Mr. T Experience - Yesterday Rules - Page 4

All right, one last Specific Song Review. "Jill." It's basically an answering machine message, and you know who it's from — the guy on the wrong end of the relationship. The brilliance is in the gimmick: it's actually a single sentence, maybe, with each section ending with the gal's name, in that desperate way people sometimes talk to people in a desperate attempt to let the other human know this is really about her. Or him. Or it. (For people who love those old Replacements records a bit too much — I'm one of them — it also fills the crucial "Androgynous" or "Waitress In The Sky" slot. All great American punk records need that desperate, gorgeous semi-acoustic song.)

If you're a youngster and enjoy the Blink 182 or No Doubt or your mom's Green Day records or whatever, this MTX record will hit your sweet spot ... and if you grow into a true music fanatic, it will keep rewarding you for many years to come. If you're a graying rock geek with a love for pure pop — whether it's Nick Lowe or the Beach Boys or the English Invasion stuff — this CD will make you feel like a teen-ager. In a good way.

Disclosure: I met Dr. Frank a few years back and we've become pals, but I hadn't really paid attention to MTX before I knew the guy — even though they were a pretty big deal when I lived in San Francisco a decade back. If you first got to know Frank through his excellent Web writings, be ready for some terrific songcraft, musicianship and arrangements. Frank may play a sober commentator on the Innernut, but in real life he is a snarling pop-rock virtuoso.

Article Author: Ken Layne

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