BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER, MORE! is the only album by alt rock girl group 4 Non Blondes, released 1992. But is it good?
I was first put onto 4 Non Blondes thanks to Kai, he got me to learn to play their hit single "what's up" so we could play it in band rehearsal, so I thought I'd check out their discography, and boy was I surprised to find they had just one album! But that didn't put me off- The Postal Service has one album and it's great- but is this one?
So the first track is TRAIN, which opens with a bluesy guitar and harmonica, then opens up to this runaway train-esque combination of guitars and drums: and then joined by Linda Perry's unmistakable vocal presence. The track has a great energy constantly growing thanks to the incredible lead guitar performance with the harmonica. It's also probably also worth noting here that this album's sound is very influenced by David Bowie- specifically Aladdin Sane- something that just becomes more evident as the album progresses.
SUPERFLY has maybe the catchiest prechorus on the whole record, which sounds weird but even after the first listen it was stuck in my head for ages. That being said, the rest of the song is kind of unremarkable, there's some cool drums in the chorus and good guitar tones even if they aren't wholly original. Again, see Cracked Actor.
WHAT'S UP is the band's huge single that you probably know even if you haven't heard the band's name in your life, I mean it's on it's way to a billion views on youtube and it's not hard to see why, I don't really have much of a bad word to say about it, maybe besides Perry's acoustic guitar in the music video. The drum line is really good, the lead guitar is great, vocals are good, just a really great song.
PLEASENTLY BLUE is the track that pretty much just rips off Bowie, the verse riff is straight up nicked from Jean Genie, that being said the vocal performance here may be my favourite on the whole album- Perry's vocal presence is awesome. It's a little short but if it were longer I think the plagiarism may have annoyed me too much. Ok overall.
MORPHINE AND CHOCOLATE is kind of uninteresting, it's fine to listen to but it kind of slogs and doesn't really feel like it has direction. Kind of a yawner until it gets to the point around 3 minutes in when Perry starts speaking in tongues briefly. But largely boring otherwise.
SPACEMAN was another single from the record, it's got some cool lyrics about taking drugs and becoming a spaceman in another space and time, but that being said the instrumental is kind of dull. It's got snare rolls which I don't like generally, and very similar rim tones too.
OLD MR HEFFER is a turbo charged punk rocker track that kind of feels inconsequential honestly. CALLING ALL THE PEOPLE has a pretty catchy and fun vocal hook, but the second half of the chorus of the pre chorus kind of suck too.
DEAR MR PRESIDENT is a refreshing return to good songs- it's got a well delivered message with a good protest hook-"such a beautiful country, but the man, he's burning it down". The guitar tones are good too.
DRIFTING is largely an acoustic ballad which I don't feel quite works with her vocals- I feel like she works best when she has a drum beat behind her to tie down her vocals, but that being said I like the lyrics alot in this song, the repetition of "took another pill just to (BLANK) me" is well written and impactful, but I feel like the track ends kind of abruptly.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME has this weird and quirky drum and bass combo that carry Perry's vocals to a rock out chorus, then a verse and another chorus before a jam out ending. It's not a great closing track, but it definitely ends on a higher point than some of the other tracks here.
Overall, aside from a few tracks, I couldn't really get into a lot of the songs here, they just come off as quite derivative or repetitive, despite really solid performances from all 4 band members. A fairly strong start to be fair, but I guess this train ran out of steam somewhere in the middle! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
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