The Coast Is Never Clear

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On The Coast Is Never Clear, the difficult third-album syndrome only affected San Franciscan pop dreamers Beulah in the studio, where the band came to blows over, say, the importance of a diminished seventh on a trumpet solo. From such a roughneck recording environment, however, comes perfection on their third album, where expansive, multi-instrumental, orchestral pop is underpinned by the sweetest tunes. This album could be precious--and in lesser hands it surely would be--but at the core of Beulah's ambitious vision a pure pop heart beats. Special mention must be made of "Silver Lining," a paean to songwriter Miles Kurosky's first love, punk rock. Introduced by a fanfare of horns, the track races along propelled by a fiery guitar riff and the beaten-up joy of being scarred by punk. A bittersweet, sumptuous, and utterly compulsive collection, all told. --Ben Clancy --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Hello Resolven
A Good Man Is Easy To Kill
What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades?
Gene Autry
Silver Lining
Popular Mechanics For Lovers
Gravity's Bringing Us Down
Hey Brother
I'll Be Your Lampshade
Cruel Minor Change
Burned By The Sun
Night Is The Day Turned Inside Out

Amazon.com

On The Coast Is Never Clear, the difficult third-album syndrome only affected San Franciscan pop dreamers Beulah in the studio, where the band came to blows over, say, the importance of a diminished seventh on a trumpet solo. From such a roughneck recording environment, however, comes perfection on their third album, where expansive, multi-instrumental, orchestral pop is underpinned by the sweetest tunes. This album could be precious--and in lesser hands it surely would be--but at the core of Beulah's ambitious vision a pure pop heart beats. Special mention must be made of "Silver Lining," a paean to songwriter Miles Kurosky's first love, punk rock. Introduced by a fanfare of horns, the track races along propelled by a fiery guitar riff and the beaten-up joy of being scarred by punk. A bittersweet, sumptuous, and utterly compulsive collection, all told. --Ben Clancy

Customer Reviews:

Barely a classic indie pop album - except for 2 songs, though, it's pretty much just for fans of the genre.......2006-01-05

Beulah's "The Coast Is Never Clear" has two notable genre classics, but the rest of the album can't compete with them (they are "A Good Man Is Easy To Kill" and "Gene Autry" (though "What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades" is pretty good too) - the rest are good, just not *as* good). What sets this group apart from, say, Belle & Sebastian is that Miles Kurosky's voice is much more accessible and easier to like. He definitely fits the band's style. Except for these 2 classics, though, I don't think most people would like this album. It's definitely all good and I would argue better than Belle & Sebastian's "Dear Catastrophe Waitress", but it's still not as widely accessible as, say, The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" is (I realize that's not indie but it's still relatively the same style). The songs are all cheerful and so are the lyrics (which are pretty interesting and quotable - "don't know about God but I believe in you" and "a good man is easy to kill" are good examples); the musicianship is pretty good though nothing here is really notable. If it weren't for "A Good Man Is Easy To Kill" and "Gene Autry" I think I would've given this "4.5" stars, but those 2 songs bump it up to a "5" (not to mention that the cover art is really cool!). Indie pop fans should LOVE this album! Highly recommended!

Highlights include:
the entire album!

excellent recording.......2005-12-30

I've only recently gotten into this group, starting with this recording. Stated plainly, it's great! It conveys and evokes a wide variety of moods, from quirky to bittersweet to joyous. It does this through a series of well crafted, multilayered arrangements, all to the benefit of the songs of one Miles Korosky. The songs stay in your head for hours/days afterward. And on top of everything, it rocks.

I'd compare this band to other such producers of sublime rock as: The Beach Boys (circa 1964-67), The Beatles, The Turtles, Big Star, The Go Betweens, American Music Club, The Scud Mountain Boys, and The Magnetic Fields, with perhaps a bit of sprinkling of some classic late 60s bubblegum and some mid 70s power pop.

Sadly, this band no longer exists. Fortunately, we at least have recordings such as this with which to remember them.

A second album of pop masterpieces from a late great band.......2005-06-29

Of Beulah's four albums, three of them are flat out great. THE COAST IS NEVER CLEAR is the second of the three, not departing too far from the excellence of their previous gem WHEN YOUR HEARTSTRINGS BREAK. Both albums are full of luscious pop songs, driven by great hooks and frequently astonishing arrangements. Some of the sounds they employ in their songs are stunning and completely unexpected, but almost always delightful and gorgeous. For instance, in "Gene Autry," when bells are used in the bridge to the chorus and in the chorus itself. Bells? Beulah on both COAST and HEARTSTRINGS reminds me of the Beatles or perhaps Sam Phillips on her MARTINIS AND BIKINIS (produced by her husband T-Bone Burnett) in the way they manage to use a host of unexpected sounds and musical instruments to take the music to the next level. The result is a persistently surprising musical texture.

