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 Post subject: Stylus Reviews Riviera's Album
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:32 pm 
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Awesome. Just found this. They reviewed it today. Very nice.

Riviera
At The End Of The American Century
Glorious Noise
2005
B




iviera has a dirty secret. It’s not that their sound is vaguely reminiscent of many alt-country originators; that wouldn’t be dirty as much as it would be obvious. It’s that the band has a love for the boundary-less classic rock sound. And that, my friends, simply is not cool despite the fact that it remains the foundation for just about everything we hear today. The very title of the album seems to call attention to Riviera’s backward leaning sound. Is the band leaving something behind or struggling to hold on to an era that ‘s being rapidly viewed as irrelevant? If a generation of listeners can only embrace The Darkness as a relevant starting point for classic rock, then Riviera is on a noble mission to show that those influences can still be translated into something that’s neither cartoon nor parody.

The immediate question is: are they sunk before they begin? Their press actively uses the phrase “Chicago alt-country outfit” and depending on where you stand that’s either a kiss of death or the very reason to run out and buy At The End Of The American Century. Working the Chicago rock scene since 2001 Riviera has been dogged by comparisons to Wilco. Is there truth in that comparison? Sure, if you stopped really listening to Wilco after the release of Being There, parallels are easy to draw. Like early Wilco, Riviera definitely mines a traditional American folk rock sound that’s infused with enough modernity to make it appeal to an audience more concerned with the “alt” portion of alt-country. It’s the audience that was always a bit more concerned with the next Old 97’s album than investigating The Flying Burrito Brothers or Willie Nelson. Fortunately Riviera distinguishes themselves nobly on At The End Of The American Century echoing The Grateful Dead and the countrified blues of The Rolling Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet more than the more obvious touchstones of alt-country.

When you put on At The End Of The American Century for the first time be prepared for Derek Phillips’ voice. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Tweedy and that’s all I’ll say on the subject. It’s not like Tweedy and company have an exclusive agreement with the ghosts of American music. Album opener “Petrified Possessions” is guided by a plodding piano line that’s backed by a tremulous guitar adorned with tines of feedback. As the song builds towards its crescendo the elements start to coalesce into a loosely swinging noise pushed forward by Josh Boisvert’s organ. The whole swirling melodic mess recalls The Band more than Uncle Tupelo.

An album this clearly indebted to a bygone sound would often sound self-consciously aware of its underpinning elements. But Riviera is able to sound sincere in its wholesale borrowing of classic rock elements. I imagine it’s much easier to divine in a live setting, but Riviera never seems to labor during their songs. They trigger a certain satisfying déjà vu but through it all there’s an awareness that they’re operating on a platform well trampled by many bands, a certain self-effacing approach that keeps the focus squarely on the songs and not on the band’s influences.

Whether it’s “In The Stands”’ “Sympathy For The Devil” hoot-hoots and drawn out guitar solo or “Blue Eyes” pervasive piano, steel guitar and harmonica, many of the songs distance Riviera from the simple alt-country tag. The band is playing more the role of revisionist than follower, as they eagerly embrace sounds and styles that have been neglected, discarded, or both. In fact the final four songs on At The End Of The American Century, “In The Stands,” “This Missionary Life,” “Blue Eyes,” and “The Hardest Thing to Say” are enough to earn the band either a headlining slot at Bonnaroo or win over rural country fair goers who are more interested in the beer garden and the prize pigs.

It’s to their credit that At The End Of The American Century avoids the pitfall of sounding like mere homage. There’s clearly more here than the mere updating of a sound that’s been marginalized by a music industry eager to define sounds by demographics. I like to think that every copy of At The End Of The American Century that’s sold is a bit of a fuck you to the current status quo. No matter what, it’s never overtly bad to inhabit a specific style or sound as long as it makes a good record, honest in intention.

