REVIEWS:
One of the more prominent bands of the 90s folk rock revival, Toad The Wet Sprocket took the ingredients of that sound and made it all its' own throughout their career, led by the very poetic and distinctive singer and lyricist Glen Phillips. Their first couple of albums released in the 80s, Pale and Bread And Circus, didn't do too much commercially, but it was their quintessential album Fear that broke them through with the hits "Walk On The Ocean" and "All I Want". After the disappointing Dulcinea, they fell off a little bit with their rarities collection In Light Syrup and their last album before the breakup of the band, Coil.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
The band's breakthrough album succeeds in the emotional and songwriting department in a huge way, as it's equal parts relaxing and down to earth, catchy, haunting, emotional, beautiful, introspective, and purely majestic. All 12 songs running through these various territories seamlessly, resulting in a perfectly crafted release. With a very recognizable vocalist in Glen Phillips who really conveys his state of mind through the lyrics masterfully and a backing band that suits the songs about as well as possible, Fear has nearly unstoppable consistency, and is one of the best albums of the 90s.
"Walk On The Ocean" starts things off with nice acoustic guitars and accordion backing to convey that feeling of the ocean, and is arguably the most infectious song on the album to boot, while "Is It For Me" has a stunningly youthful vibe running through the music and its' hook and is an excellent song to listen to on headphones, capturing the feel of 4 a.m. described in the lyrics effortlessly. "Butterflies" has very effective spoken word verses and a brilliant poetic chorus ('in time I will collect the world...') making the listener feel one with nature.
The acoustic, folky "Nightingale Song" is a beautifully relaxed acoustic tune, somewhat of a sharp contrast to the dark, terrifying and unpleasant "Hold Her Down", which is the heaviest song with playing as aggressive as its' lyrics ('take her arms and hold her down, until she stops moving....'). Moving that song forward is "Pray Your Gods", which has a haunting and moody acoustic guitar part and is tremendously emotional - adding to the drama is the female backing vocal part at the end of the song.
The second half opener "Before You Were Born" continues in the acoustic vein, with powerful depressing melody and lyrics, a heavenly chorus and a guitar solo that couldn't have been executed any better. "Something To Say" is a more relaxed and hopeful folkish song that you can easily listen to on the porch and feel at peace with the world, and "In My Ear" is the only song that even comes close to 'generic folk rock song' status, but even that one has a good time feel and very catchy chorus.
The reflective "All I Want" is even more beautiful and life affirming with its' hook ('all I want is to feel this way, to be this close, to feel the same...'), and "Stories I Tell" covers darker and very dramatic territory - the bleak vocals and guitar breaks are stunning on this one. Finally, "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" is the most breathtaking, alternating between somber verses and a majestic and uplifting 'take control of your life' chorus, a perfect closer to an entire album of songs that really work hard to make you feel strong emotions. An essential.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Toad's follow up to Fear is somewhat of a huge disappointment compared to the unbelievable feeling and perfect songwriting of the previous album, trading emotional power for more conventional and generic songwriting. There are still signs of it here, as on the powerful dedication to a deceased brother, the sad but still hopeful opening "Fly From Heaven", the moody "Begin" and the closing "Reincarnation Song", which is in the same vein as the closing "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" from the last album but admittedly isn't structured as well and only half as majestic.
The album does contain two Toad classics, however, in the witty and very melodic "Stupid" and awesome hard-hitting dark pop tune in Dulcinea's biggest hit, "Fall Down", the highlight of the album, but overall, Dulcinea is just too cluttered with pleasant but ultimately disposable and generic pop songs like "Something's Always Wrong" and the campfire feel of "Nanci". Even when the songs try to reach great heights, as on "Windmills" (which doesn't really go anywhere), they fall a little too short. Disappointingly, none of the other songs are really worth mentioning here - they're not poorly written by any means, just lacking somewhat in substance.
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