Unsafe at Any Speed is a compilation of three previously recorded releases by the Sky Corvair from 1994, 1995 and 1997 that were released on Chicago's Actionboy label and Braid/Sky Corvair member Bob Nanna's Grand Theft Autumn imprint. In addition to Nanna, fellow Chicago mainstay Tim Kinsella is a part of the group, as are past and present members of Haymarket Riot and Traluma. Those who are familiar with those bands (the contributions of the prior two, in particular) have a pretty good idea what to expect from this supergroup-of-sorts if the musical climate of the time of recording is taken into account.

The primary point of debate regarding the quality of Unsafe at Any Speed, as with most Kinsella projects, is the vocal performance. Although Nanna donates his pipes, the focus is definitely on Kinsella's awkwardly pubescent, love-it-or-loathe-it yowl. Both Nanna and Kinsella write lyrics based on the concept that combining hackneyed E.E. Cummings mimicry with sophomoric romance is both clever and heartfelt. Some sample lines: "A simple symptom of the generally gentler gender.../ A simple symptom of feeling valentiney," from "Congratulations, I'm Late." On the opposite extreme, "Ethyl" offers presumably grown men shouting, "We turn the weapons on ourselves." Whatever social/political statement this meant to convey, and your guess is as good as mine, doesn't make it through the vagueness and/or screaming of the physical sentence.

Musically, there's most definitely a progression of styles apparent from the early-to-later recordings. That's not to say advancement, but each chronologically related group of tracks fit well with one another. The songs from '94 and '95 exhibit an approach that focuses on the at-the-time au courant Chicago school of math-rock, with hints of the more melodic and less dynamic work that would follow.

These songs exhibit many of the pitfalls of Chicago rock bands of the time. The bass has the often copied but never quite imitated "Albini sound" (that poppy and slightly metallic sound that can be heard on all Shellac releases). Next is the uninteresting, very mid-range stock distortion that most music of this type seems to be soaked in, making even the most precise guitar work sound sloppy. Songs become quiet, then slow down, then explode, then speed up in a seemingly random manner; dynamic and tempo changes merely for the sake of changing, with no structural or emotional logic. These songs want to be "weird" and "interesting," but just end up using signifiers for "weird" and "interesting."

The recordings from '97 sound much more familiar considering the participants. Imagine a poorly recorded Braid or a better-recorded, more pensive Cap'n Jazz, and you'll be in the right vicinity. These songs offer less of the stop/start, loud/soft gimmickry but still sound innocuous and forced. The guys operate under the idea that the louder and more reckless the scream, the greater its emotional impact. This would, of course, be incorrect. Some artists really can funnel pure emotion from nothing-- Will Oldham's voice and Jimi Hendrix guitar are just a couple examples-- but Bob Nanna and Tim Kinsella just don't have the gift.

Unsafe at Any Speed does present an interesting look back at the meeting point of its members' better known projects during the salad days of those bands lifespans. But as anything more than a historical document, it fails to prove itself a product superior to much of anything in a similar vein.

-Michael Wartenbe