By Henry Lipput
Are the black watch brilliant failures?
Not as far as I’m concerned although I didn't find out about them until 2019 when they released their amazing 31 Years of Obscurity: The Best of the black watch: 1988-2019,, a career-spanning compilation that deserves your immediate attention. It contains tracks from the band’s 17 albums and many, many singles and EPs including that year’s outstanding magic johnson album. I may have missed out on their early years but I’m a full-fledged fan now.
Founded in 1987 in California, John Andrew Fredrick, he of a voice sounding like Lou Reed fronting a goth band but with a major gift for pop, has been the only consistent member of the group and its principal songwriter. Refusing to rest on any laurels, the black watch released two albums, brilliant failures and fromthing somethat, along with the nothing that is EP in 2020. They continue to have an enviable winning streak of great guitar-based tunes with rarely a failure in sight.
brilliant failures (A Turntable Friend Records) shows the range of band leader John Andrew Fredrick’s songwriting and his band’s talent for arrangements. They run the gamut on the album’s first three songs: from the finger-picking guitar sound of the opening track “Julie 2” that recalls The Beatles’ “I Will” and “Julia,” to the all-out rock and roll of “crying all the time!,’ to the jangle pop of “brilliant failures.”
“red dwarf star,” with its monster bass line, layered shoegaze guitars, and synth runs, is just about three minutes long but there’s so much going on that it demands repeat listens. The ballad-y “the personal statement” is one of the few first-person lyrics on the album, although it’s not clear if it’s about Fredrick or a combination of people and events.
“one hundred million times around the sun” might very well be Fredrick’s “Tomorrow Never Knows.” It begins with a backwards psychedelic guitar lick. there’s a spacey drone of a bridge followed by some terrific crunchy guitar work; it's another tune begging for repeat listens.
“julie” is a pop gem and the dark, guitar-driven “technology” ends the album with a thought we might all have had a some point: “technology is leaving me behind/and that’s fine.”
Is fromthing somethat (ATOM Records) the album that puts an end to the black watch’s brilliant failures? Track after track on this, their 19th LP, showcases a band at its peak. Most of the songs were recorded after just a few run-throughs following Fredrick bringing them in and it captures the excitement of the moment.
saint fair isle sweater” is a rocking, full-band blowout and a perfect opening track. “the nothing that is” a toe-tapping treat that looks at the bright side however difficult: “The gutter is a brilliant place to start/To contemplate the stars.” There are lovely female backing vocals along with some well-placed synth fills,
The jangley “green stars, clouds departing” is a song not written to reflect the last year of pandemic living but certainly fits the bill: “Why can’t I focus on one thing at a time?“ The sludgy, fuzzy “such like friendly demons” has a dreamy bridge and stand-out drumming. It’s another song that at four minutes could do with another four to continue the wig-out that ends the song. And the instrumental “the haves & nots” is pure pop gold with chiming guitars and a fab rhythm section.
the nothing that is EP
the nothing that is EP (ATOM Records) contains the album version of the song from fromthing somethat as well as a ten-minute mix by Scott Campbell (who produced brilliant failures and also played bass and keyboards on that album). The mix has a drone-filled, 90’s house vibe and it goes without saying headphones are required (preferably the kind John Cusak wore in High Fidelity).
There are also three new songs on the EP including the terrific, pop-y, pysch-guitar laden “the very thing,” a sound that fits somewhere between Rubber Soul and Revolver.
Next time: A Few of My Favorite Things: 2020 Edition
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