My Nation Underground in Bloomington, MN

Recruiting another key sideman, percussionist
Rooster Cosby
,
Cope
approached an album that, by the end of recording, he was on the verge of disowning. Inspired moments aside, one can understand why:
My Nation Underground
has just about everything going for it (good sound, neat cover, some sharp songs) except for
's own vision. That he rebounded from this with three far more individual efforts -- the semi-official
Skellington
and
Droolian
, and the masterful
Peggy Suicide
-- makes all that much more sense when giving
an ear. The high points that are here are actually quite fine -- though he professed to hate the results, his rushed run-through of the cheese classic
"5 O'Clock World,"
spliced with a bit from
"I Know a Place,"
is a kicky, fun way to start the album.
"Charlotte Anne,"
meanwhile, manages the odd trick of sounding like a snaky
Peter Gabriel
track circa his third album plus just enough fillips and touches to make it a
song, especially with his mid-song
spoken word
bit. Most of the time, though,
Skinner
DeHarrison
, and company sound like they're fulfilling a record company brief to make a saleable commercial
alternative
album, late-'80s style.
Ron Fair
's production touches tended towards the anonymously cliched, pushing forward
Saint Julian
's one big problem and making it more consistent throughout. The title track is a good example of something which should be right going terribly wrong -- the squelchy synths and arrangement almost drown
's idiosyncratic lyric, while the backing chorus sounds unfortunately like the type of pseudo-funky thing to be expected from contemporaneous
Steve Winwood
or
Eric Clapton
. Even the cover of the old
Shadows of Knight
nugget
"Someone Like Me"
falls a bit victim to this, despite the very
Teardrops
-like horn arrangement. ~ Ned Raggett