SONIC WAVES...Album Reviews

EverClear/So Much For The Afterglow(1997)

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This is one band I didn’t and still don’t know much about! For sure they had the hit Santa Monica but I didn’t pay much attention but the first time I seen the video for Everything To  Everyone i was hooked and always been a sucker for a good hook and this tune had it!

Art Alexakis( songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist) Greg Eklund(drums and some kick ass percussion) and Craig Montoya(bass) throw down some real cool rock and it’s still the only album of there’s I own…

Having listened to this again recently I can’t help  think that a lot of these lyrics deal with Art himself. I shall explain as I go…..

This is a song about ……

SO MUCH FOR THE AFTERGLOW- acapella voices almost 1960s surfy style with Doo wahs are the lead into Art who tells us this is a song about Susan and its a road racer of a opener if I ever heard one before! EverClear punch the gas pedal hard on the opener and title track! Art has a decent rock voice I guess the kids back in 97 were calling it Alternative Rock! Myself, I call it and have always called it Good Fucking Rock! So Much For The Afterglow sets the pace and makes Moi take notice and also for the fact that I’ve always dug power trios! So it’s a win a win! Hand claps and some Na Na’s are on tap towards the end of the track as the fella’s ease off the gas but kaboom they rev up the opener and smudge the afterglow into next week! Great opener!

EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE-Yep this silly dilly song was the one that caught my ear! It’s a Simple  Simon tune complete with silly sounding keyboard but man it’s damn catchy! Cool use of percussion as well lends a helping hand to the basics of this tune! In other words Kooky Keys+Silly Percussionist =One damn fine piece of Tuneage! Watch the video ….

NORMAL LIKE YOU-straight ahead rocker with complimentary power chord chorus! This song is the deal. Great well performed tune and I love the running order of this album. Hit EM Hard when the dial starts to dip!

I WILL BUY YOU A NEW LIFE-great single! Art kinda half talks half sings this tune!  Love the swirl of the keyboard throughout the tune. Did I just really type that?! Ha! Seriously what a great single along with some real simple great catchy one liners case in point where Art sings “I will buy you a garden,where your flowers can bloom. I will buy you a new car perfect,shiny and new. I will buy you a new house way up in the west hills. I will buy you a new life. Yes I will!” Folk this is simple catchy pop rock!

FATHER OF MINE-I really think this one is autobiographical for Art! Basically it’s about anyone’s father splitting from the family at a young age and having to deal with it for the rest of your life. The song itself is a mid tempos kind of song! The song picks up and finishes off like how it started! With cool guitar and bass locked in with the drums!

ONE HIT WONDER-massive cool percussion mixed with that swirly sounding keyboard! One Hit Wonder so many of them right?  This song is geared for radio/video play and why not Art is playing the game and why shouldn’t he! There video for this track is game show themed story line! Why didn’t I post the video than? Well it’s all about Amphetamines! (Keep reading !)

EL DISTORTO dE MELODICA-big power riffs begin this musical tune! Boom and it’s off with some more cool percussion and that’s the big deal for me is EverClear specifically drummer guy Greg adds all kinds of bells and whistles to this album! El DISTORTO indeed!

AMPHETAMINE-Art,Craig and Greg punch the gas once again and this ones about a chic named well you guessed it….Amphetamine! Art rambles the vocals forwards and tells the tale of the girl named Amy who’s strung out but as the song progresses it turns out that the doc has prescribed a pill to take all the pain away! Amphetamine is just that!  EverClear could have called this song Speed at which the pace is set! Crank the video posted!

WHITE MEN IN BLACK SUITS- Yep I think this another Art has been there done it kinda tune and he wrote about it! Simple rock song but the lyrics tell the tale of young Art  growing up and trying to get thru life.

SUNFLOWERS-mid tempoish kinda song  about lazing around on a sunny afternoon slow (ahem) doing something! Hey Art says it in the song not me!

WHY I DONT BELIEVE IN GOD-is that banjo I hear?  Yepper Doodle I do hear banjo,acoustic,electric,percussion it’s all hear in another well written song.

