Soft Spot

Artist: Clem Snide
Label: Spin Art
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 750078012527
EAN: 0750078012527
ASIN: B00009ATKV

Release Date: 2003-06-17

Soft Spot

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Alt-Country & Americana

| Country | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Forever, Now And Then
Tuesday, October 24th
All Green
Close The Door
Action
Find Love
There Is Nothing
Strong Enough
Happy Birthday
Fontanelle
Every Moment

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Amazon.com

Frontman Eef Barzelay's lovably awkward voice, simple melodies, and brainy, bent lyrics remain the focus on Clem Snide's fourth disc, but the band swaps the naked popcraft of its minor hit "Moment in the Sun" for an approach at once more adventurous and somber. Though Jason Glasser has mostly played violin and cello in the past, here he employs a closetful of organ, chimes, bells, and percussion, and the results animate the album's mostly slow, stately songs. Under the watchful eye of producer Joe Chiccarelli (Tim Easton, American Music Club), the dreamy descending melody of "All Green" is spiked by playful chimes, "Happy Birthday" rides high-kicking horns and honky-tonk guitar, and "Action" soon collapses from a giddy banjo line and shuffling beat into a happy clatter of vibes and percussion. Barzelay's best lines, meanwhile, capture close observations in unexpected turns of phrase, as in "Close the Door" ("I caught you doubting yourself in the mirror, but you sure look good to me") and "All Green" ("Feed me a kiss, chapped lips and all"). <I>--Anders Smith Lindall</I>

Customer Reviews:

VERY GOOD, but not their best.......2005-02-19

Why don't you flush yourself too while you're at it, Fred? Aren't you witty and clever? Why you're as gonzo as Lester Bangs. Too bad you have no ears on your head. Why did you buy this in the first place if it is so far from your taste in music? Could it be you are just clueless about how to find what suits you? No, this isn't their best. YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC is probably a better pick. Not for you, though. You need something to ROCK to, right ? None of this MELLOW stuff. Poetry is for poofs. The sooner you leave these parts the better! Here's your hat - what's your hurry?

With Al Green and sweetend ice tea.......2005-02-10

Have you ever taken a nap on a warm spring day under a tree? Ever gone straight from the lake to the kitchen and made a grilled cheese sandwich in your wet bathing suit? Have you ever had a crush on someone because of the radio staion they listen to? If not, you probably will not like this album. For everyone else (especially if you like Sufjan Stevens, Elliot Smith, or the Decemberists)this is a fine album. The playful spirit, the great melodies, and the conversational style of the singers voice make this a great album. If you like the samples of the songs at all, you will love the album.

No Cynics Allowed...This Time .......2005-02-02

The title tells a lot of what you need to know about this CD and a glance at the reviews here shows that this Clem Snide is clearly not a taste for everyone. Although it credits plenty of instrumentation, almost every cut on Soft Spot is slow, quiet, and projects a languid contentment, wryly detailed and -- shall we say -- uniquely sung. The sound is perfect for lyric-philes like me (and Eef Barzeley -- a name that suggests to me a double life as a hobbit -- writes a good lyric), not so perfect for those looking for cut loose rock. Happy Birthday, one of only a couple uptempo songs and containing a wonderful saxophone riff, is also one of the album's best cuts. Dedicated to a new son, it offers a nice example of Barzeley's humor -- "but I hope that your song's not The Boys of Summer/just because you were both born on that day/And half Jewish boys make kick ass drummers/But if you need lessons I'll have to pay."

Other best bets: Tuesday October 24th, All Green, There is Nothing, and Fontanelle, with its wish "may God hold you in the palm of his hand." In fact, that good spirited hope pervades the entire disc. There's not a whole lot of "kick ass" anything here, but if you're in a wallow of contentment, Soft Spot will enhance it. And if you're down, well, it just might remind you that darkness passes too.

Flush this floater.......2005-01-20

Be warned: the editorial review's reference to "Eef Barzelay's lovably awkward voice" is thinly-veiled code for: "this guy REALLY can't sing." I'd rather listen to the non-vocal but equally pleasant emanations bouncing 'tween the stained walls of a bus station restroom stall. The music is lifeless, dull, stupifying. Oh, and not very good either.

Be doubly warned: a couple of these tunes are the sort you really don't like but find yourself humming later in the day. You don't want to remember the tune. You can't stand the tune. But it's there, right there in your head. You trying flushing it away, but it only circles the porcelain and manages to float and defy the drain. Must keep flushing...

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