Review:

on 2011-06-06 CharlesMartel Said:

Of all the Fischer-Z albums I own (all the regular ones in other words) this one took the most time for me to appreciate. In some ways it comes across initially as a disappointing album from Fischer-Z, if you can still call John Watts various collections of musicians by that name. Still, it showcases the continuing musical evolution of John Watts from his early post-punk days into a thoughtful and provocative songwriter.

The title track is the standout song, without a doubt, mainly because the refrain, catchy though it is, goes downbeat rather than upbeat in tone, providing a unique flavour to the track. That track remains one of the best there is in Watts' 1990s catalogue of music, whether as John Watts or as Fischer-Z and stands alongside some of the best tracks of his entire career.

Most of the rest of the tracks on the album are pleasant enough to listen to but do not grab you by the ears the way the Fischer-Z of the past would have done. Thankfully, the social commentary is still there in the lyrics. Listen for instance to "Marlon", "Human Beings" or "And This We Call Crime". That is Watts' hallmark and is what keeps up his ratings in my view. Still, it is a good enough listen and I can easily sit back with this on and lose myself in the sound, though I emerge from the end without being able to identify any distinctive feature (title track excepted) which marks out any one song from any other.

The use of dance beats on some of the tracks, most notably "The Peaches and the Cream" (which was released as a single across Europe) was certainly a new twist, and was something Watts had not really experimented with since the mid eighties. It sometimes seems as if John Watts had tried to live up to the expectations created by "Destination Paradise" but had decided against recreating the largely acoustic basis of that album which had been the principal feature which had made it so musically successful. If there is one major criticism I can make of the album is that production is distinctly below par. It sometimes sounds too wooden and without any of the texturing from which some of the songs would have definitely benefited.

Sometimes I think John Watts should have stopped after "Red Skies over Paradise" and gone out on a high note. This album probably represents the start of a plateau in John Watts' career. He had found a way to generate good music once again with "Destination Paradise" and seemed to want to replicate that feeling. In so doing, he somewhat forgot the need to innovate. John Watts was always at his best when making music in an organic fashion - start with an idea, transform into a lyric and with the help of a guitar it becomes a song. Both earlier and later, some of the more experimental John Watts/Fischer-Z albums lost this.

This may explain why I gradually came to like this album more and more, the more time I spent listening to the full corpus of Watts work. In that context, this album is part of a logical progression both in terms of style and John Watts own personal development as an artist. Despite its flaws, this album remains a worthy output, one which on occasions rises above its flaws.
Rating: 6/10