Many years ago, I picked up Bongwater's Double Bummer. I knew Kramer from his spacious production on the Galaxie 500 records and wanted to hear more of that weeded- out substrata beauty. What I got instead was limp classic rock covers (Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll Part 2," and Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused") and histrionic spoken word nonsense in the Maggie Estep vein. To say I'd experienced a double bummer was to fall about ten bummers shy. I can safely say that I'd rather drink bongwater than listen to that depressing album again. Even so, I can still dig what Kramer has done since those days in a producer's capacity, particularly his work with Low. And it's his master's touch behind the boards that almost redeems his second collaboration with Jad Fair, The Sound of Music (An Unfinished Symphony in Twelve Parts). Almost.

The liner notes to The Sound of Music tell us that "Kramer wrote, performed and recorded the music in three days." I imagine we're supposed to be impressed with this act of carelessness, and we even might be if the record didn't sport its tossed- off origins so clearly. The Casio drum machine that backs most of the songs is much less charming than it is annoying, and in more than just a few spots, Kramer's guitar work is reminiscent of a jaded session hack from Orlando. But then there's the gorgeous music that backs "Zorro's Black Whip" (with a strikingly G5-ish backward guitar bit) and the Fat Albert- meets- Gary Glitter junkyard glam of "Elenor" to remind us what we loved about the K man in the first place. It borders on the tolerable.

Unfortunately, even these tunes have the vocal stylings of Jad Fair mixed way out front, and that's a difficult handicap for any piece of music to overcome. I'll admit that portions of Fair's oeuvre have their charms-- particularly the more chaotic early stuff-- but what strikes me most about his recent work is just how unpleasant it is to listen to more than once. These sing- songy vocal stories might raise on eyebrow or elicit a chuckle on first pass, but there is no depth to warrant further attention. And the songs quickly become boring. Very boring. The liner notes also tell us that "Jad Fair listened to the music once, then wrote the lyrics while listening a second time, and sang them all in a single day." No shit.

-Mark Richard-San