very often, and it's a sound that my ears like.

The last several months I kept hearing this song on the radio. It had kind of a bluesy guitar and keyboard melody that didn't sound like anything else being played recently, and I loved the singer's voice. I had no clue what the title or the group was, so whenever I heard it I listened for the DJ to identify it so that I could look for the CD, but they never did. Finally today I ran a search on a lyrics website and identified the song right away. To my surprise, it was on a CD I had already owned for over a year- this one by Fastball. (I guess this is a sign that my CD collection is getting out of control.) The song is "Out of My Head" and I haven't been able to get it, well, out of my head. Of course there's also "The Way", which was a pretty big hit a while back, and "Fire Escape", even though the lyrics on the latter are kind of silly compared to other songs on the album. Although this kind of music isn't too terribly original these days, Fastball somehow manages to put their own stamp on it.

I saw Fastball in concert play a short 25 minute set with Sugar Ray and the Goo Goo Dolls. I thought they did pretty well, so I got this cd. I knew it had at least 2 good songs since I heard "The Way" and "Fire Escape" on the radio before. I was surprised that I counted only 4 songs that I thought were good on the album. The others were "Sooner Or Later", and "Out Of My Head",even though its a slow song, it's not bad. You should listen to the other songs on the this cd before buying it.

Have you ever bought some expensive chocolate at Fannie May, taken a bite, and realized the stuff is so rich it just makes you wanna hurl? I think this situation accurately describes this album. Don't get me wrong, though. I think Fastball is one of the better bands out there today. Their music reminds me of some of the stuff the Beatles were doing back in the 60's and is positive and upbeat. Maybe too upbeat. What I have found is that the album is so happy, it just sickens me. I absolutely cannot listen to this album unless I am in an oustandingly good mood. 'Damaged Goods' is pretty much the only song on the album that doesn't talk about how great life is or how brightly the sun is shining (it is also my favorite track on the album). All in all, 'All the Pain Money Can Buy' is a solid album, great for listening to in the car. If you are a Beatles fan, you will probably enjoy this album. Just don't listen to it too often or you will get that uneasy feeling in the bottom of your stomach.

I bought this CD because it made me care more about pop music than I have in years. I had "The Way" in my head for months and then when I heard "Out of My Head" I was blown away. I thought Elvis Costello had a hit single again. Tight, cheeky pop tunes are an undervalued art form and you could bounce a quarter off the butt of these.This band actually inspired me to go online and look them up, something I've never even considered doing before (I'm 36 with 2 kids - what do I have time for this?). Now I want to see them live. I thought these guys must be english but they're from Austin and have worked hard to learn their craft. Good for them.

"The Way" sold me, "Fire Escape" kept my interests, and finally fell hook-line-and sinker for "Warm Fuzzy Feeling". You are now reading the writing of a great FASTBALL fan. The WHOLE ALBUM kept me, which is a rarity nowadays. Usually you get the occassional three four good songs and that's that. NOT HERE!!! I admit that a few Miles songs were making me weary, but he's still a great musician.This album is probably (in my opinion) the best of the 90s. YES I KNOW that Matchbox 20 is a great band too, but when was the last time they released an album?Look, I'm not going to trash people's bad opinion of this album, because I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter what. But for those of you that are reading this and are thinking about purchasing this album, follow the majority opinion, and I must say, it is overwhelmingly positive, and I must say that the people have spoken! I can safely say that 90% of the people who have and will have bought this album will not be disapointed!

FAST BALL threw me a curve. I didn't expect this and I'm a better listener for hearing their CD. Anyone who likes power pop will find the hooks a plenty on this release. That's one of the places I like to visit from BIG STAR to the UNCLE DEVIL SHOW, I eat this stuff up. Like the title one of NICK LOWE's early records: Pure Pop for Now People.

It's almost as if PAUL MACARTNEY were in the studio saying, not bad fellows, not bad at all. It's fresh yet familiar all at once, an absolute home run.

"THE WAY" which opens the CD, is a stone c old smash. An instant classic. The most modern sound on the disc. Sort of like the best moments from a great, lost SUGAR RAY single. A song so summery good you'll be playing it at your next BBQ and have folks asking you "Who is that band? It's that good; the kind of song John Cusack's character in "Hi Fidelity" would play in his record shop in Chicago. Wonderful harmonies, evoking British Invasion images of Beatles.

"FIRE ESCAPE" received considerable airplay on WXRT-FM (Chicago's Finest Rock) at the turn of the century, and while not my personal favorite, is certainly the reason these popsters made a little splash during the Y2K era.

I feel that things really pick up with tracks 6-12, where there is a half dozen+, cheerful pop moments, so well crafted, you'll wonder where these guys came from, have been...and why they weren't discovery by more rock hounds.

"WARM FUZZY FEELING", hits one out of the park. This track could easily have come off a vintage SMITHEERNS LP.

"SLOW DRAG" Has the craftsmanship of the brothers FINN in CROWDED HOUSE or the woefully underrated REMBRANTS.

"GOOD OLD DAYS", like The KINKS, has a snappy beat, with a punched up horn section reminiscent of BS&T or later day GRASS ROOTS. Me likes the Old Days, Good Times I Remember. You know, the horny sounds of CHICAGO.

"CHARLIE THE METHODONE MAN",

"OUT OF MY HEAD". Get out your Bic lighter as CHEAP TRICK fans re-unite, Z'NUFF said.

"DAMAGED GOODS", BADFINGER anyone? Listen for the ELVIS COSTELLO-styled vocal presentation on this one.

"NOWHERE ROAD" reminds me of AL Kooper's immortal keyboard play circa Dylan's "LIKE A ROLLING STONE", meets `BALLAD OF JOHN & YOKO", before evolving into a salute to THE WHO's "I CAN SEE FOR MILES". As Keith Moon once said: "If you want to play load, hit the drums hard".

In the end FASTBALL sounds the most like FASTBALL, and that's a good thing.

FASTBALL touches them all and left me with a warm fuzzy feeling. You should try FASTBALLS pitch too.