Headstones - Smile & Wave

List Price: $15.99
Our Price: $4.98
You Save: $11.01 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.95 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of Smile & Wave

Music Review: A wonderful album of pretty little death songs...
Rating: 5 Stars

"Smile and Wave," the Headstones' third album, continues their trend of being grim and darkly humorous rock, but there's some optimism in it -- the hidden track after "Physics" is a sweet acoustic love song, "Anything," followed by a jam with the defiant lyrics, "My addictions have failed to fail me." Oh, and then there's insane ranting by Bruce McDonald (the director of Hard Core Logo, in which singer Hugh Dillon starred). If you choose to analyze Headstones albums as the progression of Hugh Dillon's drug habit, you can tell he's beaten it by here, and the lyrics reflect that.

The intelligent, bitter, yet somehow funny cynicism is in full force on catchy rock songs like "Smile and Wave," "And," "Picture Frame of Rage," "Cubically Contained" (as Due South fans will recognize), "Do That Thing," "Supersmart," and "Nerve." Astute readers will note that I've named a large portion of the album. If you like this sort of humorously morbid tone in your rock, this is the band for you. How can you not resist a line like the opening of "Without a Sound": "She wore a beautiful dress to her own death, and everyone agreed it was tasteful"?

No review of this album would be complete without mentioning the self-referential "Pretty Little Death Song," in which Dillon takes on all those who dislike his pretty little death songs, and vows not to stop writing them. It's great. Fun game for listeners: note that the lyrics as sung include the song descriptions "Necrophilia, addiction, and insanity." Can you guess which songs he means? Read the liner notes -- it's "Cemetery," "Heart of Darkness," and "Unsound."

Yep, the Headstones sure do write some pretty little death songs, and they know how to rock. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go listen to this album again. Hope you'll do the same.

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock