Customer Reviews

Gasoline Age

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, I'll admit it. I'm an East River Pipe completist, having first heard "Shining Hours in the Can," his first CD, on college radio when it came out several years ago. That is an amazing disk, and one of my favorite records. Following that, he put out "Poor Fricky" which I found as good, if not better in places. "Mel" (his 3rd CD) is good but very dark. "The Gasoline Age" I am playing alot these days -- the music is as good as anything he has done, but the lyrics are on the minimalist side and not quite as engaging as the unforgettable words from the first two records. I have played this music for lots of my friends and usually get no response (but then I hated my roommate's Nirvana.) Like a previous reviwer said, I think his music appeals to those who appreciate the Velvet Underground or Tom Verlaine (Television.) (At times the guitar solos are equal to that of Verlaine on the Television records, which is saying alot.) Mixed with the brilliant guitar work is almost cheezy organ work, and his vocals are sincere as hell. Check out one of these CDs and if you like, get the other 3. They are consistently excellent. (Also note: The G Age got 9/10 stars in Spin and was on Neill Strauss' Top 10 of 1999.)

As a music fan who buys several CD's a week, this is the most satisfying purchase I've made in months. Gasoline Age is utterly enchanting. It is so very contemporary yet somewhat timeless in it's scope. Several songs just will not leave my head, much like what happened to me with Mercury Rev's 'Deserter's Songs' and Flaming Lips 'Soft Bulletin'. Like so many great albums, I'm sure it's destined to slip away into oblivion. FM Cornog's voice at first seems kinda flat and monotonous but after a few spins you appreciate the cruisy-floating appeal of it. Similarly, the music sounds a bit dull at first but over several listens it's depth of layers and texture begin to emerge. It really is a compelling and hypnotic vision, sad but uplifting. It's possibly fair to say it sounds like a New Jersey Nick Drake but without the severe introspection, a bit more sociable.

This album is a microsymphony to the God of estrangement, desolation, and eternal hope - the soundtrack to thousands of lonely souls clanging around desperately in the truck-stop voids and dimestores. FM Cornog crafts these heart-wrenching and gorgeous tunes in his little vestebule away from the outside world. Comparitively, Cornog's songs rank with the greats: Lennon's introspection, Wilson's desolate meloncholy, Verlaine's gutter narratives. Using almost exclusively major chord progressions, Cornog elicits more true emotion than any of the shoe-gazing minor chord heavy handed bands can muster - and with a great deal less prentention than, say, this wordy and overly precious review.

East River Pipe's FM Cornog can say more in one of his lyrically brief, haiku-like songs than most bands can communicate in an entire album. Musically, I hear shades of The Velvet Underground, Tom Verlaine's solo work, Brian Wilson, post-Beatles Lennon, and the slower Springsteen songs. To call The Gasoline Age "mellow" though, would be misleading. It's mellow in the way that The Velvet Underground and Jesus And Mary Chain are mellow. Meaning, excellent. The slow burn.

Without hesitation, this is the best cd of 1999. After being mesmerized by the sheer beauty of East River Pipe's last cd, Mel ("Prettiest Whore" might just be the most painfully beautiful song ever recorded), there was no way I was going to miss this one. The Gasoline Age proves itself to be more than equal to Mr. Cornog's past achievements. It's a solid cd. From the opening track, "Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile" (listening to it, it actually feels like you're driving a big shiny car on deserted city streets at night) on, you know you are in the hands of a master craftsman. F.M. Cornog might be a one-man band, but you'd never know it from the music. This album is lush and layered, and very satisfying. While his best stuff is atmospheric, haunting pop music, there are joyous moments as well, such as "All You Little Suckers" that recalls the vocal harmonies of Pet Sounds era Beach Boys. It is about time East River Pipe stopped being pop music's best kept secret and got the recognition he so rightly deserves. I haven't heard anything better this year, and I doubt if I will. This is not just the kind of music you enjoy. It's music you embrace.

