REVIEW: Sugar, File Under Easy Listening (Rykodisc)
- Martin Bate
Sugar's File Under: Easy Listening is the third installment in Bob Mould's resurrection as an indie god with sales to finally match the critical kudos he's had in the past.
Copper Blue was Bob's tribute to the bands that he had influenced over the years and was one of the best albums of '92. Beaster was an often vicious autobiographical set of mood-swings and was one of the best albums of '93. FU:EL is unashamed pop/rock which touches on all the right emotions and, hey! whaddya know! is one of this author's ten favorite albums of '94. Here's ten reasons why :
1. Opener, "Gift", is upbeat Sugar at its best - chopping guitars and thumping drums topped by one of the sweetest, hopeful melodies you could ever want.
2. After the magnificent B-side "Where Diamonds are Halos", bassist, Dave Barbe, gets his first album look-in with the excellent Beatles-with-distortion of "Company Book".
3. "Your Favourite Thing" is the happiest single all year and sounds like the moment you realize you're in love, and makes you sort of sad if you're not.
4. Next up is "What You Want It To Be" which is a bit too Sugar-by-numbers to really impress, but it keeps things ticking over so I can forgive them.
5. "Gee Angel" is a tale of buying a set of wings, finding they're too big and trying to get a refund (!) all set to an upbeat jaunty guitar rock-out. Like "Your Favourite Thing", it cheers up my day.
6. "Panama City Motel" starts off as almost a reprise of Beaster's acoustic opener "Come Around", before going on to evoke the feelings you get when you're not enjoying being away from home, but don't want to go back either.
7."Can't Help You Anymore" is all "woo-ohs" and "do-do-do-doo-do-doohs" and would be a number one hit in a perfect pop-world.
8. "Granny Cool" holds the mirror up to an unnamed Rawk-Star over a guitar riff that reeks sarcasm.
9. "Believe What You're Saying" is simply a beautiful acoustic love song.
10. "Explode and Make Up" sounds like slow Dinosaur Jr. with Neil Young on vocals and crackles with the knowing inevitability of how relationships work.
Why am I even writing this ? You all know how good Sugar are by now, right ?
