One Hundred Days

Item: The Obvious
Author: Robert Berman

The Obvious

(1995)

Reviewed by Robert Berman

Discogs YouTube

Label Liquid Disc RecordsThe LighthouseJune 1995

art rock gothic rock pop rock power pop

It's a little scary that none of my favorite new albums so far this year are by artists I'd heard of at Christmas. Between Jars of Clay, My Brother's Mother, Black Eyed Sceva, and Big Tent Revival, the CCM scene is overflowing with new pop/rock talent. So I shouldn't be too surprised that One Hundred Days fits right in with these other artists. On their debut album under this name (they were formerly known as The Obvious), Ian Tanner and Andrew Horrocks really tried to make a great album. And they almost succeed.

Fans of PFR will immediately love the fun attitude that flows from these songs. But while the seemingly unavoidable Beatles influence leaks through here and there, One Hundred Days culls its feeling from more domestic sources as well, with leanings toward They Might Be Giants and older Rush on various occasions. Most of these songs are eminently hummable and have honest-to-goodness recognizable riffs sprinkled like candy throughout.

"She's The Only Girl," the first standout song, is a hilarious satire on superficial romance, full of bad puns and wickedly funny stereotypes,

I want a girl who can dance and make me laugh... She's got to be able to hold her own So I can leave when I want to,

proclaims Tanner proudly, backed up by a horn section in the true TMBG tradition. "Rattling the Air" is a tender ballad in a Phil and John-like style which tells of a broken family recovering from alcoholism. The last verse gives in too easily to the "Jesus cured all my problems forever" syndrome in equating "Christian" and "happy," but otherwise this song is great. Slower songs like "Friends From A Distance" and "Victory Day" avoid cheese and still retain a little pep, and the album sports a number of good rock tunes like "Learning to Live," which finds the band in its best Rush-like form, with a solo break which would have fit well on that Canadian band's Permanent Waves or Moving Pictures albums. Indeed, Tanner's opening yelp on the poppy "The Beauty of the Night" bears a remarkable resemblance to Geddy Lee.

This album has many good moments. But the glimmerings of greatness are held back on most songs by one thing or another. "The Upside of Down" has lyrics kin to Randy Stonehill's "Cosmetic Fixation" and a really catchy verse, but the repetitive chorus is inane and dull. "Me Mr. Messed Around" starts out with a neat Spin Doctors groove which somehow ends up sounding like Phil Keaggy trying to do funk. Similar small problems litter most of the songs.

I really believe this could have been a great album. Tanner and Horrocks work well together and pull together some diverse sounds like the juxtaposition of an open-C tuned dobro paired with a King's X-ish crunchy bridge on "I'm Having a Baby," which also contains the most clever and fresh take on young parenthood that I can think of. So it's disappointing to report that what could have been a superb album is only good. There are several songs which I would almost play for my non-Christian friends as an example of excellence in Christian music. As it stands, this album certainly deserves more than a few listens, and hopefully on their next attempt, One Hundred Days can address some of the shortcomings which held them back this time.