Music Review: A soundtrack for the season from rock band that includes former R.E.M. members
“Grand Salami Time!” by Baseball Project (Omnivore Recordings)
Baseball’s anthem “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was crafted by two Tin Pan Alley songwriters who had never attended a game. By contrast, the tunes on “Grand Salami Time!” come from a band with extensive knowledge of the sport.
The album is the fourth by the Baseball Project, and the group – Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon, and former R.E.M. members Peter Buck and Mike Mills – mines nostalgia and esoterica to find fresh subject matter for 16 songs.
We’re talking inside baseball: A tribute to pitcher Jim Bouton makes a veiled reference to his career record of 64-64. The song “New Oh in Town” salutes Japanese heroes past and present. “Screwball” cleverly merges two subjects as it recalls players who pitched more than a century ago.
Most topics are paired with garage rock that gives Buck a chance to serve up some delightful guitar squall. Also contributing is co-producer Mitch Easter, who worked on R.E.M.’s early albums.
The band finds room for such contemporary clatter as launch angle, exit velocity and WHIP, but the best songs involve a different kind of analytics. The bluesy “Erasable Man” laments the color line, while the acoustic folk of “That’s Living” contemplates life’s short season.
As on previous albums, a few lyrics could use a sports editor, or any editor. “Eight-hundred-sixty-eight longballs would fly” just isn’t singable. But no band bats 1.000.
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