Quick, scribbled album review that I keep forgetting to write -
Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die?
What defines the makeup of an excellent album? Is it the cohesiveness and tightly strung together group of songs that come together in relation towards say… its lyrical interpretation? How the songs fit together sonically? These are usually what the often loosely used term, concept album, is often attributed to and immediately a few favorite recent albums come to mind such as Ryan Adams’ Love is Hell, Damien Rice’s O, Glen Phillips’ Winter Pays for Summer and Ray LaMontagne’s debut. All of these albums ironically are similar in their lyrical observations of the triggerpoints that leave emotional moments in our lives. Or is an album deemed excellent simply by containing great songs, however disconnected they may be? This is a trend I see conitnuing to emerge as ever-dominant in our society, just take a look at iTunes and their 99 cent song. The other day I saw another one of those NOW albums coming out, which is just a collection of singles all put into one. Just a few years ago, many artists were reluctant to have their music sold on iTunes and other similar internet-based shops strictly because they felt that their music had to be listened as a whole, not simply by song.
Shoot, I went off topic, but there is a correlation here to what I’m getting at with this Nickel Creek album. First of all, this latest album introduced new producers taking over Alison Krauss’s role for the band, as the band wanted to produce a more “organic sounding” album that could realize and match the intense energy (and what it is!) of their live shows. As a result, the fourteen songs on this album are beautiful. As typical with their live shows, the band jumps from genre to genre, proving to their listener their ever-widening range of sound. Songs such as When in Rome and Best of Luck are catchy and almost anthemic to the point where fans will wink at rock influences. Can’t Complain and Helena sound as though they could have been plucked from Chris Thile’s last solo effort, Deceiver, and are sung by Chris with a sense of angst/urgency. Scotch & Chocolate, First and Last Waltz, and Anthony were popular live tracks that thankfully made the album, with Scotch being an instrumental that reminds fans of the mish-mashing tempo of their hit instrumental, Smoothie Song, from their last record This Side that was so enjoyable and made you want to move around and even bob your head to. Anthony is Sara’s first Nickel Creek penned song that takes you back to the 20’s with its style and sound that reminds you of AM radio. Jealous of the Moon and a cover of Bob Dylan’s Tomorrow is a Long Time are have that comfortable, folkish sound that isn’t all too complicated, but is a breath of fresh air. Doubting Thomas and the title track, Why Should the Fire Die? both feature excellent harmonies with the latter sounding CSNY-ish, if looking for comparison.
Overall, this album is good and acts as a great representative of where the band is at this stage. The band’s focus on proving their diverse musical palette is largely proven through their contrasting yet equally strong tracks. Yet, and this gets to my definition of a great album, my only problem with the album comes from simply what was said. Listening to the album and listening live is quite different and it can be cumbersome and a bit unpleasant listening to this album in term of flow, whereas the first two albums sonically did not diverge from each respective album’s tracks. The sonic disconnect from one song to another on the new album often makes the album hard to spin an entire time straight through. But, hey, I could change my mind after a few more spins. Great music isn’t supposed to be easy the first time through, anyhow.
Catch the new video, When in Rome, at
http://www.music.yahoo.com/musicvideos/
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