Search - Eleventh Dream Day :: Beet

Ditto........."Better gone than getting Occupied"

riot67 | detroit | 11/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The fact that Eleventh Dream Day remains nothing more than a minor footnote in indie rock history is nothing short of a travesty. "Beet" is a masterpiece and "Between Here and There" may be one of the top 5 songs of the 80's or 90's for that matter. This is rock-n-roll, not hype (ala--grunge) so toss out your Nirvana CD's and get this."

Ready to rumble, punch-drunk and the better for it

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 01/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This, EDD's second album and first for major A&M, is their most entertaining. You can feel their excitement at being on a big label with a "name" indie-rock producer (Gary Waliek), and they made it to the majors after only one album, their squirmy Prairie School Freakout (that and other EDD albums are also reviewed by me). This does not sound drastically different; no power ballads or poser proto-emo manifestos. No aping of REM or the rootsier bands emerging at the end of the 80s, pre-grunge. Yet, as shown in Janet Beveridge Bean's country-tinged vocals, the richer mix that distinguished EDD from its now-forgotten peers on what used to be college radio remains their trademark. This is probably, along with their next LPs "Lived to Tell" and "El Moodio", their most accessible disc.



Arguably a bit lighter and less world-weary at least in some of its tunes, this album sounds not exactly relaxed but ready for action. The band works well together, reminding me of what they must have sounded like live. The ambiance of a bar band on a tiny stage blasting away carries somehow into the songs here. It sprawls a bit less, and punches more, than some of their later, more diffuse (if lovelier!) recordings.



When I hear "Burn Down the Mars Hotel" today for the umpteenth time, I still chuckle. "No more dancing bears." The songs here swagger with a sly wink, and they present themselves a bit larger than life. They remind me of boasts from a barstool habitue. EDD captures this piss-n-vinegar strut and the false bravado behind the pose deftly, and the songs here assert themselves with all the vigor of a revved-up Camaro back of the bar ready to roar off down the neon-dimmed highway. It's that mood that permeates Beet.



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