Golden Smog - Down By the Old Mainstream
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CD Details
Artist: Golden SmogEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1996-01-16
Music Label: Rykodisc
Accessories: Soundtracks:
- V
- Ill Fated
- Pecan Pie
- Yesterday Cried
- Glad And Sorry
- Won't Be Coming Home
- He's A Dick
- Walk Where He Walked
- Nowhere Bound
- Friend
- She Don't Have To See You
- Red Headed Stepchild
- Williamton Angel
- Radio King
Music reviews of Down By the Old Mainstream
Music Review: "Mainstream:" Golden Smog is ultimate Stuporgroup
Rating: 4 Stars
People who criticize this album really just don't get it, I'm afraid. Yeah, the lyrics are kinda silly, and a couple of the songs are throwaways, but what did you expect when you squeeze The Jayhawks, Wilco, Soul Asylum and Run Westy Run into one band? If you expected Son Volt, then you're on the wrong side of the alt-country fence, hombre. This album is for people who like Wilco's "A.M." because Jeff Tweedy sounds like he's smiling throughout the whole album, and the Jayhawks' "Tomorrow the Green Grass" because Mark Olson and Gary Louris sound perfect together. The songs on "Mainstream" don't break any new ground, but that's not why you like these bands anyway, right? You like them because they have a warm, familiar sound that it would be a shame to mess with. It's great to hear these bands having such a good time together. Even if you don't buy into Golden Smog (which would be a shame, because "Weird Tales" is even better), think of it this way: no Jayhawks collection is complete without "V," and if you see Jeff Tweedy at the Lounge Ax, he's gonna play "Pecan Pie." Give this album the shot it deserves, and Golden Smog might end up knocking these individual bands out to become your favorite.
Description of Down By the Old Mainstream
The Golden Smog, an alternative roots-rock "supergroup", consists of six talented musicians from the American heartland known to each other as Jarrett Decatur, David Spear, Raymond Virginia, Michael Macklyn, Scott Summit and Leonardson Saratoga (better known to us as the Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Mark Perlman, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy, and a couple of their friends). With this album, their first full-length Golden Smog release, the band has crafted a collection of instant roots-rock classics.Made by a sloppy bunch of midwesterners with names like Jarret Decatur, Raymond Virginia, and Leonardson Saratoga (better known to us as the Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Mark Perlman, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy, and a couple of their friends), Down by the Old Mainstream is like a piece of pecan pie, both literally and figuratively. Literally because, well, the CD design looks like a pecan pie. Figuratively because more than a dozen slices of wholesome goodness are packed inside--a little messy and syrupy at times, but altogether filled with the comforts of home. It's best not to question why guys from successful rock bands--roots, country, and mainstream--would get together ad hoc, apparently to make a record none could make in their main gigs, and then fill it with the same kind of roots, country, and mainstream rock songs we've heard from them all along. Sure enough, Golden Smog sounds a lot like the Jayhawks on Louris's "V," like Wilco on Tweedy's "Walk Where He Walked," and like Soul Asylum on Murphy's "Red Headed Stepchild." Still, there's a joy, looseness, and conviviality that comes across in songs like "He's a Dick" and "Pecan Pie" that only Down By's brand of stress-free anonymity and lack of purpose could produce. What Golden Smog misses in factory polish, it makes up for in homemade warmth--just like the goodies Grandma used to make. --Roni Sarig
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