Posies
Dream All Day: The Best of...
[DGC]
Rating: 7.4
"Best of" collections are always awkward affairs for fans, who are naturally
never quite satisfied with the song selection. The situation is intensified
for bands of only modest mainstream success, whose completist fans will likely
comprise 90% of the album sales for such a compilation. In the Posies' case,
the label that underpromoted their albums and eventually dropped them is almost
certainly using this release as one last excuse to screw the band over,
distilling their major label output to one album so they can later delete the
band's three proper titles from the catalog with little fanfare.
That said, the Posies managed to take full advantage of one more opportunity to
look back on the 10 years they gave to their label before they ran out of steam.
Dream All Day is packed to nearly the maximum running time, offering a few
songs from each of the band's DGC albums, and completely overlooking the indie-
issued career bookends, Failure and Success. The record also contains
several non-album tracks, along with some previously unreleased and otherwise hard-
to-find material. The liner notes are lovingly detailed, complete with a chronology
of the band's history and a ranting essay about how the Posies really "mean it,"
whatever that's worth. Of course, such backpatting is to be expected of a band that
announced their breakup, then recorded one last album, did a few final tours, and
released a live album. Maybe they have a bet running with Braid as to who can turn
out the most posthumous material. (We're still waiting on that Never Has Come for
Us: Best of Braid 1993-1999 three-disc anthology, guys.)
The collection kicks off, as did 1990's Dear 23, with "My Big Mouth," a snappy,
smartass tune that comes and goes long enough to trap its hook in your head without
coming close to wearing out its welcome. But while that album seems to be the
preference of most critics and fans, its other tracks simply don't live up to the
insistence and quick payoff of the opening track. Recorded by legendary British
hitmaker John Leckie, Dear 23 sported that confused, muddled sound that
permeated most early '90s rock before grunge hit big and gave producers an easy sound
to latch onto. The hooks were there, but the acoustic-and-electric guitar strumming
and glossy harmonies make it relatively toothless compared to the Posies later work.
If only Leckie could have done for the Posies' second album what he did for Radiohead's.
By the time 1993's Frosting on the Beater came around, the aforementioned grunge
thing, compounded with their vicinity to Seattle, had become an unavoidable direction.
But instead of tossing out their pop smarts for more attitude, they settled for writing
better songs and letting Gumball's Don Fleming add the necessary heaviness to the
production. The result was a modest hit in this collection's title track, "Dream All
Day." On "Solar Sister," Jon Auer unleashes one of the most jawdropping guitar solos
of the period, perfectly locking in with the dynamic drums and bringing the song's
already catchy melody to unexpected heights.
After a detour into "Going, Going, Gone," a fine contribution to the otherwise mediocre
Reality Bites soundtrack, the compilation proceeds to short change the album
that got the Posies dropped from DGC, 1996's Amazing Disgrace. The press for the
record stubbornly insisted that it was the loud, raw work of a band fresh off their
tour bus. The meager selections here follow suit, offering the crunching but still
hummable singles "Please Return It" and "Ontario," as well as the band's absolute low-
point, the wanton angst of "Everybody is a Fucking Liar."
Meanwhile, the whole of Amazing Disgrace is by far the most varied and interesting
Posies album. The fanboy in me weeps for the grand "Song #1," the supremely rocking "Grant
Hart," and the small, eloquent "The Certainty." At least Dream All Day does include
"Throwaway," one of the strongest tunes in the Posies catalog, despite the song's
uncharacteristically tuneless introductory guitar solo. Also salvaged is the outtake "Sad
to be Aware," which sounds way too good to have been left off Disgrace in favor of
filler like "Broken Record."
If Dream All Day indicates anything, it's that the Posies probably deserve a little
better than the footnote status they've been granted in retrospect of their 10 years as an
entity. While the elements that comprised their sound were not so unique in and of themselves,
it's hard to think of many other bands of the past decade who combined smart, subtle lyrics
with traditional pop/rock dynamics and pitch-perfect male harmonies. That's gotta count
for something, eh?
-Al Shipley