LIKE A CALIFORNIA KING/HATING YOU FOR CHRISTMAS-almost a 9 minute end of the album two for the price of one EverClear song! Of course there’s a minute of blank space but holy heck the EverClear fellers deliver two well written Gems! California King is a great track but some dude who cruises thru life thinking he’s the King when in reality he’s the Joker! Hating You For Christmas is the typical relationship break up tune and this has to be another autobiographical tune! Ha….Art steps up here lyrically and spouts off about a relationship gone off the skids at Xmas time! The tune ends then album on a quick note! In my book this is a classic F.U get out of here song if I ever heard one!

IN CONCLUSION-Hmmmm this is a real good album and I never bothered with any of there other stuff why not you ask,who knows I say! EverClear for this record made a very diverse sounding record! They don’t play it by the rules as the different tempos,songs go. It’s a well written record with no filler and it was great digging back into it after all these years……

 

37 thoughts on “EverClear/So Much For The Afterglow(1997)”

      1. Well you have rarely led me astray. I didn’t get to hear it much, not too many people at the store listened to Everclear.

        Funny thing though, when this arrived in my inbox this morning I was reading my Blackberry with blurry eyes and I mistakenly thought you were reviewing the rapper Everlast!

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      4. Oh I’m sure the music was fine, be he (himself) was pretty snarly. Haha thanks for coming out, buddy!

        Man, that was the gig at Pine Knob where we saw Cree Summer, Everlast, Black Crowes (the reason we went) and that lip-syncing Lenny Kravitz.

        Liked by 2 people

      6. huh huh I sure did Beavis huh huh

        Yeah that was the Crowes on the By Your Side tour. We were 15th row in the center, and I’d swear it was obvious. He did many annoying things that night. Ah well. At least his c*ck didn’t fall out of his pants.

        Liked by 2 people

      7. OH GOD IMAGERY IN MY BRAIN!

        Just so you know, I have a vivid imagination and it is very susceptible to involuntary picturing things. Thank you so much! 😉 🙂

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      13. Hahaha you’re welcome1 Kind of hypnotic, isn’t it.

        Good thing he had a guitar to hide behind, I guess. But c’mon, man, it’s Europe. I don’t imagine too many were too fussed over something like that happening.

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      15. Yeah, I Wiki’d it:

        “In 1999, Summer released her solo album Street Faërie produced by and featuring guest artist (and friend) Lenny Kravitz, with the album a moderate success. Although Summer toured as Kravitz’s opening act, her label dropped her and a planned spot with Lilith Fair was canceled. The label continued to promote the album, however, sending out a four-track sampler to radio and issuing remix singles of the track “Revelation Sunshine” in Europe, with a special single specifically for Austria.

        Summer recorded a song titled “Savior Self” for which she directed a music video co-starring Zoe Kravitz, daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and rocker Lenny Kravitz. The video was screened online, but the track was never made available commercially, nor was it distributed to radio.”

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I had the one before this (Sparkle and Fade), remembered enjoying it, a few standout tracks like Heartspark dollarsign.
    I like the line in Everything to Everyone “the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down!”

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  3. I had this one and Sparkle And Fade, back in the day. Nice reminder, thanks! I saw them in 1996 at Edenfest, and they were a really good live act. I remember the bass player walking along all the amps on stage and turning them all up to 10. They were LOUD. That was ’96, so it was before this record dropped. I can’t tell you whether we heard any of these songs as a preview, as it was so long ago. Good show, though!

    Reading through your review, I could still hear most of the songs in my head, so even though I haven’t heard these guys in ages they must’ve stuck with me. Nice one, Deke!

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    1. Thanks it’s a great album right until the end of it….I have no idea why I didn’t buy there next release since Afterglow was soooo good…….
      Bizarro Rock guy I can be…..
      Thanks for chirping in a concert recap …leave it to the bass guy to,crank it up!

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      1. Hey you’re not bizarro. There’s only so much disposable cash to go around. I’m sure there were other more pressing album needs! 🙂

        That was a cool show. I remember my buddy Brian slept through it (I don’t know how, they were so LOUD). He parked himself under this tree, and when I met up with him afterwards he swore it was dripping water on him, or maybe a squirrel was pissing on him (haha likely). But we couldn’t see anything that might have meant water coming from up in the tree, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Weird.

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  4. This and Sparkle and Fade were the two Everclear albums I liked. My brother was into them for a while and I liked what I heard. I think Sparkle and Fade was stronger, but this is a very fine album. Last good one they had, actually!

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