I Mother Earth Scenery and Fish
YES! One More Astronaut was bad ass! Another Sunday was paranoid. Used to be Alright was way more than alright.
⭐ 8/10
I Mother Earth's second studio album is a musical delight, with the soaring One More Astronaut and radio-aired Another Sunday.
Scenery and Fish travels from rock city to rural country during its hour plus running time. Other than Hello Dave!'s 47 second album intro, no song comes in under 4 minutes. The closest we get is the compact, for IME's standard, Another Sunday at 4:05. And, Like a Girl is the only other four minute song. The rest clock in at 5 minutes and up.
While Jagori and Christian Tanna won't go down in history as the best guitarist/drummer brother duo, that honor belongs to EVH and Alex Van Halen, they do create some complex songs together. And, that's probably because Canadian rock bands use special guitar chords: maple chords.
Scenery and Fish song notes
Hello Dave!
A lot of high hat, Pearson's B3, whistles, a fun minute to intro Scenery and Fish. I'm fully ok with this recorded warmup.
Hello Dave!
Like a Girl
The brothers Tanna, Bruce Gordon, and Alex Lifeson give us smorgasbord of funk riffs, rock sounds, jazz beats, changing Like a Girl every few seconds. 311 would be proud.
IME lead singer Edwin had a unique voice, capable of following the ever changing styles found on Scenery and Fish.
Scribbling feedback is always a class move. Canadian alternative rock took more chances than its American counterpart.
One More Astronaut
One of the better musical intros of the entire decade. One More Astronaut hits straight out the gate. It is also I Mother Earth's highest charting single.
Head space alive and painless, weightless and almost sane I close my eyes, I become the sky. Head space alone and shameless, can't wait to find the faces, left behind in a troubled time, back home.
What an awesome chorus. One More Astronaut holds us a quarter decade later, both musically and lyrically.
Jagori's funk wah, Bruce's dodgeball-bouncy bass, Christian's slamming drums. If this were hair metal, I'd call it a bitchin' tune.
Canadian drummers must share equipment, because the kit on One More Astronaut sounds very similar to the one on Naveed.
Another Sunday
A great tune, if a bit disturbing. Powerful, yet compact chorus. The RHCP-esque breakdown in the post second chorus space was a nice touch.
Another Sunday might be a good song to highlight the difference between the 80s and 90s. If Another Sunday was written a decade prior, most likely somewhere near the PCH, it would still be a song about alien abduction, only one where the abducting aliens were busty chicks in leopard print lingerie whose spaceship was a waterbed with a hyperdrive.
The lyrical point of the song is that these busty alien chicks, think Deanna Troi, would have read the minds of these glam metal rockers from across the galaxy, bringing them ultra boozy wine from their home planet Alpha Slutauri, along with a metric ton of "spice" from Kessel, because we all know what was really getting mined on Kessel, cocaine!
In fact, I believe that song exists!
Three Days Old
Alt-rock masquerading as the blues. Dig it.
Three Days Old is a fantastic rock song.
Used to be Alright
Used to be Alright is great tune. Good drums, good guitar work, good lyrics. Strong verse, bad ass pre-chorus, and a chorus with palpable vibrance.
Holy Pulled Pork Poutine, Batman!
Shortcut to Moncton
Are bands forced to play songs that reference a town, city, province, state, or country if they are currently playing there on a tour stop? Because, I can't see Shortcut to Moncton not getting played in New Brunswick.
Pisser
Punchy bass! Tons of sonic territory explored on Scenery and Fish, and so much more expressive. No matter the track, Pisser, Like a Girl, etc. IME delivers.
Raspberry
Raspberry continues delivering on IME's very underrated song and lyric writing.
Songburst & Delirium
Lots of Maple Chords on Songburst & Delirium.
Sense of Henry
Edwin channels his inner Jeff Keith (Tesla) on Sense of Henry. Do you hear that vocal tone? Come to think of it, Sense of Henry is arranged in the key of The Great Radio Controversy, with similar chord changes, guitar tone, and of course, vocals. That's just the way it is.
Earth, Sky & C.
Hey, I know, let's close out the album by writing a Santana song. I like to imagine that is what IME was thinking when penning Earth, Sky & C.
More Scenery and Fish Details
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Reviews of I Mother Earth Albums
Alternative Rock