Taken from http://www.epinions.com/content_25200660100
Pros: A few catchy beats, surprising melodies emerge now and then
Cons: For the most part, it's not quite on track with the usual Semisonic standard. The Bottom Line It's not a bad set of tunes, but it hardly matches the style that Semisonic showed us with their previous works.
Recommended: No
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At one point, I was calling Semisonic my absolute favorite band. It wasn't this album that changed my mind, it was just a long period of time when I didn't see or hear a thing from them.
So then I'm walking through ShopKo a few weeks ago, and there's a Semisonic CD there that I've never seen before! The album title, I couldn't help but find funny. All About Chemistry, what kind of a title was that? Usually, when you're employing an expression beginning with "All about..", you think "All about life", "All about love", "All about sex", but "All about chemistry"? Well, my curiosity was peaked. So a week later, I made a run to Best Buy where the CD's are two bucks cheaper, and I picked this one up along with Tonic's "Sugar", not realizing until almost two weeks later that the names of the two bands rhymed.
I got about halfway through writing this review last week, when I deleted the whole thing thinking "Who in the world gives a rip about this album anyway?" Then I thought "Well, I don't do enough negative music reviews as it is, this may be one of the few chances I get." So here I am.
So you know who Semisonic is, right, the "Closing Time" guys? Well, this is their latest collection. Semisonic started off in the early nineties with a 7-song set known as the Pleasure EP, followed some time later by the album known as The Great Divide. In the late nineties, Feeling Strangely Fine made massive waves on the strength of the single "Closing Time". All three albums had their unique perspectives and qualities, but I'm afraid I can't say the same for All About Chemistry.
For the most part, it comes across as either rejected Hootie and the Blowfish stuff or watered-down 80's pop.
"Chemistry" is the opening song, and it is actually quite good. The beat and melody are strikingly similar, dare I say almost identical, to that of Green Day's "Warning". But the lyrics are clever in their own way, comparing the trials of a relationship to those experienced in a chem lab (e.g. getting burned, exploding). So far, so good, right?
Not so fast. I honestly don't know what it is about "Bed", the second song, but I have yet to truly dig this one until today, I did just a little bit. I think that was only because it went so well with the gray sky we have today. This song is completely off-the-wall, guitars buzzing to the point of sounding like a swarm of angry bees. Lyrics seem to be suggesting that any friendship between a guy and a girl is going to have those moments when one looks at the other and just wants some. The line about "finding someone else to bed" I just find insanely annoying, because "bed" is not a verb, at least not that I've ever heard, and it doesn't really work as a noun in that line! Besides, who really does it in a bed anyway?
"Act Naturally" is a little mellower. Well, a lot mellower. Melodically it is somewhat like "Made To Last" on morphine. Lyrically, I have heard it is about abortion, but I'm not entirely sure myself.
However, "She's Got My Number" is definitely one of the more memorable tracks. The slow, addictive beat works its way in while the piano line emerges from the other end of the room. Coming together, the song seems to explode into a really euphoric pop ballad. Again, some of the lines seem to emanate from the mind of a horny teenager. "One look in her eyes and I feel undressed."
"Follow" is one of those Hootie songs I was telling you about. It's not really bad, there's just nothing particularly special about it except for the upbeat lyrics and the guitar effect, in which it sounds like they are making an almost "R" sound. I don't get much into effects, though; I watch more for melody, and what we have here is not that much more exciting than that of the similarly titled Uncle Kracker tune, "Follow Me".
"Sunshine & Chocolate" is one of those more interesting tracks where Semisonic did a little veering off the beaten track and actually made something work. Instead of the drums and guitars providing the backdrop for the vocals of frontman Dan Wilson, Dan's vocals move into the background and the song is driven forward by instrumental energy. It's not a totally happy song, but it's very fast, and for some unknown reason, when I listen to it and close my eyes, it takes me to one of those Arabian towns with the flying carpets and the snakes coming out of vases. And a bunch of ladies in bikinis lying around with guys pouring Nestle's Quik over their legs in the sunshine. Thanks a lot, LL Cool J.
"Who's Stopping You" tosses in a few more fuzzy guitar chords that start out kind of cool, but the chorus stumbles in and comes across as a complete unimaginative mess. It's nowhere near as attention-grabbing as its FSF counterpart "Completely Pleased", which was far less annoying and far more catchy.
"I Wish" sticks a little closer to the classic Semisonic nature, but not the side of their nature that I was all that fond of. The guitar work is nice, but I just don't feel anything when I hear this one for some reason. The end of the song plods along for an entire two and a half minutes, just going up the scale over and over again a half a note at a time, and it gets old real quick. If they were going to make a seven minute song with a grand ending like that, they could have at least been a wee bit more imaginative about it.
Right about here is where the CD starts to actually get kind of good, beginning with a little help from, get this, Carole King. Could anyone possibly listen to Semisonic's old hit "Down in Flames" and imagine that one day, someone like Carole King would be singing with this band? I sure didn't see that coming. Well, the beginning of this song gives you a sweet, piano-laced introduction to the sugary melody of this song's chorus. When Dan Wilson starts off, you can't help but imagine him standing there with a veteran like Carole King by his side, trying not to sound too dorky in front of her. When she joins him in the second verse, the two voices sound completely beautiful together. In the bridge, she repeats his lines behind him, leading into a little stringy bliss. "In this world I can see many billions waiting in the sun, so I'd love to believe there'd be one of us for everyone." But she's so far away, doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
"Get A Grip" is undoubtedly going to be one of the favorites of anyone who does make this purchase, that is if you can handle the suggestive theme. "Get a grip on yourself, you know you should... I got a grip on myself and it feels good." Could you possibly be any more blunt about it? The song is very upbeat, a happy undertone and if you're looking for someone to get a grip on you, first you got to get a grip on yourself, it's true. LOL that takes balls to use such a beautiful couplet of words as "It's true" to back up such a ludicrous statement. But, to each his own.
The album ends on a characteristically subtle note with "El Matador", but not before one more interesting song, "Surprise". The biggest surprise in the song is the key change for the chorus, but they pull it off seamlessly and manage to make 6 out of 12.
In the end, I guess I really took the old Semisonic for granted. I always loved the way their songs seemed to "zigzag". "Down In Flames" had one of the most brilliant yet simple guitar chord sequences for its chorus, yet it still always came across as unpredictable, doing this, then doing that. Same thing with "DND", which is probably my favorite Semisonic song. Another mellow but mesmerizing set of guitar chords blended right into each other, then all of a sudden it flew through a key change, into a burst of strings and the lyrics sped up while the song seemed to slow down. Things like that were what I always loved about the old sound. Now, they all just seem to hobble along in a straight line, starting at point A, and going in a straight line to point B.
It's really not a bad set of tunes if you just want something relaxing without all the heavy guitars. But they just don't sound like they had as much fun this time around.
Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying
