The urgency of youth is not something to be trifled with. The Violent Femmes knew this, and with their 1983 self-titled debut, they tapped into that brutal life-or-death urgency that surrounds all the frantic milestones of teendom-- cars, peers, and the anatomic wonders of biodiversity. Maybe it all seems trivial (or at least somewhat diminished) in hindsight, but to someone just finding his or her legs as an adult, few things are more desirable. Other bands were competent to discuss these dilemmas at arm's length, but Gordon Gano's empathetic tales embraced them with an angstful revelry. As the frontman for the Femmes, he personified an anxiety attack; his jittery uncertainty was the sound of a man unraveling himself over a boy's problems. And it wasn't merely that Gano could relate-- if anything, he seemed like he had it worse.
Well, nearly twenty years after the dizzying highs (not heights, trust me) of the Violent Femmes' career, Gordon has finally hit the ground. The concept behind this new record is stunningly simple: Gano has penned a couple of tunes for some of the musicians he's come to admire over the years, and they've agreed to sing them. Big names, too! Frank Black, PJ Harvey, They Might Be Giants... Look! John Cale sings right before Lou Reed-- that's almost like a Velvet Underground reunion! Now, surely, this all sounds great in theory, but it dies in execution. And before anyone worries that I'm going to compare this record to any of the Femmes' output, don't-- no one expects a Gano solo record to live up to the music he made with a full band twenty years ago. Besides, Hitting the Ground has plenty of problems without the Femmes' legacy towering over it.
Let me first be upfront, though, about the few positives: some of these songs are, in fact, dangerously entertaining. It's great to hear Lou doing his classic monotone over the broad funk riffs of "Catch 'Em in the Act". Hell, this song is better than just about anything he's done on his own in a decade-- ridiculously clever lyrics involving various sexual predilections (proof that these songs were written with the vocalists in mind), smooth, slicked-back guitar lines, it's all there. "Darlin' Allison", as performed by They Might Be Giants, is a quirky 50s-ish crooner filled with vibraphone and spacy, ethereal solos right out of "Blue Moon". And let's not forget the true highlight of the album, "It's Money", featuring Gano and Martha Wainwright. The only true duet here, this track almost recalls the easygoing bliss of latter-day Talking Heads songs like "Radio Head" or "Nothing (But Flowers)". The point is (and you probably got this a while ago), Hitting the Ground isn't without its enjoyable moments. So what's the problem, then?
The problem is this: none of these tracks are all that interesting beyond a listen or two-- even the best ones get tired fast. (And suffice to say that none of these artists are at the peak of their powers anymore.) I mean, it's awesome that John Cale dropped by to sing, and Lou Reed, and all of them, but all the PJ Harveys and Frank Blacks in the world can't hide the fact that these are singularly uninspired, repetitive songs. The only thing that's selling these tracks is the star power, and that in itself is pretty offensive. And then you've got the real scary tracks-- Cale's hammy piano number "Don't Pretend" and Linda Perry's languid torch song "So It Goes" are outright embarrassing.
The title track might be the lone exception-- it's not the greatest by any measure, but the unforced ease with which Gano approximates the classic sound of the Femmes gives it a nice nostalgic appeal. Subsequent listens to this one are far more rewarding than most of the other cuts, even if it's not as immediate. Which is good, too, since it's on here twice. It makes me shake my head. PJ Harvey opens with it, and Gano closes with it. Come on! This is only a 30-minute album to begin with-- does 20% of it really need to be this song?
Okay, so there's no getting around it: this shit's bland. And I get the impression that Gordo himself knew it when he slapped this thing together, too, because he's clearly attempted to compensate for it with endless genre-hopping from track-to-track. In a nutshell, what I'm telling you is that this record is, at best, not too far removed from your average various artists compilation, and at worst, little more than a novelty act. Fun, perhaps, for a once-over, but after you've got this pony's single trick down, the only novelty left is seeing how quickly Hitting the Ground gathers dust.
