Attractive Nuisance

Attractive Nuisance was the Loud Family's fifth album in their five album contract with Alias, so common consensus stated that it would be the final album. It had the same lineup as Days For Days, but seems less structured, which is my nice way of saying "not as good".

After listening to AN, and looking at the track listing, there aren't any songs that I dislike, but it just seems like some random collection of songs without any unifying theme. Scott Miller's ten songs, from the opener "720 Times Happier Than The Unjust Man" to the coda "Motion Of Ariel", all seem to be variations on "good-bye to all that". The two songs Scott didn't write, Gil Ray's "Controlled Burn" and Alison Faith Levy's "Apprentice", seem to be ones that were tacked on because Scott didn't write enough songs to fill the album.

My perception of Attractive Nuisance nowadays is tied to my experiences on the 2000 tour. I saw six shows on that tour (Northwest, East Cost, and L.A.), and even though the LF were as strong as ever musically, it felt like the final ride before the end of the road. They weren't getting any promotion from the label or support from the tour, and the final homecoming show in S.F. got bumped and eventually cancelled. For the last show of the tour, and final show of "The Loud Family" experience, they were on the middle of the bill, sandwiched between two unknown bands at Spaceland in L.A., and had to play a short set without an encore. It was like Spinal Tap, only without the ending where the LF reform for a triumphant tour of Japan.

Many shows on the tour were filmed for a DVD (Live 2000, which is still available here), showing the rocking parts from the tour. Here's their cover of the dB's "Tearjerkin'".



Holsapple & Stamey have a new album of their own, and they're going on tour this summer, even hitting the West Coast. Cafe du Nord on 7/18, baby!