Cracker - Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 7 / 6 / 2009

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Review

Despite having reformed the cult-alt rockers Camper Van Beethoven a few years back, Cracker main-man David Lowery still lives a kind of double life, as he also peddles deliberately unfashionable MOR country-rock with the band he formed to wide disquiet within the Camper Van Beethoven fan base in the early 90s. Of the two bands, I like Cracker more. In my opinion, the subtle twists on mainstream rock are actually more ambitious (and harder to do well) than the self-conscious dabbling of much of his aspirational art-rock. In some mad twist of fate, it actually happens to be Cracker, the band lots of the real fans hate, who can boast the big hits. To everyone’s surprise, Lowery proved himself an adept pop tunesmith, and with their second album ‘Kerosene Hat’, Cracker became genuine stars. Yet, it didn’t take long for Lowery’s loopy side, offbeat humour and eclectic tastes to send Cracker back to the margins, where they now reside. Eventually, he reformed Camper Van Beethoven again, and the two bands effectively operate as a pair these days, largely sharing the same membership. But this new album never reaches the standards attained in the past. The problem, ultimately is that there are other bands that do this kind of thing very well these days, and Cracker no longer sound quite so bold. Most obviously, there is the Drive By Truckers, who do almost exactly the same thing, but with a tad more whim and a tad more imagination. Put simply, there are times when Lowery’s taste and skill evades us. Take ‘Friends’ for example - it’s a self consciously old-style country ballad, with a by turns bittersweet and sentimental lyric (“You finally bring that girl home… I’ll show up drunk and raving… Cause that’s the kind of friend you got”). This song is far from utterly bad, but it feels like a rock star imagining what it would be like to live unfulfilled and unambitious in suburbia, rather than someone who actually knows that feeling for themselves. And yet, this album still offers up the occasional treat. There are unexpected sci-fi references, storming guitar solos and some genuinely memorable tunes. Alas, just on a less impressive scale than in the past. ‘Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey’ is by no means a bad album. It just isn’t anywhere near as good as ‘Kerosene Hat’, which remains the one to buy.

Track Listing:-

1 Yalla Yalla (Let's Go)
2 Show Me How This Thing Works
3 Turn On Tune In Drop Out With Me
4 We All Shine A Light
5 Hand Me My Inhaler
6 Friends
7 I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right
8 Time Machine
9 Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
10 Darling One
11 Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/CrackerSoul
https://twitter.com/thebandcracker