Customer Reviews

Gently Down The Stream

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

 

 

This is Come's best album since the debut, Eleven Eleven. Come to think of it, it may be even better than that one. Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw's guitars intertwine to make one of the most distinctive sounds in rock (really!) and they've only grown better at it. Zedek's gravelly voice colors "Saints Around My Neck" in a way that makes the vague lyrics especially unsettling. And Brokaw's vocals, which used to strike me as perfunctory, are starting to sound really good. They've got a new rhythm section backing them up, but the way the songs build up and slow down, they sound as if they've been playing together for years. Sorry to get all anti-techno here, but just try programming these kinds of dynamics and emotions into your Groovebox.

I have to say I disagree with the lone two star review here. While this record may not match up to "Eleven:Eleven", or my personal favorite "Don't Ask Don't Tell", it still has a lot of great songs, fantastic guitar playing, and that unique "Come" sound, a ringing distortion that often sounds like bells, to offer. Also, while you can include me in the Chris Brokaw fan club, I disagree that his two songs are the strongest on the record as good as they are. As for "Stomp" sounding anything like Aerosmith...I don't even know where to go with that one (and what would be wrong with an Aerosmith lift by the way?).

This is a swan song album and I never expected the immediacy of the first two records, particularly because the two primaries (Zedek and Brokaw) had to deal with different rhythm sections on their final two records. "One Piece", "Saints Around My Neck", and "New Coat" are all very good songs, and while this album of the four may not be the first one I'd recommend to an interested fan, it is definitely a worthy part of their catalog. If you are a fan of the band and see it around, don't be afraid to pick it up.

Come was the most underappreciated band of the 1990s -- their first three records are all knockouts. The songwriting energy goes in interesting new directions on this record -- the mellow, contemplative "The Former Model" seems like a pose, but "Recidivist" and "Silk City" were the last great songs Come wrote. The rest of it is rote rock -- while "Stomp" is a passable Aerosmith rip-off, elsewhere, as in "Saints Around My Neck" and "One Piece," the pained drama isn't earned. Go get "Eleven:Eleven" or "Near Life Experience" -- both frightfully good records. Leave this one in the bin.