Search - Shack :: On the Corner of Miles & Gil (Dig)

Some Problems with Back-Up Musicians and Song Order

W. Wilson | Boxborough, MA | 02/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having followed Shack for several years, I, too, had long awaited this release. I thought the build-up caused my mild disappointment upon initial listenings; however, I do think there are several problems.



I don't think "Tie Me Down" (backed with the entirely forgettable "Uncle Smaegel's Cardigan") was the best choice for the first single or to lead off the album. It shows off one of the main flaws of this album; namely...



The guest musicians don't always seem quite in touch with the soul of Shack. It's as if their tracks are laid down on Shack's barebones songs, and given this distraction it's hard at times to tell if the tracks are as well wrought as those on previous, stellar releases.



"Cup of Tea," which was the second single, is a far better track and shows off Shack's trademark sound. Although I would have liked the acoustic guitar figure at the start of the song to have gone on a little longer before the rest of the band kicked in. This could have kicked off the album, had it been preceded by sound effects. But maybe that Pink Floyd-style album intro is too dated.



In addition to "Cup of Tea," you need to hear "Butterfly," "Shelley Brown," "Black & White," "Funny Things," and "Find a Place." Find a Place is a true sleeper track, and I do think the instrumentation works well here. On this, the band seems to be reaching for something more epic that we might see fully developed on later releases. Time will tell where they go, but I hope that they continue putting out great songs about altered states of consciousness (think of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on acid) and about antiheroes looking for a place to crash, or waiting for salvation from the postman. Shack's charm, and what few if any songwriters cannot capture, is a kind of fascination with the inconsequential.



All of Shack's releases contain a nod to the sixties; it's great when they drop obscure references to and emulate the heroes of that decade (The Byrds, Miles Davis, Love, and others).



Is this CD worth owning? Absolutely! However, if you don't own HMS Fable, Waterpistol, Here's Tom with the Weather, or The Magical World of the Strands, you'd better get your hands on those too when your shop for this one. The rest of the world hasn't yet discovered Shack, so their previous releases tend to go in and out of print, and won't you be sorry when you have to pay $30 for a release you could have gotten for far less."