BENEVOLENT MUSHROOMS
Jacob's Ladder (Elysium)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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This is a rather frustrating review to word. See, something's very good here, and it's having its way with me. St. Louis' Benevolent Mushrooms are well schooled in the sweet science of folsky-psychedelia, and I admit I'm floating on "Corn In The Valley." It's not the first track on Jacob's Ladder to carry me off, either. The instruments are played at a pro level and rarely crowd each other, leaving plenty of space for the sound to expand, and the vocals of Richard Hamilton and Mary Ann and Janet Wheeler get A+ marks without a second thought. So why is it frustrating? Because something's wrong here, too. The Shrooms need to learn not to drive a musical idea into the ground. Please note that they do not do it on every song, or even on most songs. It's just a habit they have when they decide to take a song and stretch it out. "Megan" really felt unnecessary in the first place, aside from a rather cute little descending guitar riff, but hearing the chorus over and over for more than six minutes has made me hate the name Megan. Worst of all is the title track with it's chorus that I could have sworn was 40 days and 40 nights long, but the CD player says it's 6:05, exactly 11 minutes less than the seemingly considerably shorter Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida. That's not totally fair. It's a beautiful little 3 minute song that they carried on for twice as long as they needed to, until the words "Jacob's ladder" became some kind of annoying mantra. Be aware, dear readers, that I still feel this way about the "nah nah nah nah-nah-nah-naaaaah's" of "Hey Jude" and the "Li-le-liii's" of "The Boxer, so perhaps it's something for me to work out in therapy and everyone else loves repetition. And everyone else loves repetition. And everyone else loves repetition. And everyone else loves repetition. So I walked away for a few weeks, came back and programmed out "Jacob's Ladder" and "Megan," and though there's still a tendency toward repetition at times, the CD is quite beautiful and worthy of your attention, perhaps one of the best of its genre. If you want to hear a LOT of their music and judge for yourself, go to their page at MP3.com and download entire songs. Great way to shop.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson