Disco de The Posies: “Amazing Disgrace”

When i first got this album, i listened to the first few songs, and thought I was in for a major dissapointment, having bought into the Posies on the basis of Frosting on the Beater. These songs were angry, abrasive and discordant. I left it in my car, and after a few listens, the songs began to get their hooks into me. It stayed there for many months.

In retrospect I've come to understand that as an album, it's one of the best ones I picked up in the 90's, and the fact that I've never heard a single song from it played on any radio station only adds to its allure I suppose. I don't know what the Auer and Stringfellow think about it, but I have to wonder whether or not the dare u to like us ordering of songs hurt them when they clearly have gravitated to playing songs like Throwaway and Please Return it (songs 3 and 4) in their live shows (and on their Best of collection).

Like a bittersweet secret amongst friends, Amazing Disgrace is chock full of suprising melodies and lyrics. Posies fans will not be dissapointed with the depth or running time (14 songs!) It also contains what I consider to be amongst the handful of best unknow Alternative/pop recordings, Fight it (If you want), and like so many Posies songs, offers optimism and ethical choices made in the face of disappointment. This is no 3 song collection however, and one of the things I've always respected about the Posies is the depth of their commitment to the concept of an album without filler. From what I've read, this album was recorded over the period of almost a year, and the care and craftsmanship shows. Like any number of DGC releases I own, this is a fantastic album that never received the promotion it deserved.

I am a huge fan of the Posies, but I had my doubts about Amazing Disgrace. I had heard a lot of mixed messages about the album, and the open obscenity of one track was a bit of a deterrent too. I finally bought it though, and I am glad I did. It certainly is more angry, harsh, and dissonant than their other records, but it has the same melodic sensibility, and the majority of the lyrics are still the tasteful poetry I hoped for. While not as musically brilliant as Frosting on the Beater, Disgrace has more emotion (tender and sorrowful as well as angry) and houses some tracks that are definitely among the Posies' best ever. "Ontario," "Precious Moments," "The Certainty," and "Song No. 1" all fit into the latter category, and most of the other songs are nearly as good. All in all, this is probably their second best (Frosting being the first), and it is better than Dear 23 (which is saying a lot because I really love that album). So don't balk at the mixed reviews, especially if you are already a Posies fan; this is one very good record, but it seems to be for some people more than others, so only you can really tell if you will like it.

Just For a moment, imagine you were in one of the best pop/rock bands to ever grace the american music scence. Then after releasing 3 nearly perfect records---AND TOURING AS PART OF BIG STAR--you were still almost unknown beyound your circle of fans and hometown. THAT IS WHY IS RECORD IS SO BITTER IN TONE---THAT IS ALSO WHY THIS RECORD IS BRILLIANT! To all of you Posie fans who dislike this CD--You should understand! If only The Replacements would have burned out with such glory! Success was a ironic last stab--GET IT! DUGH!

This is one of those CDs that has a few duds that you wish weren't there, spoiling the brew somewhat, but on the plus side some of The Posies' finest tracks are found on this, their farewell release on Geffen. A 6-song sampler issued promotionally for this release is the ideal item to own, as it contains the very best of the lot, including my favorites, "(Will you ever) Ease your Mind?", "Song #1", "Fight It (If You Want)", and "Throwaway". Geffen promoted "Please Return It" and then "Ontario" as singles, but they were obviously the wrong songs; neither picked up radio play. "Frosting On the Beater" is The Posies' classic, and should be heard first, but unless you can find a copy of the sampler CD, pick up "Amazing Disgrace" for its highlights, and forgive the band for such awful tracks as "Everybody..." and "Hate Song", and the mediocre "Ontario". Had they been left off, this would have been given a 5 star rating.

What I love about this record is that after whatever number of amazingly, discomfitingly various chameleon-of-the-week albums (Failure=perfect '80s Brit-pop, Dear 23=dyspeptic '90s Sgt. Pepper, Frosting=stunning grunge turnaround), "Amazing Disgrace" is the Posies...posing as nobody. And it's brilliant. For the first time, they just fiercely make great art. For me, a touchstone record.