3.03.2005

WARNING: Long Gushing Post

Glen Phillips - Winter Pays For Summer The waiting is over. I'm finally listening to this one in its entirety. All 3 (or am I up to 4 now?) of my regular readers know that this guy is one of my all-time favorites and I have been anxiously awaiting this release for quite some time now. No, I'm not so special that I am now getting advance copies of CDs to review... don't hold your breath on that one... Actually, I was just out browsing around in Amazon and came upon their section of advance releases that allow you to listen to the albums early if you go ahead and purchase prior to the release date. And, lo and behold, there was Mr. Phillips and his exquisitely clad new album, Winter Pays For Summer. My love affair for the talent of Glen Phillips began back in 1990 when I was in a little, now-defunct record store in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was my senior year in high school there and I had a really good friend who had very similar eclectic tastes in music as I did. We would spend hours in that record store listening to new stuff that the "Guy-who-knew-everything-about-music" who worked there would play for us. We'd scour the tape and CD racks for new stuff that caught our eye. Great fun. Spent all of the money I earned bussing tables for the tourists on my music collection. Well, for my friend's 18th birthday I decided I was going to walk into the record store and buy the most bizarrely named band in the whole dang store. I looked and I looked. Came upon bands like "That Petrol Emotion" who's names were certainly bizarre, but we already knew them. I made it all the way down to the T's when I came upon a new CD by a band certainly not to be surpassed in the strange name category: Toad the Wet Sprocket. I definitely did not understand the name and was unfortunately not cool enough to place the origin. So, I bought it. The CD was Pale and I brought it with me to his birthday party. To make a long story not quite as long, the party was one of those "parents out of town" kind of things. We had a lot of fun. But, as the party was winding down, and the way-too-serious-relationships-for-18-year-olds found their way to the various corners of the house to have their deep, meaningful, teary, end-of-party discussions, I decided to play DJ. I yelled up to my friend that I was opening up my present to him I didn't hear a response back, but I opened it anyway and popped it into the CD player, turned it up, and then layed back on the floor. A little interesting piece of info here is that this night happened to be the first night I dropped my intense abstinence from alcohol and decided not to take life so seriously myself. So, I wouldn't say I was drunk, but a little tipsy. And when the first words out of Glen's mouth on the opening track "Torn" were "I feel nothing..." I nodded my head and said "Me either." What followed was a slow realization that I was listening to an album that would become my favorite album of all time. I remember my friend shouting down from upstairs, "Who is this? I love them!" Me too, my friend, me too. From that point on I became a fan, nearly a full-fledged fanatic. I saw them live some 13 times or so prior to their breakup in 1998 and even saw a reunion tour show a couple of years back. I've spent quite a bit of time talking with the band (even got a tour of their tour bus... haha) and have always been impressed with them musically and personally. I have many anecdotes that I could spend hours spouting on about, but I'll now get on to this album. When I heard the title announced a while back, I thought it so perfect. Glen's ride since the breakup of Toad hasn't exactly been all shits and giggles. I think he's spent a lot of time discovering his true personal music and perhaps even more time trying to figure out where in the music industry he could carve out a little solo space. He's often reflected on his website on the difficulties of the industry and predetermined expectations of his music. I think he was tired of being a hitmaker and wanted to explore new musical territory. Luckily, he eventually found his way to Lost Highway records who seems to be the perfect landing spot for the best singer-songwriters out there. Let's hope they do as good a job promoting Glen's album as they did with Tift Merritt's and Ryan Adams', among others. The music itself is still sinking in, but its a great mix of introspection and declaration. Glen's songwriting has become even sharper as he continues to peer deeper and deeper into his thoughts on life's curve balls, life's inexplicables, and his strong beliefs on equality, anti-commercialism, and his general "live and let live" mantra. With each listen, it is apparent that while Glen's music has become more singer-songwriter and less radio-friendly since leaving Toad, his talon's are still sharp and dig deep into your psyche and your heart. He is a subtle performer which is probably why so many critics have previously been able to overlook him. It takes a few listens to get beyond the initial general listenability of his music to truly uncover just how much of a chord Glen strikes... and how great an album he can put together. I imagine that with the tone of the music and Lost Highway as the label, we might even see CMT pick up a couple of the tracks... especially with Glen's association with Nickel Creek and the Mutual Admiration Society... But, I wouldn't say the album is country at all. It has moments of Americana, but I hear a lot of XTC, maybe a little 80's Peter Gabriel. Hard for me to make comparisons like that since I tend to put Glen in his own little box... Anyway, I'm loving it and am sure I will continue to love it for a long time. I'll stop with my silly gushing now. Back to our regularly scheduled program. Enjoy!

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