Pros: a couple moments of inspired songwriting and creativity
Cons: the rest of the moments
The Bottom Line: American Hi-Fi brings nothing new or even special to the table. They're very much a take them or leave them band. I personally say 'leave them.'
MattA75's Full Review: American Hi-Fi [PA] by American Hi-Fi
As I sit here listening to American Hi-Fi's self titled 2001 debut album, I can't help but wonder exactly what the hell I saw in this band when I proclaimed them to be one of the best new bands that that year brought us.
Founded by ex Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt drummer Stacy Jones (who moves up to play guitar and sing lead vocals in this project), the quartet is rounded out by guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. The first part of that sentence gives away exactly why I bought this disc in the first place: I was a huge fan of Cleo, and became quite an admirer of Jones' energetic and fluid drumming style. Curiosity got the best of me I guess; I wanted to know just what kind of songwriting and vocal chops he had. Could he be another Dave Grohl? God, did I actually THINK that at one point?
American Hi-Fi consistently rides a thin line between the power pop stylings of a band like Cheap Trick, and the pop punk stylings of a band like Green Day. This results in a group of songs that don't have much original life or energy to them, as well as an album that while catchy and fun on the first few listens, soon reveals its creative weaknesses upon deeper inspection.
The best song is probably one of the more harder rocking tracks on the disc, dubbed My Only Enemy. I love the primal sound that the band gets out of the drums, and one listen to this song convinces me that this is the type of percussive sound Metallica really wanted for their ST ANGER album. It's definitely lo-fi and raw. Those adjectives could describe the rest of the song as well, with the layered guitar chords, heavy bassline, and the angriest that Jones sounds on the entire record.
Ironically, the band follows up their most angry song with their most wistful song. Don't Wait for the Sun is quite a departure from the rest of the disc, focusing more on Jones' thin, emotional vocals and the soft melodic touches of guitar, bass, and drums.
This is quite a departure from the band's first single, the minor hit Flavor of the Week, which gave us the wonderful line "he's too stoned, Nintendo." The song is basic pop punk and it's not hard to see why it became a radio hit. What is hard to see is why this band was picked over every other pop punk band that has songs just as catchy as this one. The best compliment I can give this song is that its video, a tribute to the cult classic film Heavy Metal Parking Lot, was one of the best of 2001.
The rest of the album is disappointingly boring, even if it does have its "too catchy to really hate" moments. I should hate I'm A Fool with all my heart, but its just one of those songs that has a catchy little guitar riff and well, at worst I can call it generic. At best, I can say it sounds like the band is having more fun on this song than anywhere else on the album.
Safer on the Outside is yet another "soft verse, anthemic chorus" track, the kind of track that started getting really overdone around 1994 or so, but yet the kind of track that seems to be radio's favorite to play to this day (don't believe me, look at Creed's chart success). Surround sounds like an Andrew W.K. reject soundwise. The band goes for the angry sound of My Only Enemy again on Scar, only to come off as contrived and yet again uninspired.
It's not that this disc is hard to listen to, or even bad per say. It is just that in this day and age, if you are going to be a power pop band or a pop punk band (or even worse, a combination of the two), you had better be bringing something special to the table. Unfortunately, more often than not, with American Hi-Fi, this is just not the case. The songwriting is full of bad cliches and faux welled up anger. There are some nice guitar riffs and noodles here, but far from enough to consider this album 'good.'
To be perfectly honest with you, if you want a perfect power pop record, check out the latest Fountains of Wayne album, or Cheap Trick: Live at Budokan. If you want a perfect pop punk record, look no further than Green Day'sDookie, or even Rancid's...And Out Come the Wolves.
In the meantime, I might suggest to Mr. Jones that he go back to drumming for a power pop band, rather than being the leader of one.
After years of playing drums for Letters To Cleo and Veruca Salt, Stacy Jones decided to start a band of his own, with a little help from his friends....More at Buy.com
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