"Dulcinea": Sweet As Candy
Written: May 05 '01 (Updated Jul 17 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wonderful songs such as "Fall Down", "Something's Always Wrong", "Nanci", "Crowing", and "Fly From Heaven"
Cons: Last two tracks are forgettable.
The Bottom Line: A solid followup to "Fear". Better or worse than "Fear"? You be the judge.
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| marcman's Full Review: Dulcinea by Toad The Wet Sprocket |
"Dulcinea" was Toad the Wet Sprocket's 1994 followup to the immensely popular "Fear" album (http://marcman.epinions.com/content_20933938820). "Fear" was a breakthrough album for the band and focused a lot of public attention on the band. When "Dulcinea" came out some people were disappointed, feeling that it hadn't measured up to "Fear". Others, including myself, found "Dulcinea" to be an excellent album with great production and a great diversity of wonderful songs with thought-provoking lyrics.
"Dulcinea" begins with "Fly From Heaven". Musically, this is a wonderful song and it's very interesting lyrically as well. Many have said that it's about the murder of a man's brother. I believe that this is true, but I've come to believe that it goes a step further and that the brother in question is supposed to be Jesus. In other words, songwriter (and singer/guitarist) Glen Phillips is imagining that he is the brother of Jesus. The key clues to me are the title itself (with "Fly from Heaven" sounding a lot like the resurrection to me) and the mention of a follower named Paul (one of the apostles in Christianity). Judge for yourself from the lyrics:
Paul is making me nervous
Paul is making me scared
Walks into this room and swaggers
Like he's God's own messenger
Change the name of my brother
Change the things that he said
Says that he speaks to him
But he never even knew the man
But I'd give my life for him
...
Will it be the end
Or is he still ascending
But if he's all you say
Would he fly from heaven
To this world again, to this world again.
"Woodburning" is a hard, angry song about a man who feels powerless to make a change. "Something's Always Wrong" is one of Toad's bigger hits and it's about a relationship gone wrong. "Stupid" is anything but. It's hard to tell from the lyrics, but I think it's about embarrassing yourself by wrongly assuming that someone is stupid (in this case, a carpenter). "Crowing" is a beautiful tune about a woman that failed to keep her relationship alive. I've always liked this tune, but I like it even more after hearing Glen Phillips play it live on acoustic. A lot of tunes don't sound as interesting when they're stripped down and played acoustic, but this one really does. "Listen" is another angry tune. "Windmills" is a nice little ballad. "Nanci" is an odd little tune with weird chords and amusing lyrics about two guys fighting over (folk/country singers) Nanci (Griffith) and Loretta (Lynn):
I can't believe you
You bend your words
Like Uri Geller's spoons
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Are you joking?
No, I'm just fine
You take Nanci
For me Loretta's fine
No, I've changed my mind
I'll take Nanci
For you Loretta's fine
"Fall Down" is the most upbeat tune on the album and one of their more popular songs. "Inside" is a pretty hard tune with an interesting rhythm and melody. The last two songs are called "Begin" and "Reincarnation Song" and I don't have much to say about them because I don't find them very memorable. They're pretty slow and boring and the weak point of the album for me.
Some thoughts about the title, themes, and Don Quixote
"Dulcinea" was the love of the title character in the famous book Don Quixote (de la Mancha) from Cervantes. Don Quixote was an idealist (so much so that he suffered from delusions) and Dulcinea was his ideal woman. I've read that Glen (former lead singer of Toad) has said that the main theme of this album is ideals. He's indicated that they felt pressure to create the perfect, ideal album after the success of "Fear". I think this is where the name of the album comes from. I've often thought about the Don Quixote book and wondered whether or not it is coincidence that one of songs on the album is called "Windmills" (in the book, Don Quixote mistakenly attacks windmills, thinking that they are evil giants). Something to think about...
Marc's Toad links
* Fear - http://marcman.epinions.com/content_20933938820
* Dulcinea -- http://marcman.epinions.com/content_20944752260
* Coil - http://marcman.epinions.com/content_20929547908
* Pale - http://marcman.epinions.com/content_20641582724
* Abulum (Glen Phillips) - http://marcman.epinions.com/content_19691900548
* Bree's Toad Online page - http://www.toadonline.com/
* Glen Phillips Official page - http://www.glenphillips.com
* Lapdog page - http://www.lapdogmusic.com
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
marcman
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Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 33 members
About Me:
If I was writing for my dinner, I'd be a heck of a lot thinner.
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