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……
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