The Polyphonic Spree

I’ve always viewed this band as a rip wrapped in a gimmick. I beseech anyone to play a song off this CD for a layman side-by-side with something off Soft Bulletin, and watch as your test subject assumes both came from the same album. Their gimmick is the 40 colorfully robed hippies, whose presence doesn’t exactly translate to CD. On stage, they’re a “look-at-the-freaks” oddity. Fact is, they’d be more effective (and make more money individually) if they downsized to a 5-piece with backing tracks. That said, this is a pretty, though rather vapid, headphones snoozer chock full o’ uplifting, over-the-top, made-for Broadway ravers with lots of “keep hanging on” platitudes. And while at times I admit to finding myself standing tall and looking toward the East, beating my breast, while listening to stuff like “Section 17 (Suitcase Calling),” I’m more apt to hit the forward button past the 8-and-a-half-minute song suite to something a little less dressy, but instead I run into a 10-minute plus opus that basically does the same thing again. And again. After awhile anyone is going to get tired of the pretty chord progressions accompanied w/choir and bells. As satisfying as a box of frosted Twinkies.

© 2004 Tim McMahan. Originally published at www.lazy-i.com.