Reviewed by: Peter Funk
Reviewed on: 2005-05-12
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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:51 pm 
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wow...that's a great review. sounds like something i'd dig.

anywhere i can go to listen to some samples?

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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:52 pm 
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elephantstone Wrote:
wow...that's a great review. sounds like something i'd dig.

anywhere i can go to listen to some samples?



www.riviera-sound.com

They have mp3's of their songs on the site.

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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:53 pm 
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Yeah, I still need to order this. And not just to stay on Charli's good side..... :wink:

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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 3:05 pm 
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Charli Wrote:
elephantstone Wrote:
wow...that's a great review. sounds like something i'd dig.

anywhere i can go to listen to some samples?



www.riviera-sound.com

They have mp3's of their songs on the site.


i'm impressed -- they sound really good. album = ordered!

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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 3:47 pm 
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I think that's the best review I've read of our album. Not that it's so glowing (it's not) but because he seemed to have really listened to it and even identified some issues we struggle with as a band. Being nailed to one genre or another can indeed help and hurt you.


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 5:59 pm 
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That's a strange review to go along with a "B" grade. The review read kind of negative to me, basically accusing the band of being derivative.

Haven't heard the band so I can't comment other than the review and grade not really seeming to match.


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 7:01 pm 
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this disc is moving it's way to the top of my purchase list.


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 9:14 pm 
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timmyjoe42 Wrote:
this disc is moving it's way to the top of my purchase list.


Jaysus, what does it take???


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 9:44 pm 
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home delivery


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 9:54 pm 
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timmyjoe42 Wrote:
home delivery


Just stop by the distributor and pick one up. Doesn't get much easier than that, yo!


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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 9:58 pm 
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I live in Cincinnati now. :( No more working near the distributor. I was afraid to go there since I think I saw a sign on their door about nobody coming in the office, or no deliveries, or no outside inquiries, or something like that. It scared me away. Now if they ran it like a little record shop.

Plus I need the cash. But on the internet I can use the credit card.

I can't really use the credit card until next month after I pay it off, so I don't have to pay interest.


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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2005 11:36 am 
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Ah, you punk. I didn't even know you'd moved.

Coming back to Chicago anytime soon?


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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:03 pm 
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I will be in Chicago next weekend, to get my wife and son whom I will not have seen for 6 weeks. I plan on being pretty busy paying attention to them and packing and cleaning our condo.

Your cd is now officially off my "to purchase" list.


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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:13 pm 
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timmyjoe42 Wrote:

Your cd is now officially on my "purchased but not yet received" list

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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:14 pm 
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how do you know that?


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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:16 pm 
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whaddoyoumean?

i was trying to be clever and use your quote to say "hey, i bought the riviera album last week, but i still haven't gotten it yet goshdarnit!"

but i probably messed it all up.

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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:21 pm 
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Oh, you were saying you bought it.

I was implying I bought it, but didn't want to come right out and say it. I wanted to tease Derek a little bit. I thought you might have some connection to http://www.milesofmusic.com and knew of my recent transaction. (which I have not gotten an email confirmation about....)


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PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2005 2:10 pm 
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finally got this last night. taking in my first full listen right now.
as i said before, i am really impressed...this is a damn fine album - i hope big things are in store for riviera!

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PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2005 3:14 pm 
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i didn't even get my confirmation email yet. I wonder if they are out of stock, or if I typed it in wrong, or what...


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PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2005 3:25 pm 
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I finally got my confirmation email today. w00t


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PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2005 3:41 pm 
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timmyjoe42 Wrote:
I finally got my confirmation email today. w00t


I was about to contact MoM to see what was up. Glad you got the confirmation email. Can you let me know when it arrives? I'm interested to see how much time each of the online distributors take to deliver.


Of course, there's always iTunes.

Elephantstone, glad yours arrived OK and especially glad you're digging it. Thanks for saying so.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:30 pm 
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Geebuz, I just got the confirmation email that my order was shipped.


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