published: 14 /
8 /
2012
Label:
Broken Horse
Format: CD
Fabulous lo-fi indie rock on double CD compilation from rediscovered New York-based singer-songwriter Charles Douglas, who suffering mental problems and fighting drug addicition, recorded between 1995 and 1997 four albums worth of largely unheard material
Review
Between 1995 and 1997, fresh out of treatment for mental illness, Charles Douglas retreated to a New York basement with an eight track tape deck, a cheap guitar and a Casio keyboard and wrote reams and reams of songs. Having – in their own words – rescued Douglas’ only studio albums from ‘bargain bin obscurity’ with a reissue in 2010, Broken Horse Records have now packaged up four home-recorded efforts –heard by almost no one outside of Douglas’ immediate circle of friends – into a 67 track double album.
Singing like his hero Lou Reed, but with the raised eyebrow of Stephen Malkmus, Douglas interspersed drug-addled, tortured ballads with pop ditties, three-chord singalongs, send-ups of celebrities and affectionate tributes to Dennis Wilson. Though he had a few celebrity fans (Moe Tucker and Joe Santiago produced his study albums), only those with an encyclopaedic knowledge of American indie will know these songs.
This collection begins with Douglas’ most idiosyncratic ‘official’ album, ‘The Burdens of Genius’, his debut ‘Minor Wave’, and two albums recorded after his label folded, previously available only on a handful of hand copied cassettes. Douglas was, by his own account, in the middle of a serious mental breakdown (left alone living in his parent’s basement while his father battled cancer). He writes, “I wasn’t even aware that the songs I was recording were becoming increasingly demented… In my mind, Prince was now my only real competitor”.
Some of these songs were written and recorded in less than an hour, complete with all the mistakes and regrets you’d expect. And yet, these songs stick in your head (not least, the song with a repeated refrain “I want to write the songs that stick in your head”).
Given this backstory, comparisons to Daniel Johnston are inevitable. But, while Johnston is (to put it politely) an acquired taste, Douglas is never too far from accessible (if skewed) college rock, reminiscent of Beck, Yo La Tengo, the Eels and early Weezer. Especially enjoyable is a run of three songs from the cassette only album “The Spiders are Getting Bigger”, one about a lovesick ballad about a local Guided By Voices fan, one about Winona Ryder and one about how he couldn’t escape his drug addictions. All are wholly unselfconscious, and yet musically far more sophisticated than they pretend to be. It’s a crime more people haven’t had a chance to hear them before.
This compilation is sequenced so that the debut, recorded at a time when Douglas may actually have had ambitions of conventional musical success, comes after ‘The Burdens of Genius’. He now sees this debut, ‘Minor Wave’, as “a little misguided”. Its actually far less amateurish than the music that came later. The sequencing of this reissue is clever – you realise belatedly that Douglas was capable of making wholly conventional pop music, he just didn’t want to.
‘Whole New Attitude’, for example, fits tightly around a rhythmic guitars and a considered vocal melody. Whisper it, but it is actually radio friendly. The next song has a revolving bassline, synth-horns and a laconic melody. Single ‘Luxury’ sounds like a conventional alt-pop tune, the kind Steve Lamacq would play. It’s great, although Douglas thinks the cover art that accompanied the single was better than the song.
Douglas explains that, having been signed to a label, he expected access to a horn section, complementary cocaine and a studio with receptionists. To his dismay, his advance (£5000) would barely cover two days in a Manhattan studio, so he made the album at home in his basement. He didn’t bother with real drums, not because there weren’t any set up in the basement, but because he couldn’t be bothered to mike them up.
Compared against what he hoped the record to sound like (he was in the middle of “a serious Steely Dan and James Brown obsession”), its easy to see why Douglas wasn’t happy with it. But, on its own terms, it’s brilliant music, the unexpected missing link between Yo La Tengo and the Lightning Seeds. The limitations keep his possibly excessive ambition in check, but the eerie synths on ‘In With the New’ are especially effective. This song is great, but Douglas was – apparently – so disillusioned by the time he wrote this that he couldn’t even be bothered to give it a title (the label made one up when they printed the sleeves).
For this reissue, Douglas has written extensive sleevenotes with the story of how he made each album, and reflections on every song. These are invaluable, placing Douglas’ songs in the context of a much better adjusted husband and father, looking back on his youth. You also get plenty of laughs. We learn, for example, that Douglas was an admirer of Billy Ray Cyrus, of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ fame. He tells us, “I always felt Billy Ray got a bad rep when the world mocked him and said he was a talentless clown. I was really happy for him when his daughter Miley grew up hot, so he could exploit her for millions of dollars. Who’s laughing now?”
Joking aside, Douglas is in fact the very opposite of Cyrus senior. Where ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ is charmlessly trite (polished and professional, yes, but unquestionably awful), Douglas’ music is loveable. The lack of focus, the reliance on tinny keyboards and the mistakes are the reason Douglas’ obsession with songwriting never translated into fame as a musician. But, with different luck, he could easily have been an MTV star.
Given his drug addictions, it is possibly better for everyone concerned that it never happened. Instead, using his real name, Alex McAulay graduated from Brown, wrote four novels and is now, married with a daughter, turning one of his books into a feature film. That happy ending makes some of the darker aspects to this album (especially the references to heroin and cocaine) easier to swallow. Full marks to Broken Horse records for this reissue - the combination of fascinating music and equally fascinating sleevenotes will be lapped up by anyone who loves 1990s indie rock.
Track Listing:-
1
Crest Of A Wave
2
Name
3
Girl (of The World)
4
Drivin Around
5
The Rabit Never Gets The Carrot
6
Suicide Note
7
Monkey Island
8
Dennis Wilson
9
Last Stand
10
The Golden Age
11
Living In A Hole
12
Henry Lee
13
Prince
14
Go
15
Spiders And Snakes
16
Octopus (Cease To Exist)
17
New Attitude
18
If
19
King Of Industry
20
Luxury
21
Minor Wave
22
Super High
23
In With The New
24
Groom Lake
25
Anywhere Right Now
26
Where The Sky Touches Ground
27
Shotgun
28
Lullaby
29
When I See Her Again
30
Volume And Tone
31
Hey Alise
32
Grimace From McDonalds
33
Good Authority
34
Thee Hipster
35
Please Don t Hurt Em
36
Mountains
37
Me And My Woman
38
Pray To Lord Ganesh
39
Legendary Magic
40
Success
41
Pink Hearts In Plastic
42
Chicks And Their Boyfriends
43
Let Me Down Easy
44
Kathryn
45
Another Boring Song About Winona Ryder
46
Little Big Problem
47
Glenn
48
Aleka
49
Back Of A Van
50
Charles Is Back
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/Charles-Dougl
http://www.charlesdouglasworld.com/
Label Links:-
http://www.brokenhorse.co.uk/