Customer Reviews

Massachusetts [Vinyl]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having spent two wintry years in Massachusetts I was naturally intrigued by the Scud Mountain Boys album with the same title. That title brought visions of cold, dry farmland, up-country, flannel shirts and wool sweaters, Camel Lights, and having your residence buried under snow a third of the year.

Fortunately, I like that, and Massachusetts does not disappoint by bringing to aural fruition the frosty visages of lost friends, drunk on lost days and nights, gone never to return.

Massachusetts as a whole is hypnotically melodic, and seductively soft. There is no malice in songs like "Drunk" or "Liquor Store" only intense feeling. "Penthouse in the Woods" is equally demure and enchanting, while "In A Ditch" is, well, breathtaking.

There are small reminders here of bands like Red House Painters, Dumptruck, American Music Club as well as "No Depression" bands like Uncle Tupelo, and especially Son Volt. However, they are not one bit derivative. Their sound is most definitely their own.

It is with no regret that I listen to the minor chords, and the somber steel guitar of Massachusetts, and am transported to a world always on the cusp of a snowfall.

It's funny how the best albums are the ones you just stumble upon. I discovered Massachusetts just by reading an article on Joe Pernice. I took a chance on the album from the state i'm from and i'm glad i did. Be forwarned: This is not the type of record you put on in the car and bob your head to. This is an introspective record. This is a sit along at home and contemplate life record. Very quiet, beautiful melodies and harmonies combine to make some of the best melencoly music certianly of 1996 and probably of the 1990's alltogether. And the best part of it is it can be yours alone. So few people know of Scud Mountain Boys and this will defentely never be mainstream, you can have this record all for you own when you decide to sit home some night and "contemplate life".

This is really melancholic stuff. Don't expect to pop this into the CD player in your car and be entertained. If you play it alone in your house, however, while enjoying the alcoholic beverage of your choice, you may be able to find its groove, and a deep groove it is.

The album is largely about our failures, and the failures of those we rely upon or love. Unlike the typical youthful alternative band of today, however, the Scud Mountain Boys do not focus on the anger that most of us feel immediately after we have failed, or someone has failed us. Rather, the place in which the Scud Mountain Boys live in Massachusetts is the place in which we find ourselves when the anger has passed. It is in this place where we struggle to understand the failures in our lives, and realize, after copious contemplation, that no understanding can be found.

The characters in most of the songs seem to have a quiet resignation, content to sadly reflect on their memories, or to try to banish them with alcohol. In their best moments, the song's characters aspire to learn from the past, or to find resolution in their relationships, for better or for worse.

The perfect vehicle for these sentiments is the acoustic, country-flavored sound favored by many bands today. Its a familiar and well-worn formula, but when the execution is right, as it is in Massachusetts, its hard to argue with. Don't, however, expect the four on the floor beat that often elevates the songs of bands like Son Volt or Wilco. The Scud Mountain Boys hold themselves almost exclusively to a quieter sound. If you find yourself it a reflective mood, however, this album will give you a wonderful soundtrack to your thoughts.

This album solidifies the fact that some of the most grandest, amazing albums do not come on a major label. Massachusetts comes as close as any album I've ever heard to near perfection. Every syllable coming out of Joe's wispy, lovelorn vocals is perfectly in place. Every guitar note fits perfectly in place with the bass and drums. (....) And to think it was released in 1996. Although this album leans on a more twangy, country feel than Joe Pernice's other projects it is an album of sheer value and importance. If you seek consistent, achingly beautiful songwriting that will stand the tests of time, Joe Pernice and the Scud Mountain Boys are the find of a lifetime.

How can a band called scud mountain boys make such a beautiful recording. I cant tell you how many people have scoffed at me when I tell them about this great disk by the "Scud Mountain Boys". Of course they never buy it or listen to it. They dont know what they are missing. If youre reading this, consider yourself lucky, and RUN OUT AND BUY THIS CD.

To be honest, I'm not a bit fan of alt-country folk type music. I don't dig Steve Earle, or Lucinda Williams, or really any of the other critic's darlings pumping out morose twangy music.

So you can imagine my surprise when I took a chance on "Massachusetts". Being a Massachusetts native, I was intruiged by the title, and I'm glad I took the chance. Singer and songwriter Joe Pernice has a deft touch for somber, yet innately hopeful, lyrics about death ("In A Ditch" in particular), yearning, loneliness, and abandonment. Some people might want to reserve this album for a night spent lost in drunken self-pity, but this can be a rewarding listen to anyone willing to listen to it a few times (it does take time to grow on you).

My biggest gripe with the album is with Pernice's thin, almost whimpering singing, but again, with time I got used to it, and even started to like it a bit.

"Massachusetts" isn't for everyone, and comes short of being great, but I certainly felt it was very well done. After all, any album that overcomes my strong misgivings about a certain style deserves nothing but praise from me.

This is like Raymond Carver only better, because as well as the portraits of loss, confusion and barely suppressed panic, we get beautiful melodies and delicate guitar playing. I don't think Vintage Press can match it, quite frankly.

This is the album that would be my #1 choice if I were stranded on a desert island. There is scarcely a foot put wrong from the opening easy style of "In A Ditch" thru "Scratch Ticket" but the trio of "Penthouse In the Woods","Grunge" and "Big Hole" are the outstanding songs of the album."Penthouse In The Woods" starts of eerily like The Eagles' "Lyin' Eyes" but develops into a beautiful song with a fabulous mandolin and steel guitar sound. "Grunge" is the song every broken-hearted person should own and has been played by the reviewer on a lot of lonely,late nights. "In A Hole" is a terrific song of despair with an achingly beautiful steel guitar throughout.The song's lyrics are painfully felt by the writer but never slushy.

No-one does maudlin,melancholic country/pop as good as Joe Pernice.His voice has a lovely haunting quality which is the defining stamp on everything he does. If there was only one minor criticism I would have is that the order of the songs could be done a bit better as the last four songs are very slow and and similar in tempo. But overall this is sublime stuff and a must for fans of alt-country and melody.

The sense of agony in Joe Pernice's music is so powerful that it makes me want to be depressed myself. This isn't saying that I don't want to listen to it. On the contrary, I find myself mesmerized by the Scud Mountain Boys.

I admit, it took me some time to get into these guys. But I have owned this album for a couple of years now and, at this point, I am still listening to it and finding more and more to like.

Overall, the album is worth your time and will keep your listening for years.

If you can, get the "Early Years" which include such amazing songs as "Freight of Fire" and "Fiery Coffin".

Because the melancholy is laid on here with such a feathery grace, some have suggested the songwriting isn't as strong as the mood. Wrong. While tipping their hats to Graham Parsons with just about every chord, this record is a real original in its own right --it takes about four listens before you realize its not wafting over you, it's been punching you in the gut. Just a brilliant record: nothing captures heading north on I-90 in late November, all by your lonesome, better than this disc. sadly, word is they never made another good one.