CD Odyssey Disc 546: The Vulgar Boatmen

I’ve had a lovely long weekend playing sports, then board games, hanging out with friends and just generally relaxing.  After I write this review I’ll do a little research for my fantasy football draft and then drift into the living room and watch some U.S. Open tennis. 

Yes, life is good.

Disc 546 is…. You and Your Sister

Artist: Vulgar Boatmen

Year of Release: 1989

What’s up with the Cover?  Here we have a cover where someone could not make up their mind.  Should we go with a studio action shot of the band or a picture of someone’s hot sister in front of an old car?  They decided to try both, and it doesn’t work.  I would have gone with the hot sister picture.

How I Came To Know It:  In an unusual way for me.  I was reading an AV Club article about bands that should have made it big but never did.  There were a dozen or so listed by various contributors, usually with a youtube video to check them out.  I tried out every clip.  Two or three led me to look up some more songs but only the Vulgar Boatmen blew me away.  I looked for an album in local stores for a while and then gave up and bought this album on Amazon.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have this one Vulgar Boatmen album so it can’t really stack up.  They are a hard band to find on CD – I want to get 1992’s “Please Panic” as well but it is over $100 on Amazon.  Yeesh!

Rating:  4 stars

This Vulgar Boatmen album just make me happy.  The music isn’t complicated, and the lyrics aren’t particularly insightful but “You and Your Sister” just has a vibe that is undeniable.

This is music that is made for the summer, sitting on a deck sipping on a wheat beer or a glass of sangria.  This is the theme music you should hear playing as you drive to the beach in a convertible with three or four other people, having one of those ‘friends forever’ montages you get in coming of age movies.

The album could best be described as “university rock.”  The themes are mostly about being a young adult and making your way in the world, although the free and easy guitar strumming that dominates their sound makes the problems of being twenty years old seem way easier than I remember them.

The singing of Carey Crane is high and light, and never forced.  In another band might be drowned out, but because of the inherently quiet way the band plays, it fits in perfectly.  It makes this music perfect not only for driving (a lot of the songs are about driving) but for walking as well.  In fact, I delayed my review of this album a couple of days simply because walking to work listening to it made me feel so positive about my day.

The record is subtle, and requires some attention from the listener.  The Vulgar Boatmen don’t go in for screeching guitar solos, or vocal gymnastics.  The songs are two or three chords played in sprung rhythm with exceptional precision.  When the guitar does pick out a melody it is like Crane’s voice, light and breezy, adding a few points of emphasis here and there without ever being overwrought or self-absorbed.

The lyrics are pretty, but the CD liner doesn’t print them and I can’t remember them much beyond the choruses.  Suffice it to say they are about driving, meeting up with girls and occasionally wondering what you are going to do with your life.  So, you know, rock and roll.

Because “You and Your Sister” didn’t change me somehow (see sidebar), I couldn’t give this record five stars, but there aren’t a lot of bad things to say, and nor do I want to.  Criticizing music this upbeat and sunny would just be a buzz kill.

The Vulgar Boatmen have been mostly forgotten in the mists of time, which is a common fate to university rockers. They deserved better.  Their songs have melodies that sound timeless after you hear them, and are played without ego or artifice.  They don’t make you feel like the world could be a better place; they make you feel like it already is.

Best tracks:  Mary Jane, You and Your Sister, Margaret Says, Katie, Drive Somewhere, Fallen Down, Hold Me Tight, The Street Where You Live