Vigilantes of Love

Item: Summershine
Author: Brian A. Smith

Summershine

(2001)

Reviewed by Brian A. Smith

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Label Compass RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2001

alternative rock americana folk rock pop rock

Sometimes you hear a record that makes you lose your objectivity. As a critic, you think "I can't just rave about a record without finding
something wrong with it!"

Summershine, the latest gem from Vigilantes of Love, made me work awfully hard to find anything negative. In fact, I would say this album ensures that I will deliver my annual rant to anyone who will listen, along the lines of: "VoL is the best band in the country that no one has ever heard of. Why won't radio play these guys?"

"You Know That (Is Nothing New)" opens the album with a Dire Straits meets Gin Blossoms style, and sounds like a hit single on any "adult alternative" or college station. "She Is Fading" details a chance meeting at a carnival or like event, and sums up the essence of what it's like to be young and looking for love in the summertime. "Fading" is the song R.E.M. should have recorded on their latest release.

"I Could Be Wrong (But I Don't Think I Am)" bears a strong resemblance to the Tom Petty song "Feel A Whole Lot Better,", and details a man trying to understand where his relationship is headed:

What you keep telling me just keeps me guessing
but those green eyes leave a different impression
Sometimes your heart, well, it won't follow the plan
I could be wrong, I could be wrong, I could be wrong
But I don't think I am.

Sometimes with words, you gotta look right through
Sometimes the opposite is true.

"Stand Beside Me (You've Got To)" is a cross between Americana and British pop. It serves as a perfect example of Bill Mallonee's ability to convey an experience that we all have, yet make it poetic:

Sleight of hand, angry words,
and the arguments that don't get heard
I'm so smitten and so attached
With my paper dreams you strike the match.

You should know my buttercup -
It's easier to fall and harder to get up!

And it won't make it any less true
When you deny what's inside of you
I could show you a thing or two
But you've got to stand beside me, stand beside me.

There are two songs here that have been rescued from possible obscurity. "Puttin' Out Fires (With Gasoline)" was a concert staple during the Audible Sigh tour, and thankfully, Mallonee saw fit to include it here. "It's Not Bothering Me" was included on the limited edition 2000 EP, Room Despair, and has some slightly reworked lyrics here.

"Green Summer Lawn" contains some of the more profound lines:

There's a wind behind the stars
There's a voice that says:
'You are more than you think you are!'
If you don't know the score you don't know when you lose,
And my God this stuff you buy in place of the truth
Won't stay strong
Let your worries be gone
Put your dancing shoes on
For your green summer lawn.

Bill has always described VoL's method as "Making It Up As We Go Along." Now he's written the song to go with that philosophy. It speaks of how we need to put forth our best appearance, even when we're unsure:

Hit it with a swagger
Underneath we're not that strong
We are making it up as we go along.

So what, you ask, stops me from giving this selection my highest rating? Is it bassist Jake Bradley or drummer Kevin Heuer? No - this is the best band Mallonee has assembled yet. My minor, petty, trivial complaint is in regards to the last song on the CD, "Sailors (The Reddest Rose)" - the lyrics are great but the tempo of the song, to me, seems incredibly slow.

Summershine, if given a chance by radio and the corporate music world, will be the biggest surprise of 2001. Anyone who likes Squeeze, Tom Petty, Neil Young, XTC, the Byrds, the Athens, GA sound, or British pop will find something here. The best album I have listened to this year.

5 tocks