Awful
John Vanderslice could be likened to Duke Special but that might be somewhat an amplification of his musical abilities. “Emerald City” on first listen is an intriguing album that spells out, to an extent, the limited talent that Vanderslice has on offer but on closer inspection it’s by no means mind-blowing or entirely incredible, in fact it’s rather disappointing. Nothing of this album stands out as completely original or groundbreaking and that’s probably one of its biggest faults. Aside from which, the musicianship lacks development or credibility, the lyrics are incredibly gloomy and dull, and frankly Vanderslice’s vocals need a lot to be desired.
So, you could say, Vanderslice is an acquired taste.
“Kookaburra” is monotonous, “Time To Go” is slow and tedious, “The Parade” is awfully repetitive and “White Dove” is plainly too simple melodically and lacks a needed oomph; not forgetting a completely incompetent guitar solo. “Tablespoons of Codeine” drags too much and “The Minaret” is the singer-song writer equivalent of a death march.
In fact, this album could be summed up in three words; mediocre, pedestrian and dismal.
It’s purely unnecessary that anyone should write such trash and relate themselves to music. In this situation, one doesn’t want to change into a career’s adviser but, it has to be said, Vanderslice aught to reconsider his prospects for the future. He’s definitely not going to make very much money in the music business and should probably give it up as a bad job. Harsh words, but the truth be told, this kind of sloppy and uninventive “music” isn’t going to get him too far.