The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
BritPop_1000x50

Dean and Britta

Back Numbers | Zoë/Rounder
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN  |  February 26, 2007
3.0 3.0 Stars
070302_INSIDE_DEAN

Just as Luna’s final album, Rendezvous (Jetset), was a portrait of a band facing an uncertain demise, Back Numbers is an album about moving on. Former Luna leader Dean Wareham and his wife, Britta Phillips, who was the bassist in the final Luna line-up, got married in the midst of recording the disc, so even if it’s their second full-length as a duo, it’s still a first of sorts, particularly given that Wareham no longer has Luna to go back to. One constant throughout his career has been the Velvetsy nature of his strum-and-drone guitar pop. Back Numbers does nothing to change that — which means Luna fans will be pleased. Sweeping strings and haunting harmonies give a moody feel to an album on which the lyrics range from reflectively optimistic to just plain absurd — “Crystal Blue RIP” is a eulogy for a dead bunny. On “White Horses,” Phillips sings sweetly against a tinkling xylophone: the song was the theme for a 1960s British children’s TV show, and she only lets a hint of irony creep into her delivery. The other three covers are an upbeat take on Donovan’s “Teen Angel,” Lee Hazlewood’s “You Turned My Head Around,” and the Troggs’ “Our Love Will Still Be There.” But the truest line comes in “The Sun Is Still Sunny,” a reflective ballad near the end on which Wareham sings, “I can’t say what to do/But we’re not going back there again.”

Dean & Britta | Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston | March 9 | 617.369.3306

Related: Moving pictures, Rock readings, On with the shows . . ., More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Museum of Fine Arts,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
ARTICLES BY CAITLIN E. CURRAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   . . . AND SO IS YOUR MOM  |  August 08, 2011
    Va te faire enculer . Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Actually, I just told you to fuck off. Pardon my French!
  •   PRIDE AT 39  |  June 01, 2009
    Not to downplay this year's Pride Week or anything, but the annual weeklong mélange of events geared toward New England's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is just one year shy of its 40th anniversary. Which makes it sort of like the night before Christmas.
  •   THE CRASH COURSE  |  May 06, 2009
    It was a sunny but brisk Friday afternoon in March when my bike was hit.
  •   EAT IT, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!  |  May 06, 2009
    It's a Thursday afternoon at Lexington High, and 20 or so students have congregated in a music room surrounded by racks of folding chairs and sporting a sleek black Steinway baby grand.
  •   THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE  |  April 24, 2009
    Of Montreal live at the Paradise, April 21

 See all articles by: CAITLIN E. CURRAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed