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Review of CD - Nightcrawler - Pete Yorn - Sepetember 5, 2006 - by Peter Gernert Dott

Greetings!

Just got good second and third (and fourth and fifth) listens in on the new Pete Yorn CD, Nightcrawler. Man, I like this one a whole lot and it's got plenty of potential to grow. Day I Forgot seemed more one dimensional; you got what you got (although Crystal Village still ranks as one of the best songs ever written). On the new one, we've got a nice blending of styles; back are the subtle techno samples that made MFTMA so unusually good; that and lots of really great songs. Many of these tunes have been out there on the web for some time; he seems to have included the best of these on this album.

Starts off with Vampyre, a slow atmospheric tune with creepy lyrics that slowly builds to an intense close; a pair of solid straight ahead rockers follow with For Us and Undercover (this is a classic Yorn tune in the best tradition; listen for the perfect harmony vocal in the chorus; and the cool lead guitar overlay during the ending verse). The playful guitars on Policies are instantly likeable and fun; for some reason I can clearly see Tom Havard doing his weird twisty dance in the snack bar to this one. The Man was released on an EP (is this still a valid term?) a while back; frigging excellent, Neil Youngish tune, beautiful harmonies by Natalie Maines; one of his best compositions ever. Maybe I'm Right is a solid rocker, great guitar sound and a nice build-up (bass and drums remind me of Miracle Legion for some reason; this is a random and, for most folks, meaningless comparison). Same Thing is a slower, synth-based tune; nice complement to the others and perfectly placed to keep things interesting. Alive is a guilty pleasure, sounding frighteningly like the jangly early 80's tunes we love so much (if you don't love them, bite me); Splendid Isolation is a mid-tempo rocker that sounds like it was written over lunch with Neil Young and Warren Zevon sharing a ham sandwich. Probably going to be a single although it pales in comparison to most of the others. I heard a solo acoustic version of Broken Bottle a while back; he adds some nice instrumentation to this simple tune including pedal steel to create an empty road feeling; oh and then there's the blistering guitar solo to make sure you don't drive off the road; this guy is a genius! How Do You Go On could have come right off of MFTMA (and this is ALWAYS used as a positive descriptor); it moves along at a great clip with cool sampling and rock solid drumming. Ice Age is a beautiful, beautiful (beautiful) tune; tell everyone to shut the hell up and just listen; then put it on again; perfect! Georgie Boy: well, every album needs a weakest song; and this Prince-sounding techopop tune is it; but it is certainly not unlistenable; kind of fun but really a throwaway; if someone tells you that this is their favorite song, they are either trying too hard or too little' don't waste you time with people like this. Bandstand in the Sky is a terrific closer; kind of U2ish but more catchy and less pretentious. Like MFTMA, this one is great from start to finish.

I can't believe that Pete Yorn has delivered an album this good when the bar was set so very high to begin with. The 3+ year wait only made it worse. He's still an incredibly creative songwriter and musician with an unreal sense of balance and melody. I'm going to remount my car speakers on the outside, drive around, and let people hear what the hell good song writing sounds like.

PGD

Review of live perfomance - R.E.M. with Pete Yorn at the Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC. - October 10, 2003 - by Christoper J. Dott

Went and saw REM with Pete Yorn this past Friday night, a cool rainy evening, at the local outdoor enorodome. It was a great show for a number of reasons. Our seats were perfect, 16th row dead center and well under the roof. Went with Stephanie and a couple of friends and we all had a great time.

Pete Yorn came on at 7:30pm for a 45 minute set which included a good mix of tunes off both his records. He's cool, very rock star-ish but not cocky at all, and he played the tunes as they are on the records instead of changing them around which I hate. He was backed by a four member band who stayed more or less out of the spotlight. I think he really won the crowd over, since at first the response seemed a bit weak. By the end people were really digging it. My only gripe was he didn't do Closet. He put on a really nice, solid set but it seemed to end too quickly. I'd love to see him do a whole show someday.

REM came on, opening with Finest Worksong and the sound was great. It was cool being up close, especially since the show seemed sort of informal. You can tell there was a lot of spontaneity going on. It must be tough to make up a set list when you have hundreds of tunes to choose from. I thought it was well done but I'm sure most of the Raleigh yuppies just wanted to hear Stand a couple dozen times and then go home. Check out the set list below. They had a false start on The One I Love which was pretty funny, and pulled a couple randoms out because people had requested them online, like Disturbance at the Heron House.

One of the coolest parts of the show was the crowd of people off stage near the monitor mixer. Pete Yorn was among them, he came out to watch the whole show from there. I assume the rest were friends. You can tell they were loving it, dancing around the whole night. I think between the tour ending and them being back down south everyone was feeling quite festive and it showed.

At one point Michael Stipe dedicated Animal to "our number one fan, Mr. William T. Berry" which was cool but I didn't think much of it at the time. Then when he was announcing the members of the band, including the three helper musicians, he announced "Bill Berry on drums" and unibrow walked out on stage with an awkward little wave. The crowd went nuts and then he walked back off. Pretty cool, since it turns out he was one of the ones dancing around all night on the side.

During the encore they were playing Radio Free Europe and Mike Mills walked off stage and I could see him yelling something to Bill Berry, who at first shook his head but then followed him on stage to sing backup. Michael Stipe and Peter Buck seemed really surprised and excited at this. Right after that tune, they all started hugging and all that but then Pete Buck whispered something in Bill Berry's ear, who started shaking his head. A discussion between the four started for about 10 seconds and suddenly Pete jumped up and ran to yell something to the drummer, who stood up and dismounted. Bill took off his jacket and climbed up to the kit and they played the tune Permanent Vacation, a really old one that I believe was cut out of Murmer. It was rough, but really festive and the crowd was going nuts the whole time. This was the first time since he retired in '97 that they have played together. And you can tell that the whole thing was completely spontaneous and that the guys in the band were totally psyched. It was a really awesome moment.

After a huge ovation, Bill walked off and they closed the night with End of the World. REM put on a rock solid show, which included two of my favorites, Nightswimming and Find a River. They ended up playing longer than they were scheduled to and even though the place wasn't near sold out, people stayed the whole time, most in the rain. An unforgettable night.

Review of CD - Pete Yorn: musicforthemorningafter - June 19, 2001 - by Peter Gernert Dott:

Greetings!

- Power Mechanic