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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Wishing Well, Drought, Dual Lens, Drown, Broken Smile, Treasure, Skywire. LOW POINTS: None.
Heavily influenced by The Smashing Pumpkins (except in the vocals), the Common Children to my knowledge did no more than this promising debut, which is indeed a shame. What we have here is one of those albums where the influences are incredibly obvious and the music in no way groundbreaking, but the strength of songwriting can more than make up for it. The songs shift from the heavy rockers to the acoustic ballads, all just like The Smashing Pumpkins do, but there’s something here that the Pumpkins seem to lack, and while I have trouble pinning it down exactly I think it is more than just a good vocalist. I‘ll admit that I am not too familiar with The Smashing Pumpkins beyond Siamese Dream, but Skywire is quite a lot like that one, and in my opinion maybe even a little better.
An interesting sense of lyricism comes through as well, so that at times it can be difficult to interpret a song correctly, but the words never get carried away to the point of becoming completely incoherent. Which is good. It makes the lyrics much more interesting to listen to. “Wishing Well” is probably the strongest lyrically (maybe musically as well), with incredibly mysterious words backed up by excellent slow verses and an unforgettable chorus. Some of the albums other quieter songs are almost as amazing, “Dual Lens” in particular which just has an unbelievably great melodic feel to it. Excellent track.
The rockers on thew album are mostly just slightly less interesting, except for “Drought,” which uses the band’s lyrical talent and combines it with some excellent rocking. Marc Byrd’s scream of “and the heart of a child” at the end turning out rather chilling as an effective climax for the rest on the song. The albums all out most intense moment probably comes with the second side opener of “Hate” where the ringing guitars and screams make it almost hardcore if you think about it. In the midst of all of that the band never lets the melody fade away, making the song a true winner.
And so while it won't be the first time you hear this sort of alternative rock, this could be the best example of it out there. There isn't a truly weak track in sight, the only complaints I have about the album are the opener (“Throw Me Over”) being too short, and the fact that, while excellent, this album still doesn't quite hit that truly classic level that all bands should strive for. Nevertheless it’s more than worth it for the acoustic tracks alone, for which I'll give it a nearly perfect score.
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