I've been listening to this album for about a week and at first I wasn't sure about it. The songs seemed too mellow, the vocals flat and the overall sound was too clean for my taste. With further listens though, the Gasoline Age grew on me. It's got a nice Sunday morning kind of feel to it. The songs are well crafted and there is an interesting use of sound. There is no big production here. The album was recorded on an 8-track and sounds like a well-recorded demo tape. It comes across as understated, intimate and introspective even when the songs are about a car. I get a Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed era vibe and it makes me feel like going to New York City, as all good albums should. In short, I like it. (©1999 TuneVault.com, reprinted with permission. Check out TuneVault.com for more reviews, MP3s and cool music!)

Another intensely beautiful, achingly sad, low-budget masterwork from East River Pipe. The Gasoline Age is in a dead heat with The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin for my '99 Album of the Year. Both releases are utterly "human" (in the best sense), superbly musical, and vaguely disturbing. Pure and simple gems, in an time of money-led and hype-led averageness.

Without hesitation, this is the best cd of 1999. After being mesmerized by the sheer beauty of East River Pipe's last cd, Mel ("Prettiest Whore" might just be the most painfully beautiful song ever recorded), there was no way I was going to miss this one. The Gasoline Age proves itself to be more than equal to Mr. Cornog's past achievements. It's a solid cd. From the opening track, "Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile" (listening to it, it actually feels like you're driving a big shiny car on deserted city streets at night) on, you know you are in the hands of a master craftsman. F.M. Cornog might be a one-man band, but you'd never know it from the music. This album is lush and layered, and very satisfying. While his best stuff is atmospheric, haunting pop music, there are joyous moments as well, such as "All You Little Suckers" that recalls the vocal harmonies of Pet Sounds era Beach Boys. It is about time East River Pipe stopped being pop music's best kept secret and got the recognition he so rightly deserves. I haven't heard anything better this year, and I doubt if I will. This is not just the kind of music you enjoy. It's music you embrace.

odd how well one guy and a home studio can do--yet not so strange when you consider the beautiful, <idiot> savant nature of FM Cornog's melodies and childlike lyrics: this is simply a majestic little record--like a mountain contained in a tiny box. i know that's a silly metaphor but i love this guy's sad voice and soothing worldweariness. if you are at all familiar with red house painters, the black watch, idaho, or her space holiday (great great melodic bands every one of them--and i urge you to look at their releases too) you will fall in love with east river!

I really don't think I can put into words just how much this album has affected me, but let me just put it this way: with "The Gasoline Age," East River Pipe has managed to capture the feelings of being a wayward and happy youth, out and about, late at night, in a different world, so perfectly that I feel as if I grew up with this album, as if this album defined my adolescence, and not as if I was fully introduced to it only two years ago.
"The Gasoline Age" may well be the ultimate anthemic driving album of our era. It is perfect. Lyrically, it's very simple, but the lyrics are just enough to boost and accent the thick and real-feeling atmosphere crammed into every langurously joyful note of the music.
Someone needs to write an Amazon guide to getting away with swearing in reviews, because this album takes me beyond articulateness and into that realm of emotion that can only be expressed in yelps and exclamations. I don't think I could elaborate on my true feelings about this album without getting somewhat obscene and staccato.
It's so--it's--it's--ah!--ah!--I--oh, this really is great.
Get this album right away, if you don't have it already, and then find some reason to cruise rain-slicked city streets on a late night. I recommend Albuquerque's.
We really are living in the Gasoline Age, and this is our soundtrack.
Everything about this recording feels cloud-like and tinged with a day's last light. It embodies youth. It contains oh-so-faint traces of everyone from U2 to the Rolling Stones to the 1980s New Wave scene, yet is completely rocking, beautiful, and original.
If I had had this album when I was a resisting and evading young teen, I'd probably be in jail now--all these innocent anthems of car theft, and drugging and driving, and high speeds could have been just the thing to take me over the line I was already walking.
What more can I say? I love this album. If you love it, you should also consider checking out the band Soltero. They cover the East River Pipe song "Atlantic City" on their Myspace page, and their albums are very clearly influenced by this band.