The Official Rock Musician's Guide (I've never seen it, but surely it exists!) says that every band must, at some point in their career, record a song about trying to get the message across. Mad at the World's "On The Stage," the first cut on this album, is their entry in this venerable genre. Though it falls short of Mark Heard's "In The Gaze Of The Spotlight's Eye," the message is at least less pretentious than Rush's "Limelight." It's fun-upbeat and simple.
That pretty much sums up the lyrical content of the album, except that some of the later songs are as sophomoric as they are simple. Lyrical oddities range from flawed similes ("when their love was shiny as their wedding rings") to mixed metaphors ("broken hearted castaways who've gone astray") to hackneyed ("the hole down deep in your soul") and awkward phrases ("questions in my head of understanding").
"On The Stage" is typical of the music, too. From the moment I heard this cut I started searching for Terry Taylor's name in the credits; it's not there, of course, but the vibe was so Sgt. Pepper it seemed someone must have been evangelizing The Beatles to these fellows. If the cover art isn't enough of a giveaway, the introduction-practically lifted from "A Day In The Life"-cinches it. When not evocative of The Beatles (or groups like Daniel Amos, The Swirling Eddies, and Jacob's Trouble), The Dreamland Cafe ventures into the neighborhood of '70s pop or the lighter side of art rock groups like Queen or King Crimson.
For whatever reason, this album is full of bright, bouncy pop-a radical, but not unwelcome, change for Mad at the World. It probably won't change your life, but it sounds good. That's still worth something, isn't it? Sure, you open the wrapper expecting psychedelia, but after the initial shock, the bubblegum tastes pretty good.
Other coverage for this album
Salt #26Reviewed by GargantuanBack in 1990 MATW went from ripping off Depeche Mode to ripping off The Cult & Danzig. After about 3 albums of that they've now found a new band to rip off and that band is Jellyfish. Now don't get me wrong, I've liked MATW for awhile now and I even kinda like this album, it is better produced than the last 2 albums and the songs aren't bad, but they are very very pop oriented so you might like…Heaven's Metal #53Reviewed by Doug Van PeltRemember Jellyfish, that mainstream band that took bubbly psychedelic pop music to a new extreme? It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek exaggeration of Sergeant Pepper era Beatles. The vocals take a breath by breath cadence that's almost child-like. The guitars are jangly and the drums are very solid. This is Mad At The World's style. While very trippy, repeated listenings reveal the lack of heaviness…Similar sounding releases
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