The Bedridden: I Told You It Wouldn't Work
On their third release, the brilliantly titled I Told You It Wouldn't Work, some transformations begin to take place. For one thing, the band is down to a four-piece, which means some of the feeling of a rowdy collective present on their previous albums is absent here. For another, the album sounds like the band is shifting from more live, one-take recording to a greater dependence on multitrack, part-by-part studio recording (or at any rate, this is the impression the album gives off). And finally, there is a sense that the band is beginning to pursue a more "songwriterly" approach, again over the more relaxed, collective, almost jam-oriented sound of the previous releases. As a result, there are maybe some growing pains here, and the album occasionally stumbles in consequence. But do not despair, and do not be deterred: there is plenty of great material here as well. What begins to stand out as one of this album's greatest qualities possibly results from this shift towards a more multitracked approach: many tracks contain wonderful bits of production, subtle instrumental effects that show careful attention to detail and a very artful approach to building the textures of the songs. Witness, for example, the interplay of clarinets and vibes on "Snip," or the opening melodic interplay of guitar and banjo on "The UFO's." Some highlights include the lovely "Melba," an ode to a recently deceased cat, which shows off some of the most ambitious production of the band's career; "The UFO's", again with great production; the taunting tease of an instrumental, "Chasm Hoppers," a great one-minute throwaway; "Agent of Satan," with a very typical "We're all going to die" refrain; and the absurd (if depressing) pop masterpiece "Miss Nude Australia 1995." The album also contains a few surprises - for example, "April of the Dickheads" suddenly widens out halfway through to a broad Beach Boys-style production, the grandiosity of which belies the literalness of its subject matter; or the Monty Python humour of one of the album's two hidden tracks - "I'm a Spanish man (no he's not!) going crazy on the hill, and I'll kill your dog, yes I will (no he won't)!!" On the whole, maybe not quite as satisfying an album as the previous two; but this has more to do with the brilliance of those albums than with any weakness here. There is some great stuff on I Told You It Wouldn't Work, and the album gives every reason to continue to expect great things from the band.
The Bedridden: I Told You It Wouldn't Work. Army of Nerds Records, 1996. Review by James Andean. 5th issue, March 2002.