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 Chris von Sneidern "Wood + Wire"
APRIL 27,
1998:
Alibi Rating Scale:
!!!!!=The Good
!!!!=The Quick
!!!=The Ugly
!!= The Bad
!= The Dead
Chris von Sneidern
Wood + Wire (Mod Lang)
Chris von Sneidern's first two albums, Sight & Sound and Go!,
showed that the Bay Area native has committed all his Big Star and Badfinger
albums to memory. Unfortunately, they also sounded a little cold at
times--CVS sometimes seemed merely like a skilled mimic.
That's not the case with Wood + Wire; there're no specific
touchstones for these songs. CVS and engineer Gene Holder (dB's) have also
created a much warmer and more intimate ambience than his previous, almost
clinical work. Keyboard whiz Joe McGinty (who also plays on Richard Davies' Telegraph)
also deserves extra credit here.
So that's two steps forward, but unfortunately, CVS has also taken one
big-ass step back. The songs are, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. Kicking off
with the album's worst song, "Starting Out," was not too clever.
(Continuing the concept by naming the last song "The End" is just
silly.) The song is sluggish, sodden with pointless power chords and at least
a minute too long. It sounds like every song that made you stop listening to
107.9 The Edge.
There are other missteps, though none so flagrant as the first. The
Wilcoesque "Got A Way With Her" sounds like an alt-country
bandwagon jumper, while "Love" and "Feel" are as
uninspired as their titles. But let's talk about what CVS got right: Most of
the other songs are phenomenal in a variety of styles, from surging and
powerful ("I Can See," "Circles") to transcendently
lovely (the Dionne Warwick-ish "Don't Worry Now" and the gorgeous,
flamenco-laced "Like Me That Way"). Even the second-tier tunes,
like "As You Are" or "Split It," aren't as derivative as
some of his earlier work. If not for the third of the album that falls
completely flat, Wood + Wire would be an album to treasure always. As
it is, it's an album to love as long as you have a programmable CD player.
!!!1/2
--Stewart Mason
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