The first track on
Grand Champeen
's fourth album, 2007's
Dial T for This
, starts out with the thunder of guitars, the clatter of drums, and the rumbling of electric bass -- which soon stop dead, with a piano and a string section fading in to replace them. While the guitars and drums do return midway through
"What It Beats,"
this opening is certainly a portent of things to come -- anyone familiar with the
Soul Asylum-esque
crash and growl of
's earlier albums or their spitfire live shows will be more than a little surprised with the restraint shown on
, which trades in their ragged-but-right
rock & roll
for a less aggressive and much poppier sound.
"Nice of You to Join Us"
is reminiscent of the revved-up twang-
pop
of
the V-Roys
,
"The Songs You Want to Hear"
is worthy of the early
dB's
"Olivia"
could pass for
Badfinger
in dim light, and
"Cities on the Plain"
is (believe it or not) a dead ringer for
Game Theory
with its aggressive but sweetly melodic guitar lines and buoyant synth counterpoints. While some fans may be disappointed that
doesn't bring the rock with the same intensity as
's earlier recordings, this album does push the band's songcraft front and center, and the results demonstrate they have every right to be proud of these tunes. (And they still can and do crank it up on occasion; cue up
"To the Ides"
for proof.) The bandmembers also produced and recorded the album themselves (without the use of Pro Tools, as they proudly emphasize), and given the beery swagger of their previous disc,
The One That Brought You
, it's a truly impressive step forward. However, it's hard not to wish
could have hit a middle ground between the frantic slop of
and the clean precision of
; every so often this music feels as if
are forcing themselves into a sound that isn't quite them, and just a little more abandon would do this album a world of good. ~ Mark Deming