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 Questions
in my mind after listening to Great
Big Sea's new album Something Beautiful: Does “Hootie” count as a
musical genre? Is “wuss rock” too harsh?
Of course, it is too harsh, but still... this album forces
me to differentiate between what I actually dig and what might be considered
“good.” I’ll admit that after a couple run-throughs of the CD I had more than
one of these ditties stuck in my head and individually there are some really
great melodies in there. But sorbet is pretty good once in a while, too, but
I’d never base an entire meal around it. Great Big Sea has put out a bunch of
listener-friendly songs that given the right place and time could become huge
radio hits to be screamed along to in sorority houses or conversely forgotten
in the background of a Coors Light commercial. Tight vocal harmonies and catchy
non-offensive acoustic guitars are the m.o. here, with their great wrinkle being
an infusion of ethnicity from their native Newfoundland. Excuse my ignorance,
but the music of Newfoundland sounds quite a bit like Irish pub music with Celtic
fiddling and the like, which does bring something out of the ordinary to the
mix. The result is interesting if not a bit off--like a black and tan made with
Guiness and... Budweiser (excuse the second beer metaphor). Frankly, the best
moments are when the band goes furthest to the roots end of their spectrum with
the whirling reels (like the band-arranged traditional “Chafe’s Ceilidh”) and
stays away from the formulaic pop (like “Summer” or the single-worthy “Shines
Right Through Me”.) The music lacks any semblance of edge, the lyrics have the
emotional depth of “Roses Are Red…”, and yet, still, I can’t say I hate it as
much as I should. Now if I could only get this darn Great Big Sea tune out of
my head...
File between Hootie and the Blowfish.
Aaron Stein
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