Frosting on the Beater opens with a thick wall of distorted guitars and
booming drums kicking up a very melodic fuss behind Ken Stringfellow and
Jonathan Auer's creamy-smooth harmonies on the psych-tinged "Dream
All Day," and the track's sweet-and-sour blend immediately announces
this is going to be a very different affair than the Posies' major label
debut, Dear 23. With noisy rock dude Don Fleming in the producer's chair,
it came as no great surprise that Frosting on the Beater was a much harder
sounding album than the introspective Dear 23, but surprisingly enough,
Fleming also knew how to make the most of the band's expert pop songwriting;
with the tempos and guitars turned, the tunes gained a needed physical
impact that brought the melodies and hooks into the forefront, where they
belonged. Just as importantly, the spot-on harmonies that were the highlight
of Dear 23 were still very much in evidence, resting atop the piles of
fuzzy guitar chords like a dollop of hot fudge poured over a big scoop
of ice cream. And prior to this, who knew that Ken Stringfellow and Jonathan
Auer could rock out so hard (and so well) on guitars? One could argue
that the big guitar attack of Frosting on the Beater was simply the Posies'
way of trying to cash in on the grunge sweepstakes that briefly turned
their hometown of Seattle into the center of the rock universe. But one
listen also reveals that it transformed a smart but overly precious pop
outfit into a hard-charging power pop band that gained a wealth of strength
without giving up any of their smarts in the process -- not a bad bargain.
(by Mark Deming, All
Music Guide)
|