Extra Vancey

The Famous Pies debut album Extra Fancy grows on me more and more. I admit I'm biased, natch. Anything my Vance DeGeneres touches I personally want delivered directly into my hands for my thorough inspection (that may also involve a little bit of deep inhaling and, er uh, licking? -- I still keep the envelope that the disk came to me in because it has my name and address written on it in Vance's distinct script). The sequencing and arranging of the tracks that I had already heard (as MP3s on the website before the album came out) are good, and the new production gives them a cleaner (yet no less meaner) tone. But really these are just pleasant, upbeat little pop songs along the Vance-writing vein, with more guitar jangle and de rigeur female singer whose voice is soft and high but pleasing, if lacking some muscle in moments. Funny, knowing what I know about Vance (or more accurately what I have extrapolated only from the information made public) these songs read like his personal diary jumping right off the page, having written every track on the CD himself. Lyrics about never wanting an 8-hour work day and pursuing his musical ambitions in "Dreams", recalling his glory days in The Cold in "Now You Know Better", and his well-worn trademark topic of heartbreak and obsession in tracks like "Take", "Funny Orange Hair", "I Own You" and "The Mend". In all it's a particular style of pop that I used to enjoy and haven't revisited in quite awhile, but hearing Vance and Co. revive that Simple Pop Melody standard has been a pleasure to wallow around in again, especially when I am taking my morning perambulation through the sun-dappled tree-lined avenues of my neighborhood.

You can listen to tracks off The Famous Pies album by clicking the Extra Fancy link above. In the meantime I thought I'd add a special bonus; "Another Day's Gone By" by Ivan Neville, from the out of print 1988 CD If My Ancestors Could See Me Now and written by Ivan Neville and Vance DeGeneres. Not really one of my favorites, but I like it enough to put it here and it's one of the few times that I have heard someone with a recogizable name in the music business sing something that Vance penned and actually put to CD (many famous artists have performed Vance's songs, but I haven't found many recorded to disk).

*Another Day's Gone By by Ivan Neville (from the CD If My Ancestors Could See Me Now)

*This track is only available for 7 days on this page.