Superdrag
Last Call For Vitriol (Arena Rock)
Superdrag
Last Call For Vitriol (Arena Rock)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in Space City Rock, Fall 2003
If it were just four songs long, Superdrag’s Last Call For Vitriol
might be the unqualified power pop gem that I hope for every time I walk
into a record store. Sure, the kickoff track, “Baby Goes To Eleven,” fudges
its pedigree a bit with the parenthetical “(feat. Bob Pollard)”; not only
isn’t the nuttiest Daytonian “featured,” I’ll be damned if I can pick him
out in the mix. But griping’s a tad perverse in light of the song, which
is something close to an instant classic, a love letter written on tough-but-friendly
guitar distortion, sealed with sweet vocal harmonies and delivered to a
lady who has all the singer needs and more. The next three cuts keep raising
the ante, romping through Cheap Trickian nastiness (“I Can’t Wait”) and
rough-and-tumble Urge Overkill-styled howler rock (“The Staggering Genius,”
which also includes what sounds like a fairly subtle Sgt. Pepper
reference just before the last prechorus) before alighting on the pulverizing
“So Insincere.”
And then it all falls apart, starting with “Extra-Sensory,” which is the
same damn song written at least once by everybody who succumbs to the thrall
of Big Star. From there, Superdrag starts ticking off the tracks until the
disc stops spinning, patiently laying out cuts like “Way Down Here Without
You” (which is like “Odorono” played as if singer/guitarist John Davis mistakenly
thought it came from side two of #1 Record) and “Her Melancholy Tune”
(which ensures that Fastball need never consider covering “I’m Only Sleeping”
for fear of redundancy). All told, the final eight-song stretch is populated
with nobly failed rockers and some no-big-deal ballads that may not send
you running for the stop button but doesn’t offer any special enticement
towards “<<”, either. It may help to consider Last Call For Vitriol
a classic 4-song EP with bonus tracks. If using this logic to haggle with
the sales clerk for a lower price happens to work, I’d like to hear about
it.