Cheer-Accident

Discography

• Sever Roots, Tree Dies (vinyl only, 1988). Probably the most traditionally progressive of their releases, the first side has a lot of Henry Cow influence and the second side is more Crimsonesque - and interesting blend of the 1974 and the 1980s version. Both sides have strong This Heat influence also. Stand out tracks include "Avoid the Invisible" which builds to a wall of mellotron and spiky guitar loops and "Heaven" in which a funky bass line anchors complete drum chaos. Most of the unique elements that continue to shape their sound are present here: pop sensibility, angular compositions, complex metal, atmospheric piano and trumpet.
• Dumb Ask (recorded 1990?, released 1991). Co-produced by Steve Albini, this is a very muscular collection of rock, or as close to a full fledged technical metal album as Cheer-Accident is capable of generating. Taking off from the second side of Sever Root, it's full of heavy riffing with plenty of offbeat time changes. If forced to draw a comparison, it sounds a bit like what the 1990's King Crimson will be doing in four years on Thraak, especially on the opening tune "Garbage Head" and the last two tunes "Elbow Deep In Turkey" and "Filet Of Nod". Albini seems to leave less of a thumbprint here than is usually the case although the slightly buried vocals are pretty typical of his work. He will continue to act as producer and/or engineer on most of their albums that follow this.
• Babies Shouldn't Smoke (recorded 1991, released 1993). The most immediately apparent aspect of this album is a much funkier rhythm section under the complex metal of the previous release. Although it sports one of the most truly ugly covers in the history of rock and roll, the music is a major leap forward for the band. Much denser and difficult, this is for me the first REAL Cheer-Accident album and the first feature Phil Bonnet as a member (he recorded the first album). "The Butterfly Effect" blazes along with a terrifyingly complex riff and a horn section, only to develop into a Henry Cow-like improvisation. While it's a more complicated listen than the previous albums, they also start to flesh out their "pop" side, which will come out full force on the next album. "People Are Props" has an oddly catchy chorus and although the melody line is modal, it really sticks like a good pop melody should. Other highlights are the hooky "Playground" and the lurching "Big Secret Airshow". This is an excellent album from an adventurous band.
• The Why Album (recorded 1992/93, released 1994). With the departure of bassist Chris Block and the addition of Dan Forden, Cheer produced their pop-iest release. The songs are full of hooky choruses and more melodic then previous recordings, and much of the disc is actually reminiscent of the Beatles (note the title of the album - get it?). Very surprising, especially given that they don't really lose much of their trademark complexity and edge. Highlights include "Today Today Today", a fantastic song any pop band would give their teeth to write, and "Transposition" as song so good it's repeated three times. Really. It's track 8, track 9 and track 10 - the latter two titled "Transposition (Same Mix)". It's a funny poke at the growing tendency of CDs in the early 1990s to add superfluous tracks, often remixes, merely to give the customer the sense of "bonus" and "value", rather than actually adding any "content". This is a crucial release and probably a good place for the beginner to start.
• Not A Food (recorded July 1994, released 1996). The band went back into the studio with Steve Albini in the summer of 1994 to make a rock record. And rock it does. A mostly instrumental affair, the album maintains the sense of melody from The Why Album and restores the dissonant angular rock from Dumb Ask for a full on Cheer-Accident experience. This mix of musical elements reminds me of Mission of Burma, not because Cheer sounds like them but because Burma excelled in this sort of dense pop/metal. "30 Seconds of Weightlessness", which sits in the middle of the album is eleven minutes of gorgeous, unfolding tension. This may be their best album.
