Dave Graney - Supermodified (Album)
» Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist Shows - July 6, 2011
» You Am I - Governor Hindmarsh, SA - October 31, 2009
» Dave Graney - Triple R Performance Space, VIC - June 10, 2009
» Dave Graney - The Might of the Wolverine - March 11, 2008
Dave Graney is an icon- a self-proclaimed King of Pop, better known for his couture than his croon. People who’ve never heard him proclaim that he’s cool, the way they used to with Leonard Cohen and still do with Captain Beefheart. Shunning zeitgeists and unaffected by fad and fashion, he is a true musical original. He flirted with Triple J success in the ‘nineties with ditties like “Rock’n’Roll is Where I Hide” and the magnificent glam-rock pout of “Feeling Kinda Sporty”, but that seemed to happen by accident.
Earlier this Millennium he was hospitalised for a lung infection. During his sickness and slow recovery he recorded two albums, “Heroic Blues” and “The Brother Who Lived”. Infirm and contemplating mortality, the songs were darker, dour. Recently he returned to “The Brother Who Lived” to spruce it up for a digital release. He found himself experimenting with the mixes, then adding instruments. Dissatisfied with his infection-fried vocals, he rerecorded. The result is “Supermodified” – songs from the two previous albums rejigged, revamped, recharged. Four unreleased tunes recorded during the same period are also included.
The album sprawls with eighteen tracks running to 73 minutes. The songs sprawl, taking their time to settle in. Lyrics sprawl. Graney loves words and his voice is constant – crooning, jabbering, growling – as he spins stories and sketches characters, a warbling Baron Munchhausen. Sometimes the sprawl seduces, but I feel the album would have been stronger with some tunes excised. The cocktail sashay of “All Our Friends Were Stars” outstays its welcome – and that’s before its reprise at the disc’s end. “A Boy Named Epic” limps along. But with such a swag of tracks covering a variety of styles from lounge to europop to guitar swagger, you’re sure to find something to like.
The original albums were not Graney’s best and occasionally you feel there’s some turd polishing going on here. But the title track from “The Brother Who Lived” is defibrillated by sudden power chords from Lurid Yellow Mist guitar hero Stu Perera. “The Royal Troll” has been energised by thudding percussion and wailing harmonica and “new” track “Midnight to Dawn” is rhythm-infused rock.
The melancholy blues of “I’m Seein’ Demons” has been given a sinister, something-at-the-edge-of-vision vibe. There’s the pop breeze in “Are We Goin’ Too Fast For Love?”. “My Old Gloves” skims on smooth percussion and propulsive bass. Then there’s the disconcerting strangeness of “She Looked at me From Out of her Eyes” and “While You Dream, I Live”.
The lyrics are awash with Graney’s left-brain humour. The music is often dense and rich, buoyed by the dynamics of Clare Moore’s drumming as she switches effortlessly from cabaret to strut to syncopated groove. Graney and Moore have taken two albums that were, arguably, “renovators’ delights” and produced something ungainly, eclectic, often infuriating – and well worth a listen.
