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Our Music Year No. 71: I Mother Earth, ‘Scenery and Fish’
Artist: I Mother Earth
Title: “Scenery and Fish”
Year: 1996
Format: Spotify
Grade: C+
Canadians I Mother Earth’s second album, “Scenery and Fish,” combines funk and metal for a sound that should more fresh than the end result.
It was the final album with Edwin Ghazal as lead vocalist, a man who sounds like a less-sneering cousin of Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis when he climbs into a higher register.
In many places, the group is akin to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with keyboards and a funky bass groove driving rockers such as “Like a Girl.” In other spots, such as “Three Days Old,” the band sounds less distinctive, although inoffensive.
The songs run a little long in spots. “Shortcut to Moncton” includes a needless false ending two minutes shy of its nearly eight-minute running time.
The band, which reunited in January 2012 after an eight-year split, made an album that isn’t a lost masterpiece, but “Scenery and Fish” is enjoyable.
Nonetheless, I can see how this went overlooked in the ’90s. The distinguishing elements fail to be so quirky as to draw attention to them.
“Scenery and Fish” doesn’t take enough risks, content to hit the bar set by I Mother Earth’s ’90s rock contemporaries.
Our Music Year is Daily Republic popular culture writer Nick DeCicco’s yearlong online review in 2012 of albums he had previously not listened to. The reviews will appear in print on their corresponding days during 2013. Reach him at 427-6966 or ndecicco@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ndeciccodr.
Nick DeCicco
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