Let's Get Stupid!
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. Well yeah, Shaun Ryder's never
exactly come across as Elvis
Costello, that's for sure. But while he'd have you see him as a
limey
counterpart to Larry, Curly and
Moe (a kinda British Shemp, who, by the way, I always thought
was
underrated -- the guy
had some wicked
footwork going for him), Ryder -- ex of the ultimate party band,
Happy
Mondays, and now of
the ultimate party band Black Grape -- is about as crazy as a fox.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid?. Yeah, right. Here's a working
class
Brit who's willingly played the part of the whacked-out guttersnipe
and become a rich man doing
it. Not too stupid. Which isn't
to say that Ryder isn't authentic. Lord knows he's done his share
of
what middle-class society
considers to be stupid things like, for instance, drugs, drugs,
drugs. Lots
of them, mate! So he leads off
here in BG's sophomore effort with a song about -- you guessed it
-- dope!
"Get Higher" is laid-back,
spliffed-out funk, featuring what sounds like parts of Ronald
Reagan's
old speeches spliced together to
form phrases such as "Nancy and I are hooked on heroin." Cool.
Ryder's
telling the press that in reality this is done by
a "Ronald Reagan impersonator," but to believe that you'd have
to be ...
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. Which is one thing producer and
Black
Grape multi-instrumental
Renaissance man Danny Saber isn't. It's his ace production and
arsenal
of instrumental touches that
almost disguise the fact that this album just doesn't pack the punch
of
the band's debut, the ironically
titled It's Great When You're Straight . . . Yeah!. You might
say the tail is wagging the dog a
bit too often here -- say bow wow wow, Mr. Ryder. Tracks such as
"Marbles"
and "Dadi Was A Badi" are
territory that he's done better on previous
albums, such as the Happy Mondays' classic
Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches, even if he'd be loathe to admit
it. The insistence here on
repeating simplistic choruses ad infinitum start to grate
after a while, making you either
want to turn off the stereo or go ahead and drink yourself . . .
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid -- which might not be a bad idea,
because if you can get relaxed
enough, this album begins to sound better, and you can
appreciate the
more inspired moments that pop
up (such as the dance-floor winner "Squeaky," featuring a neat
circular
guitar riff from Saber, or the
neo-heavy metal funk of "Rubber Band"). The perverse
Grapesters even
leave the best for the very
last, with the "low-ryding" Latino funk of "Words" conjuring a
near-soundtrack feel for a yet-to-be-made Martin Scorcese flick.
Just
when you're ready to write off Ryder as a spent force, you realize
that would be a . . .
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid thing to do. So what can I tell ya?
Consistency is the last thing
you'd expect from a guy like Shaun Ryder, and here he's a little
too
content to pass off attitude as
inspiration, at times just doing the minimum to get by. And from
the
sounds of it, he's also tired of
carrying around rappers Kermit and Psycho who, except for
"Money Back
Guaranteed," are almost
unnoticeable here.
Which begs the question, can a Happy Mondays reunion be far
behind? What did
you say -- that's a damn
stupid idea? Well of course it is! So keep your ears
peeled.