{"id":493,"date":"2011-04-19T05:39:48","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T10:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=493"},"modified":"2024-10-16T08:19:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T12:19:54","slug":"album-review-material-issue-international-pop-overthrow-20th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/19\/album-review-material-issue-international-pop-overthrow-20th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Material Issue – International Pop Overthrow (20th Anniversary)"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do Valerie, Diane, Renee and Christine have in common? They\u2019ve each got a song written about \u2018em on Material Issue<\/strong>\u2019s 1991 International Pop Overthrow<\/em>. And those songs have something else in common: each is a near-perfect slice of that particular brand of Midwestern powerpop.<\/p>\n

The Chicago trio released several records, but this one is their best. While the band would come to a tragic end \u2013 leader Jim Ellison<\/strong> would take his own life in 1996 \u2013 they left behind some exuberant music. And the title of this album was recycled and used for a most apropos purpose: an annual music festival.<\/p>\n

International Pop Overthrow<\/em> has gotten the 20th anniversary reissue treatment from UMe. The expanded reissue adds a handful of related (and worthwhile) tracks, but the original album itself contains enough pleasures all on its own. Songs like the opening number “Valerie Loves Me\u201d display a deft balance of crunch, bounce and melody. Ted Ansani<\/strong>\u2019s thick, assured bass lines and Mike Zelenko<\/strong>\u2019s powerful, precise drumming provide the thundering backbeat on songs like \u201cChance of a Lifetime.\u201d\u00a0 And while Material Issue\u2019s sonic delivery bears some similarities to fellow Midwesterners Cheap Trick<\/strong> (Ansani\u2019s even pictured on the album cover sporting an eight-string bass), Ellison\u2019s playfully affected faux-British vocalizing gives the trio a distinctive sound all its own.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all punch and drive on IPO<\/em>; the lyrics and arrangement on \u201cA Very Good Idea\u201d and \u201cThis Letter\u201d show a sensitive, heartbreaking side to Ellison\u2019s songwriting. (The latter sounds a lot like Cheap Trick\u2019s \u201cVoices,\u201d by the way.) A lyrical turn like his achingly-delivered \u201cOh yes it\u2019s me \/ I\u2019m drivin\u2019 past your house again\u201d will likely strike a lump-in-the-throat chord with anyone who\u2019s ever been a typical teenage male.<\/p>\n

But the band balances the pathos of teenage heartbreak with arena-sized anthemic rockers like \u201cCrazy\u201d and \u201cThis Far Before.\u201d Storytelling that aims for a Dylan\/Springsteen<\/strong> style is on the menu in \u201cTrouble,\u201d and a jangling, countryish vibe is served up on \u201cVery First Lie.\u201d\u00a0 The quality never flags on International Pop Overthrow<\/em>, and the original album remains an essential part of any powerpop collection. They\u2019d continue their girl-centric lyrical approach with \u201cThe Problem With Jill\u201d (on the compilation Yellow Pills #3<\/em>) and a cover of The Green Pajamas<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cKim the Waitress,\u201d but International Pop Overthrow<\/em> is Material Issue at their apex.<\/p>\n

The 20th<\/sup> anniversary reissue brings together some interesting bonus tracks. Among these is a note-for-note recreation of Thin Lizzy<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s epic \u201cCowboy Song\u201d (from the rare promo-only Eleven Supersonic Hit Explosions<\/em>). At first blush that might seem a stylistic left-turn, but Ellison\u2019s occasional ambitious lyrical concerns mean that it\u2019s actually a fitting choice. The band is firing on all cylinders, capturing all the power and nuance of the original, right down to the (overdubbed) guitar duel.<\/p>\n

A cover of The Sweet<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s \u201cBlockbuster\u201d suggests \u2013 in case you somehow missed it — that the early 70s were an influential musical period for the guys in Material Issue. They absolutely nail the over-the-top vocals on this one. \u201cEcho Beach\u201d (an original, not a cover of the Martha and the Muffins<\/strong> song) has a propulsive, jangling arrangement that feels like Katrina and the Waves<\/strong> wearing Shoes<\/strong>. If that sounds like bliss to you, well, you need <\/em>this.<\/p>\n

What sounds initially like a live version of \u201cVery First Lie\u201d quickly turns into a cover of Simon and Garfunkel<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThe Boxer,\u201d given a decidedly Material Issue-styled reinvention. Material Issue\u2019s \u201cSixteen Tambourines\u201d (from a 1988 CMJ Sampler<\/em>) shows that the band had fairly well nailed their sound years before the International Pop Overthrow<\/em> album. Though the other bonus tracks are good, they sound like almost-worthy tracks recorded for — and ultimately pruned from — IPO<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do Valerie, Diane, Renee and Christine have in common? They\u2019ve each got a song written about \u2018em on Material Issue\u2019s 1991 International Pop Overthrow. And those songs have something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28384,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/28384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}