Quasi, Featuring "Birds" - 46m 42s

Tracks & Durations

1. Our Happiness is Guaranteed	3:15
2. I Never Want To See You Again	3:47
3. The Poisoned Well	2:07
4. The Happy Prole	1:42
5. Sea Shanty	4:07
6. It's Hard To Turn Me On	4:33
7. Nothing from Nothing	2:44
8. Tomorrow You'll Hide	2:20
9. California	2:04
10. You Fucked Yourself	2:36
11. Ape Self Prevails In Me Still	2:11
12. Please Do	2:57
13. I Give Up	2:54
14. Birds	1:20
15. Repetition	5:05
16. Only Success Can Fail Me Now	2:52

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Like Mark Eitzel's best work with American Music Club, Featuring "Birds" finds Elliott Smith's old Heatmiser cohort Sam Coomes in the sort of hope-deprived mood that leads not to suicide, but to nonstop wisecracking: "Life is dull, life is gray / At its best, it's just OK / But I'm happy to report / Life is also short." Driven by ex-wife and Sleater-Kinney member Janet Weiss's powerhouse drumming, Coomes's overamped electric keyboard is the perfect vehicle for his wryness and melodicism. --Rickey WrightSam Coomes's ruminations have turned decidedly glum as he mulls over his own decay. Fortunately, he is also a savvy student of pop music; a life-long lover of the British Invasion, particularly the Kinks and early Pink Floyd, so even his darkest mutterings come baked in a tasty, if somewhat flaky, crust. Right off the bat, Sam is sounding the alarm of complacency with some keyboard savagery in "Our Happiness Is Guaranteed," a piece of lobotomized optimism about burying your head in the sand in order to achieve peace of mind. "The Happy Prole" is a short but devastating song about work with lines like "You need the money so you've got to play it dumb/But if you play it long enough, that's just what you'll become." On "Sea Shanty" Sam watches the days pass like empty boats as his own vessel sails to oblivion. "Life is dull/Life is gray/At its best it's just OK/But I'm happy to report/Life is also short," he acknowledges in the unaccountably zippy "California." Time and again Sam warns about the ease of falling into a workaday rut, which he sees as a kind of living death; he usually refers to these people as ghosts, while those imposing the work are vampires, and the folks who accept it all without a struggle are machines. An oversimplification, or the unblinking truth? This might be too much nasty medicine if the music didn't engage so consistent. This is easily Quasi's most accessible--even blatantly pop--album, aided and abetted by the colossal drumming of Sam's former spouse, Janet Weiss. Featuring "Birds" is a stunning record that looks the reaper square in the eye. --John Chandler

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