The Rentals' Seven More Minutes

After touring with Blur in what may have been the Cutest Tour Ever, head Rental (and Weezer bassist) Matt Sharp covered a Gary Numan chestnut with new friend Damon Albarn. He went on to participate in Weezer's dark and woefully underappreciated second album, Pinkerton. Sharp left the group after a tour, longing for the creative freedom his "side project" afforded him, and thus parted with Weezer/Rentals drummer Pat Wilson. Meanwhile, his buddies in Blur got the shit kicked out of them in the war for popular approval by Beatles cover band Oasis and subsequently abandoned Britpop for guitar slop. And integral Rental Petra Haden (also a factor in That Dog) decided to focus on her solo career.

Got all that? Written in Barcelona and recorded in London, Seven More Minutes takes a world-weary look back on this pop'n'roll saga. Gone (mostly) are the puppy-love nostalgia and Moog-machine riffery of Return. In their place are cynical odes to continental hedonism, bewildered examinations of failed relationships, and a lot of garagey guitars.

Of course, there's still pop aplenty here. The opening track, "Getting By," is one of the few centered around the exuberant analog sounds of the Moog keyboard. Throw in a guitar riff bouncy enough to make Fatboy Slim sound like Einstürzende Neubauten, and you've got a hell of a way to start an album. "Hello, Hello" manages to be both arena-rocking and wistful, a sonic contrast reflected in the lyrics: "You know it's good to see you again, to be back with my friends...the century is closing down, and we're not sure what we've got." "Barcelona" is pounding power-pop perfection, with a chorus that rhymes "Catalonia" with "take me over." "The Cruise," with its woo-hooing female vox, Moog stylings, devil-may-care lyrics, and the catchiest crescendo this side of "Killing In The Name" is so damn good it actually made me laugh out loud.

Sharp offsets his limited vocal range with deft backup and lead singers. Though no longer a permanent Rental, Haden does pretty (if slightly twee) work. Interestingly, the most un-Rentals tracks feature the most distinctive vocalists. Elastica's Donna Matthews contributes an ennui-laden, reverbed-out vocal on the pointedly un-rockin' "Say Goodbye Forever." Sharon McConochie's work on the Tricky-esque "The Man With Two Brains" is, as she herself sultrily intones, "all about sex." Albarn pops up on "Big Daddy C.," a distortion-riddled stomper that shows where Blur might have gone if they listened to less Tortoise and more Turtles.

Ultimately, the album suffers by following Blur's lead. Like his British counterparts, Sharp seems to have recorded much of the album through a down comforter. This prevents most of the tracks from having the punch of past gems like "Friends of P." and "Please Let That Be You." The music has a lazy feel that is grating when combined with the self-loathing tone of the lyrics. But like the music-box melody that ends the album, Seven More Minutes is generally pretty, poppy, and touching. If it winds down after a while, well, what doesn't? (Maverick)

--Sean Collins

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