Love as Laughter - Holy (CD)

All Music Guide

Under the leadership of singer/songwriter Sam Jayne, Love as Laughter have gone through a few incarnations in the decade plus they've been treading the boards. From garagey rockers in the early days to politically charged balladeers, Jayne and his crew have always sounded fierce and committed. On their 2008 album the intensity comes and goes. Certainly on a track like the speaker singeing Paul Revere there is a surplus of the stuff as Jayne snarls and screams and the guitars rage like a cross between early Dream Syndicate and Nirvana. At most other times though an almost eerie calm creeps into the band's sound. Songs like the relaxed Crosseyed Beautiful Youngunz or Konny and Jim sound lazy and jammy, coming off like a backwoods and suspenderclad Jack Johnson, while some songs like the funky All Parts of Me sound like detours the band should have avoided. The Mellencamplite ballad Cleaning Man is the low point of the album, an embarrassing marriage of corny bar band musical backing and ...clichéd lyrics. Love as Laughter has been many things in their career, slick, well kempt and utterly predictable have never factored into the equation until now. You hate to blame the shift to a major label but the record is so radio ready and glossy, you have to wonder. Jayne and company do manage to pull off a few tracks that capture the old fire and brimstone of classic LAL (Paul Revere, the shuddering Westerbergian Bonnie and Clyde) but the shiny textures and generic songwriting are too much to overcome, rendering Holy a disappointing addition to the band's previously strong catalog. - Tim Sendra, All Music Guide Read more Less