|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
Three Cheers for the Cheated, by Fancy Trash A Capsule Review I don't envy Fancy Trash. After their first album came out, they wrote fierce new songs that would never be easy to capture on record. Three Cheers for the Cheated, the hotly-awaited follow up to the self-titled Fancy Trash, contains most of those songs. Live favorites "Deeply Concerned" and "Compromise" and "Chickenhawk" are all here, as well as "Tulips," the song most likely to seduce corporate radio. Fancy Trash has made a career out of drawing on folk tradition and dismantling it at the same time. Sometimes, I'm not even sure if they know whether to write pretty folk songs or edgy acoustic thrash. On Three Cheers, that creative tension takes the band to the edge and back. "A Fish Called Hope" looms as the last track, an apocalyptic message of hope, an underground live epic I never thought they'd pull off in the studio. Yet here it is, provocative and triumphant. Is this really on the same album as "Lost in the Evening," a graceful folk ditty that wouldn't sound out of a place at a wedding ceremony?
On Three Cheers Fancy Trash revels in their contradictions. They could have gone the "folk" direction to be popular or the "angst" direction to be cool. Instead, they just decided to record their best songs. In the process, they found themselves, and put out a fine record while they were at it. They managed to refine their songs without falling into the trap of meddling. There are lots of nice touches both vocal and instrumental, such as a brilliant harmony during the peak of "Deeply Concerned." The guys did make some tough song selections during the mastering. I might have argued for a couple tunes that didn't make the cut, but the flow of the record works. The rest of the songs from the Three Cheers sessions can be found on the already-released Weighted Down EP, a worthy companion to Three Cheers.
|
|
||