The Early November - The Mother, The Mechanic and The Path

Genre rock Publisher Drive Thru Records External Links Official The Early November Website Official Drive Thru Records Website

The very familiar sounding "Money In His Hand" kicks off the triple disc monster of an album, The Mother, The Mechanic and The Path. Tracks 2 and 3 are equally familiar sounding; a sort of new breed American rock 'n' roll, steeped in tradition, but with the slash guitars of everything post Weezer or Smashing Pumpkins; think Tom Petty via Bad Religion through to Counting Crows; a sound which typifies the catch-all genre "emo". Throw in some "stadium rock" and "indie" and you get The Early November. The fourth track, "No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance)" slows the pace down and now I'm on track 10 and don't know how I got there. These tracks virtually lay down the template for the whole of The Mechanic, both lyrically and sonically which is radio friendly and commercial circa 1965 - 1984! "Figure it Out," track 11, reminds me of Fleetwood Mac, another possible reference point, and is not bad at all. The first disc is rock solid, with superb instrumentation, albeit slightly boring! Dad rock for those that missed out on the sixties, seventies and early eighties.

Disc Two, The Mother starts of with "My Lack of Skill," one of the better tracks on the entire collection; an autumn piano ditty which wouldn't be out of place on the "White Album" and is absolutely fantastic, but unfortunately the next track is back on form, not bad light pop/rock but not as good as its predecessor. "Little Black Heart" is a stunner with great lyrics and is another stand out track. Track 4 "Hair" is a great powerpop track, which could be from a seventies compilation or played on imaginary FM radio. Disc Two is more subdued than The Mechanic and possibly better for it; the songs The Early November compose breathe more easily. The feel of groups like the Byrds, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel et al bubble underneath the surface, but the meat and potatoes thud destroys it.

Although I wouldn't listen to it everyday, for me Disc Three in this triplet is the best. "We grew up the same" straddles the Pink Floyd/Radiohead/Beck axis, but what follows is everything else, a musical chairs odyssey that takes in country, folk, blues, jazz and other genres. This is essentially a rock-opera without acting or a musical without choreography. A tour de force and I'm left wondering if this is indeed the same Early November as on those forgotten other discs. Lyrically also the ideas which come across as pitiful on the first two discs now have substance and weaponry. Don't let the spoken "sessions" put you off; the songs do stand up on their own. I cannot understand why this Disc has been slagged in the press, but if you purchase this album please don't ignore The Path.

My overall impression of the whole album is that Discs One and Two could have been substantially trimmed and turned into one album, with most of The Mother remaining. The essence that the album could have had is destroyed by what is in effect three different albums released simultaneously. Fair songwriting that comes to pieces by ill-chosen sequencing and a dated rockist approach. Disc Three displays some good ideas, but should have been released individually. It has serious potential for a short film, and I wonder if The Early November have considered that. I for one would like to see more of this side of the band; conceptual, well thought out, eclectic, and with great arrangements - The Early November ought to be a force to be reckoned with. The band can play and write, but they need to find their focus - there are gems of songs here, but a triple album is maybe a bit too ambitious.

Finally let's hope that Drivethrurecords ceases to employ "watermarked" technology. It won't stop piracy, but is an annoyance to a growing percentage of the music buying public who want to save music to their hard drive, without having to wheel out the kitchen sink. This argument is for another forum, but I would be inclined to say it slows down instead of helping sales. The days of the traditional soundsystem are over and using that kind of technology is simply unfair.