• Enduring The American Dream (recorded 1992-96, released 1997). This is the only Cheer-Accident album I'm not crazy about. It might be I've not given it a chance as it is definitely their most difficult album musically and lyrically. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on but it seems disjointed and unfocused. The album opens with "Vacuum" - eight minutes of harmonium drones with vacuum cleaner counterpoint. "Dismantling the Berlin Waltz" has the epic qualities of some of their earlier stuff and it is the most Henry Cow-like thing they've recorded since Sever Root, Tree Dies (and actually closes with a snippet from that album). "A Hate That Grows" is a long extemporaneous sounding noise clinic for more than half of its seven minutes though it's almost redeemed in the last minute. "Desert Song" likewise starts out promising with a mysterious and mournful piano figure which suddenly becomes a pop tune but almost immediately deregulates into something that sounds like an extract from the end of 2001 - a Penderecki-seque atonal vocal cluster with drone-y swarms of meandering sound. There are some diamonds in this rough, like the excellent "Frozen" and the haunting "Metaphysical" which sounds as though it is being transmitted from an old victrola (including a minute of run-off groove at the end). All in all, the songs push in directions that never pay off as strongly as previous material, though they are probably excellent musical R&D for the band. But after Not A Food , this is a disappointment.
• Salad Days (recorded 1999, released 2000). This disc was the last recorded with Phil Bonnet - the overdubs and mixing were completed after his death. It's a shorter release, clocking in at 37 minutes total; the songs feel less chaotic and more restrained, especially in the arrangements. The album opens with "Graphic Depression", a ten minute workout that rededicates the band to where they left off with Not A Food."Insomnia" starts with a funky drum groove which gets a simple organ riff and layers of vocals, not really going anywhere but being a sort of pleasant interlude, along with the next two songs, before the 18 minutes of the title track. "Salad Days" kicks in quickly with the angular melody line and complex rhythm of all the best Cheer-Accident material. The middle section has one of their most lyrical melodies before the distortion and jagged riffing returns and leads to a surprising brass led conclusion. No new ground is broken with this release, but it was probably a difficult process completing this following Bonnet's death. I feel obliged to note that I never noticed the similarities between a head of iceberg lettuce and a human brain until seeing the back cover of the disc.
• Trading Balloons (recorded 1997, released 2000). Apparently a self-released CDR with one 50 minute track - I don't own it.
• Gumballhead The Cat (released 2003 ). A CD/comic book package. I don't own it yet.
• Introducing Lemon (recorded 2002, released 2003). Book-ended with two epic songs over 20 minutes in length, the 9 songs that make up this album continue to push forward and outward. Acoustic guitars feature heavily and the trademark piano is relegated to a supporting role. The first epic is the instrumental "The Autumn Wind Is a Pirate" which opens with a horn section vaguely reminiscent of Zappa and moves into an acoustic guitar midsection unlike anything previously heard from Cheer. This gives over to a muscular metal wall of angular time signatures and interlocking lines. Where does a band go from there? Unfortunately, "Camp O'Physique", a Zappa-like ode to summer camps (I guess), full of funny-sounding background singers, narrated verses and a minimal band track. A career low, even if it is supposed to be a joke. They immediately redeem themselves with "Zervas", a bazouki driven, Eastern flavored instrumental that slowly builds to a sensual climax and straight into "Track 29", a "classic" Cheer rock number that unfortunately has more of the silly vocal stylings of "Camp" stuck in the middle. "Smile" is an interesting version of Cheer-Accident doing a pop tune while "While" is not so interesting except to provide a context for the title of the first song and serve as a lead in to the closing epic "Find". "Find" is the closest to a traditional prog rock epic that Cheer has ever done, even on the Sever Root. Ultimately, Introducing Lemon sounds like a transitional album.
• Younger Than You Are Now: Cheer-Accident '81-'84An interesting journey back into time presenting some of the earliest material the band developed starting in high school days. Probably more interesting for serious fans.
• What Sequel? (released 2006). This is cheekily referred to by the band as "the long awaited (by whom?) follow up to... The Why Album." Hands up who was waiting for this!?! Mine is up. True to their hype, it is of a piece with that album. A good balance between their own brand of pop and their more intricate compositions.