Music Style Broken Pop Music

Similar Artists Paul Weller, Paul Westerberg, Oasis, Elliot Smith, The Verve, Big Star, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Lyle Lovett, XTC

Albums Be Prepared to Stop

Press Reviews I met up recently with Ian Baker of Worlds Tallest Thing to discuss their first EP, "Be Prepared to Stop" just released on Midair Collision Music. We have known each other forever, but always outside of his music… and I was really, really impressed with what I heard. For a new group with no history, "Be Prepared to Stop" is an amazing four song introduction. In a better world, the lead off song "Free" would be a classic pop rock single. In less than three minutes the song moves the initial electricity of being in love through questions and uncertainty to resignation and anger before everything just collapses. And the music pushes all the buttons right on cue. The tight rhythm keeps the train from running off the track, while increasing layers of guitars and vocals keep making the song larger and larger until the final sweep of Hammond organ sounds like a watershed redemption. "The Greatest Could Have Been (Demo)" cops a quiet Paul Westerberg vibe and almost feels like it could have been addressed to him. On the surface, though, it’s a great, intimate ‘I’m afraid to tell you how I really feel’ tune. You can feel the push-pull of needing to come clean against the fear of having everything not work out again. The rougher demo quality helps the feel and, in the final fade out, after a beautiful string solo and a melody that would make Neil Finn or Elliot Smith proud, you can hear a barely audible voice say "good enough" deep in the background. It just reinforces the feeling of a near miss. "Lollipop Up" continues to strip down the instrumentation. Now down to acoustic guitar, vocals and a barely audible synth, this may be the strongest song of the release. There’s an amazing sense of longing and loss without ever revealing what it’s about. If the vocals sound a bit raw, it’s because the vocals and guitar were recorded together on the first take and were done before everything was properly set up. They were right to leave it alone. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking without being obvious. Finally, "Where Are You Gonna Run" is a throwaway cover in the best sense. Taking an old new wave song and turning it into a muscular, surfy pub-rock sound. It was recorded at the end of a long session and the looseness and live-in-the-studio feel make it a great way to exit the EP. Speaking of exits, I won’t give away the ending, but the last thing you (barely) hear is the engineer snickering in the final second. A perfect ending to an top notch first effort.

Location Boston, MA - USA

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