Scott Miller
Upside/Downside
»
Scott Miller
Upside/Downside
Sugar Hill Records, 2003
RiYL: The V-Roys, Steve Earle, Wilco |
Maybe you're asking, "Why, Rodeo Rob, do you want Scott Miller to be a star? Why should I buy his records?"
Well, there's an easy answer: the man just plain rocks.
Of course, there's also a complicated answer: he not only rocks, but he rolls, rollicks, rambles, and rouses, sometimes all in the same song.
Which brings us to your next question, "Okay, so he rocks, rolls, rollicks, rambles and rouses, but just who is he?"
Miller is perhaps best known for fronting the cult alt.country band the V-Roys, straight outta Knoxville, Kentucky. The V-Roys were guided under the watchful eye of one Steve Earle, who in 1996 signed the band to his upstart E-Squared Records. The V-Roys only put out two albums -- Just Add Ice and All About Town -- before Miller and co-singer/songwriter Mic Harrison broke up the band in 1999.
The V-Roys never hit it big, but as all alt.country bands that formed in the ashes of Uncle Tupelo, the group was seen as one of the many "next big things," alongside Whiskeytown, the Old 97s and 6 String Drag, to name just a few. Of course, having Steve Earle turning the production knobs certainly helped further the band's reputation as well.
After leaving the V-Roys, Miller cosied up with his acoustic guitar, wrote a few new tunes and released Are You With Me?, a live performance recorded in his Knoxville home base. The album, a collection of 12 mostly original numbers, along with a few V-Roy favorites and some traditional tunes as well, presented a folksy side of Miller, as well as his growing acceptance of, well, growing up. With songs like "Daddy Raised A Boy" and "I Made A Mess Of This Town," Miller seemed to be coming to grips with not only growing up, but dealing with his past.
These avenues were broadened extensively Tyrants, a sweeping album that not only brought back the electric guitar to Miller's repertoire, but the fiddle, harmonica, mandolin and hand-drum as well. It's difficult to put the album in context, namely because he took chances that no one was taking.
Tyrants ranged from full-scale electrified punk ("Goddamn The Sun") to solid rock ("Across The Line") to faux-Gospel ("Is There Room On The Cross For Me?") to Civil War-era Appalachian music ("Dear Sarah" and "Highland County Boy"). Miller explored growing up in the refurbished and Springsteen-esque "Daddy Raised A Boy," leaving home in "Across The Line," drunk driving in "Absolution," and good ol' Civil War history.
If Wilco's Being There managed to nod to singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy's past yet declare his intentions of moving forward, Miller's Tyrants signaled just the opposite: he not only is aware of his past, but he embraced it. At the same time, the past is just that, the past. "There's nothing wrong with where I come from," he sings in "Across The Line." "Sometimes its meant to be just that."
Tyrants served as a major platform for Miller, and he has checked back in (finally?) with Upside/Downside. Almost immediately, the album is noticeably smaller in form and function than his debut, but it still packs a punch that only he could deliver.
Upside/Downside isn't so much a concept album like Tyrants ended up being, but it is cleverly divided into separate halves: an 'A Side' and 'Another Side.' 'A Side' begins with the straight-up tongue-in-cheek rocker "It Didn't Take Too Long," an ode to his first date with his wife.
If anything, the song, mixed in mono, owes more to Honeydogs frontman Adam Levy than anyone else, because Miller mixes metaphors and double entendres before getting to the kicker: "It didn't take too long / before I knew how long it would take / because she's pantin' and she's screamin' and the windows they are steamin' / and the things I hear her sayin', man I think she really means it," he intones.
The song quickly jumps into "Raised By The Graves," a bouncy, jangly tune that would've felt at home on Tyrants or anything the V-Roys released. Miller again explores his past, tossing images of an old graveyard outside his childhood home and how "I knew things were bad when the presidents / they were resigning," a nod to both his birth and the downfall of one Richard M. Nixon.
He even reaches far into his archive with "Pull Your Load," a George Thorogood-sized riff-rocker that he wrote while on summer leave from his days at William and Mary. The song, a reaction to his father's angry demands that he do more around the family farm, is slightly out of place with the rest of the album. But it is pretty damn funny, and he can scream with the best of 'em.
The highlight of 'A Side' is "Second Chance," a hook-riddled roots pop masterpiece detailing, as all good country singers do, his immediate shortcomings in the ways of romance. "I hate to ask you in advance but / I need a second chance / I came into this world alone / and I've always felt on my own," he croons.
On 'Another Side,' Miller checks in with "Amtrak Crescent," updated from Are You With Me?, this time with solid mandolin picking throughout. 'Another Side' is much quieter, and Miller's soothing vocals shine much brighter on "Ciderville Saturday Night" and "For Jack Tymon" than they do anywhere else on the album.
The best number of the whole thing, though, is "Angels Dwell," a beautiful acoustic duet with country starlet Patty Griffin. Cascading chords dominate the song about the strength one receives from true love. "Down in the basement / where I spend my time / cheating Solitare, stealing rhymes / when I think I'm all tapped out / she gives me something just to sing about," he effortlessly sings.
The thing about Upside/Downside is that it's Thus Always To Tyrants part II. It's not as expansive nor as daring, but it is solid, fun, serious and a quick listen. It'll either rock your face off or gently caress it, depending on what "side" you have on.
And Jesus, I wrote almost three pages about an album that barely clocks in over a half-hour, so you know it must be good. Have I ever steered you wrong?
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.