Cracker
The Golden Age (Virgin)
by Marc Hirsh
Cracker
The Golden Age (Virgin)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in the Public News, ???, 1996
Misanthrope that he is, David Lowery drops a raging "fuck you" to everybody who's listening from the very start of The Golden Age. Not content to merely bite he hand that feeds him, he has to piss on the wound as well.
The separatist intentions of "I Hate My Generation" seem apt for a band that has continually lost a member with each successive album. This time around, it's bassist Dave Farragher who's been given the boot, leaving only Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman in the band. Outside musicians fill the drum, bass and miscellaneous chores.
And still The Golden Age sounds like Cracker. The continued excursions into country (as in the title track and "How Can I Live Without You") might be a touch more pronounced but still seem like a logical evolution from previous albums. "Sweet Thistle Pie" is riff-rock without the riff, with Lowery's looser and drunker vocals riding on Hickman's bigger and tighter guitar. It's "Low," but meaner, nastier, lower.
Cracker still have a few more tricks up their sleeves, though. "Useless Stuff" sounds like anglo pop, or what it would sound like if Skynyrd ran through it. Lowery might say he wants to turn his back on Generation X, but he's really just trying to show that there's life beyond Bush. The Golden Age is nihilism with a heart.