Anyone remember the swing craze? Man, that flew by like a whirlwind! If I recall correctly, two or three years ago, swing music had a bit of a resurgence in popularity, thanks in part to the resurrection of its cousin ska. Many would argue that the ska trend is now dead as well, but in any case, both trends were fun while they were big, even if they put out their share of sound-alike bands. The W's were really the first Christian band to attempt swing with any real measure of success. When they put out their purposefully cheesy but insanely fun single "The Devil Is Bad" in 1998, the Christian music world ate it up. They wanted more, and many got perplexed upon checking out the band's first album and finding very few songs with much of any reference to Christianity at all. Still, the band skyrocketed for a very short time into the upper tier of Christian music (i.e. the artists who get a track on the WoW collection), and even if they were misunderstood, hey, they were popular.

The band's second album, Trouble with X, came out not too long after, but for some reason this one just never got off the ground - no smash hit single, no sales anywhere near those of their first album. It was a shame, too - this album contains a number of clever songs, and a little more musical variety than the mostly swing, slightly ska sound of their first disc. Every song was still peppered with horns, but something else was going on here - a goofy band was just starting to grow up. Sadly, we never got to see the W's reach full maturity. Despite promising news of their hooking up with new producers and having some daring material in the works for their third album, the band very suddenly split in January 2001, supposedly over artistic differences. So I figure, why not pay a small homage to the band by giving their sophomore CD the recognition it deserves?

Rather Be Dead starts this CD off with a bang. It's an insanely catchy love song, and it really gives you a perfect picture of the band's sound when they're firing on all cylinders. Al of the elements are there - the sassy, zippy horns, the smooth, cymbal-heavy, syncopated drumming, and some slick, slightly wacky vocals from lead singer Andrew Schar. It's not a terribly deep song - its basic premise is "everything is bright and sunny because my baby's here and we'll be together forever", but clever lines like, "Whoa, shut the front door/My bags are packed and I'm yours, all yours now" imply that it might be about a newlywed couple (and I know for a fact that sax player Val Hellman got married while they were working on this album, since he married a friend of a friend of mine). In any case, it's one of my favorite love songs. After all the slow dancing is out of the way, I'd love to dance to this fun little number at my wedding.

Saturday starts off very suddenly - it's an ode to the weekend that sounds suspiciously like "Frank" from the band's first album, only sped up and less swingy (it's got more of a ska/rockabilly flavor to it). It's a fun song about perseverance in the middle of a Friday from hell where what can go wrong will go wrong.

Bully Go Home sounds like the perfect song for a high school dance, if it were the 50's or 60's - it basically tells off a punk kid who thinks its cool to pick on people who are smaller than he is. I don't really care for how the tempo shifts back and forth in this song (this is the downfall of a few of The W's songs), but it's still fun to listen to.

Country Roads is just what you'd think from the title... a cover of the classic John Denver song. Why did they decide to cover it? I have no idea, and some fans of the original might be a little perturbed, but personally, I love this version. It's mid-tempo, dominated mostly by drums and electric guitar, but punctuated with horns in all the right places to give it that sassy swing feeling. I'm surprised a Christian band can get away with recording a song that mentions "missing the taste of moonshine", but hey, it's a classic. The shift to a slower tempo as the band runs through one last chorus works this time around, giving it a wonderfully cheesy sentimentality, as if the guys are a bunch of friends at a college reunion who are slightly tipsy (oops, I mean, uh, really tired) and singing their hearts out one last time. I guess they forgot that they're all from Oregon, which is pretty darn far from West Virginia...

Hit 'em Where It Hurts is one of the most clever songs the band has ever written, taking on a satirical, Steve Taylor sort of attitude. It deals with hypocrisy from the point of view of a hypocrite who expects other people to be perfect and do everything his way. Of course, we don't know anyone like that in our churches, right? Except - ouch - it might be us. The song really does hit where it hurts, not flinching away from the fact that many of us love to hold little mistakes that people make over their heads, refusing to forgive them until we've made them squirm or grovel enough. This is why I love The W's - they're not afraid to say that Christians do some dumb things.

Play the Game is another ideal W's song - short and sweet, insanely catchy, and refusing to force itself to have some deep spiritual meaning. It's basically about a guy who's hooked on video games. What makes this song a winner is its slightly muted intro (making the music sound like it's coming from a distant TV or radio) and its echoed gang-shouts from the other band members. I warn you, you won't be able to get this song out of your head. You'll be walking down the street singing, "Shoot the gun off, BANG BANG!" and frightening whatever small children cross your path.

Stupid sounds like a really dumb (and slightly disturbing song) at first - it has a little more of a big band (or dare I say polka?) feel, and its first verse tells the story of a woman who gets the bright idea of putting her poodle in the microwave to dry it off after a bath. (Dude, even Five Iron Frenzy isn't that crazy with their lyrics.) The second verse is about another stupid person who steals from vending machines and essentially gives away his identity as the crook (I won't tell you how, but it's funny, and somehow it's even funnier because they make you expect a rhyme where there isn't one). But then the clincher comes in the third verse, as the stupid-o-meter is turned on reactionary Christians who think they're out crusading for good but in fact are only irritating and offending the world around them. Once again - ouch.

