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Veruca Salt: Resolver
Today, mainstream music consists mostly of mindless, sterile ditties. Given that, how surprising is it, that Veruca Salt's new album, Resolver, has been received so poorly by the public and critics alike? I have seen it criticized for being too whiny or repetitive. Well excuse me, Rolling Stone/NME/Spin, but do you remember Blood On The Tracks or Plastic Ono Band? Resolver is in the same style, only it rocks much harder (with all due respect to the screams of Lennon's "Well Well Well" or the stomach acid poured over Dylan's "Idiot Wind").
The liner notes hold a strange comment: "Thank you Nina Gordon..." Anyone hip to Chicago music knows something is up, because Nina split from the band following the failure of 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You. Co-leader Louise Post retained the name and reinvented the band with bassist Suzanne Sokol. The resulting album is extremely personal, dropping constant references to Gordon and ex-boyfriend Dave Grohl, who left Post for Winona Ryder (real National Enquirer stuff).
"I am not the same as I was before," Post croons over the short, balladic first track. Upon listening, though, you get the feeling that such a platitude won't last. All is redeemed with "Born Entertainer," a rough-edged self-affirmation for Post that takes shots at both Gordon and Grohl. As Post's inner demons smell fresh blood, she explodes, and the songs that follow accelerate right off the rails with soft verses, heavy choruses, and complete detonations connecting the two.
"Used to Know Her" also addresses the two G's—a heavy bass-and-drums intro leads into the hardcore chorus just as the Gordon verse leads into lyrics about Grohl. This track alone is worth the price of admission, if only for the great use of profanity. Enter "Disconnected," which continues to stencil the big bull's-eye on Grohl's forehead with lines like "it's kinda scary when your lover leaves you for a movie star...and I'm still in the dark."
You can call Resolver anything—except inconsistent or soft. Post sticks to her vitriolic course and delivers again and again. It may not be pretty, but this seamless album is certainly able to stand its ground among the bubble gum pop stuck to the bottom of the airwaves. (Beyond)
—Rick Cortazar
All materials © 2000 The Yale Herald, Inc., and its staff.
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