Some bands just need a producer. These days, when just about anyone can buy some recording equipment and make a halfway decent sounding album, a lot of bands seem to think they can get away with doing everything themselves. Some of them are right, of course, and a lot of self-produced bands churn out some amazing work. But most of these bands are, frankly, kidding themselves.
Case in point: the Waking Eyes, who at some point decided it would for the best if they produced their own debut record, Combing the Clouds. Perhaps it was merely a practical matter-- producers can be expensive, of course-- or perhaps they had other motives, but whatever the reason, it's clear from listening to the album that the band could stand an outside voice informing their creative projects.
Featuring past members of the Pets and Novillero, the Waking Eyes aren't exactly dewy-eyed newcomers, and it shows in the songwriting. The band writes solid melodies, backed by imaginative progressions and arrangement ideas. The primary problems lie in its execution. Sonically speaking, Combing the Clouds is a 48-minute stroll through a musical used car lot full of sounds bought back wholesale from the 70s and very late 60s.
The band piles on affectations and vintage-sounding instruments to the point where it becomes hard to see the songs for the clever compositions they are. This is where a producer could come in very handy-- someone a little less attached to the music could easily point out the fat in these songs and convince the band that some trimming is needed to make it more digestible. A set of outside ears (at the very least, an experienced engineer) could also have done wonders for this record simply by making the mix more vibrant. Frequently, the album simply sounds dull in the places where it's vital that it hook you.
Take the two ballads nestled at tracks four and five: "Castle by the Bay" and "Gone with a Glance." "Castle by the Bay" features a nice horn arrangement, a good melody and some fine group vocals, but virtually no sense of discretion in placing all of those elements together. The bass and keyboards bleed together and the horns play in the background as though someone turned on a radio during the recording session. The vocals are recorded in such a way that they manage to fade into the music as though they were just another element in a sonic wallpaper pattern.
"Gone with a Glance" suffers similar problems at first, beginning as a simple piano ballad before adding a rhythm section and a terrible synthesized string patch. The second verse finds the vocals struggling to be heard above a wandering, wholly unnecessary clarinet part. After the leaden second chorus, the song suddenly mutates into a poorly realized Queen tribute, complete with heavily overdubbed vocals and Brian May-style harmonized guitar leads. The dramatic effect that Queen managed to achieve with that sound, however, is lost completely in the muddled mix-- the guitar quickly sinks below everything else, and the "choir" never comes to the fore at all.
Other songs show promise, but get lost in their affectations, like the psychedelic "New Rising Sun," a Cream-y ball of fuzz packed with organ that could be called Doorsy, though a more accurate comparison might be Smash Mouth. The breakdown is a somewhat interesting section dominated by percussion and tape effects, but even that's pretty muddy sounding. "The World It's Alive" has some nice, easy-going rhythms and a neat tejano horn section, but the great tune is lost in a clutter of noise and hyperactive keyboards.
"Tergo Velum" is actually a great song, with a yearning melody and some fine backing harmonies, but once again, the band doesn't seem to know when to stop adding things to the mix. What could be a striking acoustic song is drowned in inconsequential little squiggles and unnecessary violin and clarinet noodling. "Make a Sound" follows with yet another fine melody, this time delivered a bit more effectively. Unfortunately, the horn arrangement is lost under the rest of the instruments, but the various sections of the song segue rather nicely together. There's even one of those moments that makes you look around the room for the source of a sound, as a watch alarm goes off right at the end of the second chorus. It's a fun little addition that just might send you to the back button to make sure that it was actually on the record and not somewhere in your house.
A few other songs work reasonably well, such as the opener "Combs for the Clouds," with its fine harmonies, elastic bassline and relatively uncluttered production. "Anytime" is similarly modest in its trappings and delivers the album's strongest hook to boot. Granted, even this song suffers from some unfocused moments, such as the short passage before the third verse, but by and large, it's a decent song that allows its melody to shine appropriately.
Also surprisingly successful is "Sunday Morning Blues," fully delivering on its title. The band transitions from lo-fi acoustic blues straight into a healthy electric shuffle featuring some impressive, dirty guitar leads. The organ is obviously not a real Hammond, instead emitting a rather weak tone that unfortunately makes the arrangement sound bit thin, but the band makes up for it with a good feel and some astounding lead guitar work. A rocking midsection and an oddball circus music interlude don't contribute much to the song, but they don't detract much from it, either. And on this album, that's basically all you can ask for.
But "Sunday Morning Blues" also illustrates some of the most frustrating things about the Waking Eyes. Obviously, they're very talented musicians, and fine songwriters as well. They rotate vocals and instruments with aplomb, rarely failing to deliver a competent performance. However, their tendency to get carried away during recording is ultimately too much for their considerable skills to handle, and the album fails to make much of an impact. To bring things full circle, a little bit of outside input might be all this band needs to work their way up into the 8.0 realm. Here's hoping they get it on future efforts.
