So I wanted to look at when my 54-40 albums were released, and I popped into Wikipedia. As I’m perusing their discography, I am drawn to their later releases. Now, I remember Casual Viewin’, but after that nothing. I had no idea they released anything post 2000, save for the singles collection I have, Radio Love Songs (2002). Heading down to the list of singles and their release dates, I am still not recognizing anything post-2002. So, I guess they fit the profile for “fade away,” rather than “burn out.”

To the album.

I really like the movie High Fidelity. I’m a big John Cusack fan, and the movie uses music to enhance the story in a terrific way. There’s a scene in the record shop where the guys are listing their “top five track one, side ones.” I think Cheer Up Peru from Trusted by Millions might make my list. If not top five, then honourable mentions. It’s exactly the catchy upbeat song that I like a happy album to start out with. Now, clearly that’s not the only way to go. We’ll get to my all time favourite track one, side one, when we get to The Hip, and it goes in a totally different direction. But this works well for this album.

The album keeps up the pace with Stick to Milly, a song where you would never be able to guess the title from the lyrics. Those tend to amuse me ever since a previous guitar teacher of mine asked the class to name as many songs as we could that didn’t contain the name of the song in the chorus. From here the album moves along nicely to 54-40 mainstay Love You All, and my favourite 54-40 track, Crossing a Canyon. This is an example of a phenomenon I encounter partially due to my love of album construction: my favourite song from a band isn’t on my favourite album of theirs. Here we see one example, and another I can think of off of the top of my head is from my punk catalog. I’m pretty excited for us to get to Bad Religion.

Unfortunately after Crossing a Canyon the album starts a gentle slide downhill. HJooked on Bliss is a rather undistinguishable track. Not unpleasant to listen to, and it fits well on the album, but it’s just not overly noteworthy. The album looks like it might recover from this with the surprisingly good Couldn’t be Sorry. This is a groovy little tune that probably could have done pretty well as a single. I like it, and generally wouldn’t skip over it when listening to the CD. Tragically, this is where the wheels really start to come off. the next song is vying for the “worst track on the album” title. This Is My Haircut would have made the album better with it’s exclusion. The next few songs are musically unremarkable, though there seems to be an attempt to try some different things musically. Sadly nothing really works. I am slightly amused by the title Frankl’s Revenge, as I find the existentialist in me hoping it’s a reference to Viktor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy. The lyrics certainly suggest that it is, and that’s awesome. Muscially it’s the best of a bad lot, in my opinion, as it’s followed up by I Love Candy, and Cry a Little.

Now, we come to an interesting track. Here, right at the very end of the album, 54-40 chooses to stash Lies to Me. Really? Here? Talk about a deep cut. This peppy little number is a short, catchy jaunt that sounds great on the album, and plays even better live. I honestly think the album would have worked much better if they had dropped This Is My Haircut and Cry a Little, and moved Lies to Me up into it’s position in track 7. Less dead space, tighter, more focused album. I don’t really have anything against Cry a Little, it just really doesn’t work where it is. It seems to be a little experimental for the album (their version of Revolution No.9) and doesn’t fit well.

So, all in all I like the album. Some great tracks, and a good feel to it. Just a little too long, with a couple duds on it. I would say that it’s probably not as good an album as Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret, but it’s a case of the high’s being higher, but the lows being lower.