Review Summary: A varied, well-developed collection of songs from a great group that manages to be light-hearted and beautiful without ever seeming shallow.
After 2002’s “Red Letter Days”, a collection of jovial, straightforward rock songs, met with sales far below its two predecessors,
The Wallflowers returned in 2005 with “Rebel, Sweetheart”. Did
The Wallflowers go back to the intricate songwriting of their massive hit “One Headlight”? Did they produce a multifaceted, unified album like the critically-renowned “Breach”? Or did they try something new, surprising, and different?
No, none of the above, but that turns out to be a good thing. “Rebel, Sweetheart” bears more resemblance to “Red Letter Days” than any of the group’s other albums. From the first song, the music is shining with optimism, a tone sustained through the entire album with the exception of “God Says Nothing Back”. Also, from the first song, the music is better in every regard than on “Red Letter Days”. “Days of Wonder” establishes everything about “Rebel, Sweetheart” with utopian lyrics like “Happy birthday to the world”, images of an unfolding rainbow, and a majestic combination of energetic guitar lines and dynamic vocal parts. The songs on “Rebel, Sweetheart” often have the same verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, but it’s much less obvious than on “Red Letter Days”, and each song is varied and distinct. Dylan holds back a bit; the music is often so loud that he’s hard to hear, and the rest of the group seems to have just as important a role, often singing backup. A great example is the closing song, “All Things New Again”. That song, structured as a round, ends the album just as it began: enjoyable, simple beauty. God, I love this group.
Speaking of which, religious imagery, specifically Christian imagery, plays a significant role in the album. It’s painfully clear now that for whatever reason
The Wallflowers are oblivious to the trends of the day; over time their music has steadily grown more classical, and now it’s riddled with lines like “Adam took the apple/I was not involved” from “The Passenger and “A clear will to honor all God’s creations” in “All Things New Again”. “Rebel, Sweetheart” is a step away from the increasing success of the mainstream, technology-driven groups that take center stage in the music industry today. Rebellious indeed.
All the way through, “Rebel, Sweetheart” feels like
The Wallflowers are playing exactly what they want to play exactly as they want to play it. The lyrics, though not the best Dylan has come up with, are always quite good. A highlight is “Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)”, a hilarious vignette opening with “Here comes your drunken marionette/Dragging his mess of threads/There at the bar pulling smoke to his lungs/And he says who will ignore me when your gone”. The instrumentation is dead-on, establishing a sharply witty mood from the very beginning with a cute whistle introduction, and the song officially earns an award for the best song ever about a grumpy puppet.
One of the keys to the success of “Rebel, Sweetheart” is the new drummer Fred Eltringham, who adds a layer of excitement to the whole album, particularly the short, knock-out track “The Passenger”, the dreamy “Nearly Beloved”, and the metaphor-driven “I Am a Building”. The latter tackles a relationship in the second-person, where Dylan is locked away as a building “that is here without doors”.
“The Beautiful Side of Somewhere” is this album’s “When You’re On Top”, serving as a loud, enthusiastic, and all-out lovely song that is “Rebel, Sweetheart’s” only charting single. The slide guitar from “Sixth Avenue Heartache” returns to marvelous effect.
Plenty of slow songs are scattered about. The epic “From the Bottom of My Heart” contains some of the group’s best and most subtle guitar work to date, and “How Far We’ve Come” and “We’re Already There” are both well-written and appropriate breaks.
Embedded at the center of the album are the best and worst songs. “God Says Nothing Back”, described by Dylan as one the group’s proudest pieces of work, utilizes all of the group’s strengths: deep, meaningful lyrics, a mysterious, enveloping atmosphere, and excellent guitar and percussion parts. Here, Dylan lavishly stretches out the last word of each phrase into a sustained moan. Other members of the group join in, creating an astounding sound. The lyrics grow more and more pessimistic, changing from “God says nothing back but I told you so” to “Death says nothing back but I told you so” at the end. Unfortunately, the mundane “Back to California” comes next. Though catchy at times, it sounds more like a second-rate impersonation of the already forgettable “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls” from “Bringing Down the Horse”. The key line “Let’s move back to California” is obvious and generic, and the song is the only weak spot on the album.
“Rebel, Sweetheart” is filled with great music. Though consistently excellent, it’s nowhere near as complex or interesting as “Breach”, and “God Says Nothing Back” and perhaps “Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)” are the only individual songs that really measure up to the group’s early singles. It’s clear on “Rebel, Sweetheart” that
The Wallflowers have no intention to change their musical style; they’re just improving on what they already know how to do. Overall, it’s on par with “Bringing Down the Horse”.
The Wallflowers disbanded after this album’s disappointing sales, but I really hope they get back together. From the richness of the multiple movements of “Days of Wonder” to the draining away of the music as Dylan proclaims “All things new again”, “Rebel, Sweetheart” always makes me feel inspired and upbeat. From “One Headlight” to “Sixth Avenue Heartache” to “Hand Me Down” to “I’ve Been Delivered” to “Three Ways” to “God Says Nothing Back”,
The Wallflowers have made an array of great songs, most of which are missing from the short Greatest Hits compilation they recently released. I urge anyone to check out this splendid album and the rest of this group’s music. You won’t be disappointed.
