Customer Reviews

Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

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The brainchild of Seattle musicians Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey (with assistance for REM's Peter Buck and drummer Linda Pitmon), this CD is way more than a cute exercise in nostalgia. In turns ribald ("Ted F---ing Williams"), bitter ("Gratitude [for Curt Flood]), nostalgic ("Sometimes I Dream Of Willie Mays"), and rueful ("Long Before My Time"), Frozen Ropes successfully and accessibly makes the case that baseball isn't that much different from everyday life, reminding us in "Harvey Haddix" that "We're drawn to tragic stories/The ones that suit us best." Incidentally, the title refers to baseball slang for line drives and pop flies.

What is it about baseball that would make a group of otherwise successful musicians form a side band that's basically a baseball research project? No other sport has inspired so many books, songs, and films, and The Baseball Project's Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails is a worthy addition to the lineup. The music is great--let's get that out of the way first. They're good tunes. But the lyrics are what lift this from just another side project to something greater. The lyrics are alternately witty, poignant, funny, and dirty (sometimes all at the same time). On what other CD can you actually learn a bit of baseball history? Want to learn the origins of free agency and the players who benefited from the courage of Curt Flood? Ever wonder how Big Ed Delahanty died? Want to learn the names of every pitcher who's ever pitched a perfect game in the majors (including one who should be included in that list)? Ever wonder if Ted Williams had an ego problem? It's all here. This may be my favorite album of 2008.

I'm an European, and Baseball means nothing to me, at least until now. But this album's not just about Baseball, it's about great stories, social history, racial history and life. Like good literature these stories can be generalized into stories of the human condition.

The song writing duties are shared between Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey, and both have contributed an almost equal amount of the albums best songs. The song writing styles are very compatible and this album has a very distinct album feel to it. Most of the tunes are very melodic and hooky (just what I needed for my running). It's like what you would get if you mixed an equal amount of Eagles and a noisy Neil Young.

Half a year ago I discovered how good Steve Wynns output in this century has been. This album confirms that he's really on a roll.

I was not sure I would like this album at first, as I am an old fart, but after listening to clips on Amazon, I decided to try it. It was good enough that now, every time I get into my car, this is the CD that is playing. It is good music and brings back a lot of memories. Espeically like the songs about Curt Flood and Harvey Haddix

At least five times now, all while sitting on the can, I've read through the liner notes that accompany The Baseball Project's first proper album, Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. I've included "the can" element of my story because, well, no, you can't borrow my stinky CD. Get your own, you won't regret it. Say what? You're not a baseball person? You're not a huge follower of the history of Illinois but you like those state-themed albums that Sufjan fella makes (call it "Wiki Rock"), right? So, no, before we even brown our hands in the infield dirt (or, you know, shoot hawkers in the palms of our gloves), know that you don't need to know who Campy Campaneris is to enjoy Vol. 1. Power pop. If you appreciate a songwriter who understands why a name like Campy Campaneris just must be used, you'll want this album. If you like guitar-driven power pop and solid songwriting, you'll want this album. "Good music is good music" - didn't Yogi Berra say that?

And, before you ask, no, I'm not going to tell you everything about the 13 prefect innings - I mean songs - included here. (Okay, maybe only nine or so near-perfect songs; not every song is essential, but all are worth getting to know.) I can't say enough about how well written and sweetly nostalgic both the lyrics and song notations are in Vol. 1's liner notes; they alone are worth the bleacher seats price of admission. I will, however, tell you about the all-star band, the sound and, most importantly, the album's surprisingly broad appeal. I'll tell you why you need to own this record, even if you think baseball is, you know, America's most boring pastime.

First, naturally, we have the batting lineup. Take a batting cage of scruffy musicians who've spent most of their lives writing and recording good music (and who also just happen to be friends), throw `em in a studio and see what happens. Oh, and by the way, they all really like baseball, as proven by the academic writing throughout Vol. 1. First up to bat is Steve Wynn, formerly of Dream Syndicate. He sounds great. From what I gather, he always sounds great, his voice here just bursting with power-pop-ready excitement and energy. Batting second is Scott McCaughey, frontman behind The Minus 5, former Young Fresh Fellows member and current R.E.M. member (though Stipe refuses to include him properly in liner notes - the jerk). This man, if you're not familiar, can seriously churn out pop hits - not quite as fast as Robert Pollard, but his quality is more consistent. (Better check the pine tar on his bat, he must be cheating!) Same as Wynn, McCaughey sounds great here. The two of them make the soul of the band - which is more of less a project they joked about in friendly passing for over 15 years before finally going to work. And then we have Peter Buck. No need to discuss this man; if you don't know who Buck is, turn the page. Go elsewhere for your cheap baseball puns. Linda Pitmon of Miracle Three (Wynn's band) and Golden Smog fame. She's the drummer. And very good looking. And maybe even Wynn's wife or girlfriend or best friend. Who knows. She's good, and works well with Buck, McCaughey and Wynn.

