REVIEW: Tin Huey, Disinformation (Future Fossil)
- Chelsea Spear
Have you ever seen a group of MENSA members do the frug? A wild mass of intellectuals slowly breaking free from their framework and dancing joyously?
Of all the things I've written about in my reviews for Consumable, this is probably the only one I haven't experienced personally. However, if there's anything that could instigate this sight, the Tin Huey reunion album Disinformation would probably do the trick.
The five men that comprise Tin Huey might balk at this comparison - after all, the popular mental image of intellectuals is that of stuffy, boring people who wear lots of starched clothing. However, Tin Huey do have some of the best aspects of intellectualism in their music - elaborate arrangements and odd time-signatures not often heard outside classical music and the occasional Scott Miller album. The Hueys punch up this combination with a startling sense of inventiveness and ingenuity, and a great sense of humour. They reflect some of the greatest things about brainy pop music, and then make it accessible enough that anyone could join the dance.
Disinformation is the second album in the Hueys existence, and by far the most surprising reunion album since...well...ever, maybe. While the band was popular among pockets of discerning pop/punk fans on their original grouping in the late 1970s, a combination of poor sales and indifference on the part of their record label threatened to keep the Cleveland Five a cult favourite forever. Disinformation takes a great many of the hallmarks of classic-rock reunion albums (the production so crisp and clean you could eat off its floors, the big, ringing chords and power-ballad centerpiece) and turns it on its head with a good deal of Huey charm.
The opening track "Cheap Mechanics", with its descending melody and power-chord procession so catchy you just can't say no to it, will have listeners humming for days, and "The Tin Huey Story, Pt. 2" relates a more specific, but still ambiguous tale of why success never came to be for the Hueys. The requisite power ballad, "Lovely Little Thing", is just that - surprisingly subtle and beautiful for the genre. There's even a live track from 1978, "Seeing", which proves that, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
While some songs work well within the traditional song-structure, others stand out for their weirdness - pretty much everything Ralph Carney's byline appears on will see to that. The only real disappointment with this is the lack of material from Chris Butler, the one Huey who achieved post-Huey mainstream success with the wonderfully quirky new-wave ensemble the Waitresses. "Wise Up" is a new version of a track from the Waitresses's first full-length, and while it was enjoyable it seems a bit rooted in the time it was originally written and recorded.
However, these are but small quibbles with an album as thoroughly likable as Disinformation. Put it on at your next shindig and watch out for dancing geniuses.
