Upon opening up the case of "Riviera," the latest from Big Head Todd and the Monsters, I was greeted to the fan club merchandise order form that was slipped into the liner notes. That wasn't quite what I had expected - Todd always seemed to lay fairly low on the radar of pop culture, playing off the credibility lent by the resulting "home-grown" feel. The fact the band members chose to partake in such crass commercialization of their art kind of surprised me; the rest of the album would eventually follow suit.
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The Monsters usually are considered a modern rock band, both because they're contemporary and they play rock and roll. But they're not terribly "modern" in spirit. They tend to pay homage to the songsmiths of the 1960s and 1970s, a move that somehow gives their music a bit more substance than that of their peers, but simultaneously implies that they're about 30 years too late. We might have revered these guys a great deal more if they'd hit the scene a few decades ago. As it is, however, they serve as a sort of reminder of rock's golden age and as a seed of hope suggesting that perhaps all new music won't suck.
They're still just a seed, though. The Monsters haven't begun covertly plotting the downfall of Britney Spears and Fred Durst, but if we give them a little time to develop themselves further and then luck out with a tragic and premature death, they could potentially give today's music a kick in the right direction. "Riviera" fits in quite nicely with this scenario - the album seems straight out of the late 1960s but doesn't offer false hopes of the Monsters leading any sort of classic rock revival just yet.
On the other hand, given their sound, fan base and overall vibe, we might just as easily label them a "jam band," cross-reference them with Widespread Panic and Phish, and leave it at that. The problem with this approach: they don't jam. Whereas Phish could spend 20 minutes on a cover of the "Oscar Meyer Weiner" song without so much as a blink, "Riviera's" songs are all under five minutes in length and lack any noteworthy instrumental breaks. Many of them seem to lack that extra-something; the catch here is that they're missing the mojo typically injected into a live performance. Within two or three listens, this album made me really want to see some live Monsters so I could hear the songs the way they should really be played.
As a jam-less jam band, they're missing more than just the solos and improvisation. They also lack the pop sensibility derived from the other end of the spectrum - the kind that put Blues Traveler on the map. "Riviera" is not a hook-driven record; there are no memorable licks at all on most of the pieces, and the few that are present aren't terribly catchy.
You can't really sing these songs back to yourself. I want to say the lyrics are forgettable, but the truth is, they never even register in the first place. With no catchy riffs, no superb songwriting and no worthwhile instrumental noodling, then, the question becomes, "Just what does this album have to offer?"
That's the tricky part, and it took quite a while for me to figure it out. "Riviera" is ambient music. This seems sort of counterintuitive, because the songs are four-chord rockers rather than seven minute soundscapes, but if and when this album appeals to you, it will have much to do with the mood it sets. You can't blast "Riviera" while cruising with the windows rolled down. You can't work out to it. You can't dance to it. You can't do anything to it, really - it's just kind of "there" most of the time, keeping the background to your life a little more interesting. The band's supposed potential notwithstanding, this is at best music to ignore and at worst music to deplore; which, is a matter of personal preference.
"Riviera" is rock music ... it's just not rocking rock music. The excitement of older hits like "Resignation Superman" and "Broken Hearted Savior" surfaces briefly on the standout track, "Hysteria," and to a lesser extent on songs like "Julianna" and "Again and Again."
But for the most part, this is a throwaway album that just happens to fare unusually well if you choose not to throw it away. Nevertheless, there's enough here to please those who come to the table knowing exactly what they want, and existing Monsters fans will be back in their element starting with the very first chord. "Riviera" is not going to put the Monsters in any record books nor win them a legion of panty-launching new fans, but it will satisfy the ones that have stayed with them this far.
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