The Catherine Wheel: The definite article is new. The record label is new. The bass player is new (though Ben Ellis didn't play a note on the record; after Dave Hawes was dumped, the three remaining members shared bass duties). What's also new, and a disappointing surprise, is the band's effort this time out. Catherine Wheel (sans "the") unleashed four titanic, and, at times, pretentious blasts of rock in the '90s to become, arguably, one of the decade's best. They aimed high and sometimes misfired, but one had to acknowledge and applaud the effort. For their new label, The Catherine Wheel aim above the horizon, but safely below the interstellar galaxies they previously traversed. Rating: 6
Wishville (Sony)
Wishville starts off with one of the album's best songs: the cathartic and radio-friendly "Sparks Are Gonna Fly." Paired with onomatopoeic riffs, audio and verbal sparks most definitely start flying in seconds. "Recent years were unsung/I light 'em up/Burning my horoscope/Recent fears I've undone/I give 'em up." Having gone public with his bouts of depression and professional guidance in that arena, front wheel Rob Dickinson wants everyone to know he's still here. The chorus soars: "Now the sparks are gonna fly/'cos I'm turned on again/Burning up the future/I'm taking off."
With a nanosecond's pause, Neil Sims' snare drum introduces "Gasoline," an accumulation of similes describing a feeling of seeming pleasure for the song's narrator. Drug-induced? Perhaps, though if this is the sound of Prozac nation, then on with better living through chemistry. Unfortunately, the effect starts to wear off too soon. A suite of slow-to-mid-tempo songs diffuses this listener's anticipation and only the seductive "Mad Dog" snaps me back to attention.
Past albums all have more tracks than Wishville (and clock in an average of 10 minutes longer) and each has at least one genuine epic that challenges the listener and the band over six or seven minutes. The closest to that we get here is the just-under-five-minute, tempo-changing, harmonica-tinged "Ballad of a Running Man." Appreciated, though not of marathon caliber, especially when compared to past moments like "Phantom of the American Mother," "Pain" or "Ursa Major Space Station."
With five of the album's nine songs real keepers, plus an honorable mention, Wishville earns better than a 50 percent score, though it's a laggard in the discography.
- Tim Frommer
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