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June 14, 2003
A not-really-review of Under the Table...
The caveat:
I'm not going to "review" the album, per se -- a review is written by a critic, and I am not a critic. Plus, a review is written to encourage people to go buy the album or not, and I'll wager that most anybody reading these words already owns Under the Table and Above the Sun. Instead I'm just going to talk about it, and where it fits into Reckless Kelly's discography; call that whatever you like.
[Now, I'll give you fair warning: don't expect a sycophantic blanket approval. Desolation Angel walks a fine line... we are aware that we are publishing, that we are putting words out in the cosmos for consumption by any that choose, and responsibility comes with that. If we were a "music site" that is actually an online record store (like LoneStarMusic.com), we'd throw sycophantic blanket approval, because we'd want you to click on our button and buy the album so we make some cash. Gregg and I have had lots of conversations about whether we have a right, as a self-proclaimed RK fan site, to say whatever might be on our minds even if it isn't always positive. But, responsibility to self ends up taking precedent: the day I end up writing only what others want to read is the day I take my iBook and my modem and go home.]
Under the Table is RK's best album to date.
I'll justify my position: Millican was amazing, no question... a rainmaking debut that had hoary Americana critics waking up and shaking the cobwebs out of their ears. But, it had that thing that many first albums had: "Here's 'our sound'. Have you noticed our sound? This is what Reckless Kelly sounds like. Do you get it? Have you heard our sound yet?"
Norah Jones' debut is an example of what I mean. It's not a negative quality, to my mind: you have to introduce people to what you are. If a debut album is all over the place, how is it convincing listeners what you are about? How can they tell if they like you? Most people need to classify music, to categorize it, to make it fit in a certain little box in their brain. And then, an artist can always come back and stretch her chops later... but there'll be no "later" if you don't get off the ground... and you can't get off the ground if you don't let people understand your sound. Am I making any sense?
Beyond the debut, there was Live at Stubb's, then the The Day, and I loved them both. But I can see objectively, and I hope you do too, why those will never be benchmark Reckless Kelly albums. Stubb's was the obligatory live album, and it did more to reward existing fans than bring in new ones (as all live albums are wont to do, one notable exception being Robert Keen's No. 2 Live Dinner, which served more as a greatest-hits); frankly, I hardly listen to Stubb's anymore. Why do I need to, when I go to as many actual live shows as I do? (also, I was at the recording that night, with an ex that I prefer not to remember as often as possible, so there's another reason it collects dust on my shelf)
The Day always seemed jinxed to me. The band had lost their lead guitar, and while the substitute on the album was a damned fine one, and David Abeyta came on soon after, there was a pervasive feeling of unrest that year... the fans had watched The Revolving Guitar Era, and could never have guessed that Chris Schelske was soon to go as well. There was the whole hot-potato label thing too... to me, The Day emitted an aura of incohesion and uncertainty -- not surrounding the songs themselves, but as a memento of where RK was as a band that year.
So if we are comparing just Millican and Under the Table, the latter is "deeper" and "tighter" -- and all that jazz you've already read in the piles of press about the new album, in the new studio, with the new label.
But long before Under the Table was the proverbial gleam in Ray Kennedy's eye... before the demo had even been recorded... Cody, David, Jay, Jimmy, and Willy had gelled. All on their own -- Sugar Hill didn't do that for them. We've addressed that here, ad infinitum, ad nauseam, so I don't need to do it again. Still, it's the thing that makes all the difference, and watching the bonus video of their time in Tennessee illustrates it for anyone who wasn't sure.
My brother actually helped me nail down what is so right about Under the Table. He'd poached my advance copy of the album (I never got it back, the little bastard), and he and his girlfriend (who met at an RK show, and so have a sentimental spot for the band) just loved it, and had been listening to it non-stop. We were riding around in his car, and I asked what they thought. Dave thought a moment and replied, "it sounds more slick, more commercial."
And I remembered instantly a book I'd read about screenwriting. The authors explained that everyone tries so hard to avoid writing a "commercial" script, that they can miss the forest for the trees: "Rarely is a screenplay good simply because it's commercial. But often a screenplay is commercial simply because it is good." That's the essence of Under the Table for me. There is this huge backlash in the Texas music scene right now; everyone is jumping on the Nashville-bashing bandwagon. Cory Morrow even sells t-shirts that say "Nashville Sucks", which I find terribly tacky. The mob mentality that "Nashville sucks" is metastasizing, as fans who don't understand why musicians might feel that way, just paint everything out of Nashville with the same broad negative brush -- forgetting about the hundreds of truly talented artists who didn't "sell out" or "lose their edge" or "forget their roots" simply because they went up there.
Reckless Kelly hasn't "gone Nashville" with this album. Sure, they recorded there, with a Big Name and Big Label backing, blahbitty blah blah -- but that's where the talent with whom they chose to collaborate just happens to live and work. This album sounds clean and strong. Yes, the CD liner looks fancy, and there are shotglasses and matchbooks and posters and all the merchandising doo-dahs. Yes, Under the Table is polished and slick and "commercial"-- and every other snarky word that people like to throw at artists who are doing well, and who make really good music.
So be it.
go to notes about the CD release weekend
