As steam-fired pistons power the magnetic oscillator and the clocks run backward, we don't have to wonder why Juliana Hatfield is returning to this pivotal moment in history. It's not to undo the breakup of her old band, the Blake Babies. Hell, going solo did wonders for her career. No, she's going back in time to nix a bad boyfriend and make him "Disappear." Sure, back in the future, the Blake Babies are reuniting for a one-album project. But all that really matters is boy trouble.
In the late 80's and early 90's, the Blake Babies emerged from the Boston underground to release some post-punk pop that earned them good reviews and album sales. The band featured the breathy Hatfield, a young bassist with an appealing girlish hitch in her voice. The music was catchy and charming, if unexceptional in the long run. Of course, like so many bands, the Blake Babies didn't have a long run. Hatfield went solo and became an MTV darling, hitting the same market that bought Letters to Cleo records. The two other Babies, guitarist John Strohm and drummer Freda Boner (aka Freda Love, and now, Freda Love Smith), formed Antenna, then Velo-Deluxe and the Mysteries of Life.
Now the trio is back with another album of somewhat charming and unexceptional tunes. How come? Obviously, their schedules were all open. It's clear in the music, which features the passion and inspiration that can only stem from having nothing better to do.
It's tempting to see the reunited Blake Babies as just another repackaging of Juliana Hatfield, who, along with performing solo, has also fronted the Juliana Hatfield Three and Juliana's Pony. The songwriting credits on God Bless attempt disprove this notion, but if Strohm and Smith truly collaborated on the record, I'm in the dark as to why it sounds so much like Become What You Are. This may be an unfair assumption, since Hatfield has always dominated the band, but with the other members on autopilot, there's very little to distinguish this record from recent Hatfield solo outings.
What's more, the Blake Babies spend themselves early on. After the catchy boy basher, "Disappear," "Nothing Ever Happens" kicks in with guitars that sound less like grinding rocks than cellophane being crinkled. Still, the song displays a pop flamboyance that works in the band's favor. The standout, a cover of the Madder Rose b-side "Baby Gets High," uses chord plucking similar to the Troggs' "Love is All Around" to underscore a weary acceptance of a loved one's debauchery, which from Hatfield sounds like a confession. Nothing happening and drugs are revisited themes on this album, as is faking it in a song, which they unfortunately address twice, on "Civil War" ("When you don't have anything to say you can make it up") and "On" ("I never did you wrong/ But it makes a better song"). The band could use better subjects, and for creative purposes, if not their health, a cleaner lifestyle. Or at least better drugs.
The fourth track, "Waiting for Heaven" is the album's prettiest. It shows how just a couple perfectly chosen notes can create a transcendent moment. When Hatfield skips up to her higher register to sing, "I'm on a wave coming down from a beautiful face," that "I'm on a wave" is a surgical insertion of heaven. Unfortunately, the rest of the album lies in limbo between midtempo pop and mediocre balladry, and as such, Hatfield's breathy words evaporate into the ether. What I'm trying to say is, the needle on the quality meter never jumps above "pretty good."
Guitarist John Strohm penned a couple of competent numbers to sing. He seems obsessed with blissful love and optics on both "Picture Perfect" and "Invisible World." Even former Lemonhead Evan Dando (interesting music trivia: the Lemonheads were once huge! No one knows why! It's speculated that the "alterna-hunk" constituent factored heavily) gets to sing an obligatory duet with his former lover, Juliana. Long ago, at the peak of their affair, their chemistry was undeniable; ten years later, their voices are a horrible mismatch, like butterflies and tennis balls trying to fly together.
The magnetic oscillator slows and stops. The clocks start spinning the right way again. We are back in the present. An old boyfriend has been murdered, and an old band reunited. How will these changes affect history? The Blake Babies step through the clouds of steam with wondering expressions on their faces, only to find that the space-time continuum has corrected their every move. It's as if the entire journey never happened.
