Vetiver - Thing Of The Past
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Vetiver- Thing of the past review Tue Jul 15 05:38:47 2008
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| by Mel Lewis | ||
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So I’ve never heard of these guys before. And be I merely in a bad mood you decide; when a band are named after a type of grass- we are in trouble no? Then, say the grass band decided to release a set of covers, after their much forgotten own material found itself swept under the rug so to speak. Vetiver release ‘thing of the past’ after a two year absence from the industry, a self absorbed at times cringe worthy record I couldn’t’ withstand in its entirety.
‘Thing of the past’ has been produced to provide an insight into the bands musical loves and interests, inspirations and interpretations. Band ‘leader’ (as he apparently prefers to be referred) Andy Cabic chose the tracks for the album and then invited all his pals along to jam and create a record worthy of release. Is it bad to state they failed? Hardly a life long fan of the band, I was fed this album with an unscathed spoon; opinion lacking and clean slate evident. It hasn’t helped me out.
Even the songs the band have covered are unknown to me, be that a naivety of age, the American folk genre or Andy Cabic’s music taste. I’m sure at some point in their lives, my grandparents line danced to the originals or (and I’m positive this is the case with track four “Hook & Ladder”) they featured on the Disney version of Robin Hood; listen out for introductory whistling and almost embarrassingly band camp-esque camp fire resemblances. Lost? Thought so.
Thing of the past got better, “Hurry on Sundown” and “I must be in a good place now” felt more at home with the band. Yet the face of the facts cannot be disagreed with. The band named after grass release a set of covers nobody has ever heard of and embraced their audience with a struggled sounding overall performance. Cabic’s claims this record to be his best yet. Not time to grab the back catalogue then I’m afraid.
Track Listing
01 - Houses
02 - Roll On Babe
03 - Sleep A Million Years
04 - Hook & Ladder
05 - To Baby
06 - Road To Ronderlin
07 - Lon Chaney
08 - Hurry On Sundown
09 - The Swimming Song
10 - Blue Driver
11 - Standin'
12 - I Must Be In A Good Place Now