Not so good times, but good music

I don't know if you realize this, but I like music. Yet I cannot stand to listen to the radio. Much less the fact that we don't have a decent local rock station. So I have an extensive CD collection. Between the rockstar and I, we probably have 500 CDs. They are everywhere. The Jeep, my desk at work, in the sunroom, and strung out all over the studio and my scrapbook room. That doesn't even take into account Evan's developing collection!

Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of new music released that interests me. Already bought the new Lacuna Coil album. The new Live album won't be out until June. Adrian at work has hooked me up with some good stuff, which is much appreciated. But it wasn't really anything *new*.

Anyway, it came about that I listened to Everclear's World of Noise last Friday night. I was driving back in the rain from my nephew's Lumiere performance in Highland. He did a great job, and was of course adorable! When I figure out how to get the pictures out of my phone and on the internets, I'll post some.

It was odd, listening to the album again. Although 10 years have passed, it invoked a lot of memories. The band (which was technically their 'second' lineup: Art, bassist Craig, and drummer Greg. Greg replaced original drummer Scott Cuthbert. This new 'third' lineup is nothing more than Art and a couple of hired guys) was one we essentially grew up with: in that they were getting lots of love in Lawrence around the time the ex and I were going to a lot of music shows. Seems like I saw them eight times a year. They were touring fools.

The early shows were always fun. The guys were charismatic and having fun. Art wrote songs you could relate to, even if (noticable in later albums) he had a limited range of song phrases. Every new album release was eagerly anticipated.

When I was getting divorced, I remember having an online profile that was comprised wholly of Everclear phrases. Location=Nehalem ("Nehalem", from Sparkle and Fade), name=Elektra (Elektra Made Me Blind, SAF), occupation= the angel of the loser and disenchanted soul (Trust Fund, WON). A lame coping mechanism? Probably. But I did a lot of things in those days that were none too smart. It almost was a bit surreal when So Much for the Afterglow came out. There were a couple of songs on there that hit too close to home. I also remember stopping in Lawrence on the way back from KC to buy it at Hasting's. It was such big deal, Hasting's started selling it at 12:01 a.m. on the release date.

Now I'll finally tie the journal tag to the entry. Listening to WON again, after a good span of time, made me reappreciate the songwriting. Not that every track is very good. "Laughing World" gets a bit trite, and "Pennsylvania Is" just rails at the state's abortion laws. I remember the guys at the Lazer making a joke one time about the average Everclear song couldn't last for more than 2.5 minutes. Sad, but true! My absolute favorites from WON are tracks 2 "Nervous and Weird" and (I think) 12 "Invisible". Craig Montoya's bass lines on both remind me why I love that boy... growl!

Not to say, though, that I love all of Art's songs. I still won't forgive him for "Everything to Everyone" from Afterglow and "Volvo-Driving Soccer Mom" from Slow Motion Daydream. It also confounds me that the songs I find are the lamest, are the ones he pushes the hardest to be released as first singles. SMD's release was delayed for MONTHS because Art was arguing with Capitol to release the soccer mom song first. Every other song on the record is much better.

But I digress. For me, Everclear is one of those bands that has had a profound impact on my life and personality. Who is it for you?