Ted Leo & the Pharmacists at Brownies
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists' The Tyranny of Distance is one of the best albums of 2001. The record is so good that I predict it'll show up on respected critics' top 10 lists at the end of the year. Leo's latest effort plays like an irresistible pop album from early to mid-60s California. Yet it's as new sounding as I remember Chisel's first record, 8 A.M. All Day, being when it was released in '96.
When I went down to the CD release party at Brownies, I had never picked up last year's Treble in Trouble or 1999's dub/tape-loop experiment, Rx/Pharmacists. I was hoping for an evening of all new material, the songs I was more familiar with. Having arrived too early from a bad movie, a few companions and Isat through an horrific local band. While their singer played alternately at being Jack Black and the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, we drank more and risked our asses as we sat on a bench not necessarily made for sitting.
Finally?around 1:30?Ted Leo hit the stage. He was alone, wearing burnt-sienna colored vintage Levi's and a button-down shirt. He played a few solo songs and bounced around like a kid without his Ritalin. The fourth song into the set was "Timorous Me." It began with just Leo playing guitar and singing. Halfway through the song his bandmates began appearing on stage, one by one. First was Pharmacist Chris Wilson, on drums. He began rhythmically pounding along and the bassist and second guitarist chimed in about 30 seconds later, making it an official rock show.
It was at this moment that the crowd really responded. I even witnessed Mr. Show's David Cross bobbing his hat-covered balding head. There was lots of applause and guys crowding the front of the stage. I decided to join my friends down front next to the speaker. I had accidentally left my earplugs in the pants I wore to the Ex/Les Savy Fav show a few days before, so I experienced the louder rawness of this entire set?a sound that kept my ears ringing through the next day. They played songs from the new album, just as I had hoped, including one of my favorites, "Under the Hedge." Like "Timorous Me," "Under the Hedge" has a similar repetitive drumbeat that's almost hypnotizing. The lyrics are probably some of the most honest on the album: "I know you've done it before to them/But here's where it ends and where I stand... I ran like a rabbit from your rifles/You had me two times out on the ledge/But I still love you, you see?"
A couple songs later was "Dial Up," a faster, more jangly number that demonstrates Ted Leo's wide lyrical range. It's almost as if he's mocking himself when he sings in this high-pitched voice?like when someone puts on a different voice in order to give a story more meaning. Catchy rhythms and likable song structures joined by the varying vocals is what makes The Tyranny of Distance so appealing. I was impressed by how good all the songs sounded live, especially since the touring Pharmacists are different than the ones playing on the album. The songs still sounded remarkably like they did on the album, minus the tambourine. It was a great night.