And the horns! On YOKO they would jettison the horns (though the music would be no less delightful despite that), but on this one Beulah continued to be one of the few great rock bands to successfully integrate horns into a band. A Chicago band (albeit via Austin, Texas), Poi Dog Pondering, somewhat resembled Beulah in having a very large and fluid membership (both bands at time could boast nearly twenty members) as well as a crack brass ensemble, but for my taste Poi Dog never quite matched Beulah in the quality of their songs.

The one dissonant note on the album is that the weakest number of the disc, the perplexing "Hello Resolven," starts things off. But once past that weak cut, it is one superb pop tune after another. Highlights include the stellar "A Good Man is Easy to Kill," which later inspired the title of the film made of their farewell tour, A GOOD BAND IS EASY TO KILL. Many of the reviews here cite "Gene Autry" as a highpoint, and I won't quibble with that, though I like the horns-driven "Silver Lining" even more. And "I'll Be Your Lampshade" has a nice country tilt. But really, except for the initial weak cut, I don't dislike a single song on the entire disc.

Anyone who loves power pop or alternative music should get this disc. Just because the band is gone doesn't mean their music can't live on.

Good but not world shaking .......2005-05-26

After all the hype about this being shimmering pop with shades of the Beach Boys, Beatles, Bacharach, and Herb Alpert I came into this with pretty big expectations. I'm not sure that they were met...the band definitely tries to clone the sound but the bottom line expectation for good pop is that fabulous unforgettable singalong hook...and I didn't hear a whole lot of those on this CD despite it being musically "pretty". I couldn't recall the hook after the song ended most times...and I didn't find myself mentally "singing" it later in the day.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Gene Autry" is the first song to really come up with a great hook. The mariachi trumpet break is especially nice as is the ringing church bell riff. If they were all this good, I'd be shouting this disc's praises. Lyricist Miles Kurosky's love letter to punk in "Silver Lining" is also one of the better tunes here, mixing a fuzzed out guitar with pop "la las". "Popular Mechanics for Lovers" finds Kurosky trying to woo back an ex-lover ("I heard he wrote you a song/But so what?/Some guy wrote 69/And one just ain't enough..") "I'll Be Your Lampshade" subtly incorporates a Western feel with its singing saw, twangy guitar part and harmonica in an ode to a departing friend with a bitter twist at the end. "Burned by the Sun" is nicely understated, easily the least "produced" track here.

LOWS:
"Hello Resolven" doesn't really MEAN anything that I can decipher other than to be placed there so the artist can insist that we the listeners aren't TRYING hard enough. It's a classic case of overthink.

BOTTOM LINE:
Musically and production wise, it SOUNDS great. But I didn't see the hooks sticking as solidly as the classic bands they ape. (Someone mentioned Belle and Sebastian and I think there may be some truth to that...they have that same "artsy" detachment that keeps me from getting really involved in their songs.) Listen to the samples first and if at all possible borrow it and give it a couple plays before you decide to buy.

3 1/2 stars

Perfect pop!.......2005-04-09

At first spin, Beulah's Coast is Never Clear is off putting for a few reasons. If you've found Beulah, you are likely a punk/alt fan of some stripe and have come to expect great modern psychedelia from the Elephant 6 label. So when it plays, you might think at first that this is too pop, that it could sit unnoticed on a 70s radio playlist and there is nothing more to say about it. And are those Latin and country tones I hear? Do I like either of them? Should I, just because it's a "cool" band playing them? What's all this weirdo lyricism amongst all this pillow soft pop, talking about drilling holes in people's heads over strings and trumpets?

Turn it up a little, and play it again. The thing that jumps out is the pristine production and mixing, seamlessly meshing instruments and voice together, reaching crescendos with irresistible melodic hooks that will stick in your head with no trouble at all. If you are a musician(which I am not), I have no doubt you will be in awe of their technical abilities. For me, this was an uncomfortable album, because of the country and Latin flavors stitched into the pop. I had to admit, Beulah made them palatable. Last time I really had to confront a sound that didn't "rock" was when I realized that I liked tiki bar and lounge lizard music after hearing Donald Fagen's brilliant solo albums.

Anyway, too bad they broke up, but this is a very, very relaxing, professional, very thoughtful little record that you can put on any old time and feel good. I'm probably too much of a simp to put my finger on what makes this so good, but I like it and I'm pretty sure anyone who has found Beulah like I did will too. It's off kilter pop, with lots of warmth and energy.

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