| Built To Spill – There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (1994) |
From what I’ve been told, next week we’ll be taking a break from these chronological CAT’s with something ’80s related, since I guess we’ll be doing ’80s week starting Sunday. Anyways, I would say 1994 is probably the best year of the ’90s as far as music; just a lot of good albums that came out that year. However, we’ve already talked about most of the notable albums that came out that year already on this blog. Yet I still haven’t talked about one 1994 album that ranks among my favorite albums of the ’90s, Built To Spill’s There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.
Led by singer/guitarist Doug Martsch, Built To Spill have probably been most distinguished by Martsch’s intricate guitar work, which in retrospect seems much more layered and complex than your average ’90s indie band. “Jangly” would definitely be the easiest way of describing a lot of Martsch’s guitar work, but he’s also never afraid to go for those big piercing solos either. But unlike on subsequent Built To Spill releases, the songs here are more self-contained in this very pop-oriented way.
I really like the somewhat whimsical and nostalgic nature of the lyrics on songs like “Car” or “Twin Falls”, which have a nice counterbalance to the sprawling jam-oriented songs. I guess most people seem to prefer this bigger sound from Built To Spill, since their major label debut Perfect From Now On is usually regarded as the band’s finest work. But if you ask me, the combination of Martsch’s affinity for catchy melodies and guitar pyrotechnics are just about perfect on There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.
I feel like I need to do a more mainstream album one of this weeks, since it seems like I keep playing the “hip/indie/relatively obscure” card over and over again. Not that it matters, no one reads these anyways.
Favorite Tracks: “Big Dipper”, “Car”, “Distopian Dream Girl”