An Overview of Later Jayhawks Albums (1997-2003)
The Unsung Heroes of Pop Music Experiment and Then Return to Form
May 18, 2009
In the early 90's the Jayhawks rested somewhere between the "grunge"/"alternative" uber-hype and the under-the-radar buzzbands. As time went on they kept their middle of the road spot in popularity contests, releasing the darker Sound of Lies in 1997 and the sunnier Smile in 2000.
Neither album struck a chord with the sunny, boyband loving pre-teens or the dark, nu-metal loving meatheads. Then, a few years later – when no one was looking – the Jayhawks made their masterpiece: Rainy Day Music.
Sound of Lies
After Mark Olson's good-terms departure from the 'Hawks following the TTGG tour, Gary Louris was left to come up with an album's worth of songs whether or not he had them. And sometimes he didn't.
Sound of Lies had immaculate production and some of the best Jayhawks tunes: the lush "The Man Who Loved Life,” a classic mid-tempo shot of sorrow in "Trouble,” and every music critic's favorite no-brainer comparison, "Big Star" and it's resemblance to the group of the same name.
True enough, Louris seems to be channeling Alex Chilton's knack for sad, moody pop that doesn't sound like sad, moody pop. While "Dying on the Vine,” "Bottomless Cup" (a Tim O'Reagan song, to be fair), and the aforementioned "Big Star" all do well in serving the Chilton godhead, "Stick In the Mud" and "It's Up to You" fall a little flat.
While it's unfair to test one band against the other, the comparisons are there to be made: pretty singing, strummy pop, boogie rock, introspective lyrics with dark turns. It's all there, and though some songs aren't as effective (ineffective is too harsh for the songs that are "bad"), Sound of Lies is a solid album that's earned its spot at the top of many a Hawks' fan's list.
Smile
Another fun comparison is the Jayhawks' Smile and Brian Wilson's SMiLE, with the idea of adventurous pop being the common thread. Smile used drum machines, the studio tricks of KISS producer Bob Ezrin, and an even bigger shift from their traditional piano and organ to more keyboard sounds. Whereas Sound of Lies was mostly a melancholy record with glimmers of pop bliss, Smile was its inverse: pop gem after pop gem with a line or two about being high on cocaine thrown in for grit purposes.
Surprisingly, the drum machines actually achieve the desired effect of using modern techniques without tying the songs to an era. The rock backbeat is still there, and the drum programming adds a bit of drive. Of course, the songs are still there too, and with acoustic guitars starting off about a third of the album's tracks, it's hardly fair to say that the Jayhawks have changed, per se.
Certainly they have, as a big messy slab of Dinosaur Jr style guitar-rock like "Baby, Baby, Baby" wouldn't have turned up anywhere but on this album, and the Prince drums (a Minnesota thing, perhaps) on "Somewhere in Ohio" and "(In My) Wildest Dreams" are definitely a sign 'o' the times for the 'Hawks. Really though, they’re the same band they’ve been since the last record, just in the opposite direction. The teeny-boppers should have eaten this one up.
But they didn't. Bootlegs from this era show the band playing energetic, fun sets that reflected the new material. For one reason or another, the band filtered through more members, with Jen Gunderman and Kraig Johnson leaving (Johnson was replaced by Stephan McCarthy) and the remaining members left touring as an acoustic trio in 2001/2002.
Rainy Day Music
As Jayhawks songs got more varied and layered, first with sweet electric guitar courtesy of Louris and then more and more studio tricks courtesy of grasping for anything, a listener may be wondering what the Jayhawks would sound like stripped down to the sessentials. With the release of Rainy Day Music, the band shows what they have always been and always been building towards being: a beautiful folk band.
Again, this could be construed as unfair. They've done so many "styles" so well: bar band, rock and roll powerhouses, acoustic strumming, sensitive singer/songwriter, dark pop, etc. They've always been great at crafting songs, and their talent for vocal harmonies, familiar chord patterns, and poetic lyrics sung with conviction comes through whenever they do anything. What happened on Rainy Day Music is vocal harmonies, familiar chord patterns, and poetic lyrics sung with conviction. And that's it, which is why it’s so great.
There's no place to hide on a song like "Stumbling Through the Dark,” the opening and closing number on the album (a trick they no doubt knicked from Neil Young's Tonight's the Night, Rust Never Sleeps, and Freedom). "All the Right Reasons" is a simple organ part and up-front vocals. The first third of the song doesn't even have anything but vocals and spare acoustic guitars.
"Madman" barely has anything in it, but it has everything it needs: cool percussion rhythms, sing-along chants about the madman singing down in the alley, and harrowing slide guitar. Even the "rocker" on the album, "Tailspin,” is simple and uncluttered.
When drummer Tim O'Reagan steps up to the mic, he lays down the perfect roadtrip song "Tampa to Tulsa" and the epic sounding "Don't Let the World Get In Your Way.” Even bassist Marc Perlman throws down a pleasant vocal-based track in "Will I See You In Heaven?" The placement of this track at second-to-last is a great wind-down to a very rise-and-fall album.
Maybe it's the repetition, but "Stumbling Through the Dark" stands out more than the rest, and really, it's the album in a nutshell. It's heavy on the vocals (a co-write with Matthew Sweet and his golden pipes) and light on the instrumentation. Louris has something to say, though the lyrics don't really say anything new: love, fears, lies, crime. It’s been heard before. It's familiar territory, but that's where the Jayhawks run. It's the same ground as everyone else, but nobody talks about the scenery. At least not like the Jayhawks.
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