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There’s a great song by the Replacements on their first album, Sorry Ma,
Forgot to Take Out the Trash called “I Bought A Headache.” The core idea of
that song sticks well to this band Sabrosa Purr and their goofy EP Music from
the Violet Room. Although, granted I didn’t actually buy this disc, if I
had, the headache would certainly be there all the same. You get the idea. And
it’s not that this is a loud, obnoxious disc or anything like that. Hell, it
would actually benefit more if it were. No, the problem with this disc and
Sabrosa Purr is that it/they are trying so hard for that whole artsy fartsy mood
that takes the band, and their ten fans, for a dud trip.
You can tell Sabrosa Purr dig Jane’s Addiction. They dig them a little too much.
There’s a fine line between inspiration and imitation, and these guys just
didn’t know when the hell to stop listening to Ritual de lo Habitual. And just
like Jane’s at their most pompous and high (in an irritating way), so too are Sabrosa Purr. Even the band name reeks of patchouli-bombed head shops where
there is both a burnout and a Goth dork running the cash register. A place where
the freaks can come together, man, and spend too much money on hemp hats or
pewter gargoyles.
The disc starts off boring enough with “Nous sommes…” in which a faceless chick
(undoubtedly SABROSA PURR herself) whispers French in your ear, trying to sound
all sexy and shit. Talk about your high school ideas. Ah well, it soon slams
headlong into the first real song here, “Sabrosa Purr, Pt. 1” (Luckily there is
no part two; perhaps they’re saving it for the flip-side of their vinyl-only
single.) which sounds like a mash-up of Mick Jagger at his most stoned in the
mid ‘70s and that goddamned Perry Farrell of Jane’s. If that’s not annoying
enough, then perhaps the lyrics will sway you: “I met a girl / Her name’s
Sabrosa Purr / I really like her / She is my favorite girl…and I want her bad.”
Yeah, these are lyrics taken directly from some 16-year-old’s secret notebook of
shitty poetry. But let’s not stop there. How about this nugget of awesomeness
from the Gothified dopiness of “…by the Water”: (And what’s with the goddamned
ellipses in the titles? Hi, Mr. Pretentious!) “My best friend since I’m thirteen
/ Livin’ through the magazines / I would go through anything / If I could have
you here with me / But I don’t, you’ve gone away now / Gone away, gone away
now…shit.” Yeah, there’s nothing better than throwing an unintentionally
hilarious “shit” in there to help us feel the pain.
I got one more article of torture here for you. Let’s now dissect what seems to
be the band’s signature tune, “The Lovely People.” They have their message board
on their web site named after this song, so it’s gotta mean something to them.
“All the pretty people lined up throwin’ up their pointing and pinky fingers in
the air / All the sing-along scenesters with suicidal hair / All the pretty
people, villains, saints, and queers / All the colored babies, rainbow honey
bears!” See, this poseur band is inviting all the poseurs in? But they don’t
know they themselves are afflicted, and that nobody’s going to seriously get
behind their moon/June/spoon lyrics, so it’s all pathetically funny in the end.
Sabrosa Purr come off as nothing but that band of rejects everyone knew about
back in high school. I had my own band of rejects then as well, and we sucked
mightily, too. But at least we had fun songs like “Communist Toilet” and
“Terminal Bypass Surgery.” There’s nothing fun here. Not in “God Damn You,” not
in “Pink,” and not in “All the Leaves…” (More ellipses!) I hereby declare
Sabrosa Purr unfit for a long career, or even that of one anyone will know about
outside their hometown (assuming the people living there even know about them).
To regress back to ye olde school days myself for a moment, I shall simply say
that Music from the Violet Room is doo-doo. Thank you.
~Jason Thompson
jthompson@bullz-eye.com
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