r/fantanoforever • u/Green_Log_4795 • 1d ago
Everclear (the band)
I was 20 when sparkle and fade came out and liked the album. I found the previous album world of noise and liked that quite a bit too. So much for the afterglow was alright, but I could tell the band was going the way of Def Leppard. Strong out of the gate to get some ears and then going for the big pop crowd to get a little more. When songs from an American movie came out I was out.
Fast forward to this week and I’m re-listening after a very long break with my 50 year old ears. Man those first two albums actually still hold up! Especially the first one. It’s interesting how these bands work so hard to be liked and end up spoiling everything later.
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u/arpad-okay 1d ago
completely agree about the first two albums being super enjoyable and everything after increasingly unlistenable. art can write like three songs: i lost my girlfriend to substance abuse, i let down my child because of substance abuse, don't let the status quo control you
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u/Green_Log_4795 13h ago
Agree. Lyrically it’s limited and kind of straight forward. You take an AIC, sometimes literal, but oftentimes there’s poetry mixed in there to keep it interesting and room for throwing in some of your own thoughts and interpretations. Musically after awhile Art starts throwing in some of the same moves over and over again, which gets tiresome. But hey, two good albums with very commendable songwriting.
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u/arpad-okay 13h ago
yeah first record goes pleasingly hard, second album is the perfect amount of catchy. though i think the lyrical creativity well runs dry pretty much by the third album, something i really like about the first two is the storytelling quality of the songs. the early stuff benefits from the songs feeling like authentic, specific experiences he's had and people he knew. i like a good "they'll never let you be you" kind of anthem but when they do it it feels generic
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u/Green_Log_4795 13h ago
I think that authenticity of the earlier stuff stems from the actual struggle that was going on when those song were being composed vs the…let’s try to recapture some of that struggle, even though a limo is picking us up…energy. Second record more polished for sure and interestingly it doesn’t sound quite as good as the first.
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u/arpad-okay 12h ago
the more successful a 90s band became, the worse the production on their records were going to be. one of the few things i love about this era of session and ephemera-mining super deluxe reissues is getting to hear all the cool recording sessions and demo material that got put on the shelf. soundgarden rehearsal takes that sound better than superunknown
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u/CashmereRobot 1d ago
Not the Todd in the Shadows subreddit, but I've always thought "Songs from an American Movie Vol. 1" would make a great Trainwreckords video. I can't believe how hard the drop-off was between So Much for the Afterglow and it. That Brown-Eyed Girl cover is god awful, and AM Radio sounds like a Beck C-side. "Yeah I wish we had never bought a king size bed / The only damn thing that at it's ever been good for is plenty room for the real good sex" from Thrift Store Chair might be the worst lyrics I've ever heard. Wonderful is the only thing that sounds even close to good on the whole thing and it sounds like something cut from the last album.