A Flawed Masterpiece
Denmark Jensen | Carson City, NV USA | 09/07/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Its probably best not to judge this album at all by the first single, "The Flaming Lips". Its a good song, but fails to suggest the breadth and feeling of Spearmint's latest album. "A Different Lifetime", like "Oklahoma!" has a bit of "concept"iveness to to it, but, unlike its predecessor, aims much higher in its artistic aspirations, and hits much closer to the heart. In its entirety, the album attempts to capture in epic, two-part manner the lifespan of a relationship, from first meeting to sorrowful parting to a bit of final reconciliation. Along the way, their are several great songs with clever words and beautiful melodies, including the lovely "Scottish Pop", "Julie Christie!" and the foreshadowing opener "It Will End". A few noticeable flaws perhaps prevent this album from becoming an indie-pop classic. The most obvious of these is the singers use of vulgar language in a romantic context. He ought to take a lesson from pop history and realize that this never works well. The first line of "Wrapped Up Together" really ruins the whole atmosphere of the song for me. If it had only been changed to something like "Loving in the afternoon...", we all would have gotten the point anyway, and the overall mood evoked would have been much closer to what it sounds like the band was going for. However, if you're like me you'll just skip this track, for the next one "The Moment In My Mind", which amply covers the "bliss" stage. The songs in part two are all "about saying goodbye". Overall, I like part one better musically, but the second, sadder part does offer some very poignant lyrics. I would say this is easily the band's best work to date. Not as many great singles as "A Week Away", but more consistant and better produced."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1