Search - 54-40 :: Dear Dear

The first of their three best CDs

05/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I gotta disagree with the reviewer below. Once the band got dropped from Warner after "Fight for Love" and picked up by Sony Canada, something must have happened internally, because the (presumed) turmoil carried over for three albums and resulted in the finest music they have ever produced.This is an interesting transitional album, bridging the decreasing but still evident naivete of their earlier CDs with the noisier/darker music to come. Neil Osborne's lyrics are increasingly hard-edged and gritty, and wink-wink/kiss-off double entendres make their first appearance here (a la "Nice to Luv You"). The band rocks out dirtily and menacingly for really the first time here (like on "You Don't Get Away (That Easy)"), and the playing is so effortless and top-notch (especially on my fave 54-40 song, "Music Man") that it's almost impossible not to get swept up in the record's (admittedly tempered) sense of joy.For a band that used to wear 1930s gear to reinvent themselves so convincingly as rockers is quite a trick to pull off, and the territory first explored here served them well through '96's "Trusted by Millions." Let's hope it's a land they rediscover on records to come."