American Music Club - Golden Age
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Music CD Cover
Artist: American Music ClubEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Music Label: Merge Records
Soundtracks:
- All My Love
- The John Berchman Victory Choir
- Decibels and Little Pills
- The Sleeping Beauty
- The Stars
- All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco
- Who You Are
- The Windows on the World
- One Step Ahead
- The Dance
- I Know That's Not Really You
- On My Way
- The Grand Duchess of San Francisco
Free Music Notes for Golden Age
Free Music Review: Laid-back, smooth, with a beautiful, bittersweet lyricism.
Hit: 4 Stars
To those in the know, Mark Eitzel's AMC have made some of the most marvellous but melancholy music known to man.
American Music Club were the forerunners of thought provoking/anguished alternative American rock during the '80s and early '90s.
But after a 10-year hiatus, the band reformed in 2004 for a triumphant reunion tour and subsequent album Love Songs for Patriots.
Although the lead singer and songwriter Mark Eitzel has always remained productive in his solo capacity, he really appears to be finding his form again with AMC.
The line up boasts a new rhythm section with bassist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot replacing Danny Pearson and Tim Mooney who stayed up in San Francisco working on their own individual projects while Eitzel decamped down to LA to work more closely with long time guitarist Vudi.
"The Golden Age" is exactly what you'd expect - the finest lyricism with dreamy Seventies pop settings.
But there is a lively spring to their step, helped no doubt by the new rhythm section.
The marching-band lilt of "I Know That's Not Really You" injects some well placed, positive upbeat relief with pumping accordion and mariachi horns before closing down the record with more contemplations of fallen beauty.
The opener "All My Love", is a serene, understated beauty of a track that washes over you in effortless fashion: it begins with acoustic arpeggios and brushed drums before Eitzel immediately engages with his earnest and poetic lyrics. "I wish we were always high, I wish we could swim in the sky", he sings with intimate emotion - Eitzel's dusky vocals working well in tandem with the lovely acoustic guitar licks.
Typically colourful and provocative in his storytelling, "The John Berchman Victory Choir" introduces a somewhat brighter pop sensibility before Vudi's articulate guitar personality begins to shine on "Decibels And The Little Pills".
With drums locked in country shuffle it recalls a sedated Glen Campbell as Eitzel contemplates futile efforts to find salvation in a rock crowd.
"The Sleeping Beauty" is one of the most beautiful offerings here, alongside "The Stars" with a blanket of harmony vocals and guitar work that does provide some indication of why Coldplay found such inspiration at Vudi's fingertips.
"All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco" is an instant highlight as Eitzel generates that sullen drama and soul searching and strangely recalls the melodic style of '80s favourites Prefab Sprout without really sounding '80s.
"The Golden Age" is filled with Eitzel's self deprecating, resolute, unrestrained and defiantly hopeful lyrical prowess - enough to justify his reputation as one of America's finest lyricists.
The result is that "The Golden Age" contains his finest songs for some time.
An album that once again should make American Music Club more than a best-kept secret. The only trouble is that there have been plenty more like this in the past!
Standout Tracks: "Sleeping Beauty", "All The Lost Souls", "Windows On The World", "All My Love" and "Decibels And The Little Pills".
The Collection
Songs of Love
Kings of Rock 'n' Roll: the Best of
Golden Age Poster
This record by the band American Music Club is an effort to experiment and extend the range of their expression. The Golden Age is no exception: from the Mariachi horns to the breezy Beach Boys harmonies to the unfolding layers of feedback, this album is full of varied, joyous, and generous pop music. AMC is a San Francisco-based band led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. AMC is better known for mastering the disparate strands of American music into a wholly unique synthesis all their own. On June 20, 2007, AMC announced a new lineup connected to the band's base of operations moving to Los Angeles. Eitzel and Vudi remain, while Mooney and Pearson stayed behind in San Francisco. They are replaced by bassist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot. 13 tracks. Merge Records.Turns out that 2004?s Love Songs for Patriots wasn?t just a one-off reunion record for San Francisco?s now quarter-century-old American Music Club. With original members Mark Eitzel and Mark "Vudi" Pankler still joined at the hip--at least when it comes to recapturing the lovely studio sound that carved out the band?s niche--AMC?s second second-life album (recorded with L.A. musicians on bass and drums) is as gorgeous and disorderly as any in its nine-album catalog. Eitzel?s panoramic songwriting ranges from a crush ("All My Love") and a hometown vignette ("All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco"), to a World Trade Center memory ("The Windows on the World") and a call-out to the 18th-century patron of altar boys ("The Victory Choir"). His emotionally unaffected vocals and Vudi?s jagged guitar work weave those ideas into a melodic and atmospheric formula that sounds as fresh and influential today as it did in the early 1990s. --Scott Holter
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