What makes this album work is that these musicians - who have all recorded or toured together over the years - work very well together. It's hard to tell who is singing most of the time. Is it Wynn? McCaughey? Both? Buck? Surely not Buck. This power quartet, all past their documented primes (aside from Pitmon, who is still a young firecracker), work together in a way that most non-side projects can't even come close to matching. Therein lies the key to how this somewhat harebrained concept works so well. Some of the songs sound like twins, but so what - they're Doublemint Twins (sorry, had to). The interest and love for the topics at hand, all baseball-related, feels endlessly genuine. These folks love baseball and know their stuff, and somehow they wrote some great songs that will likely even be interesting - and often hilarious - to listeners who know nothing of the sport. It's pop music, really. Sing-alongs with memorable hooks and bleacher-stomping rhythms.

So now you know about the band, what the record sounds like and why both you and your baseball-hating friends need to give this modest little curveball a chance. Here it is, your one and only opportunity to hear two middle-aged men sing "Ted F&#%ing Williams" with all the glee in the world. It's funny and sweet - and, as a friend of mine pointed out, "wholly American." There's a universal history here made approachable for anyone who ever played catch with their grandpa. Oh, and wait until you hear "The Closer," maybe my pick for best-written song of the year. The only thing these guys did wrong was forget to include an old, dry stick of sugary bubble gum with their power pop. Maybe next time. Enough with the closing words, go buy this record - it's the one with the dirty baseball on the cover and liner notes so succinct and moving that proper reviews need not be written. (Greg Locke)

I don't typically write reviews, but I noticed only 1 review of this CD (3 now) and wondered why.
I love this CD. These guys (pretty much the Venus 3 minus Robyn Hitchcock) are real baseball fans, or they just read a lot of baseball history. I love the obscure references to players such as Oscar Gamble.
I think this has appeal to non-baseball fans too because a lot of the songs are catchy and let's face it, people today generally don't even know what songs are about (eg. R.E.M. song The One I Love. I remember seeing a girl say, "This is me and my boyfriend's song." Well, I guess she didn't realize it wasn't a love song, and quite the opposite).
All the name dropping in the Harvey Haddux song was wonderful. Why name David Cone and David Wells multiple times? Are they Yankees fans, or fans of beer drinking, free spirits?
I really enjoy listening to this CD.

I'm listening to track 6, "Fernando," right now as I write this and am transported to a Mexican Sonoran village where folks only speak in la espanol and baseball on a sand lot under the hot hot Sonoran sun is the El Jeffe. Young Fernando, the Mayan, or is it Incan?, legend, channels the spirit of El Toro and reaches back within himself eyes closed and blazes a screwball to the young ninos of the village and screws himself right into the legend and lore of America's past time--baseball (and music).

So what is this Baseball Project thing all about? Well, its four veteran indie rockers coming together to spout off all things baseball and build upon the significant amount of history (past and fairly current) that's out there on the sport. Fans of the game will find themselves (like me) listening close to all the lyrics, "It's 1965 / Me and my Dad Mac / 50 miles to Candlestick / In a Green VW van / The giants start their pennant race / Mays and Koufax face to face / Sometimes I dream of Willie Mays / And tell him I was there / And the sun comes out and the fog lifts and he's there." This comes from track 9, "I Dream of Willie Mays," and the lyrics steeped in an obvious love bordering on obessession for the game comes through. But try to not allow yourself to be pulled into the sentimentality and nostalgia the game (and this music) produces. Try. Try as you might, I doubt you'll be able to resist. What's a real beauty about this CD (and this song) is that there's some real musical chops behind all the baseball. "I Dream of Willie Mays," is a perfect send-up of The Beach Boys summertime dreamy pop, a band who REM's Peter Buck (and his Athens Georgia 3 or 4 coherts) have been aping on shamelessly for years. And the music is solid throughout.

Now I'm listening to "The Death of Big Ed Delahanty," a player previously I knew nada about. But thanks to Ex-Dream Syndicate member, Steve Wynn, and REM's own Scott McCaughy I get this great little song that sounds a little like David Lowery's Cracker and get to know all about Delahanty and his boozing and baseball-ing ways in the late 19th century. So Ruth and the boys used to live a hard living life and abuse alcohol regularly and we rail today about the demise of baseball due to steroids. Baseball players have been abusing drugs of one kind or another for a full-on century and baseball is still going strong. But these kinds of stories, of which there are plenty, in the game make it rich and make this CD a great little find.

And the CD wraps up with a little tune titled, "The Closer." A perfect baseball bookend to the stereotypical personality of the closer. The pariah iconoclast seeps through in dramatic fashion as we get a do or die situation with an edgy pitcher that quickly becomes hero or goat in the matter of 3 outs when the game is on the line. "MVP / Strike 3 / My work was done again." I can't say enough good things about this little project, "The Baseball Project." I recommend you grab a shiner on a Sunday at the Ballpark in Arlington, have this crankin' on your MP3 player and have family all around you (preferably your Dad who coached you for oh 15-odd years & taught you everything you neeeded to know about the game and life) and your bro (who coulda shoulda ended up at least on some double if not triple A team) and bask in America's pasttime baby! ...mmw

A wide range of musical styles applied to songs covering stories and personalities in the last 70 or so years of the great game of baseball. Entertaining for hard core baseball fans, maybe not so entertaining for those not interested in the sport.

I should have been more diligent in my research of this cd before I purchased it. I was expecting a compilation of baseball songs. What it ended up to be was VERY different. Please, please, learn from my mistake and read the song list before purchasing! If a song titled "Ted F*ing Williams" doesn't appeal to you, don't waste your money. Live and learn.