Firewater - The Man on the Burning Tightrope

This thread might see even less action than my Plasmatics threads, but who cares? In any case, I'm a huge fan of Firewater (Tod [A]'s now long running post-Cop $hoot Cop band) and was lucky enough to get ahold of the advance to their forthcoming fourth album (due out in June), The Man on the Burning Tightrope. (see below).

http://firewater.starmelt.com/images/mb-front.jpg

With the sprawling, elephantine exception of the forthcoming Killing Joke album (also now due in June) and the recent Joke stop-gap rareities album, The Unperverted Pantomime?, there isn't a new release I'm quite as excited about. To wit, I composed a track-by-track rundown of the new album for the benefit of the Firewater newsgroup, the [firewatercircus}. Because I'm still so charged up about the album, here it is for any curious folks outside of said tightly-knit cabal of Firewater fans. Those who'd rather their
initial hearing of the album remain unsullied by my opinions should
cease reading now.

1. "Fanfare" - Not so much a proper song as an opening overture
signalling the raising of the curtain on the proceedings, recalling a
slightly drunken circus band accompanying a magician's act.

2. "Anything at All" - Kicking off an opening salvo of jugular-vein--
bound fare, this track is classic Firewater from the signature piano
figure through the smokey, withering descent into a double-timed
chorus, punctuated by drummer Tamir Muskat's take on the "funky drummer", fat slabs of fractured guitar and Tod harmonizing with himself. Lyrically, a wry ode to inadequacey.

3. "Too Much (is Never Enough)" - Bossa Nova with a sneer, this track gets my vote for greatest potential single. The sinewy shuffle of saucy latin pop flecked with spy movie guitars, a flute and a great big huge hook.

4. "Too Many Angels" - Downshifting from the festive velocity of the first couple of cuts, this suitably mournful lament lists like a broken carousel and features the first prominent appearance of the calliope (more of whom you'll hear later). Topically classic Tod, "Too Many Angels" is the perfect track to hoist brown-bagged beers in honor of absent friends to whilst weaving down empty city streets after
midnight.

5. "Dark Days Indeed" - Just when you thought it was safe to be Semitic, Firewater returns to the realm of Klezmatic rocktacity with a festively depressive hop that wouldn't sound out of place coming out of Topol's mouth (if, of course, Topol got a righteous kick out of nihilistic revelrie). A crockery-crackin' return to the ecclectic days of GET OFF THE CROSS.

6. "The Man on the Burning Tightrope" - Ahh....the centerpiece! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the fabled calliope! While I'm normally loathe to utilize this type of description when reviewing an album, imagine a nitemarish amalgam of the menacing lurch of Prokofiev's "Romeo & Juliet" and "Pink Elephants on Parade" from the original soundtrack to Disney's "Dumbo" as performed by a gaggle of damned souls. Actually, to be perfectly honest, the first song that sprang to mind when I heard this for the first time -- and this would make Tod grimace, I'm sure -- was "The Trial" from the tail end of Pink Floyd's THE WALL, given its wilfully histrionic delivery and creepy carnival aesthetic. The sonic equivalent of Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

7. "The Truth Hurts" - Not so much a song as a segueway, setting the tone for the track which follows via telephonic dialogue (courtesy of Nicole Blackman) and some crickets (courtesy of the grassy knolls of Long Island).

8. "Secret" - Swiflty becoming my favorite song on the album, "Secret" may be the most personal song in Firewater's oeuvre. While its been long established that Tod likes to write "in character," I get the
impression that this is the clearest glimpse inside the man's head yet. A lilting, confessional track punctuated by acoustic guitar and some sweeping, cinematic strings. As far from the primal, barbaric yawp of "Shine On, Elizabeth" as one can imagine. Genuinely poignant.

9. "The Vegas Strip" - A gloriously seedy, swingin' stomp which bumps and yea verily grinds accordingly, rife with bawdy horns, Elvis
impersonations and all the glitter and sin of the title's namesake.

10. "Ponzi's Revenge" - A wildy enjoyable instrumental which spot-welds classic cop show themes to a seriously bad-assed Mambo groove. Sounds for sharp-dressed criminals to swagger menacingly by. Awesome.

11. "Don't Make It Stop" - Probably the most straight-ahead rock track to be found herein, "Don't Make It Stop" revisits Tod's fixation with
intertwining flippant euphemisms and laconic catch-phrases, set to a
chugging, drum/guitar pulse. Stripped of its horns flourishes, it could even pass for a comparitively giddy, later-era Cop Shoot Cop number.

12. "The Dog & Pony Show" - Those keen on accusing Firewater of Tom Waits appropriation might click their tongues knowingly at this track, but whatever. A slow building jaunt worthy of Kurt Weill, this track is yet another boozey high-stepper which would serve as an excellent theme song to a stage production of "The Ice Man Cometh."

13. "The Song that Saved My Life" - A haunting little atmospheric fragment swirling with bazouki and mellotron, this is a simple but stirring number.

14. "Dark Darys Revisited" - Just what it says.

15. "Before the Fall" - A reprisal of the opening theme, only fleshed out into a full track of its own. Music to juggle recently emptied bottles by.

Contrary to the song listing, there are only fifteen tracks on this
disc. What has become of track #16, "Descent", I do not know.

There you have it....