Only the wit of Bongwater and Shockabilly
guitarist and renowned producer Kramer could get away with this -- a
three-LP rock opera released as a box set in 1993 on his own Shimmy
Disc label. The collection covers a year's work in his Noise New Jersey
studio, where he toyed for long hours with the George Martin
aesthetic, an answering machine, and his extraordinary gift for pop
songwriting (not to mention guitars). Somehow, he sculpted it all into
a cohesive whole with The Guilt Trip. What better way to spend
an afternoon immersed in psychedelic pop -- it's as though he set out
to make his own dream of a '60s concept album.
His hybrid sound borrows
from the best of the Kinks, the Hollies, John Lennon, and Led Zeppelin
fused with his own unique avant rock approach, which is based on the
simple deployment of overdubbing and reverb drenching that creates
songs that seem to hover in space. Few other artists could pull it off
-- the Residents or Half Japanese perhaps -- yet such an audacious undertaking from a solo artist must be commended. That is not to say that The Guilt Trip
isn't just a tad self-indulgent. It is utterly self-indulgent, and for
that very reason is overwhelming brilliant.
Kramer called on a couple
of friends (David Licht for drum duties and Randolph A. Hudson
for additional guitar), but produced, played, and recorded everything
else himself, in just over a year in his studio downtime from his day
job as record producer, an occupation in which Kramer challenged Steve Albini for the mantle of most-overworked producer in indie rock.
The Guilt Trip's first disc is an entirely well-formed suite that swings between pure psychedelic pop, humorous Led Zeppelin-esque instrumentals, and sampling pastiche/tape collage in pure Bongwater
fashion. Kramer's extraordinary ability to fuse sincerity and irony is
one key to his work -- a songwriter with an uncanny ability to adopt
existing forms. From Beatlesque
pop gems such as "Wish I Were in Heaven" through to the warped
Americana of "I'm Your Fan," Kramer displays a gift for appropriation
and cheeky quotation. If you can take the full-immersion listening
experience of the album in one sitting, it is highly recommended to do
so, as the exercise reveals more and more with each listen. (AMG)
