Reviews
God Lives Underwater
Life In The So-Called Space Age
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-10-22
On October 16 David Reilly passed away at the young age of 34 years old. Reilly, is best known as being the frontman of God Lives Underwater. A band that experienced brief fame in the mid 90's, and released a few more albums without getting anymore mainstream exposure. Reilly had a well documented battle with addiction but his eventual killer was a long lasting, undiagnosed stomach infection. I've decided to review their most famous album "Life In The So-Called Space Age" as a tribute to the loss of David Reilly. Originally my gameplan was to review this straight like I would any other current album, and now I have changed my mind. After spending some time reading up on the life of David Reilly, and hearing from the message board posters who have been so profoundly effected by the music. It just doesn't seem the right way to do this. So what we have here instead is a review that is going to expand outside of a typical review. Hopefully, it will flow. We will find out.
From what I have been reading around the web and mostly at this amazing fan site enjoyglu.com, it would appear they had a rather devoted fanbase. Many of which insisted that God Lives Underwater profoundly impacted their lives, and are still just as intense about their love for G.L.U. as they were in the beginning. In reading reviews of the album in question, many reviewers would make the point that G.L.U. was a band ahead of their time. Another point of view is that they were a band that more or less got by ripping off Nine Inch Nails, and/or Depeche Mode. Could it be that both points of view were correct? My first experience with G.L.U. was when my buddy Chris Richard who never buys albums for some reason bought this one. I don't really remember if I liked it at the time, I just enjoyed the ridiculous acronym G.L.U. and the big single "From Your Mouth". The sound produced on this album is a blend of traditional industrial, hard rock, and even at times electronic or techno. It actually was a very ambitious recording, and in the context of the time it was released it isnt' surprising that it had a tough time finding a huge audience.
What I find most impressive whenever I hear this style of music is how complex and technically advanced it sounds. This was a 1998 release and to date I would put money on it being extremely difficult to record something like this even with the advances in the music industry. Furthermore, it also amazes me how this complex sound is usually crafted by one or two very talented musicians for the most part. An album such as this requires a ridiculous amount of production, mixing, and fine tuning. The soundscapes crafted on "Life In The So-Called Space Age" certainly stand the test of time. This isn't really my style of music and still that much is abundantly clear. I wonder how this was replicated live? I always wonder that about this style of music. Perhaps someone with an experience seeing them live could enlighten me. On to the songs.
It wouldn't make sense to begin anywhere else but with "From Your Mouth". Songs like this can be a curse. I tend to refer to it as the "No Rain" syndrome. A single that breaks through rather unexpectedly and causes a band to be thrust into the mainstream for a glimmer in time. Short term, you get a lot of out of this but longterm it fucking sucks. The label gets unrealistic expectations, many of the fans who buy your album are disappointed that your single isn't typical of your sound, and it also results in copious amounts of pressure for whatever you do next.
"From Your Mouth" is a really neat and unusually catchy song. I say unusually because it catches you, but not in the same way most music does. I can't quite say whether it is the big blurting bass part, the unusual use of scratching, the cathartic soft sound effect that almost sounds like pleasant whining, or the vocals. Maybe it is all of it? David Reilly almost makes this into a hip-hop song. I know that seems bizarre to say, but with the mixing and his DJ background, combined with the melodic sing talking going on it is a lot closer to hip-hop than it say is to hard rock or industrial. This is just flat out an excellent song, unfortunately there really isn't another song on the entire album similar to it. Everything else demands more of the listener. "From Your Mouth" welcomes you in, whereas the other songs require a more thorough attentive listen. It is like when you see a trailer to a movie you think is a comedy and you show up and it is an intellectual drama. It isn't always a bad thing, but some people are just turned off right away. Its the music industry, the nature of the beast.
