Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Behind The Music

  by Andrew Carver

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Where does an album as amazing as The Soundtrack of Our Lives’ 'Behind the Music' come from? After all, it’s the band’s third effort, a pop-psychedelic masterpiece on the same level as the Soft Boys’ recently rereleased 'Underwater Moonlight', and it comes on the heels of two other incredible albums. Unfortunately, instead of making the covers of every music magazine worthy of the name, TSOOL seem to be headed toward emulating the Soft Boys in terms of (lack of) recognition as well as song craft. Just how good is this album? It’s a triumph of songwriting, performance and production. The songwriting is certainly a breed apart; it forswears the usual boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl thems that dominate popular music — like TSOOL faves Creedence Clearwater Revival, the love and longing in these songs are more existential. The album’s lyrical theme suits the title, which is presumably nicked from the TV show that reveals the ups and (mostly) downs of aging rock’n’roll stars. Even better are the musical performances: Ebbot Lundberg chips in with dulcimer, harmonica and sitar as well as providing lead vocals. Lundberg’s voice isn’t spectacular, just tuneful and distinctive — he’s in the same league as head Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock let’s say. Lundberg is also the creative engine of the band. There are two excellent guitarists, Ian Person and Matthias Barjed. The rhythm section of Fredrik Sandsten (drums) and Ake Karl Kalle Gustafsson (bass) are expert, and Martin Hederos’ keyboard work is grand as well. The group makes occasional use of horns and a string quartet. There are also lovely harmonies and choruses throughout the record. What really pushes 'Behind The Music' to the stratosphere, however, is the band’s alternating gusto and restraint. Any band can use a grab bag of instruments — and TSOOL does on occasion — but the band can also shape a song like 'In Someone’s Else’s Mind' with just an acoustic guitar and Ebbot’s voice in the foreground, a muted cymbal to keep time, and, in the background, the occasional echoing tone and scraped guitar string.Other high points: The cunning contrast of upbeat mellotron and sinister rifleshot percussion over chiming dulcimer in 'Broken Imaginary Time', the thrusting rhythm, shouted “So come on!”s and stinging guitar leads that finish off '21st Century Ripoff.' All 15 tracks put an arrow through the heart, but the powerhouse trilogy that ends the album may be the best example of going from the heights to the depths I’ve heard in any album. 'In Your Veins' offers succour to a depressed soul, segues into the 'The Flood' which offers up a shouted ultimatum to an uncaring world. 'In Your Veins' makes particularly effective use of two guitars over Hederos’ piano; you can hear fingers scraping along the strings as they change frets — it’s a very intimate sound. The speedy Spanish-style guitar used by Person in 'The Flood' also helps kick the song to the album’s emotional peak. The final, reflective 'Into The Next Sun' brings the album to a close. I began this review comparing 'Behind the Music' to 'Underwater Moonlight', and I fancy the various members of the Soft Boys and TSOOL have a lot of the same records in their collection, but the albums aren’t quite the same. The members of TSOOL have been making music for longer than the Soft Boys had when they delivered their superb final statement, and it shows in TSOOL’s expert use of the studio and more pensive approach to songwriting. I’m also tempted to compare 'Behind the Music' to the Rolling Stones’ 'Their Satanic Majesties’ Request' and the late Brian Jones-era Stones more generally. I frequently found myself scratching my head, telling myself I’d heard a snippet of sound somewhere before, but TSOOL are so much their own beast I can’t really say there’s a band out there they sound like. This is a banquet of an album — it’s almost too much of a good thing. It’s an exhilarating combination of exhortation and melancholy, and the best thing I’ve heard so far this year. P.S.: The double LP has five bonus tracks not available on the regular CD (there is, I gather, a limited edition double CD out there with the extra tracks). I can see why these tracks were left off the “regular” album — it would have been tricky inserting them in the playing order without upsetting the flow of the record — but it’s still a shame to deprive people of great songs like 'We’re Gonna Get It Right', with its flourish of horns and Creation-ish fuzz guitar. P.P.S. A bit of history ... Once upon a time in Goteborg, Sweden there was a very good rock’n’roll band called Union Carbide Productions. Helmed by vocalist (and occasional saxophonist) Ebbot Lundberg and guitar wizard Bjorn Olsson, UCP exploded in the late 1980s with the Stooges-esque howl 'In the Air Tonight', then followed it up with the psychedelicized 'Financially Dissatisfied, Philosophically Trying.' At this point, Olson left the band, and Lundberg steered them through two more albums ('From Influence to Ignorance' and 'Swing') which demonstrated an increased interest in the 1960s music of the U.S. West Coast. Eight years after the band broke up in 1993, 'In the Air Tonight' is lauded as a classic by the cognoscenti, but at the time the band was essentially ignored outside Sweden. Lundberg wasn’t done making music yet though, and it wasn’t too long before he had once again hooked up with Olsson (and another UCP alumni, guitarist Ian Person) and formed — you guessed it — The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Under the new name, Lundberg and crew have paid worthy homage to the diverse musical outpouring of 1960s California: Not by aping groups like Love, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, the Byrds and sundry others too numerous to mention, but by melding their influences into a thrilling new hybrid. They had the skills, they had the guts, and after a few weeks in the studio, they had their album, the jaw-dropping double album 'Welcome To The Infant Freebase.' It won a Swedish Grammy, but outside their home land fame did not beckon. Well, perhaps effort number two, the almost-as-excellent sophomore effort 'Extended Revelation for the Weaklings of Western Civilization' would do the trick? Er, no. Around this time Bjorn Olsson swore off touring and curtailed his efforts in TSOOL. His only input into “Behind The Music” appears to be half a songwriting credit on one song. So here we are today, with the release of 'Behind The Music' — and if this album doesn’t wake up the listening public, it deserves to listen to Limp Bizkit for eternity.

Track Listing:-

1 Infra Riot
2 Sister Surround
3 In Someone Else's Mind
4 Mind The Gap
5 Broken Imaginary Time
6 21st Century Ripp Off
7 Tonight
8 Keep The Line Movin
9 Nevermore
10 Independent Luxury
11 Ten Years Ahead
12 Still Aging
13 In Your Veins
14 The Flood
15 Into The Next Sun
16 We're Gonna Get It Right
17 Can't Control Myself
18 Slow Drift Away
19 Hang Ten
20 We'll Get By

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