Customer Reviews

Smile & Wave

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

 

 

I seem to have this habit of finding obscure (obscure in the US, that is) Canadian bands and raving about them. Normally this does not result in me special-ordering all four of their albums from Canada, but it did this time. The Headstones are worth it, believe me.

"Smile and Wave," the Headstones' third album, continues their trend of being grim and darkly humorous rock, but there's some optimism in it -- the hidden track after "Physics" is a sweet acoustic love song, "Anything," followed by a jam with the defiant lyrics, "My addictions have failed to fail me." Oh, and then there's insane ranting by Bruce McDonald (the director of Hard Core Logo, in which singer Hugh Dillon starred). If you choose to analyze Headstones albums as the progression of Hugh Dillon's drug habit, you can tell he's beaten it by here, and the lyrics reflect that.

The intelligent, bitter, yet somehow funny cynicism is in full force on catchy rock songs like "Smile and Wave," "And," "Picture Frame of Rage," "Cubically Contained" (as Due South fans will recognize), "Do That Thing," "Supersmart," and "Nerve." Astute readers will note that I've named a large portion of the album. If you like this sort of humorously morbid tone in your rock, this is the band for you. How can you not resist a line like the opening of "Without a Sound": "She wore a beautiful dress to her own death, and everyone agreed it was tasteful"?

No review of this album would be complete without mentioning the self-referential "Pretty Little Death Song," in which Dillon takes on all those who dislike his pretty little death songs, and vows not to stop writing them. It's great. Fun game for listeners: note that the lyrics as sung include the song descriptions "Necrophilia, addiction, and insanity." Can you guess which songs he means? Read the liner notes -- it's "Cemetery," "Heart of Darkness," and "Unsound."

Yep, the Headstones sure do write some pretty little death songs, and they know how to rock. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go listen to this album again. Hope you'll do the same.

Other than a truly irritating arrangement of song lyrics in the packaging, this is a wickedly good CD with excellent vocals, sharp as a knife lyrics and a refreshingly un-pretentious self-awareness. I bought this after seeing Hard Core Logo and finding Hugh Dillon a very charismatic screen presence; on this CD his charisma is evident in his writing (and he sounds good, too). Some of the tracks sounded a bit too similar (hence the four, not five stars) but there are nice melodic moments hidden among the headbanging kickass stuff. I recommend it.

This album drags a little bit in the middle, but the first 5 tracks could have easily been radio singles. It also picks up a little bit with tracks 8, 11 and 13. Recommended.

I got into the Headstones thanks to my addiction to Hard Core Logo starting Hugh Dillon. Over the course of a month or two, I was clearly obsessed with the Headstones, buying every album I could get my hands on and listening to every song over and over and over. They are somewhere in the top three of my favorite bands. Their lyrics are brilliant! And honestly, I was surprised to find that they don't have regurgitating songs that revolve around sex (well, unless you count Cemetery from another album). Instead, their songs focus on Pretty Little Death Songs and songs about relationships. They're relateable songs that we all can enjoy. I never will get tired of this band.
And Smile & Wave is my favorite album. I LOVE "And" and "Nerve" while very much loving "Picture Frame of Rage", "Cubically Contained" and "Pretty Little Death Song" but the rest of the songs on this album are very much addictions as well. I love this band and would love to see this band live someday. They are fantastic!