The Drams- Jubilee Dive

Should I really be reviewing albums like Jubilee Dive? Is a band like the Drams even relevant to what we are doing on this blog? What is the point in trashing a record that most WSJR readers would never consider buying in the first place? These are the questions I started to ask myself after about five minutes of listening to this album for the first time, knowing all too well that there was no way I was going to get through its 14 tracks without a struggle. I needed a way out, an excuse to not listen to these songs ever again, a chance to escape from the feeling that I had to write about them. There were two major problems that I just couldn't seem to get around, and I thought that avoiding the whole thing would probably be best. The first problem was the fact that merely listening to these emotional mid tempo country rock snore fests was a pretty painful experience in and of itself, and the second was that it seemed almost impossible to come up with anything to say about an album that isn't quite terrible enough to be funny, but boring enough to be completely forgettable. Basically, there are only a few ways in which one can say "this sucks," and I think I've tried just about all of them on this blog.

But nevertheless, The Drams are relevant to a lot of people in this tiny little world known as local music, and since this is primarily a local music blog, I decided that a fair review based on a careful listen was warranted. After all, the band seems to be fairly well known on the local circuit, and the fact that all but one of its members have previously played in formerly popular local rock bands Slobberbone and Budapest One means that their record is noteworthy enough to write about, even if doing so might not be very fun. Basically, whether I like it or not, this is something of a big release in local music, and someone probably has to say something about it.

Of course, the difficult part isn't simply telling you that this record isn't very good, because it clearly isn't. The real challenge lies in explaining exactly why it isn't good, since nothing on it is truly offensive. Ok, here goes: take the worst songs on the Clerks soundtrack (especially that Golden Smog song), mix them up with the worst Wilco songs you can think of, throw in a bit of popular Nashville country along with a dash of Train, and you're probably getting pretty close to what Jubilee Dive sounds like. Most of the album consists of overly slick, extraordinarily dry adult contemporary southern rock songs about drinks, girls, politics, angels (not kidding), and just about anything else that you probably don't want to hear these guys talk about. This is "regular guy" music to a fault, and I can't stand regular guys (or at least their music).

And yes, for all you people who are into "good ol fashioned songwritin" or whatever Everyman bullshit you like to say, the melodies are good enough, the singing is decent, and the playing is tight and competent for the most part. The main problem is simply that there seems to be nothing behind these songs, as one flows into the next before you notice it has ended, staying uniformly stiff and lifeless throughout. The first four songs sound like they should be on the soundtrack to an early 90's roadtrip movie where Drew Barrymore is wearing flannel, showing just enough of The Drams' country influences to confirm that yes, these guys are probably from Texas, but never going much deeper than the kind of post-Alternative Nation guitar pop that record executives still think "the kids" listen to. Length is also a big issue on a lot of these tracks. For example, "Holy Moses" clocks in at 6 1/2 minutes with a cheesy chorus about angles coming down from heaven and a torturous helping of unnecessary solos and predictable chord changes that render it a VERY long 6 1/2 minutes that could probably be cut in half. Elsewhere, the ballad "When You're Tired" drags on for another wandering six minutes without really going anywhere, and closing track "Make A Book" ends up being little more than a five minute reminder of the luke warm power pop that dominates the beginning of the record, failing to make a case for going back and checking out those tracks again. Ironically, "You Won't Forget," which is clearly the album's highlight, is also its second longest song. But unlike most of the other tracks, the band maintains interest here with a strong melody, relatively minimal yet effective guitar work, and a horns breakdown/changeup in the middle that sounds unbelievably refreshing within its context. Unfortunately, the Drams fail to bust out with any other surprises, leaving the listener with the feeling that the track was probably a fluke.

The bottom line is that anyone who agrees with this review probably would have never given this album a chance in the first place, and anyone that I've pissed off here has probably made it a rule to never listen to anything they read on this blog anyway. To put it another way, I'm still not exactly sure why I reviewed Jubilee Dive, and I'm also unclear as to why the Drams recorded it.

(rating is out of a possible five stars)