Old Dreams

Part Timbuk 3, part Tom Petty, part Innocence Mission, Parlor James spin a whole lot of introspective depression over bouncy verse-chorus-verse pop complete with sampled beats and keyboard patches. What are Parlor James so glum about? Judging by the lyrics, it seems they don't have much luck with love. Well, what can you do? I suggest they hit the sauce a bit more often 'till it blows over. They figure they should cut a record and tell the whole world about it. Longing for death or salvation, (whichever comes first) lyrics like "there's no pill for the pain I'm in" express the emotional rut they're locked into.

There may not be a pill for their particular pain, but, with the advent of miracle pills like Viagra, we might be getting close. On a high note, they do a real nice job with the traditional folk tune "Clementine," the tragic yarn about a forty-niner who loses his sweet, young daughter when she falls into a river near a mine and he can't save her because he can't swim. "But alas I was no swimmer so I lost my Clementine." Now there's something to weep about. (Sire Records, 936 Broadway, New York, NY 10010)