EZN's world spun out from under them when their label, Atco dropped them after only 2 albums, including the criminally undermarketed 'Strength'.
But these guys - Chip Znuff and
Donnie Vie - are survivors, so they climbed back on, signed for Arista, and wrote and recorded their third release, 'Animals With Human Intelligence'. Znuff's claim that he'd written a bunch of songs with "a few more dick inches" got it just about right.
Now, I just loved 'AWHI'. I loved the polish, the studio gloss, the commercially crafted hooks. Yes, on the first two albums they were arguably a gutsier version of the Fab Four and
Cheap Trick perhaps, but with "AWHI" they walked out of those bands' shadow, into their own light and their own audience.
That was 1993.
Seventeen years later, the latest version of the band...Znuff, Vie, Jake E (Badlands) Lee and Vinne Costaldo...has just released its 467
th album,
'Dissonance' (a version of it was released in the USA in 2008, and Japan last year).
If ever an album title was a mission statement, then this is it.
Not dissonance in the sense of musical discord, but a reflection of Znuff's failed marriage. With this very personal - and often painful - expose of his private life, Znuff no doubt sought to cast out demons and achieve some kind of peace.
The recording style now is looser, earthier. Most of that studio baggage has been jettisoned. The music's got some space now, thanks to drummer Costaldo's cool production.
What hasn't changed is the band's ability to write superb songs. Songs with a great verse, a better bridge and a memorably melodic chorus.
The opening and title track, '
Dissonance' is the album's exorcism. A loose limbed jangle of guitars, clashing rhythms and an understandably raucous vocal performance as Znuff's lyrics strip his lovelife bare.
After that, Znuff is simply tracing the fault lines and fissures that broke his life apart.
Not easy listening, lyrically, but it sure makes good art.
'Fine Line' and '
Joni Lynn' timewarp back to the
White Album, with the band in prime Lennon-esque form. Superb songs, set in splendid lo-fi and harsh monochrome. The washed out colours a metaphor for relationship blues. Vie is on great form, totally in command of the plot and of two wonderfully wiry tunes that insinuate their way in through your pores.
'Lazy Dazy' and
'High' is EZN Redux. Back to melodies, harmonies and hooks to kill for. No veneers here. Plenty of spit, but polish is in short supply and believe me, that's nothing but good news. The music stands up for itself.
The beautiful
'Rollaway' reminds us why we are constantly reminded of the Beatles' influence, though with '
Altered States', Squeeze would be a more appropriate reference point.
The album ends with two covers.
The first is a sleek, this-is-what-it-sounds-like-live studio take of Prince's
'When Doves Cry', stripping it back to rock'n'roll basics.
The second, a "previously unreleased studio outtake" of The Beatles'
'Run For Your Life', is pretty faithful to the original and seems tacked on just to flesh out the album
(13 tracks and 52 minutes). Great song though.
That apart, unequivocally, '
Dissonance' is a confident, surefooted return to form from one of melodic rock's enduring rock bands.
I don't like resorting to clichés, but sometimes they just fit.
Written by
Brian Thursday, August 12, 2010
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