Limblifter
(Mercury)
by Jon Sarre
The more things change, the more they stay the same. You can talk all you want about how the radio programmers and record labels have finally opened up to punk rock, and how a band like Rancid can have a bonafide commercial radio hit and even make it onto the hallowed pages of Rolling Stone, squeezed in between a perfume ad and an in-depth profile on some burned-out ’60s relic. You’d think that would lead to a more adventurous Brave New Music World. That’s what I’ve (naively) hoped for, anyway. Instead, the A&R wizzes continue to dig up these moderately souped-up Anglophile jangly-guitar pop bands. Yeach! You know the kind: nice hooks, falsetto choruses, distortion set on “polite,” infectiously sing-a-longable (if you don’t actually know the words, you can make up your own, so what difference does it really make?); in short, “modern rock” you can listen to on the way to your dead-end job, or while relaxing over some micro-brew; a hopeful soundtrack to your wanna-be-upscale life.
The Rembrandts, no, I mean, Bush, um… what’s the band called? Oh yeah, Limblifter, right. Jeez, what smart guys. It must’ve taken years of market research (or one afternoon of random radio listening) to put this record together. What a concept! It’s like Oasis, only louder. Hell, they even sound English (but they’re Canadian)! I’ve gotta say, it just gives me goosebumps every time the singer wails out nonsensical lyrics like “Urr-slurr-lerr, what’s inside your jar of may-oo,” in his affected nasal accent. Then I wanna throw up.
It’s pretty obvious that a lot of money was blown on this disc (don’t we have the damn technology to add some extra guitar tracks to Meet the Beatles? We could do away with thousands of shitty bands in one fell swoop). I’m sure Jim Rondinelli (he’s “worked” with all the greats, like Matthew Sweet and Alex Chilton, and he’s partly responsible for the “Hey, haven’t I heard this song before?” feel of the record) didn’t come cheap. So if you like to be assured that your pop narcotic has been painstakingly crafted and promoted by the best in the biz (because, hey, you deserve the best!), then by all means buy Limblifter. If nothing else, it’s high-quality, disposable homogenized shit. Nice cover design, too.
