Search - Hidden Cameras :: Smell of Our Own

A Homosexual Pet Sounds

Blake Maddux | Arlington, MA United States | 10/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am surprised that I am yet to see The Hidden Cameras compared to Guided By Voices. I understand that comparisons to non-explicitly heterosexual artists like The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian more readily present themselves. However, the lyrics on The Smell of Our Own are so unselfconsciously gay that they would make Morrissey blush. That, obviously, will put off some people, even the least homophobic among us. This is a real shame, as almost every song on this CD is as delicately and sincerely beautiful as the best moments by the latter two bands. So what about Guided By Voices? Well, if I am to think of The Hidden Cameras as just another band, not just another gay band, it is something about Joel Gibb's understated, singalong vocal style and the playful quality of the music that brings Cap'n Bob to mind. Then, of course, there are the more bombastic moments that suggest a tamer version of The Flaming Lips and The Polyphonic Spree.



And as you will notice in the title, there I go again with a comparison to Pet Sounds, even though I said a long time ago that I am sick of such comparisons. Anyway, just as Pet Sounds is a song cycle (NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM!!!) about a young man with a love for girls,The Smell of Our Own is a song cycle about a young man in love with boys (men, that is). But while Brian Wilson was chronicling both the joy and heartache of young love, Joel Gibb is - so far, at least - loving every minute of it. He is so sincere and celebratory that one is left with no doubt that love and sex between two men (and, by implication, two women) can be as wholesome, joyous, and erotic as it is between a man and a woman: "We could be in the army or the klan/Cause if we're brothers in blood I think we're brothers in band." This CD sounds like the type of record that will be commonplace if the day is to ever come when people realize that this is possible. Until that day, we have Joel Gibb to give us the heads up (no pun intended).



And the songs on this CD are so damn good. Every single one of them. I guess that it is difficult to like each song on a record this great equally as much, but if one were to ask 50 fans of this CD what their favorite song on it was, I imagine that each and every one of the songs would be represented. I think that the worst thing that can be said about any of them is that "Shame" might be a bit too long, and "Day Is Dawning" is a bit repetitive. Still, there is not a single track here that I do not really like, nor one that I am not happy to be hearing when it starts. (The random button is quite useful for this CD.) The tracks on this CD are impeccable slices of pop and indie rock, some of which happen to contain lyrics like "stayed up too late the night before from fingering foreign dirty holes in the dark", "it is the smell of old cum on the rug", "we proceed in stained bed sheets", and "he is peeing on my shoulders and knees". This CD could have been titled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gay Male Sex but Were Afraid to Ask".



It could be argued that any CD with such explicit (meaning both non-implicit and openly sexual) lyrics is by its very nature a political statement. This is true, but the songs on The Smell of Our Own take on an actual political issue only once. The jaunty "Ban Marriage" is particularly relevant at a time when right-wingers are soiling themselves over the threat that gay unions supposedly pose to so-called traditional marriage. If only they were aware of some of the heterosexuals who were raising families, and marrying and divorcing on a whim, perhaps they would be agreeing with this song's cry of "Ban marriage, ban it all!" For the rest of the CD, multiple sonic textures abound. There are the angelic swirls of "Golden Streams", the Murmur-ish indie folk of "A Miracle", the poignancy of "The Animals of Prey", "Boys of Melody", and "The Man That I am With My Man", the straightforward indie rock of "Breathe On It", and the downright giddiness of "Smells Like Happiness". The Smell of Our Own is a beautifully realized triumph from start to finish.



This CD could easily go down (again, no pun intended) as a landmark recording a la Pet Sounds. Even if it doesn't - and it probably won't - it still has ten great songs going for it, and ultimately, that is what should give it its well-earned long shelf life. I am not even going to dignify the claim that The Hidden Cameras are a novelty act. Like I said before, The Smell of Our Own is a collection of great songs that happens to be bookended by references to water sports.



In 1993, the indie world lionized an album by a woman singing unapologetically about sex with men (Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville). Over a decade later, it can surely welcome a man doing the same thing."

Perplexing...

ChrisL | Chicago | 02/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A really difficult, intellectually challenging album. Fascinating. Is it to be taken seriously? Or are the Romantic-style paeans (uh, pun intended...I guess) to gay fetishism to be taken with a wink? (Think Wordsworth writing for the letters section of a gay porno mag. Or Dan Savage writing a la Wordsworth.) And what of these overwrought arrangements? Mere camp? Simply bombast? Or earnest exercise? No matter: They work so wonderfully together--the ambiguity of the lyric and the lushness of the music--that they elevate what could be the reincarnation of the disposable three-chord novelty songs of Pansy Division by adding layers of texture, meaning and tone. It borders on a truly important, singular album. But, alas, only borders. My feeling: this album issues a challenge--go ahead and dismiss us...we dare you."

Catchy indie pop with a little twist of...gay!

QueenEE | Portland, OR United States | 11/08/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"These are great, well-crafted songs, although I didn't really identify with the [...] imagery and ummm...songs about golden showers. It's still a great album though, and "Ban Marriage" and "Boys of Melody" are two of the high points."