True to their name, this Chicago group embrace a variety of diverse styles to brash and unique effect. This alone should have prompted attention, unfortunately what inevitably excited the most interest was the star producer who oversaw this their debut set -- Steve Albini. So, what's a man who made his name overseeing hard rockers (Page & Plant, Bush), and grunge whiners (Nirvana) doing with a third wave ska band? Giving them a big noisy sound, of course.For all their syncopated rhythms and tootling horns, the heart of the ...
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True to their name, this Chicago group embrace a variety of diverse styles to brash and unique effect. This alone should have prompted attention, unfortunately what inevitably excited the most interest was the star producer who oversaw this their debut set -- Steve Albini. So, what's a man who made his name overseeing hard rockers (Page & Plant, Bush), and grunge whiners (Nirvana) doing with a third wave ska band? Giving them a big noisy sound, of course.For all their syncopated rhythms and tootling horns, the heart of the band's sound is rock, straddling the spectrum from screaming metal to fist-in-the-air anthemic punk rock à la Sham 69 and Stiff Little Fingers. But not exclusively; they are indeed eclectic. For every storming number like "Harry" or skanking punk rocker "It's Not About You, Kevin," there's a polar opposite like "We Can Make It Happen," a stunner of a song that blends punk energy, an anthemic chorus, and a big band swing style.Often, two totally different genres are brilliantly spliced into a single song, as with "Siddhartha," with its phenomenal blend of ska, street punk, and sensational horns, or the bone-crushing "Near and Far" that juxtaposes bouncy ska with ferocious, grinding hard rock. Needless to say, Albini does wonders for the Eclectics' heavier elements, but by lavishing most of his attention on the guitar, he does the rest of the band no favors, consigning the phenomenal brass and razor-sharp rhythm section to an aural morass of muddy indistinctness, an egregious oversight compounded by the mix. A great record weakened by a "great" producer; the Eclectics deserved better. ~ Jo-Ann Greene, Rovi
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