Album of the Week - Vol.7

Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars EDIE BRICKELL & NEW BOHEMIANS (1988)
Week: Wed 18th Oct to Tue 24th Oct
Format: iPod
Producer: Pat Moran
Track listing:
1. What I Am *
2. Little Miss S. *
3. Air of December *
4. The Wheel *
5. Love Like We Do
6. Circle *
7. Beat the Time
8. She
9. Nothing
10. Now
11. Keep Coming Back
12. I Do
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 48:22

Mention the name Edie Brickell and, I guess, most people will offer up What I Am. It's the first song on her first album with the New Bohemians, and her debut single. She recorded a solo album before Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, that was available in a limited number, and on cassette only. A lot of people might not know that she has released a few bluegrass albums with Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin). Or that she has made three solo albums. Or that she also put out three more records with New Bohemians, one of them live. Or that she has also formed bands The Heavy Circles and The Gaddabouts (which features the namesake, and legendary drummer, Steve Gadd). Hey, she's married to Paul Simon too! 

Aside from this album, my only other Edie Brickell experience is her wonderful cover of Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall on the Born On The Fourth of July soundtrack. I think I remember a snippet her song Good Times from her 1994 solo debut Picture Perfect Morning on a Windows demo disc as well. But, that's it. I may or may not delve into more of her material in the future. For now, let's just look at this album.

I don't own a copy of this, but I remember listening to it a bit during my time at Southern Sound down in Albany (a music store I worked at from 1994-1996). I've had taped copies from friends, and I think I nabbed it of someone's iTunes one time. Anyway, it's on my iPod and I dig a few of the tracks a lot. I remember watching the What I Am film clip on RAGE (and possibly Video Hits, wow; how can I forget that?) when it first came out. I was struck by the guitar solo, as it used a wah-wah like effect that I hadn't really heard before.

The first half is certainly stronger than the second, in my opinion. During the eighties most albums seemed to put the singles and better album tracks at the start, leaving the rest of the record to sort of dwindle away a bit. All my picks from Shooting Rubberbands... are on what would be Side A for what it's worth.

My absolute favourite track here is Circle. I just love it. The lyrics are fantastic and the intro guitar picking is sublime. The part where she sings that "everything is temporary anyway" is just magic. The song was recently used in a montage of the fairly silly series Wet Hot American Summer - Ten Years Later, but it still gave me a lump in my throat.

I found myself singing the chorus of Little Miss S. over the course of the week. It's got a great melody, and I would suggest that's also catchy as heck. The ethereal Air of December is full of crescendos and falls and takes its time in weaving its six-minute spell. 

The whole album is very listenable, but a couple of tracks seem to stick out, namely Beat the Time and Keep Coming Back. There's a raucousness or something there that just doesn't fit the flow. They're not bad songs by any means, they just jolt you out of the album's overall feel. I think Edie's voice works better on the folkier tunes as well. When the band tries to rock it up, their reach seems to exceed their grasp.

However, this doesn't spoil the record. It merely stops a very good album from being excellent.