REVIEW: Jawbox, My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents (DeSoto)
- Steve Kandell
You are a semi-successful four-piece East Coast indie rock band, starting out in the late eighties honing your aggro but melodic post-punk chops on college radio. While your prematurely balding and oddly monikered lead singer/guitarist may be the nominal focus of the band, your secret weapon might actually be the bassist, a dark-haired spitfire named Kim. After years of toiling away in the indie world, you break up before getting a chance to dip your toes in the mainstream, then put out a posthumous collection of previously unreleased b-sides, John Peel sessions, live tracks, and covers.
And you are not the Pixies.
But you might be Jawbox, the Washington, D.C. band that broke up in April of 1997 after eight years. My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents is the 22-track post-breakup compilation just out on DeSoto Records. While essentially a collection of castaways, this is actually a fair representation of Jawbox's career and could serve equally well as a fitting farewell to fans or as an introduction to the uninitiated. The closest thing the band ever had to a hit, 1994's "Savory," is included here in a ballsy live version recorded at RFK Stadium in 1996.
The band, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist J. Robbins (OK, that name's not so weird) had more in common musically with fellow D.C. band and onetime labelmates Fugazi than the late, lamented Pixies. And come to think of it, bassist Kim Colletta was not really any sort of secret weapon the way Kim Deal was, though it must be said that many of the stronger Jawbox songs were built around her gutteral bass lines. Robbins' singing voice more resembles that of Helmet's Page Hamilton, another loud and recently deceased band, than a distinctive wail like Ian Mackaye or The Artist Formerly Known as Black Francis.
The album's structure is interesting, with songs grouped not by chronology but by origin. The first five songs come from a Peel session in 1994, the next six are assorted b-sides, the four after that are from the June '96 RFK show, and final seven are all covers taken from various singles and tribute albums throughout the years. Curiosity-seekers might be attracted to the last bunch, which includes an amped-up, stripped-down version of R.E.M.'s plaintive "Low," The Cure's "Meathook," and even Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin". Other standouts include the BBC recording of "Tongues" and their first-ever single, 1989's "Bullet Park."
As a band, Jawbox did not have much to offer in the way of stylistic variety or sonic diveristy. They essentially did one thing - bottom-heavy, discordant, but melodic pop tunes, the sort of thing that might have been called metal had they come around a decade earlier and had feathered hair down to their shoulders - but they did it well. Not the most original band, and they will not likely be remembered as such. But they were solid nonetheless, and this set is a fitting coda.
