The Squires of the Subterrain - Scrapbook

All Music Guide

Scrapbook considerably scaled back on the intricacy and progressively expansive sound of the previous three Squires of the Subterrain albums. In a sense, the slightly rough-cut Electric Blanket is a precursor, but Scrapbook is considerably more straightforward and song-based, a sideways step into simplified, unembellished pop. It times in at a breezy 27 minutes and is just as sparsely textured, an open-aired exercise in artful reduction. Even if it does represent something of a quick breather, though, the album is still a supremely groovy piece of music that has its share of kaleidoscopic nuggets while also trying on a few new fashions. Many of the tunes are built from stark piano or guitar frameworks, and while there are examples of phasing, backward guitar, and other effects peppered throughout, they are tempered for the most part. More often, Earl manages the warped textures of psychedelia through more direct means -- the lyrics, for example, or the contorted harmonies of "Small Tow...n Girl." The album opens with the sweetly ominous "Holiday," a song that might have found a place on the first Bee Gees album, the sugar coming from a Peter Noone-style vocal. And "Umbrella's Open" shows an affinity for Move-styled rock, especially in the grimy guitars. But it is John Lennon who leaves the most limpid fingerprints on the music. "Walkin' a Hole (Thru My Shoe)" and the title track are carried by vocal mannerisms that are unmistakably Lennon, as filtered through the vaudevillian sensibility of Paul McCartney and the heavily torpid soundscapes of Magical Mystery Tour, respectively. "Happy Birthday (Mother Dear)," too, is a spot-on extension of Lennon's White Album-period songwriting right down to its matriarchal premise. But by this point, the Squires of the Subterrain were no mere mimic, and the songs are far too good to be derivative. Several selections also show Earl moving outward from his characteristic stomping ground, namely on a pair of bossa nova- and flamenco-flavored romances, "My House Is Your House" and "Lovers' Knot." It's a transitive effort that leads, usefully, into the first major Squires of the Subterrain compilation, Pop in a CD. As such, the album, among all in the Squires' discography, can too easily be overshadowed. It goes without saying, however, that bypassing its many pleasures would be a miscalculation. - Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide Read more Less