TPOH: Where's The Bone?

Where's the Bone? starts off with great promise -- two hard rocking blasts and some of Berg's great lyrics.

 she had a full pack of smokes,
	I had cash from my folks
	We were happenin' 
	I had to take my eyes off her
	looked out the window
	saw the leaves start to fall
	saw the leaves start to fall
	
				-Kalendar

But where it goes from there is beyond me. From the triumphant Downward Road, this is a step down. The song ideas are weaker, I think, than previous songs: a large portion of the album is clunky, and this wears down the listenability of gems like Falling In, the aforementioned Kalendar, and Save The Whales.

NB! The majority of reviewers I've read really dug this album. Don't skip it entirely because of this review! That would make me feel bad. But this is how I hear it.

Good ideas are at the heart of most songs, but Bamboo, Completely Conspicuous, White Man, all sound clumsy and forced; I might have expected any of these songs to be a single's unreleased B-Side. Blowing Bubbles deserves an ounce more patience for its original topic and gentle lyric, a love song to a Mom in the face of whining, blaming talk-show shrinks. Good idea.

Overall, this album is entirely incidental. TPOH fans need to own it for its strengths, but I don't imagine Where's The Bone gained the band any fans. Sorry.

To make up for my shitting all over this record by a band I do love, let me share one of my favourite-ever TPOH lyrics:

	I try to fit in 
	I want to look smart
	But the lights and the beer and the vibe are too dark

	...the air is thick with American cigarettes
	polysylopinions and a Maritime minaret
	I should have realised it was time to leave
	I put my Alice tape on 
	They kicked the shit out of me -
	Falling in with the wrong crowd

- Falling In

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TPOH: Where's The Bone? Iron Music Group, 1995.
Review by jep clayton, BadMonkeyX. 1st issue, January 2001.

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