Disco de The Wallflowers: “Rebel, Sweetheart”

Take human evolution and scale it down to a thirteen year span...this is a model that mirrors the Wallflowers' maturity over the last baker's dozen years. That's not to say Jakob Dylan and Company started out making Neanderthal music -- listen to the self-titled debut album from 1992 and you'll find nothing but raw talent. On "Rebel, Sweetheart," the band's fifth studio effort, The Wallflowers find themselves building off of their previous records but certainly not ignoring where they started. Before giving this CD a listen, look at the cover art and bear in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words. A taste of each album can be found in every "Rebel" track. It's like ordering a pizza with all the toppings. Producer Brendan O'Brien adds some dipping sauce, along with some great guitar work and backing vocals. His musicianship is especially apparant on the lead single, "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere", which oh-by-the-way is slithering up a couple of charts. The album's opener, Days of Wonder, mockingly celebrates the anniversary of the Iraq conflict...Rami Jaffe's keyboards will take you on a psychodelic journey back to the anti-war protests of the 60's and 70's. Newcomer Fred Eltringham shows no mercy when beating the drums, as apparent on "We're Already There." Veteran bassist Greg Richling rocks throughout the album as well and even lends some background vocals to the record. Jakob Dylan's signature voice is haunting on tracks like "God Says Nothing Back," seems almost playful on "The Passenger," and simply rocks out on "Back To California." Much like with the "Breach" album, you must hear the entire record from beginning to finish in order to capture the moods that each song evokes within the context of the album. Otherwise, you will not get the whole picture.

Sure, these are the guys who did "One Headlight." But if that's the only Wallflowers song you know, then YOU DON'T KNOW JAKE.

Being quite familiar with The Wallflowers' previous albums, I looked forward to "Rebel, Sweetheart" with much pleasurable expectation. This collection of songs is astonishing! Each song and soundscape paints a lyrical picture in the form of The Wallflowers' best work. Jakob Dylan has produced lyrics encompassing all the richness of experience; some common observations are made especially profound, as in "God Says Nothing Back" where Dylan expresses a sense of assured wonder in his views on God, time, love and death. Each song on this album is especially unique in that sense, and beyond those common ideas, the songs address the deeper themes of loneliness, yearning, human fallibility, and ultimately the power of persistence. We are sometimes redeemed by the narrator through the lyrics, though that happens especially often through the music. Notice how you might think "Hey, sounds like he means something different than how the music makes me feel about what I just heard..." An astonishing lyricist and band has given us so much! On "Rebel, Sweetheart" The Wallflowers take their influences and make something of their own better than so many other bands.

Consider the final song, as "all things [become] new again", those new things are much like they were before. Only now, it's most important that we learn how to make the best of what's there through some hint of positive thinking. This positive light, you may notice in the song "From the Bottom of My Heart," is often hard to come by within the individual, though hopefully "we" could become a better group of individuals with a more positive inward light that translates into a better outlook on things.

What is truly great about this collection, to an even greater degree than The Wallflowers' previous albums, is that each new listen allows you to explore ways of interpreting the lyrics while tapping your foot and moving to the music--a wonderfully seamless flow of great songs, filled with new possibility! Read the lyrics sometime while listening to the album; try different things. And "Rebel, Sweetheart" ought to sound amazing in 5.1 Surround--another rewarding experience for listeners with those capabilities, and probably the next best thing to experiencing The Wallflowers in concert. Yes! Buy this album!

The Wallflowers have undergone a number of changes over the years--most noticeably after their debut record when the entire band changed save Dylan and Jaffee. Ironically enough, the changes on this record (such as the inclusion of producer Brendan O'Brien as a guitarist) bring them back to their roots from Bringing Down the Horse.

This album is easily their most focused since the days of Horse. Breach is still arguably their best work, but it had a couple of weak points (the bonus track) and production mishaps (placing "Mourning Train" and "Up From Under" next to each other was foolish). This album, however, has instant classics that old Wallflowers fans will love--particularly "Here He Comes" and "Back to California"--the latter of which sounds like it could easily have been off of Horse.

Unfortunately, my greatest praise is also the biggest problem with this record. They really fail to cover any new ground, so they won't be converting any new fans on this recording. For dedicated fans who have been with them since day one, however, this is hardly a problem and more a blessing than a curse.

The inclusion of Brendan O'Brien is one of the more shocking things about the record. I'm familiar with O'Brien's older work such as producing Conspiracy of One for the Offspring and Spiritual Machines for Our Lady Peace. On both of those records and on O'Brien's other productions he tends to favor a more pop-centric flavor and sometimes adds more gloss than is necessary. After the production mistake that was Red Letter Days (don't get me wrong, it was still an incredible record, it was just horribly produced) seeing his name on the back gave me a bit of a start. I thought he'd continue the over-polished feel which so horribly contrasted with the Wallflowers rustic music, but O'Brien really pulled through for the band and gave them a more stripped-down rootsy feel that older fans will enjoy.

Anyway, aside from minor gripes such as the noticeable lack of many slower tracks, this album is sure to please any fans of the Wallflowers. I would have liked to hear more from Jaffee on the record, as I've been noticing he's been downplayed on every record post-Horse, but while he doesn't make a full comeback, he does make a partial one. Anyway, this album sounds more carefully crafted and put together than any of the Wallflowers past records, so make sure not to miss out.

I am a huge Wallflowers fan, in fact I highly recommned this cd, the songs are as always beautifully written and the music is wonderful. The one problem I have with this dualdisc is with the dvd section,it doesn't work at all, the images are jumpy the sound isn't good. This is the manufacturer's fault NOT the Walllfowers.

First off, we all know about the trouble with DualDisc technology, so I'm not going to talk about that (I'm also not going to give the album one star because it wouldn't play in my computer; and just for the record, I didn't try to play it in my computer). I'm not sure enough people even know that the Wallflowers have an album out now, but while it's not their best work, it's still good.

By just looking at the title Rebel, Sweetheart (note to another reviewer, it is not called Rebel, Baby), some people might sigh and say, "Here we go again with another artist gone political." But what makes this album different is that the political messages aren't in so many words, but you can still get them. Standouts include "Days of Wonder", the introspective "God Says Nothing Back", and the metaphorical "I Am a Building". And "How Far You've Come" is a keep-your-head-up song that actually works, although I think it would have worked better if it were the last song on the album.

So why only 3-1/2 stars? Well, the album is produced by Brendan O'Brien, and as good of a producer he is, he overdoes it on here. Several of the songs' music is so loud that I can't hear what Jakob and the boys are saying (especially the first few tracks). Oh well, that doesn't make the songs bad, and if you've been following the Wallflowers up until this point, then you shouldn't rebel against picking up this album.

Anthony Rupert