A REVIEW OF "CURB" NICKELBACK'S 1996 INDEPENDENT DEBUT ALBUM

Curb by Nickelback 

Curb is an example of an album which is almost impossible to listen to impartially.  In this case, hindsight will never pass the vision test.  Nickelback is so big—and so detested—that most serious music listeners will be disgusted before they even listen to the band's 1996 Canadian debut.  It's like looking at a deer which has just been run over by a truck.  There may be a sign of life, but you know there's nothing that can be done to save it.  It's technically alive, but we might as well say it's dead, just so the kid next to us doesn't get his hopes up.  So it is with  Curb, which was unfortunately written and recorded by a band named Nickelback.  

On this album, the then unknown Canadian rock band Nickelback, sounds like a group that might cause an A&R agent to jot down the following notes:

• This band sounds tight and Chad Kroeger is a good frontman, with maybe just a bit too much of a forced, gravelly timbre in the voice.  I think that's something that can be fixed with some coaching though.  It also might indicate a need for a much better producer.
•  As for their songs, some are okay. Radio friendly, for sure, but still just okay.  No number one hits, although "Pusher" has some strong potential.  It has a good hook on both melody and lyrics in the chorus as indicated by the line "ask much anymore."  Sort of sounds like Stone Temple Pilots meets Alice in Chains.  Verses of song need some help—not horrible, but a little trite.  Perhaps they need a cowriter.  
• A few songs really suck:  "Curb," "Where?," "Sea Groove," "Just Four"
• "Fly" channels a small Kurt Cobain/Nirvana similarity 
• Lyrics range from okay to incredibly difficult to decipher.  With music this forceful, however, it's essentially meaningless.

The reason I did this hypothetical scenario was to force myself to be intellectually honest and recognize that Nickelback shows promise on Curb.   I recognize that my notes are sort of cheap, because we all know how well the band capitalized in the end.  Some of Curb is really awful, so awful that you have to admit that they sound really good today by comparison.  Honestly, it's night and day.  The one good cut is "Pusher," a song I actually repeated a few times.  It had to be their single.

Here's the thing.  This is the worst thing Nickelback ever did.  There's just no way this album can win.  Nickelback fans will dislike it because the quality isn't anything close to that of their popular music, a lot of people will hate it simply because it is Nickelback and the rest will hate it because their intuition tells them: this music really sucks.  

But keep in mind, a lot of bands really suck when they start out.  Some get better over time, while others wind up as "medium main sequence suck stars" for the remainder of their careers.  In other words, early Nickelback is still better than 90% of bands you'll ever catch at a local bar.  

Curb by Nickelback 

THE BRILLIANT URSULA RUCKER

Ursula Rucker

Poet/singer Ursula Rucker creates the kind of spoken-word music you wouldn't be surprised to hear at the Whitney Museum in New York City.  It is beat poetry, but then it's not really beat poetry either.  Actually, it's better.  It's a provocative, matter-of-fact sort of thing.  Kind of like speeches over jazz-influenced, electronic music.  In Rucker's case, the music falls behind her words like a waterfall.  

There is no convoluted imagery in Rucker's work.  When she says something abstract like "I ain't no fish" as she does in "Uh-Uh," she begins another line with "the reason for the fish analogy..."  It makes for an artist whose transparency is both incredibly refreshing and totally unpretentious.  And when you can call a poet unpretentious, you just can't let that poet get away  You gotta reel them in to your music collection—like a fish.  

Rucker's poetry is controversial in a lot of ways.  On the one hand, it's controversial because of what it advocates— individuality and a rejection of the status quo.  But her use of language is just as controversial.  She uses words like "cunnilingus," "fuck," "dick" and "tits" and graphically describes how each thing or process is exploited.  Cunnilingus is  actually the subject of an entire song.  It's very sexual, but not remotely raunchy.  It's beautiful when you really get down to it.  One could make the argument that this is the kind of music you could play for a high school English class.  Then again, maybe not, knowing how perverted teenage boys can get.

But the fact that I am advocating the use of Rucker's art in a classroom suggests that her work is not only meant to be be studied and examined, but also enjoyed.  I have a feeling you will enjoy entering Ursula Rucker's little universe, too.  You can enter it right now at www.jamiedoesmusic.com—but don't enter the url.  You're already there, stupid. 

Ma'at Mama by Ursula Rucker

SINGLES GOING STEADY: "TEN SECOND NEWS" BY SON VOLT

When the two lead singer, outlaw-country outfit Uncle Tupelo broke up in 1994, singer Jeff Tweedy formed the band Wilco and, in doing so, created alt-country music which built upon the sound of Minnesota's The Jayhawks and won over a whole new legion of alternative rock fans in the process.  Today, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know (and doesn't love) Wilco and its remarkably consistent discography.

Meanwhile, singer Jay Farrar continued doing what he did best with Uncle Tupelo and formed Son Volt.  Though it has only attained about half of the popularity of Wilco, Son Volt makes some fantastic music.  No more is this evident than on "Ten Second News," the fifth track of its debut album Trace.

Over a hauntingly beautiful chord progression, Farrar creates a remarkabley vivid imagery of loneliness.   With lyrics as inventive as "it's hard enough soaking up billboard signs" and "there's a beach there known for cancer," Farrar is absolutely captivating. His drop d-tuned, acoustic guitar shines in a beautiful drone against his deep voice and the band never allows their accomplished chops to take focus away from the composition.  Drums brush against the track like a car passing highway lights and an electric guitar slides around likes clouds slowly drifting in a night sky.  In less than four minutes, Son Volt was able to create a true epic, with enough meat to feel twice as long.  Enjoy.

"Ten Second News" by Son Volt