Review: American Music Club, The Golden Age
From 1995 to 2003 the likelihood of a new AMC album seemed slim. When the band returned with Love Songs for Patriots in 2003, the album and the tours behind it were generally well received, but there was a sense of unease abut the whole proceedings. An AMC reunion could not have been staged for the money, because there was none; it had to be about the music. The music was good--great even, at times--but not always as transcendent as it had been in the past. Some of this due to the shine of hype being long past (it seems impossible now to think they were Rolling Stone Magazine's pick for "Hot New Band" in 1992 and had a four page spread), some of it due to the absence of Bruce Kaphan (even the '94 tour behind San Francisco without him had been a mess), some of it probably, frankly, due to the age of the band and it's fans.

So how does American Music Club return? Maybe they don't. Originally intended to be credited to "Macarthur Park Music Club" or "the Lost Anchors of the Pacific" until management and the label told Eitzel that it wouldn't sell under a different name, The Golden Age sees things shaken up. Tim Mooney and Danny Pearson (the only other member outside of Eitzel and Vudi to have been there since the beginning) are out as the rhythm section, replaced by LA musicians Steve Didelot and Sean Hoffman ('04 touring keyboardist Jason Border also played on the album sessions). The album was well-rehearsed and recorded in an LA studio with Dave Trumfio, without too much reliance on overdubs and post-production edits; the result is a professional album that flows more naturally than anything AMC have done since Everclear.

This is a kinder and gentler AMC to be sure. I was initially startled by the straighforward pop arrangements on songs like "Who You Are" and "All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco" until I remembered "Can You Help Me", "Aspirin", and "I Broke My Promise". It's easy to forget that not every second of AMC music was the howling misery of "Apology for an Accident" and "I've Been A Mess". There aren't really any moments of that kind of self-indulgence on The Golden Age; this is a more emotionally mature work. As expected some fans have revolted at this but Eitzel and Vudi aren't mental puppets for our amusement and I neither expect nor do I want to see Mark cry during a show these days. I've said before that The Invisible Man showed an artist moving out of a dark period and toward the light; The Golden Age shows him living in it.

Eitzel has been introducing the album opener "All My Love" as the most sappy song he's ever written but it's no more sentimental than "Only Love Will Set You Free", and it's a better song, recalling "Fearless". The album features at least two major Vudi sonic guitar assaults on "Windows on the World" and "On My Way". "The Sleeping Beauty" is the arrhythmic heart of the album; rescued from Eitzel's ignored Candy Ass release and rearranged for the band, it's the sighing, resigned descendant of "Western Sky". "Decibles and Little Pills" and "The Stars" are both paint surrealistic scenarios against strong and dark musical compositions. "I Know That's Not Really You" revisits the country stomp oompha of "Gary's Song." The album closes with the acoustic "Grand Dutchess of San Francisco", Eitzel's guitar against Vudi's accordion.

If there is a criticism of the album it's that -- mix and production-wise -- it doesn't take as many risks as it could have. Many of the songs on the album are more character-based than first person; this switch in focus results in an album that seems less immediate and confrontational than past work. But these same characteristics make the album live and breathe more than the claustrophobic Love Songs for Patriots, which sometimes seemed smothered under it's self-imposed expectations of performance. The Golden Age shrugs off whatever is left of expectations of the band and that attitude serves it well in the end.

Labels: american music club, mark eitzel, reviews