Album Review

After signing the uber-hip Jay Reatard, Matador Records introduced his music to the unknowing masses via a series of seven-inch singles in 2008. The songs, which would eventually be compiled onto a single CD release, were quite different than what he had recorded for his previous solo LP, Blood Visions. Whereas Blood Visions was still drenched in Jay’s past as a journeyman punk rocker, the singles seemed to be veering more in the direction of pop, especially the New Zealand based “Kiwi Pop” that Jay had apparently become quite fond of. After hearing the 2008 collection, it was quite obvious that bands such as The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, and The Verlaines had seeped into his sound.

So what does Jay Reatard deliver for 2009? Basically, more of his winning 2008 formula. In one case, exactly the same. The fantastic “I’m Watching You,” the final song on the singles compilation is included here as well. Well I shouldn’t say “exactly the same” since this is obviously a different, more spruced up version of the tune with much better drumming than the original. And if the guy was gonna choose one song to double-dip with, he certainly selected the right one. Just as it did on the singles comp, “I’m Watching You” earns the gold star for best song on this album as well.

As for the remainder, it’s good, but I think it fails to top the singles collection. In its defense though, the more I listened to that collection of music, the more amazed I became at what an impressive cocktail of punk energy, pop smarts and creative songwriting it was. I interviewed Jay when he was working on these in 2008, and he told me that it was rather manic trying to pull together songs on such a tight schedule. He was in the midst of numerous tour dates, and when he would return home, he would work on the songs for the singles. I think this gave most of the songs a nervous energy that was beneficial to the collection as a whole. It’s a bit all over the place, but it’s one of those hodge-podge singles compilations that really works. It reminded me a lot of the early 90’s Superchunk record, Tossing Seeds, which was done in much the same vein.

Watch Me Fall is basically the album that all of the singles were hinting at. The album starts off strong with “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me,” one of those raging slabs of pop-punk energy that Jay could seemingly write in his sleep these days. The second song, “Before I Was Caught,” veers a bit into new-wave territory, and finds Jay exercising his pop chops a bit more. The third number, “Man Of Steel,” is one of the most forgettable on the album. The lyrics kill this one for me since I’ve heard what seems like a gazillion bands write songs about flawed super-heroes. Thankfully, the one two punch of “Can’t Do It Anymore” and “Faking It” are a fine return to form after this slight misstep. The first is especially fun, bouncing along with some well-placed keyboards before rocketing off to a grand finale of noise drenched guitars.

Halfway through the disc we get the aforementioned cream of the crop, “I’m Watching You,” which is followed by the acoustic guitar driven “Wounded.” A successful merging of bada-ba-ba harmonies and “Say Something! Say Something!” chants, it’s easily the poppiest song on the disc, and the one which Jay probably had the most fun with from a vocal standpoint. The next track, “Rotten Mind,” is a fine collision of The Ramones and The Clean, which could also be said of this entire album, come to think of it, even though the following track, “Nothing New” certainly veers into darker territory than anything else on this disc.

Out of the final three songs, the first, “My Reality,” is probably the pick of the litter. It’s one of those perfect power-pop songs that anyone from Elvis Costello to Ted Leo could have written. Of course I doubt either of them would have anchored it with a “There is no God” chorus like Jay does. “Hang Them All” sounds like an underground track straight out of 1982 until it reaches it’s outro, which is more Carl Newman than Adam Ant. The festivities conclude with the triumphant “A Whisper (There Is No Sun),” which could be hinting at yet another direction for the retarded one to veer off on. It’s a bit on the modern psychedelia/Flaming Lips side. I dug it, but fans of Jay’s punkier output may be tougher to convince.

So basically this is a solid outing. I wouldn’t classify it as being Jay’s Sgt. Pepper’s; maybe more like his Rubber Soul. This is a cool album that is all about a change in direction. A rawer production (such as what can be heard on the singles comp) may have helped as well. Jay may be one of those odd artists whose output sounds better drenched in distortion and tape hiss. When punk rock meets new-wave via a gentleman named Jay Reatard does any other method even make sense?

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