Another stand out track to me is "Rearrange". This song is steeped a lot more in the electronic side of G.L.U. I always had this misconception that this band was a lot more screaming, and angst. Instead it really is more ambient and has a kinda intense chill quality to it that I can't think of many other bands that have the talent to pull off. My favourite part of this song has to be the production. Just before the 3 minute mark especially, when the vocals are gone entirely and the listener just gets to asborb the effects going on. But the vocals aren't bad either, I actually am reminded a bit of Scott Weiland's softer stuff here. And Weiland is one of my all time favourite singers.
Still, neither of those first two songs compare to my personal favourite "Dress Rehearsal For Reproduction". This song takes everything up a notch. It took a handful of listens for it to emerge as my favourite. So if you download just this song, do me a favour and give it a few goes before making your mind up. I would hesitate to guess songs like this are both the reason this band has such a devoted following, and why they never really blew up. I like the rawness, the dirtiness of how the production sounds. I love the recycled guitar riff, and I won't even start to guess what effects were put into the mixing. Instead i'll just say Reilly probably does it stronger here than any other time on the album. That chill intensity is here too. Once you are able to get into the music it has that special innate ability to suck you in entirely. Have you forget everything going on around you and just focus in on a part of it and not have a care in the world what else might happen at that time. With so many bands in 2005 when you hear this happening it isn't even someone in the band who is responsible for it. But not here, as David Reilly and Jeff Turzo were more or less solely responsible for everything you hear. Full marks for that.
But let's transition. God Lives Underwater released what will be their final album "Up Off The Floor" in 2004. Apparently there was a manufaturing flaw which made the album tough to listen too. I don't know myself I am working on hearing this album and judging from what I have read over at enjoyglu.com I am in for a treat when I do. After this last album Reilly gravitated towards a solo career. He released the Inside EP, and was working on an album titled "How Humans RX" that may or may not ever see the light of the day. A helpful fan at enjoyglu.com hooked me up with the link to Reilly's myspace website. Where you can hear a handful of tracks. Right when you login a song called "Here We Go" plays and wow is it awesome.
I don't really know if you can find this in Mp3 format as of yet I have had no success. So hit the above link if you want to hear it. I actually think this song would have potentially had minor breakout potential. Hearing the now clean Reilly singing about surviving, and being ready to take on whatever comes his way has a way of pulling on your heartstrings. He sounds a lot more optimistic here than he did on most of what I heard from G.L.U. It is a bit much though I must admit hearing the lyrics and how shitty it is that this guy never got to do what he had in mind. I mean shit as recent as October 12th, not even two weeks ago the dude was posting his upcoming dates on the site. Just an unneccesary loss that fucking sucks.
See the thing is he died from an undiagnosed stomach infection. And I am not a doctor but it seems safe to say that had Reilly had the health insurance, or the money to pay the ridiculous costs that it would have set him back to get the necessary care that he would have survived this ordeal. Being Canadian I don't have to deal with that type of health care (seriously knocking on wood because I swear it is a matter of time before we change our health care) but that is just a bitter pill to swallow. Seriously, the number one reason I would fear moving to the States is because of their health care. With the history of cancer in my family the idea of being in that situation absolutely terrifies me. Not that our system is great either, I've been sick for 8 months and nobody has been able to figure out why but at least it isn't costing me anything.
I really hope that "How Humans RX" sees the light of day and when/if it does i'll be buying it for sure. I came up with this idea as a casual review of a G.L.U. album, partly out of nostalgia and partly out of curiousity. Yet I close this review coming out the other end as a fan and admirer of David Reilly. The shitty side effect is how much more painful his loss it to me now. Especially considering the circumstances. But just because David Reilly has moved on does not mean his music has too. Hopefully more of you will take this chance to re-investigate into a band you might have very well missed out on when they were around. No doubt this isn't for everybody but what does it hurt to try? It is hard to explain but writing this has somewhat overwhelmed me with sadness. If you don't mind I think i'll give the album another spin before I go to sleep.
R.I.P. David Reilly
You will be missed.
- Dan