Desaparecidos - Read Music/Speak Spanish
(Saddle Creek)
By far, the most hate mail I've ever received is for my dismissive review of Bright Eyes' 2000 album Fevers & Mirrors. I've had people tell me that the review was so dumb that reading it made them feel dumber, and I've had each member of a certain Barsuk band write me individually telling me how wrong I was about Mr. Oberst's landmark album.
To each his own, I guess. I still stand by what I said; Oberst has cried his fragile little heart out so much, that by 2000's release of Fevers & Mirrors, he had precious little to cry about anymore. While those who fawn easily can take Oberst's increased attention towards orchestration on that release as a sign of maturity and progression, I just took it as a band-aid used to cover up the lack of emotion coming from his over-exposed heart.
While you can easily take either side on the merits of Fevers & Mirrors, if you are to take my side, then is it any surprise that, in 2002, he is wasting so much time being all political as the frontman of Desaparecidos? If your confessional-esque approach to songwriting has dried up, it's only natural to change direction and style. Instead of acting forlorn, attack with rage. Instead of looking inside your heart, look outside at your community.
Desaparecidos debut album Read Music / Speak Spanish is a bitter diatribe against every change to Oberst's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska: each new housing development, each closing family farm, each Home Depot, and each Walmart is a thorn in Oberst's side. And while he reacts to the troubles of his heart with fragility, he reacts to each of these pricks in his boney abdomen with rage and vitriol.
It is all rather comedic, actually, but not in a good way. Each topic Oberst goes on and on about has been beaten to death by not only each and every left wing protestor, but also each and every stand-up comedian. David Letterman jokes they just opened a Starbucks in Afghanistan, Jay Leno jokes they just opened a Starbucks on the moon, now Connor Oberts sings a political statement on how he is so unhappy there are now Starbucks in Omaha. Tired stand-up comedy does not make a good political lyric, and it is even worse when no comedy is intended in the song.
The proliferation of Starbucks is not the only recycled stand-up routine, however. Infomercials, SUVs, fashion, and New Jersey are common stand-up targets in which Oberst finds enough aggravation to give a cheap shot to. We also get George Carlin's routine on how we live our whole lives to get "stuff" only to find when we get the "stuff" that we just want to get more and more "stuff." Only Oberst doesn't intend any humor. Oberst is so serious about these words, it hurts.
Musically, Oberst and company are right on. The music they create is basically by-the-numbers pop-punk, owing a debt to late 80s U2 and the Pixies via Weezer but not sounding too far off from the current state-of-the-ratt radio bands... a guilty pleasure for sure. The band shows a great attention to detail, though, that is often neglected in such music, making it quite listenable even if it feels like you've heard this music before or if it does little to distract you from Oberst's anti-consumerism grandstanding.
The teaser EP for this album gave me some hope for the album. The anti-America, anti-military stance of "The Happiest Place on Earth" made it seem ballsy. However, Oberst is so over-the-top with his convictions for these 31 minutes that it doesn't seem ballsy anymore, it seems cocky. Read Music / Speak Spanish is entertaining and enjoyable, just not entirely for the right reasons.
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