Album Review by EDF
Hailing from St. Louis, USA, John Trower, has been writing, recording and performing songs for over 20 years. He was once a member of the alternative rock band THE BEERS. Having already released a number of solo albums, his latest release, UNPLUGGED, is what the title suggests, a completely acoustic affair consisting of 26 tracks recorded between 1993 and 2001.
FUTILE LOVE sounds like one of those creepy situations where a break-up causes the other person to grow a bit unstable. LOVE CAN DO ANYTHING explores more of the same theme where the power that love has over one’s emotions can be both a good and bad thing. NOBODY BREAKS MY HEART “and gets away with it” is self explanatory and kind of sinister. GIRL AT THE STATION looks at an imaginary relationship that stems from spotting a person at the station. MY WORLD is a paranoid view of the world where everybody else’s opinions and rules don’t mean anything and the lyrics would actually make someone like MARYLYN MANSON blush.
As these are all demo and acoustic affairs, such a release is usually the sort of product that fans of the artist would buy. While some of the songs are bleak to say the least, John Trower brings out the subject matter more by his effective guitar playing, whether it’s by his strumming or picking while singing along with the lyrics. Trower himself describes his sound as “mellow acoustic alternapop demented ditties” in a similar vein as SYD BARRETT or VIOLENT FEMMES.
