The Process
(Rounder)
If a worldwide “Stump the Band” contest were held today, who do you think would win? My money would be on Brave Combo. Why? Because any group who is not only the world’s hippest polka band, but has recorded “Hey Jude” as a cha-cha, (with lead vocals by Tiny Tim!) has reworked the “Jeopardy” theme as a schottishe, and provided the entertainment at David Byrne’s wedding simply has too much game to be denied. Plus, they can play ever song ever written...as a polka. Entering their 21st season, they haven’t slowed down a bit, and who would have thought they would make an album like The Process, which sounds like...(gasp) a rock and roll record!
Well, a Brave Combo rock and roll record. Meaning there’s a whiff of polka in the air, but most of this stuff would have gone over pretty big at Faber College’s Delta House. Half the tunes were penned by leader Carl Finch and rarely has he written more straightforwardly. The opening triad, “Golden Opportunity”, “For Me” and “I Think I Lost Something” can’t be described as anything but brilliantly simple pop. “Nothing Earthly” feels like walking home under a spring moon after consuming the perfect amount of alcohol, and bassist Bubba Hernandez’s “So Rich”, is an infectious Nuggets-like raver.
Of course, The Process contains Brave Combo’s trademark humor and pathos, mostly in a stunningly adept cover of Foreigner’s “Double Vision”, which makes the following alarmingly clear: Brave Combo, during their most forced, hackneyed moments, are still far better than any others who work the smart and funny pop tip--e.g Barenaked Ladies--at their most sublimely ingenious. The Process isn’t the Combo’s greatest, catchiest, funniest album. It’s simply another one of their great, catchy, funny albums. No self-respecting American should be without at least one.
Time Out New York, 2000
