58. Fastball--All the Pain Money Can Buy

 #58: Fastball--All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998)

Top-Notch Tracks: "The Way," "Fire Escape," "Sooner or Later," "Out of My Head"

Album Depth: "G.O.D (Good Old Days)," "Warm Fuzzy Feeling," "Better Than It Was," "Nowhere Road," "Charlie the Methadone Man"

Weak Links: "Slow Drag"

Stand-out Lyrics: "I don't want to be President, Superman, or Clark Kent. I don't wanna walk  'round in their shoes."--"Fire Escape"

"An exit to eternal summer slacking, where were they going without ever knowing the way?"--"The Way"

"You know there's always more than one way to say exactly what you mean to say."--"Out of My Head"

"I don't wanna make you mad. I don't wanna meet your dad. I don't wanna be your dream come true."--"Fire Escape"

"I've been thinking 'bout the good old days; my silly clothes and my silly ways."--"G.O.D. (Good Old Days)"

All the Pain Money Can Buy

Album Cover: 2 out of 10. Pretty darn bad. There's the super-half close-up, the blurry half-images, and the "artistic" sepia tone photography. If the faces of the band members are going to be the focus of the album cover, those faces need to be either prettier or uglier than these faces.

Comments: When this album came out I was in my early thirties, single, working, trying desperately to hang on to my fast-fleeting youth by listening to alternative radio because I thought it was what cool people listened to. (It wasn't.) (I didn't know what the actually cool people listened to, because none of them would tell me.) (Because that wouldn't have been cool.)

Still, in my vain attempt to cling to something I never had, I found some music that I really liked. Collective Soul, Deep Blue Something, Eve 6, Third Eye Blind, Harvey Danger, and Barenaked Ladies were just some of the bands that I latched onto. Most of these groups had some great songs, but not many had albums that were as deep with good songs as Fastball's "All the Pain Money Can Buy."

"The Way," was their breakout single, and it's a fun singalong song. "Fire Escape" and "Out of My Head" both got some good radio airplay, too. And "Sooner or Later" is a great rocker. 

So, this album represents that time in my life that I thought I was still young enough to accomplish something--which came before I gave up ever accomplishing anything--which preceded the point where I actually did do something worthwhile--which led me to where I am today--where hey, anything's possible!

(But I still don't want to be President, Superman, or Clark Kent.)


Up next: I think I'm alone now.


Comments

  1. darenolsonFebruary 3, 2021 at 7:10 AM

    Trumpets and trombones! I loves me a rock n' roll band that it's afraid to let the brass section loose on a song. But why only one song? Good Old Days is good because it's got that big brass sound. The other songs were good, but they would have been even better with some more trumpeting and tromboning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. darenolsonFebruary 3, 2021 at 7:10 AM

    Trumpets and trombones! I loves me a rock n' roll band that it's afraid to let the brass section loose on a song. But why only one song? Good Old Days is good because it's got that big brass sound. The other songs were good, but they would have been even better with some more trumpeting and tromboning.

    ReplyDelete

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