Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “Wish The World Away” by American Music Club
American Music Club is a band that has seen far more critical praise than units moved or financial success. Beloved by those who know them and unknown by those only looking at the charts, AMC had a great run of solid records.
More than a singer-songwriter, frontman Mark Eitzel has a knack for bending language to his will, using it to paint vivid pictures of lovable losers and open the window into a psyche that’s often in a flat spin. Like the bar stool prophet at your local pub, Eitzel flits seamlessly between fury and resignation.
“Wish The World Away” could’ve very easily been a throwaway song-indeed a lot of the reviews for the record panned it as “overproduced” and as a victim of slick production. Looking at that through a 2023 lens, those indictments feel more reflective of the weird 90s orthodoxy than anything else. Those that dared to put out something polished were often promptly shot down simply for wanting to do so.
The song is polished, and it’s all the better for it. And Eitzel’s words paint a much richer snapshot of someone worn down by the world than many tracks put out during that same era. Eitzel’s economical with words; when he says, “that’s not funny, but it’s a joke,” it’s an indictment and lament in equal measures.
And it tells a whole story.
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While a good bit of the exceedingly muted San Francisco (particularly “The Thorn in My Side Is Gone”) reveals Eitzel to be descending to yet another level on his tour of the psychic abyss, he seems more willing to stumble towards what few rays of light exist down there. The spy-flick throb of “It’s Your Birthday” sees him encouraging a pal to accept the love of a partner, “Even though she hasn’t been a girl for very long”; the dynamic “Wish the World Away” seeks its solace in mood-alterers as varied as TV and good ol’ bad liquor.
Click here to read the rest of the overview.
Listen:
“Wish The World Away” by American Music Club | San Francisco, 1994
Click the record to listen on the platform of your choice.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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Mark is hands down my favourite live performer. Every gig has been an 11/10 classic. That said, I’ve always preferred the solo stuff to AMC.
I don't know man, it just doesn't do anything for me. Which is surprising because, sonically, it is right up my alley. This is one of music's fundamental riddles. How one song can fail to move me, while another apparently similar song can blow me away. You can't explain rock and roll.
[Lyrics are good - dude is most definitely a poet.]