In the early or mid-1990s, I read a review of a music festival in Hot Press, an Irish music magazine, which nearly made me cry. It is not often you say that about a concert review for a band I had never heard of but it meant so much that I kept it, sellotaped to one of the band's CD covers, and it is now yellowing and showing its age, but I want to reprint it here.
'It was always going to be about American Music Club......Suddenly, the moment is upon us and God, there they are and gasp, there he is and wow, listen to that. And that. And that and that and that. How can I do justice to something as beautiful as thus, to the wonder that is American Music Club? This is music at its purest, devoid of gimmicks, one man and his band giving us everything they have and us loving it. This is great art because it gives relentlessly of itself and because it's being given to us by men who are happy to stick their necks out, to put themselves on the line and who are prepared to be taught of by many as fools, sacrificing themselves for the few who gaze on in a state of total adoration.
'This was so beautiful, at times taking a supreme effort for me not to collapse ina heap and in a puddle of tears. In truth, I was not entirely successful in this and sobbed silently away on at leat four occaasions ("Last harbour", "Western sky", "Outside this bar", "Firefly" - just writing these titles gives me goosepimples and you can laugh all you like). This was magnificent and these men you should instantly parade around town on your collective shoulders. The man who said the world doesn't deserve them was right. American Music Club are the greatest band I know'.
What an utterly beautiful piece of music writing! Needless to say, I immediately checked them out, and bought their next CD - 'Mercury'. Now I can't say I would go quite as far as the writer (except perhaps for The National) but they are absolutely a very special band, and one of the best kept secrets in music, huddled close to the hearts of a select bunch of fans.
Their singer, Mark Eitzel, is famously regarded as a miserablist (a good thing in my book, as discussed here) and accounts of their gigs regularly referred to his fragile emotional state (as evidenced by the live album 'Songs of love live', where he sounds like he is breaking down at times). However, many of their songs have a power and majesty that defies such simple characterisation.
I will include a few clips here, starting with 'Outside this bar', live versions of which cannot touch the original album version (from 'Engine'), but capture the spirit of it, with one of my favourite opening lines ('The hospital wouldn't admit you, so we go home again....') and the chorus which always makes me think of a Stephen King tale like 'The mist' ('Outside this bar, there's no-one alive?/Outside this bar, how did anyone survive?').
The next clip is one of their most beautiful moments, 'Fearless' (wonderful even without visuals):
while one of their livelier but still utterly melodically enchanting pieces is 'Wish the world away':
The first AMC song I ever heard was 'Gratitude walks' from 'Mercury', as the first album of theirs I bought, and below is a live version of this which shows a relaxed Eitzel to prove that their live performances were not uniformly anguished affairs:
Any discussion of AMC must consider Eitzel's wonderful way with lyrics, with heart-breaking lines like:
'I thought your love was just a great big lie. Now loving you is the only thing that's gonna get me by' ('Can you help me?')
'I broke my promise, that I wouldn't write another song about you. I guess I lied. After 12 long years, I still love you' ('I broke my promise')
'Saved again, am I saved again? By your eyes, the tears in your eyes. Your tears are the only thing that makes me sure, I've got to love you even more. And your tears are the only thing that'll endure, unless I love you even more' ('Fearless')
His somewhat idiosyncratic way of naming songs also deserves a mention ('The hopes and dreams of heaven's 10,000 whores', 'How many six packs does it take to screw in a light?' and 'What the pillar of salt held up' spring to mind), but overall, it is the pure brilliance of the songs mentioned and shown above, plus 'Blue and grey shirt', 'Gratitude walks', 'Nightwatchman', 'Why won't you stay' and many many more that give their wonderful legacy. There was a compliation of cover versions of Carpetners' songs a while back from which Sonic Youth’s version of ‘Superstar’ got perhaps the most attention (partly thanks to ‘Juno’), but AMC’s version of ‘Goodbye to love’ is a perfect match of subject and singer. On the subject of covers, there was also a hard-to-get CD of AMC covers by people like Lambchop and Willard Grant Conspiracy called ‘Come on beautiful’ (I think I ordered it by post!) which is well worth a listen.
In the late 1990s, after 'San Francisco', they split up and went their separate ways, Mark Eitzelto a slightly uneven solo career (including recording some AMC songs with a Greek folk band!), and guitarist Vudi to apparently drive a bus in LA. Then, a few years, they reformed and released 'Love Songs for Patriots' in 2004; this was not quite up to the wonders of the magnificent trilogy of 'Everclear' (perhaps their strongest and most consistent set, but on average louder than their others), 'Mercury' and 'San Francisco'. Another post soon will address the subject of whether bands can ever completely recapture the magic after years apart (e.g., the Go-Betweens and many more), but 'Love songs' included at least one undisputed AMC classic in 'Another morning':
Last year they released 'The Golden Age' (not one of my favourites) and played a blistering gig in a tiny club in Cork (including a version of 'Home' which finally put to rest their image as sad and quiet), and so they are still out there and there is no excuse for anyone not catching up with them. I have recently installed a widget on this blog which plays their songs, as a little shrine in their honour. Their Allmusic Guide page is here and their Myspace page is here, and if you don't know them go and treat yourself!
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