Clem Snide

Paul Burch's guitars still howl, clang, clamor and beg for their lives on Clem Snide's fifth long player. But the lilting twang on numbers like "When We Become" (a song that strongly resembles "See How We Are" by the band X) seems to tread the same, familiar waters of Burch's less raucous Americana outfit, Lambchop. "Something Beautiful" sounds like Tom Waits produced it.

Like many young men of the Pavement generation, Clem Snide's Eef Barzelay knows how to
make shambling trad-rock with lyrics that are both arch and grudgingly sincere: This is the
kind of guy who makes puns about Hall and Oates songs and burned steak while recalling
his first love (on 2001's "Joan Jett of Arc"). Clem Snide's fifth album, End of Love, sports
some of Barzelay's wittiest and most affecting songs yet. On "Jews for Jesus," he... More >

Since all the lines make sense, and almost all the stanzas almost make sense, you keep waiting for the songs to make sense. And waiting, and waiting, through calm, memorable arrangements that are never in a hurry. But they rarely come clear, perhaps because Eef Barzalay believes it isn't just love that's ending, it's the world, and what exactly is sensible about that? As befits an Israeli in Nashville in the end times, he worries about his relationship with the Almighty, so it's no surprise that "Jews for Jesus Blues" parses fine: "Now that I'm found I miss being lost" means what it says, with attendant explanations. The next song is called "God Answers Back": "If you get everything you hope for/Then I will have to punish you." Which really isn't fair. But what can we mortals do? (Grade - A-)