Sky Corvair
Unsafe at Any Speed
[Divot]
Rating: 5.0
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