Think of Tennessee-based power pop and you inevitably recall Alex Chilton, Big Star and Memphis in general, but if melodic and intelligent trio EDMUND’S CROWN have any say in the matter, we might just have the beginning of a contemporary rearguard action in Nashville of all places.
This writer has no idea whether there’s more of this kind of thing going on in Music City, but certainly ‘Regrets Of A Company Man’ is a refreshing change from the inevitable, Americana/ Alt. Country-related sounds that usually drift this way from this famous city and – on the basis of the 18 tremendous tunes penned by singer/ guitarist Greg Pope featured here – he sure as hell hopes there’s more where this comes from.
I’m writing this without having collected too much background on Edmund’s Crown, but from what I can gather they are well-seasoned guys who have been around the block a few times. I’d also be hugely surprised if most of Greg Pope’s songs aren’t at least partially autobiographical as they are beautifully-observed, detailed accounts of love and (often) loss, directed at both matters of the heart and his apparent choice of a career in business rather than rock’n’roll. Indeed, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably beginning to understand the choice of ‘Regrets Of A Company Man’ as the album’s rather rueful title.
Nevertheless, the knocks the band have taken have only served to harden their resolve in producing fine, tight and resonant rock’n’roll. Throughout ‘Regrets…’ they prove themselves to be a terrifically talented unit: Pope is seriously adept in the hooks and melodies department and brandishes a mean Telecaster; bassist John Putnam often indulges in lots of classy, McCartney/ Bruce Thomas-style high-end counterpoint runs and drummer David Sprouse is the very epitome of muscle, inventiveness and rock-solid time-keeping behind the kit.
Together, they produce something really rather sublime. Cautionary but robust anti-celebrity opener ‘Keep Your Feet On The Ground’ hints that good things are about to come our way and so it proves as EC blast into ‘Damsel’: a compact, but diamond-hard Stones-y rocker that shoots from the hip in no uncertain terms. After this, we get Pope’s ‘Company Man’, which with its’ regretful lyrics (“stickers on the backstage wall had s much more to say/ than the seven hour BP presentation”) makes it clear that our hero has often lived to rue the day he chose the white collar approach over the blue collar one. It also demonstrates that EC can excel when they slow it down and shiver’n’sway with the best of them.
The equally-frustrated ‘Stuck In An Office’ adopts a similar lyrical theme, but musically it’s anything but self-obsessed and slothful and EC work up equally bracing, pop-related backdrops for songs as potentially blue and hurting as the dreamy and atmospheric mid-life crisis of ‘Can’t Stay Here’ and the superbly-observed separation storyboard that is ‘Not That It Matters.’ Pope has a nice line in well-aimed lyrical put-downs, too, and uses this skill to great effect on songs like the cheekily brilliant ‘Keith Richards’ where the band set up a louche groove worthy of the song’s protagonist and Pope attacks a philistine close to him with great lines like “I’m sorry, but Keith Richards is still God/ so shut your lite beer hole.” Absolutely. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
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If push came to shove, your reviewer would probably take the easy-going groove of ‘Nashville Star’ as his favourite tune here. Although the tune itself is hugely immediate and rolling, the lyrical sting is every bit as sour and potent and when Pope sings “I’ve got a pack of dreams in the trunk of my car/ I’m going down to Nashville to be a star” it rings every bit as hollow as the expectations John Fogerty sings of when he arrives in ‘Lodi’ in the Creedence Clearwater Revival song. As with CCR’s best, ‘Nashville Star’ is also a fantastic song which – by rights – out to be getting seriously intimate with radio stations all over the world. The reality of course, is probably another matter, but I digress.
Just to spoil us, EC also include a five-track bonus in the ‘Elysian Fields’ demos recorded at drummer Dave Sprouse’s home studio circa 2004. The recording quality is marginally rougher, but the songs are every bit as fulsome and complete and yield several other corkers in the shape of the Nirvana/ Guided By Voices riff logic of both ‘Fish In A Bucket’ and ‘Can’t Take That Back’, while in the closing ‘Play The Guitar’ they reserve the right to be both epic AND dumb (and kinda like Cheap Trick) and pull it off beautifully.
Edmund’s Crown are making noises about hitting UK shores in 2007. On the basis of the superb ‘Regrets Of A Company Man’, I would suggest you think about getting down the front pronto. If enough of us are there, maybe we can finally wrestle Greg Pope out of the boardroom and keep him where he and his band belongs – playing these bittersweet tunes in halls of expanding size.
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