Chapter 3 - Fastball - All The Pain Money Can Buy

Wowzers. Sight C-er wasn't fooling around. This is some serious stuff. No clue where to begin, though, so we'll just let the old subconscious compass guide us. 

Where were they going without ever knowing the way? 

Welp, that was easy. No curve balls or knucklers or underarms or balked pick-off attempts, Fastball right down the middle. 

All The Pain Money Can Buy is their sophomore album from my senior year, and it took only 6 months to go platinum. 3 hit singles and they never saw the mainstream again. They kept putting out albums, though, and they finance it all through Patreon. Kudos to youdos, i like it. Now let's get some actual nostalgia brewing in my brain. I can listen to The Way any time i want because it has a permanent brain cell, but i've never heard the full album. Erlewine says it sounds way better today than it did back then because back then it was just another face in the post-grunge crowd, but now it stands out as extremely well-written Guitar Pop. I shall of course LeVar Burton that in favor of my own opinion, but first we must imbibe. 

Romanticized fictional song about a news story about an elderly couple who just disappeared one Summer day. Name a better lead off track, i can't. The rest of the album might fall apart, but the setup is exceptional. 

I don't remember Fire Escape being so Gin Blossomy, but i don't have any complaints, either. 7 tracks i've never heard before their other massive hit, Out Of My Head. 

Oh, so good. Yeah, Austin really isn't that far removed from Phoenix when you think about it. Yes, of course there's the entire state of New Mexico in between, you know what i mean. 

Poe cameo for no apparent reason. Definitely well before her own no-compete clause kicked in, so that's cool. 

If you want to call this Power Pop i have no complaints. This is great stuff, and it rocks. 

Horns on g.o.d. (good old days), for the win. 

The fact that Charlie, The Methadone Man is even a song at all. 

Oh yeah, that organ solo. Out Of My Head is every bit as fantastic as i remember. 3 tracks to go, no way they can ruin it. 

More Gin Blossoms for Damaged Goods. 

More Organ for Nowhere Road. 

And the total heat-haze cooldown acoustic ballad of Sweetwater, Texas. 

Now, i'm not gonna lie and say Chris Lord-Alge's mixes are awesome across the board, but i will give him credit for not brick walling everything. There's compression static in the loudest parts, though, and that's super annoying. 

Production aside, this is a spectacular album. It really is Alt-Power-Pop-Rock with a Southwest flavor, but keep the snarkasm on the side as an optional dipping sauce. It's like if Gin Blossoms and Fountains of Wayne were sitting on the couch recanting mostly happy tour stories. Still sadness and terrible in there, but with a legitimate "fun times" at the end. It's a much more observational take on the subject compared to Dead Hot Workshop, and i have to assume that's the Austin talking. Their motto may be "stay weird," but that's only 'cause there's more than enough money floating around to keep it that way. I've driven from Dallas to Midland with a truck stop nap somewhere around Sweetwater, and there's no other term for it, it's desolate. That can be bad or good depending on what you're looking for, says the hermit of the corn fields. 

Damn, this is a great album. Highly recommend it.

Chapter 4