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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Promising "anti-folk", with a folk twist..., 12 Dec 2002
The anti-folk movement in New York, home to The Moldy Peaches amongst others, has given birth now to Jeffrey Lewis who, despite the name of the movement, is aligned more to the realms of folk than anything else. Folk, that is, with a modern twist.Whereas many old-school folk singers may want to sing about peace, revolution or love, Lewis is more likely to be found singing about getting head in a Chelsea hotel or a severely bad acid trip. This is certainly a fresh take on a time-honoured tradition of spoken-word, humorous folk songs. Arno Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" is one of the best this reviewer has heard. What impresses most about Lewis, though, is quite how funny he is. The continuing theme of self-loathing is taken to such an extreme throughout that it is difficult not to be amused at how low this man is. "The East River" kicks the album off with Lewis relating how if he had a girl they would eventually find someone better and he would end up jumping, and rotting, in the river. "Seattle", probably the finest outright song on the album, continues the theme with Lewis always wanting to get somewhere to make him "feel his life has begun". Within this he confesses that he is a glass half-full kind of guy, except that the glass is "half-full of nothingness". Other highlights include "The Last Time I Took Acid I Went Insane", a description of what sounds like the most hellacious bad trip in history. Full of hilarious one-liners such as "the second rule of LSD is the roof-top is not a good place to be" and "Grim punched a cat in the head, 'he could read my thoughts', that's what he said". Certainly the funniest track on the album with a hectic, dysfunctional guitar riff to pot. The album is let-down at points by truly terrible production, not something that inhibits most of the album, but tracks such as "Another Girl" take it to extremes where listening almost becomes painful. Generally, though, this is a fine album that unexpectedly charms you in spite of itself. Lewis says in "Life" 'songs are just things to waste your time'. Indeed, but it certainly isn't a waste listening to the finer points of this.
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~ Jeffrey Lewis
~ Jeffrey Lewis
~ Jeffrey Lewis
~ Jeffrey Lewis
~ Kimya Dawson
