In the rush to review music, sometimes critics don’t give a record enough time to wash over them. Sure, there are some records that sound like “hits out of the box” — and that’s because they often can be. Others albums take time and repeated listens for the songs to grow on the listener. That’s the case with Belly’s third studio record, Dove. I bought the album on its May 4th release date, and upon first listen, I knew this record was going to be a grower. Tanya Donelly, Tom Gorman, Gail Greenwood, and Chris Gorman made music back in the day (and by “back in the day,” I’m talking about the early to mid-’90s) that ran the gamut of surreal to straight-ahead alternative rock — with a twist of pop. They were both a darling of the critics and people who were fans of MTV’s “120 Minutes” who, if they didn’t break up, could have had a long career as a band. But when you’re in your late twenties/early thirties and have toured and recorded on brutal schedule, relationships can fray. There are other reasons why Belly called it quits after the release of King in 1995, but I’ll leave that for others to write about and focus on Dove.
In an era where more is less, seeing a record with eleven tracks is refreshing. To me, it means the band whittled down the list to the strongest songs and decided to forego bloat for economy. The lead track, “Mine,” really smolders with a mid-tempo groove and some trilling vocals before the first verse. Donelly’s voice is in really good shape on the entire record, and in the twenty-two years she’s been recording on and off as a solo artist, she has more control over the nuances in her vocals than she did during the first two Belly albums. She and Greenwood harmonize well adding some nice flourishes to a song that does not signal we’re in pop-grunge revival. Tom Gorman’s guitar work does channel that “classic Belly” sound. However, he does so in service to the song — and not trying to pay homage to the past by recycling riffs from years gone by.
“Shiny One” has already been reviewed on this blog, so I won’t add much to what I already wrote about it except to say that I don’t seem to grow tired of hearing it. Oh, and even though many reviewers say this song sounds right out of the ’90s, I disagree — at least when it comes to Belly’s music. Sure, one can point this or that sound in the music and jump up and down braying: “See? See? Right…there. That’s so ’90s.” What they are missing is that “Shiny One” has many more layers than anything Belly recorded back then. The song is a good example of a confident band making music as a band — and not bowing to trends of the day to make their sound more appealing to a younger audience.
Now, I’ll concede most (if not the majority) of songs on Dove do sound like it’s the early to mid-’90s again — but that’s not a bad thing at all. “Human Child,” for example, harkens back to that era both musically and stylistically, but the song is a more sedate affair so Donelly’s vocals can bring the lyrics to the front of the mix. “Faceless” starts with a head fake intro as a ballad and then transitions to a song that alternates between hard rock and a more conventional mid-tempo coffee-house acoustic-style.
“Suffer The Fools” shows that Donelly is still mining failed relationships for material, but this time instead of a complete break, the song addresses how when some relationships do end, the break isn’t always clean (I know you thought we’d be living together/I thought so, too). But clearly, this relationship, while broken, still has vestiges of friendship and longing (I’ll still come by/I’ll bring that terrible wine you love/I’ll cut your hair/Build up a fire/Pick up the flowers that you threw/’Cause I’d rather suffer you…than suffer the fools).
Except for “Army of Clay” and “Stars Align” (the second single off the record), most of the album stays in mid-tempo to ballad terrain. That’s a bit of a shame because while Tanya Donelly’s solo career certainly veered away from the rock that Belly was known for, I thought teaming up with her old bandmates would unleash a more ferocious sound (as evident in “Tu Y Yo” Donelly co-wrote with Greenwood on her Swan Song series). But, it’s not to be on Dove. You gotta go with your muse rather than trying to relive one’s salad days. I kept that in mind as I listened to this album repeatedly since it came out. While it’s not in the style that I would have liked (and really, who am I but a guy with a blog), I did find even the slower songs resonated with me. Dove is not a perfect record, but it has a strength that comes out over time — and reminds listeners of a time when whole albums (and not just singles) were something to get lost in.
