"Semiautobiographical? a breakthrough for already-great band
Aaron Mannino | Seattle, WA, USA | 11/20/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I reflect on this album, "Semiautobiographical", the second full-length release by Seattle band Peter Parker, there is a memory that comes to mind. I remember seeing Peter Parker play a set to open for Harvey Danger in Olympia's (now defunct) all-ages venue, the Metropolis. There was a long line out front before the show, everyone and their little brother wearing Peter Parker's then-new "Peter Parker is a group" t-shirts. I had seen Peter Parker two or three times before in Seattle, and had thought of them as a pop-punk/rock band with an almost cutesy kind of class. Although they played pop songs, they were too aggressive to be bubble-gum, and didn't seem to have an air of arrogance that turned you off. Instead, their grace came in humility, and this gave them a kind of honest sweetness that made it hard to stop smiling while you watched them play. The catchiness of the songs (most of which appear on their first LP, "Migliore!") promised a definite marketability, but not with a soul-compromising commerciality. However, with all of my concepts of them in mind, that night they played several songs that left me dumbfounded. Amongst them, an early version of a song called "Live at Leeds" (which they have played at just about every show since and appears on "Semiautobiographical"), which left me shaking my head, thinking, "They'll never get away with this!" Their newest songs had taken such a sharp left turn that the teen pop fan attending the show was pinched against the car door. Their new sound was such a development that hearing the interspersed favorites from "Migliore!" along with the newer songs was almost like hearing two bands alternating onstage. The new songs were not borderline-but light years away-from being bubble-gum pop. The progressions were complicated and quirky, the vocals segued from seething to pitiful (as Matthew Parker, Peter Parker's frontman whimpers "You ask too much of me" in "Live at Leeds"). The new songs were so far from "I don't want to go to another show/ We can be too cute or we can be too complicated" ("The Aesthetic of Dumb" from "Migliore!") that it made me tense with fear to look at the faces of the audience members that surrounded me, expecting to see kids who came hoping to see their favorite pop/rock trio with their mouths dropped wide open. Instead I saw even bigger smiles. I too loved the new sound. I just didn't expect the new, intricate, and heavily-artistic sound to catch as quickly as it did. But not only did their original fanbase love them even more, Peter Parker had expanded their musical horizons so much that they had invited music-lovers of all genres to rock with the best of them. Peter Parker had dropped their pop limitations and gained a freedom to do whatever it is that they wanted. In the second song on "Semiautobiographical", "Our Hearts Are Racing", Mona Parker (Peter Parker's bassist) invites the listener to "Relax and be yourself". Well, that's just what Peter Parker did. They relaxed and became themselves. "Semiautobiographical" is a must-have. You will love it because it rocks. Your mom will like because it's well crafted. You music-snob friends will like it because it's not corporate or cheesy-sounding. You might not be singing each song by the time it ends (like you might have done listening to their previous recordings), but after a few listens to this album, the catchy songs that this band can't stop writing will shine through the elaborate arrangements, and you will realize why one of Seattle's greatest modern-day bands just got even better."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1