The Format – Dog Problems – 2006
This is more like it. Talk about growth. How they made the leap in three years from standard issue Power Pop to this I don’t know. But, it’s here. And you should listen to it.
“Matches”, a 3/4 time prelude, if you will, sets the table for everything fun. would do just a couple years later. Sweeping, elegant, french (oh, just listen), forward thinking, the track makes having a “band” irrelevant. The Format is now about ideas as much as it is about songs. And those ideas are from Nate Ruess who is rapidly outgrowing his band mates. Flowing into “I’m Actual”, as part of a suite, confessional lead singer cries, “Can we please take an hour and talk about me? And talk about me and we’ll talk about me.” He’s a narcissist, to be sure, and arrogant, and he has the pipes to pull it off.
Pipes? Maybe it’s hubris. Maybe it’s confidence. Doesn’t matter. This, THIS is what the legacy of those bands who followed in The Beatles footsteps were supposed to be doing 40 years later. No doubt having Steve McDonald of Redd Kross behind the buttons to produce helped the boys find their muse.
And then…the album really comes alive. “Time Bomb” crashes forth, opening the album in true fashion after the 1-2 introduction. Nate has gone through some kind of break up and it’s all bloody and pain and attempted suicide and on the record. Few bands write choruses as catchy and are lucky enough to get one or two on a record. Dog Problems is lousy with memorable hooks. “She Doesn’t Get It” is one of those, you almost don’t care what the song is about as long as you can get to that delicious chorus, so delectable that you don’t mind the synthetic drums in the background. In fact, it’s the synthesis of synthetics and prowess that will pave the way for superstardom for Nate Ruess.
And if that isn’t enough, there’s the centerpiece of the album for me: “Pick Me Up”. A song so perfect that I wish they would bring it back for live shows. I think some fans would go nuts and it deserves a large sea of bobbing fans to bring it to life.
And then the title track, which I think would be closing out Side One if this was on Vinyl.
In the mid aughts many bands were falling in love with that honky tonky strip club of yore sound. Skybox’s Various Kitchen Utensils, Tally Hall, and, of course, the title track to Dog Problems.
A heartbreaking track that breaks itself up and builds itself with such confident and wit that it’s impossible to not hope and pray that the singer will find love after such a catastrophic break up.
It’s brilliant.
“Oceans”, “Dead End”, “Snails”…there isn’t a bad track on this record. Even the label-ordered single, “The Compromise”, which is, in the end, a compromise, is also stellar. Although there are other tracks that blow it away, and it really doesn’t fit in with it’s heavy guitar assault, it still holds up with the rest of the record. And “If Work Permits” steals as much from Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Holland, 1945” as any other band of the era might, while marrying it to pop and bringing great closure to a remarkable album.
If you were a McCartney (vs. a Lennon) you will love Dog Problems.
Grade: A+
ASide: Time Bomb, She Doesn’t Get It, Pick Me Up, Dog Problems
BlindSide: I’m Actual, Dead End, The Compromise, Inches & Falling
