Bill Janovitz
Up Here
Rating: 7.0
spinArt, 2001
You've heard Bill Janovitz's music before. You might not
realize it, but songs he penned for his band Buffalo Tom appeared in commercials
for both Nike and Pontiac. And, of course, there was the band's unforgettable
performance on the short-lived, but much beloved "My So-Called Life."
Janovitz has a knack for delivering the solid pop song, but with his band's
next studio album indefinitely on hold, he's turned his attention to his second
solo effort. And unlike the electric guitar-driven pop of Buffalo Tom, Janovitz's
Up Here focuses on the songwriter as storyteller by reducing the instrumentation
to sparse acoustic guitar and vocal arrangements dotted with harmonies, bits
of percussion and pensive piano lines.
On "Best Kept Secret," Janovitz contrasts a familiar country shuffle
with a series of bleak images including deserted classic cars and empty property.
As the ivories twinkle in the upper registers and the pedal steel adds its tones
underneath, Janovitz uses the chorus to celebrate the odd beauty of the abandoned.
It is only when Janovitz deserts his genuine vocal style and opts for sappier
fare that the songs prove less successful. The hard-to-swallow ode "Like
I Do" lacks the important bit of humor in both delivery and content that
makes many of Janovitz's songs captivating and sincere.
Even the seemingly sweet sentiments like "I can feel you warm my bones
right through / No one understands me like you do," are delivered in such
a way that they come across as more trite and pitiful than sentimental. However,
on the following track "Like Shadows," Janovitz gets the love song
right. Atop fervent guitar strumming he pleas "now I need you home / so
please come back / my heart attacks me on my own." The syncopated delivery
which makes the phrase "heart attacks" sound more like he is calling
the lover who scorned him a "heart attack" adds the levity which "Like
I Do" was lacking.
Similarly, the sparkling album closer "Long Island" tells the story
of a kid's struggle over whether to leave his suburban existence or remain in
the comfort of the familiar. Janovitz uses his warm voice to tell the tale with
a quirky hopefulness that makes lyrics like "Long Island / let others berate
you as I stand idle," sound sincere. And the acoustic/vocal combination
even gives way to some catchy shakers and a rocking electric guitar solo.
All in all, Up Here is generally a toe-tap-worthy series of short stories and
confessionals crafted by a man with a knack for the engaging pop song.
— A.K. Gold