Live Recordings

CLEM SNIDELIVE RECORDINGS: 1999-2005

For my money and frustration, Eef “Clem Snide” Barzelay might be the most interesting frontman of his time. Not only is he easily just as funny as Randy Newman and Ben Folds, but he can howl with the best of ‘em, and, more than anything else, the guy can flat out write. These attributes are all present as much as ever on Clem Snide’s latest release , Live Recordings: 1999-2005, available exclusively on the band’s website, www.clemsnide.com.

After finding much critical acclaim with Your Favorite Music and The Ghost of Fashion things seemed to be on the right track for Barzelay and his revolving door of musicians … then came the utterly second-rate Soft Spot, an album that left many of Barzelay’s trademark attributes behind in favor of sweet songs meant for his new wife’s ears. By the time the band’s most accessible album yet, End of Love, was released in 2005, no one seemed to care. Barzelay then released a half-baked solo acoustic album called The Ballad of Bitter Honey and, consequently, Clem Snide were left without a record label. That’s where Live comes in.

Both a document of the band’s live shows and a hold-over until their sixth studio album is released (hopefully later this year), the 15 loose, candid recordings on Live are lo-fi (sometimes solo and always meager) portraits of the band’s first era. Included are a few interesting cover selections, including Barzelay’s take on Neil Young’s classic “Cortez the Killer,” Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia” and the Ink Spots’ “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire.”

In addition to the covers are a few unreleased tracks, including the too-good-to-be-true “Enrique,” which might be Barzelay’s most side-splitting and true songwriting moment yet. In the song - which could just as easily be a chapter from a Chuck Klosterman book - Barzelay sings all about pop singer Enrique Iglesias having his mole surgically removed, singing “It was smaller than small / But not small enough / It didn’t make him more pretty / It didn’t make him more tough / Then someone with an ugly heart must’ve made a fuss / And now it’s gone forever / What will become of us / It may have been the last hope for our poor empty souls / Enrigue Iglasias’ mole.”

The remaining tracks, some of which were recoded live while the rest are taken from radio station sessions, work almost as a live “best of” collection, including “Jews For Jesus Blues,” “Let’s Explode,” “Something Beautiful” and many others.

Fans of Clem Snide simply need this limited edition album, if for no other reason but to have the covers and unreleased tracks. Those still unfamiliar with the band might be best off starting with End of Love and working their way back through the band’s beautiful, funny, memorable catalog of satire-driven Americana music. Either way, just make sure you hear “Enrique” before you die. And “Let’s Explode,” which features lines like “Love is only for the lovely,” “The beautiful were never meant to suffer” and “I don’t want to know me better.” Bitter, smart and sweet never sounded so simultaneously good as they do when Eef Barzelay is yelping.   6/10

Written by G. William Locke