I really wanted to like this album. There was twinkle in my eye and a few goose-bumps when I initially met and hung out with their first 2002 EP, September 000. I really thought it might be love. Their 2004 LP, Now Here is Nowhere, kept me waiting for 2 years and hardened my heart a bit, but the relationship was still salvageable, and I was up for giving it a shot. Another 2 years I waited patiently by the phone only to have Ten Silver Drops give me a ring and tell me, definitely, it's over! A 4-year fling ending in 44 little minutes.
It is incredible to me how their previous Pink Floyd inspired, roomy, powerful, sexy, innovative efforts have led them to a tired, 15-year-old, INXS-sounding, please-put-me-on-a-WB-music-mix album. I actually went to Dawsonscreekmusic.com, just to make sure they were not, indeed, wedged on a comp track listing somewhere between "Train" and "Third eye Blind". The thrid track, "Lightning Blue Eyes" would fit seamlessly on just such a 13-yr-old teenie targeted complilation.
The album is not entirely, without a moment or two. "I Hate Pretending" has a very cool feel. The kind you get when you are doing something you know you should not be doing, but it just feels good. But even this song has an unforgivable Jane's Addiction-esque moment during the chorus. And, being a sucker for a decent candy calzone (sweet AND cheesy) I have to admit there is something in the last tune, "1,000 seconds" that seduces me a bit. But I would be too embarrassed to actually put it on a mix-tape for a friend for fear it becomes the next signature sign-off played when someone is voted off American Idol.
One other redeeming quality is the fantastically steady, heavy hitting, 4/4 time rock beats hammered out with marathon-like stamina from percussionist Josh Garza. This makes for excellent jogging music; 1-2-3-4, boom-boom-crack-boom-boom-boom-crack, right-left-right-left. I'll keep it on the mp3 player and dial in from time to time when on the treadmill.
Outside of the gym, however, this one is not going to see much action on my turntable. In all their efforts to achieve 'countdown-to-lift-off', space travel, arena rock, this album never leaves the ground. In fact, it almost seems as if there is some agenda to have kept it on the ground. In some soulless, un-inspired, unoriginal state that someone along the way felt would be the fast-track to popularity. These Texans-turned-New-Yorkers must have found a muse in their Bushwick basement apartment, back when they moved there in 2001, recorded the EP and first LP, and then decided to trade her in on some Madison Ave hollow wish. Good luck with the commercials, boys....
