Pale Divine - Straight To Goodbye

Year: 1991

Label: Atlantic
Style: Alt-rock

Location: The Great Escape Discount Store (Nashville)

Medium: CD

Condition: Used

Dollar diamond or dud: Dud

Not the killer doom metal band, but instead a St. Louis-based you'd-swear-the-singer-was-British early-90s alt-rock band, sort of like a darker Live or something similar. At this point, the biggest claim-to-fame this band would have is the presence of future-G'n'R guitarist Richard Fortus. I've seen the word "industrial" tossed around when discussing this record, but I don't really equate this with industrial music, at least not industrial in the sense of Einsturzende Neubauten or NIN or whatever. Maybe this has some elements of martial, mechanical percussion or general industrial darkness, but overall, this is like a more gothic Live mixed with a depressed U2 or something.

The drumming is bouncy, like Larry Mullen Jr, and the guitars are psychedelic-tinged and generally riff-free, clean and spacey, so this is college-y alt-rock. Nothing here rocks, though--it's all mid-tempo at best, with some almost King's X-y vocal melodies. Vocalist Michael Shaerer possesses a disaffected version of that 90s-alt world-weary I've-got-something-to-say-ness, if that makes any sense--that palpable sense that, for better or worse, these artists meant what they were saying, even if what they were saying didn't make shit for sense at times. (See also: Ed Kowalczyk or Eddie Vedder.)

I'd also read some reports on this band talking about how they were St. Louis' favorite sons back in the day, how they were the biggest band from that area, but here's the deal: at the risk of pissing off a minor major city, I've been to St. Louis--I've got friends there even--and that place sucks. Sorry. It sucks. And this band is good, but compared to Live, for example, they're stuck in Mental Jewelry, without the brilliance of Throwing Copper, and rightfully condemned to the $1 bin. Not an awful purchase, but far from transcendent.

About the Great Escape Discount Store: Nashville's Great Escape is one my favorite stores on the planet, and I spend a ridiculous amount of money there. (The first CD I bought there: a used copy of Malevolent Creation's The Ten Commandments in 1993.) The discount store is just an overflow store for their unsellable CDs, with everything discounted. I find it's a great place to catch up on the last decade's popular bands, like Live or Counting Crows or the Cranberries, all for $1. I'll pay $1 for almost anything.