Track Listing

1. Crest Fallen
2. Overcome By Happiness
3. Sick Of You
4. Clear Spot
5. Dimmest Star
6. Monkey Suit
7. Chicken Wire
8. Wait To Stop
9. All I Know
10. Shoes And Clothes
11. Wherin Obscurely
12. Ferris Wheel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113425 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-01
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
The ironic title gives no clue to the overwhelmingly melancholic tone of this disc (the title track's lyric is; "You don't feel so overcome by happiness".) Yet, for a release on Sub-Pop, who must bear the onus of spearheading the grunge movement, this record is a surprising tidal wave of pop. That's "pop" as in "songs you must sing along with the very firsttime you hear them". Sleepy pop. Dreamy pop. So dreamy, in fact, that some of the songs, like dew on the lawn, threatento evaporate into the air ("Sick Of You".)
The Pernice Brothers are backed up by an orchestra and led by Joe Pernice's breathy, wistful vocals. And some of these hooks will stay with you long after the disc has stopped spinning. So dive into something soft and fluffy, but please listen responsibly; due to the sequencing of the most sedate songs at the end of the record, it is ill advised to operate heavy machinery while listening to this disc.

Customer Reviews

Overcome by Overcome by Happiness
With the Scud Mountain Boys, Joe Pernice created some of the most affecting music of the 90s, and emerged as one of the few credible purveyors of what was once described as Alt-Country. However, his first proper CD as a solo artist (brother Bob and friends help out, but never play more than a peripheral role in the proceedings) is a giant leap forward from the Pedal-steel drenched laments of Massachusetts.

Starting briskly with the tender lament of Crestfallen, Pernice manages to create a world at once doleful yet optimistic, chanelling his tattered emotions into a fine vein of heartbreaking orchestral power-pop. The glorious Overcome By Happiness follows, with it's yearning string arrangements and wryly knowing lyrics. It also boasts a tune to melt even the very hardest of hearts, all delivered in his most plaintive 40-a-day vocals. The album progresses in a similarly grand fashion throughout, Pernice alternating between throwaway pop numbers (Clear Spot, Monkey Suit) and painfully sad ballads about suicide (Chicken Wire) and alcoholism (Shoes and Clothes), every song blessed with sun-kissed harmonies and glorious Bacharach strings.

The final song, the stark, spare Ferris Wheel even comes as a welcome rest from the full-on melodic assault of the record - a paired-down acoustic number which nonetheless manages to tug gently at your heartstrings as you drift off into a peaceful, contented slumber. Perfection.

Crying Happy
Joe Pernice, the man behind the wonderfully plaintive Scud Mountain Boys, reinvents himself with Burt Bacharach as his alter ego and emerges with an album immersed in pure pop sensuality. Lyrics of love's endless ache, failure and suicide are delivered in Joe Pernice's whispered strain - imagine an American Elvis Costello that can actually sing. The vocal is offset by a melodious symphonic sweep taking this particular 'americana' into the realms of orcheatral lavishness. The title track is painful in its irony and, as with all on this full and complete album, you will cry happy. Easily one of the best albums of the 90s.

Soothing, uplifting and not too depressing...
If the idea of a hybrid of more laid-back Teenage Fanclub and Prefab Sprout appeals then this could be for you. Joe Pernice has a fine voice (not unlike Paddy McCulhoon's and maybe a touch of Nick Drake) and the arrangements of this largely guitar-driven music are spare yet wonderfully lush and rounded. The quality of song and lyric is evident throughout and it is a far more consistant outing than its follow up 'The World Won't End' (which I rarely play anymore). This album, by contrast, easily stands the test of time and I have dug it out repeatedly over the last few years.
To me the album evokes a feeling of whistfulness rather than cloying introspection (a la Morrisey), yet there's no denying it does have an overarching downbeat feel.But don't be put off; these melodic and at times jazz-inflected gems will soon charm their way onto your 'tried and tested, much loved and even-today-still-played' CD shelf.