THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200060
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Album review
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 89 lines
MIKE CONNELL is not the kind of guy who lets a little success go to his head.
Or even a nice-sized chunk of success.
`` '74-'75,'' the second single off The Connells' last album, ``Ring,'' put the band on the map, making the Top 20 in 13 countries around the world - the United States excluded. The album not only finished 1993 as the year's best-selling indie rock release, it made the band financially solvent.
So, with today's release of ``Weird Food & Devastation,'' Connell, 37, just might be feeling that the sixth time will be a charm, that this is the album that lets the band shake the ``regional'' tag and brings them the recognition they've deserved here at home for so long.
See Paragraph No. 1.
``I think we're all pretty realistic about things,'' the soft-spoken songwriter/guitarist said last week from his home in Raleigh. ``We are aware that the competition is incredibly stiff; pretty much every week of the year some major release is coming out. That's not an exaggeration. The difference from when we started in '84-'85 to now is pretty pronounced.
``The flip side is because of what happened (with `` '74-'75''), we're aware that miracles do happen. Anything is possible. For those reasons, we're cautiously optimistic.''
Meantime, the band is taking care of PR business, doing phone interviews in the early morning and making the rounds of radio stations. Once those chores are finished, probably in early-October, they'll tour the States for six weeks and keep tabs on how the new album is doing overseas.
``Fifth Fret,'' one of Connell's contributions, will be the first single and video.
``We're hoping we haven't lost any ground with the people closer to home during the year we spent, basically, just going to Europe,'' he said. ``It's easy to be forgotten these days. We hope that's not the case. Really, we're just throwing the album out there and seeing what happens.''
It's unlikely that fans in Hampton Roads have forgotten The Connells, whose melodic, guitar-driven pop first drew audiences to the old Corner and Kings Head Inn on Hampton Boulevard. They regularly sell out the Boathouse.
But listeners will notice something different on ``Weird Food & Devastation.'' On previous albums, Connell, fellow guitarist George Huntley and vocalist Doug MacMillan wrote most of the songs; this time, five of the band's six members contributed. The 14 songs that made the disc were voted on from a list of 23.
Connell said they also tried a new approach in the studio.
``There was a time when whoever came in with a song came in with the bare-bones skeleton and it would be fleshed out in rehearsal,'' he said. ``Now, it's a matter of George or myself or one of the other guys sitting at home with a four-track (recorder) or getting together with the soundman and having the songs arranged before they're introduced to the band.
``I welcome the input from the other guys. It certainly has taken some of the pressure off. Maybe one criticism of the band in the past is there hasn't been as much variety as some people would like. When you have five different songwriters, there's bound to be some degree of variety.''
The album certainly doesn't hurt for variety. ``Just Like That'' includes narration; ``On Your Honor'' uses a vibraphone to create a '50s feel; and keyboardist Steve Potak plays a considerably larger role, giving the whole package a bigger sound.
Connell makes a departure, too. ``Friendly Time,'' for instance, is downright noisy.
He credits that to time spent listening to the Beatles' ``White Album.'' He's also been spinning Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Oasis, Teenage Fanclub and jazzmen Stan Getz and Chet Baker.
``In the past, so many of my songs tended to be heavier than I actually intended,'' he said. ``That song (`Friendly Time') and `Adjective Song' were efforts to come up with a different type song, one with no message. Some people call those throwaways.
``I took it to the band more or less as a joke. I didn't think anyone would go for it because it was so out of character. But, for whatever reasons, those guys voted on it.''
Likewise, Connell, who studied law at the University of North Carolina, is still hard-pressed to explain the European success of `` '74-'75.''
``I thought it was a good song. I hoped it might do something here,'' he said. ``It didn't get much play in the States so I guess my expectations for Europe weren't any different. I personally was floored.
``We just recognize that there are so many factors that go into getting a band to a certain level. We're not selling millions of records, but we've been more fortunate than so many bands. I look at bands that I personally love and respect - The db's and Del Amitri - that didn't do what I thought they should have done, and realize that we're doing pretty well.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
THE CONNELLS
The new album may finally bring the band the American recognition it
deserves. by CNB