Everclear - Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile

Reminiscences permeate the dozen diverse tracks that populate Everclear's fourth outing. The trio, spearheaded by writer/guitarist/producer Art Alexakis, looks back in myriad ways on Songs from an American Movie. Alexakis skillfully and sweetly addresses his recent divorce ("The Honeymoon Song," "Now That's It's Over"), musical heroes ("Otis Redding"), and childhood ("AM Radio"), frequently matching his words with suitably retro music. Although the only cover is a new-wave take on Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," familiar musical references abound. On "AM Radio," a brief sample of "Mr. Big Shot" sets the tone for funky flashback fun, while "The Honeymoon Song" is full of Brian Wilson inflections. Alexakis references his own "Everything to Everyone" in the title track, while "Otis Redding," "Unemployed Boyfriend," and "Wonderful" are more commercial alt-rock Everclear than homage Everclear. Alexakis set out to make a pop album, and while millennial teenagers have their own definition of "pop," for '70s-kid Alexakis, Songs from an American Movie serves as a summertime soundtrack to his thirtysomething life. --Katherine Turman Amazon.com

4.5 stars, a near-perfect pop album

It's pretty rare that I pick up a mainstream pop album. I'm not knocking it, but my tastes tend to run more towards metal and classic rock. Anyway, I took a chance on Everclear's 2000 release Songs from an American Movie, Volume 1 - Learning How to Smile based on the strength of the radio hits Wonderful and A.M. Radio, and was surprised at just how much I enjoyed the album.

I was familiar with the band, but the material on this album definitely wasn't the alterna-rocking Everclear I remembered. This is a smart, well-crafted, upbeat pop album that despite what some other reviewers would have you believe actually contains little to no "filler". In fact, aside from the way too tranquil closing track Annabella's Song, the hit single Wonderful is probably the only song that I'm tired of hearing, and that's due more to radio fatigue than anything else. The album is crammed full of fantastic songs, but there are a few that really stand out. A.M. Radio is just a fun track, Now That It's Over is brilliant for having such a dark message in counterpoint to the beautiful music, and Unemployed Boyfriend is one of the better love songs I've heard in a long time. Everclear's version of Brown Eyed Girl is quite good as well.

It's a shame the band's follow-up album wasn't as good, or I might have become an Everclear fan. Still, I have to give the band credit for creating a near-perfect pop album that I find myself listening to on a regular basis seven years after its release. How often does that happen with most pop albums?
July 9, 2007

great songs

Don't pick up this album for the two catchy singles. There is a great rhythm to the rest of the songs. It tells a story moving from the glory ideal days to the bad times. I'm a big Everclear fan so I'm definitely biased but I found this album offered a lot more substance than just the two catchy songs. April 4, 2007

Two tremendous singles...then...simply average.

OK, "AM Radio" and "Wonderful" are absolutely killer singles.
They are both catchy as hell, with crisp melodies (or what passes for melodies with Everclear...we're not talking range here) and funny/incisive lyrics.
They sound glorious either in your headphones or on your car radio...or if you're old school, actual speakers too.
"AM Radio" is a bouncy recall of the simple joys of the 70's, while "Wonderful" is a painful but liberating look at divorce from a child's point of view.
Of the two, the latter is the most impressive.

However, everything else on the album is forgettable. The cover of "Brown Eyed Girl" was NOT a good idea...

They created two great songs for their awesome greatest hits collection here, but that's it.

Sorry guys. August 26, 2006

dont give up

this cd is very good, everclear is a great band and they display wonderful cd here for you guys to keep an open mind to. hear it and believe in it, its a special album to hear instantly. im hooked and will be for a long time, ive listned to them for ten years June 24, 2006

A couple of catchy tunes, but mostly crap

The two singles from Songs, Vol. 1, that got the most radio play, Wonderful and AM Radio, got the most radio play for a reason. They're about the only decent tracks on the album. Wonderful isn't brilliant, but it's a catchy, well-constructed radio song. AM Radio is just fun, mostly because it samples Mr. Big Stuff.

Like other Everclear albums, the only good songs here are the ones that are easy to sing along to, and that's the only thing good about them. The rest of the tracks are mostly forgettable crap, with the possible exception of Unemployed Boyfriend, the only one that manages to capture some of the radio-friendliness of Wonderful. Brown Eyed Girl isn't bad, but you just don't cover Van Morrison. Had we never heard Van Morrison's original version, Everclear's might be much better.

Anyone who listens to this album can make a good case that Art Alexakis' vocal renderings are responsible for a lot of similar sounds that are so popular today, even more so than Blink 182, which Everclear preceded. Pop-punk bands like Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and the several others that all sound alike may get their overall sound from a variety of sources, but their vocals are Alexakis turned up a few octaves and slightly more annoying. These bands, Everclear and Blink 182 included, don't really sing. They manipulate their voices to achieve a certain sound, but it's not singing.

And that's what this album is. It's packaged, played and produced to sound a certain way. Nothing really original, just crap that they know radio stations will play for suburban teenagers with money to spend on CDs. July 12, 2005

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