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At times Israel's vocals resemble Costello's and, like Costello, Israel doesn't sacrifice listen-ability for substance, saying "it's not a song until it has some kind of hook . . . but I also didn't want it to be fluff." Costello's stylistic influences on Israel are readily apparent. However the life experiences of a Brit aren't the same as an upper mid-western boy. Ultimately Dan Israel ain't nothing but Dan Israel. When you get your own copy of Love Ain't a Cliché (with artwork parodying a box of those conversation heart candies you can't escape on Valentine's Day) and ponder the title, don't jump to the same conclusions I did. It may be a concept album, at least in the sense that you can detect a common theme, but there's no reason to start mumbling about Paul McCartney or "Silly Love Songs." Book. Cover. Ring any bells? Years ago my wife quoted a Barbra Streisand lyric, something about people needing people. My now ex-wife (quoting Streisand didn't help) was right. Apparently Dan Israel agrees. The underlying theme of Love Ain't a Cliché isn't just that people need people, but that people disappoint. Even though others don't meet our expectations and we fall short of theirs, we persevere because life as a hermit is no life at all. You won't find any silly, starry-eyed love songs here. "Feet in the Water," one of the few tunes that might be called a love song, comes from a place that's real. It doesn't ignore the high of new love ("With your feet in the water/ I try not to act like a fool/ with your feet in the water/ I feel like I'm back in grade school/ with a secret crush on you") but also acknowledges that sometimes things change.
Love-gone-bad songs are often as clichéd as the sappy, ain't-love-grand ballads. Israel avoids the clichés. When love goes bad he's not "Lost Without Your Love" or (sorry Bread fans) singing that he's "Down on My Knees." He's not cold and uncaring, but does take a cold, hard look at the situation. He may decide "there is no way I can fix this/ it's just too dismantled sent down the line/You can paint it however you want/but you're still on your side and I'm on mine." Even though he "Don't Feel Like Laughing," he's realistic and moves on. On "Jump Through the Rings," his conclusion may seem like a typical love song cliché, "I'd jump through the rings for you any time/ I'd run way out to the end of the earth/ So you could see what my love is worth." However lines like "you never gave me anything but love/ but sometimes I need a little more" and "sometimes it seems I could be led astray/ by some shiny fool's gold" keep the tune anchored in what's honest and real rather than floating into idealized cliché. "Overloaded," the cut that provides the disc's title, is only marginally about love. Instead it takes aim at so called friends and the hipster crowd that's a part of the music scene in Minneapolis and everywhere else. ("I don't need no cool friends who can't deign to talk to me / I don't need someone who goes and turns on me / Hangin' round the hip ones, tryin' to be noticed / I'm feelin' just a little overloaded") Only addressing love in the final verses by explaining what it's not.
"Friend in this Town" treads the same ground as "Overloaded." When Israel sings about "sacrificing it all for no return" and "losing's worse when so many winners suck," it's ostensibly about the music industry. But his feelings are universal, applying just as well to whatever cutthroat business you work in. Lovers, friends, and work colleagues figure prominently in most of our lives, but our first lasting attachments were with family. You can't choose 'em and you can't divorce 'em. Maybe you even need them. There are alternative interpretations, but I hear "Hey Kid" as reaching out to a younger sibling. "If you know, how much I'd like to take back, all the teasing and the mean, mean jibes, let's face the facts, sometimes I was a big jerk." And surely "Wasn't Lost on Me" is doing the same to a parent.
If you're as sick as I am of songs written while looking through John Conlee's "Rose Colored Glasses" but find the J. Geils Band's "Love Stinks" a little too cynica,l then rush out and buy Love Ain't a Cliché. Dan Israel and the Cultivators understand just how you feel. * Visit Dan and the Cultivators at www.thecultivators.com for purchase options
and more. |
Describing his music
as rootsy-pop, Minneapolis's Dan Israel says he made a conscious
effort at keeping the "pop element real out front"
on Love Ain't a Cliché. The result is a collection
of melodic, hook-driven tunes. Pop. But this ain't no Britney
Spears. The back beat from the rhythm section of drummer David
J. Russ and Kris Bowring on bass is elemental rock and roll.
Israel's lyrics are too smart to lump with today's all-flash-no-substance
pop music. It's pop, but it's no "Oops! I Did it Again."
It's Pure Pop for Now People, although Dan Israel ain't
Nick Lowe. But if you don't hear echoes of Elvis Costello, you
just ain't listening.
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