Adam Schmitt: Demolition

A long time ago, or so it seems, I had Adam Schmitt’s first album, World So Bright that I found in a bargain bin at some used CD shop. I had heard one of his singles on a sampler disc that my friend owned, so I figured two bucks for the full album couldn’t be too much of a waste. After I took it home, I found that I still liked the one song and nothing else on the album.

So Schmitt eked out his tenure on Reprise with a second LP, Illiterature and then promptly vanished. In the interim, he produced a few early albums for the Parasol label and began working on a third disc of his own. After a couple years of additions, re-workings, and re-titlings of the album, Adam has finally issued his new set of songs under the title Demolition. And as far as I can tell, things haven’t changed a bit.

Some critics have gotten frothy over Schmitt’s return and have fallen all over themselves to sing the praises of Demolition to the skies. Unfortunately, there’s only one truly strong song out of the 10. The main problem is that Adam sounds like he’s making records as if it was still 1991. That said, be prepared to expect an old sound of “alternative” pop that, in the end, had a lot to do with alternative rock’s demise, the sound being reproduced again and again by cookie cutter acts that took sweet melodies and vocal harmonies and attempted to achieve a kind of pop bliss. The problem is that Schmitt’s own take on this wasn’t incredibly exciting to begin with. The fans will tell you otherwise, but really there’s nothing too special going on here.

As for the one song I like on this album, the honor goes to “Second Story”, even though it does contain the worst lyric on the whole album in its “Second story, room of glory” line. However, the descending chord progression creates a good sense of drama in the tune, as well as supplies the hook. Still, as it rages on near the end, the song just suddenly gets shut off. Always a jarring technique to apply, but unfortunately it made the best song here just a shade less of what it could have been.

One of Schmitt’s failings is his repetitive chords. This affects the opening track, “See Me Fall”, causing the song to build up to a steady plateau without ever there being some kind of payoff. Oh it sounds good. It at least sounds harmless, in that Toad The Wet Sprocket kind of way. But for a guy who has praise thrown his way so often, one would think that there would be a bit more substance here. And when Schmitt tries to rock, like he does on the plain vanilla “Visited”, he also comes up empty-handed. It’s just one step away from being a Stone Temple Pilots sound-alike, circa Core. I kid you not. If only Adam’s voice was a bit deeper, he’d have it down. But as I said, this album is steeped in early ’90s mire.

Schmitt’s lyrical dramas are also on the weak side. “Alone on a Crashing Plane” opens with some halfway decent guitar notes, but then come the lyrics: “Check your tickets / Paid admission / With no exchanges / So enjoy the ride / Navigation / To destination / A lost radar image / So say goodbye / ‘Cause we’re all alone on a crashing plane / Isolated forever / Heading straight to heaven”. Sorry, but that’s just corny as hell, made even worse by the panic attack that seems to be overtaking Adam’s vocals here. You won’t need to dig any deeper than a couple centimeters here to reach the bottom of the Schmitt well.

For all of its nice, glossy pop productions, Demolition fails to make much of an impact. After being initially interested in discovering Adam Schmitt’s return, I have to admit that I remembered why I didn’t think the guy was so great years ago after hearing these songs. He’s good at crafting a nice melody, and certainly fine at playing his songs, but then so are tons of other bands out there. And while the iron might be hot enough to strike for the moment, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Schmitt once again faded into the background just as quickly as he returned.