Tip from Me doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, but the music is interesting. It's a got a lot of staccato horn blasts, and I think there might be a Spanish guitar in there. It kind of sounds like they collaborated with Burlap to Cashmere on this one, even though I know they didn't. The lyrics are intriguing, if not all that clear: "I can see the silhouette of summer/I can see the sun crashing through/I can feel the rain, but no rain no more/Just take this tip from me/Show your love through me."

Where Should I Go is a more subtle, prayerful song asking God for direction; unfortunately it gets bogged down by rhyming one too many things with "go", and overall not being very specific. usually, if you're frustrated over a lack of direction, it's over some specific decision you have to make, and we never find out what that is, so it seems like the singer is just asking God to keep him from bumping into tables and walls. Or maybe that's how confused he is. I don't know.

Used Car Salesman picks up your interest again after a few vague songs - it's a fun and incredibly true-to-life portrayal of, well, used car salesmen and the slimy tricks they pull to get you to spend money on lemons. It's got a slightly bluesy shuffle to it that I really like, and the slightly crazed hick-sounding salesmen giving their pitch in the middle of the song is a nice touch.

Nothing is the closest thing to a ballad that the W's have ever recorded. The verses are sung over a mournful, slow swing beat with a sad clarinet accentuating Andrew's weary words. It's really more cartoonish than outright sad, but then suddenly the pace picks up for a frantic chorus in which Andrew pleads for God to take him just the way he is. Whoever criticized The W's for not dealing with enough Christian themes obviously didn't listen this far - even if he doesn't mention God directly, who else would he be talking to? It's a bit of a sloppy song (especially around the trumpet solo in the middle), but it's fittingly melodramatic.

101 is a short ode to college life and procrastination. It's got a nice bouncy beat to it, and my only wish is that it went a little more into the despair of pulling an all-nighter to get a paper done before it resolved itself. Still, it's another one that gets stuck in my head whether I like it or not.

Chump is a slightly bitter song about a friend (possibly a girlfriend) who keeps flaking out. The singer feels that he is either being avoided or the person is just careless, but eventually he gathers up the guts to say, "I'm not gonna wait for you any more/I don't wanna be your friend any more." It may seem a little unforgiving, but I think we all know how this feels. The ending to this song is a bit awkward and sudden; it seems like the band hasn't taken the time to bring a few of these songs to completion.

Two More Weeks is a great, upbeat way to end the album (though some versions have a bonus track, which I'll get to in a minute). Here, they acknowledge the difficulties of touring, as well as their amazement on how popular they became essentially due to one hit song ("Three chords and a catchy phrase have paved our way/How long can this go on?") It's not as clever as "Superpowers" by their good buddies Five Iron Frenzy, but it gets the same point across - touring is hard, and eventually you just want to go home, sleep in your own bed, and be with your family and/or friends.

The Rumor Weed Song is the bonus track I mentioned, and ironically, it may be the most well-known song on the album, thanks to its presence on WoW 2000. The song was originally written for the VeggieTales video Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed (if you don't know about VeggieTales, they're basically a bunch of Bible-story-telling computer-animated vegetables with the wit of the Animaniacs), and The W's got in on the act and recorded their own version with a few Veggie voices helping out. You can tell it's a kids' song - it tells the story of a guy named Alfred who several people suspect of being a robot. It's a good lesson for kids, and a fun little ditty for the rest of us - just watch yourself, because you'll find yourself reciting the lines to yourself later in those silly little cartoon voices.

Of course, a silly band like the W's has got to have a hidden track, and I won't ruin the joke, but I will tell you that it has to do with the fact that the band knows they're almost annoyingly catchy sometimes. Any fan of the band's music should relate to the joke here.

Well, I'm gonna miss these guys - they were a good example of how Christian music didn't always have to be serious, and it could just discuss life in all of its silliness, and yet it could also be bold in confronting Christians about their hypocrisy. These guys may have picked up on a few musical trends, but lyrically, they wrote about what they were inspired to write about, not always feeling the need to make a profound point. Sometimes a bully is just a bully, and a salesman is just a snake in the grass, and sometimes Christians are stupid. Deal with it.

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Rather Be Dead, Play the Game, Saturday, The Rumor Weed Song, Stupid, Hit 'Em Where It Hurts
Good: Country Roads, Used Car Salesman, Two More Weeks
Decent: Bully Go Home, Tip from Me, Where Should I Go, Nothing, 101
Weak: Chump
Skippable: NONE

Band Members:
Andrew Schar: Guitar, Lead Vocals
Bret Barker: Trumpet
Todd Gruener: Bass Guitar
Valentine Hellman: Tenor Sax, Clarinet
James Carter: Alto Sax
Courtney Stubbert: Drums

Website: http://www.thews.org


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out