Friday, April 30, 2004  

"C'mon beautiful / We'll go sit on the front lawn /
And watch the fireflies as the sun goes down"

Mark Eitzel, "Firefly"
from Songs of Love (Demon, 1991)
American Music Club, "Ex-Girlfriend"
from Everclear (Alias, 1991)
American Music Club, "Western Sky"
from a promo CD for the "Johnny Mathis' Feet" single; Live At Slim's 6/15/93 (Reprise, 1993)
American Music Club, "Minstrel Show"
from the forthcoming new CD tentatively titled You Better Watch What You Say (2004).

Is there any artist more frustrating than Mark Eitzel? I think even he would admit that he's maddeningly inconsistent. As the singer-songwriter of American Music Club he made some of the most affecting songs I've ever heard. "Blue and Grey Shirt," "Gary's Song," "Outside This Bar," "Ex-Girlfriend," "Western Sky," etc. After AMC broke up in '94 / '95, Either went on to make some OK solo records as well as some god-awful ones, with the absolute worst being 1997's West. That album was co-written by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck---who has been on Yugo autopilot for 20 years. God, Peter Buck sucks so much, and Eitzel, being about as emotionally strong as a teenager with acne and two left feet, just lets Bucky's pedestrian guitar playing and utterly banal chord changes rule this album.

Perhaps the most stunning and bleak---yet utterly gorgeous and poignant---song that Eitzel and AMC ever did is "Firefly." AMC recorded a great version on the fab California (1993), but Eitzel crushed the tune out of the park---even with the guitar eff-up---with his solo acoustic rendition on the live album Songs of Love. The metaphor of fireflies might seem trite on the surface, but just listen to the song and see if it doesn't make you weepy. Add that the song is about losing a lover to AIDS and you'll be bawling in your cubicle. ("Blue & Grey Shirt," from Songs of Love and California, tackles the same topic with equally devastating results.)

"Ex-Girlfriend" is from the out-of-print album Everclear. "Day to day shouldn't be what it's all about / Day to day life is something we all know too much about."

The live version of "Western Sky" that I've posted is from a Reprise promo CD to plug the single "Johnny Mathis' Feet" from Mercury. The original version of "Western Sky" is on California, but the definitive version for me is, again, from Songs of Love. Acoustic and alone, Eitzel sounds like he's about to have a nervous breakdown.

AMC reformed this year, and they are recording a new album. I think Eitzel having a strong band around him to say "Awwwwww, hellll no, dawg!" is important to keep his worst impulses in check (tossed-off songs without choruses, etc). The song I've posted from AMC's forthcoming album is good, but right now I prefer "Another Morning," which is available right here (along with the oldie "If I Had a Hammer"). "Another Morning" mentions a woman named Kathleen. I wonder if this is the same woman who has a song named after her on 1990's United Kingdom? (BTW, U.K. includes California appended to it.)

Also, this extra tite fan site has another new AMC tune to download, "Ladies and Gentleman, It's Time."

You can buy a new odds & sods comp only at AMC's digital home.

Mark Eitzel has a really bad Web site.

"I want to see you smile at a simple melody."

Posted by CP | Link |

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