Artist bio

Cracker formed from the ashes of indie paragons Camper Van Beethoven, as lead singer/guitarist David Lowery looked toward a future in more rootsy rock. He and guitarist Johnny Hickman (part-time CVB contributor) formed the core of the new group, which released its debut, full of basically country rock alternative (not alt.country) music, in 1992.

"Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)" introduced the group to the public alongside a number of less visible, but superior songs on the group's debut like "St. Cajetan" and "Another Song About The Rain." But it was Cracker's second album, Kerosene Hat, that proved to be the group's finest hour. Preceded by an impressive EP, Tucson, which distilled and expanded Cracker's talents, Kerosene Hat was a breakthrough of sorts, highlighted by the hits "Low" and "Get Off This," but also featuring such stellar tracks as "Nostalgia," "Take Me Back To The Infirmary," and an inspired cover of the Grateful Dead's "Loser."

Cracker put out two more albums in the '90s, The Golden Age and Gentlemen's Blues, both of which found the group retreating further into its country-rock roots and diminishing any sort of alternative fan base it had grown. Then came a greatest-hits album, usually the sort of thing that would accompany a band's announcement of breaking up. But lo, in 2002, a fifth album, "Forever" seemed to wake Cracker up again. And perhaps Lowery and Hickman's tale is not yet fully told.

Albums by this artist

Garage D'Or (2000)

Gentleman's Blues (1998)

Cracker

Garage D'Or

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Cracker Garage D'Or Virgin, 2000 RiYL: Camper Van Beethoven, Grant Lee Buffalo, R.E.M.

I like Cracker. Quite a bit. Their thin first album had a single ("Teen Angst"), video (the band nearly gets hit by a plane! ha ha!), and press-gathering back story (David Lowery, former singer of beloved, low-sales Camper Van Beethoven, starts somewhat more straightforward rock band) which could have been the major plot points for "One Hit Wonder: The Movie."

But the band followed it up with the excellent Kerosene Hat, a critically and commercially successful album which brought country rock into the commercial alternative era. "Eurotrash Girl," with its thieved Van Morrison bassline and weird nightmare travelogue narrative, became the biggest eight-minute radio single since, like, "Stairway."

Then, however, Lowery followed his muse rather than his pocketbook and made The Golden Age, an overlooked record of mostly lushly orchestrated ballads and a few great barroom rockers. Gentleman's Blues followed awkardly, trying to bridge the gap between Age's polish and Kerosene's friendly slapdash nature. It failed.

Garage D'Or, I fear, may be the last we'll hear of Cracker. Double-album hits/rarities CDs usually mark the ends of careers, not the bold new beginnings of them. The few new songs tacked on the end of the first disc here don't raise my hopes any. The rarities disc, of live stuff, instrumentals, and covers, won't be of interest to anyone who isn't a big fan.

The first disc, however, while including the three Cracker songs you're likely to have heard ("Eurotrash," "Low," and "Get Off This"), makes a fair argument for the band's career so far being, usually, a positive thing. The Golden Age gets slighted badly, but "Big Dipper," one of the band's best songs, is here, and "I Hate My Generation," the album's misplaced attempt at a radio hit, is thankfully not. For soul in the classical sense, there's guitarist Johnny Hickman's take on "Shake Some Action," rescued from the "Clueless" soundtrack. But most of the non-single choices on the record, like "Sweet Thistle Pie," the first album's "I See The Light," and the great "Sweet Potato," seem to be examples of the white-boy "Cracker Soul" the band has claimed as its mission since the beginning.

Cracker's take on soulfulness means rough organ overdubs, gospel backing vocals, and California native Lowery's mysterious southern accent. (No more mysterious than Bob Pollard's British accent, I guess.) It's never done less than graciously, and Lowery's sense of humor remains intact throughout. I'd still probably check out Kerosene Hat (if you don't have it already) and particularly The Golden Age before throwing cash down for Garage D'Or, but otherwise, this is a solid summary of Cracker's career that may help their reputation even if it fails to make them back the money they no doubt owe their label after Age and Gentleman's bombed.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.