On their second album, Friction, Baby, Better Than Ezra becomes a bit more ambitious than they were with their debut album, Deluxe.
Lead singer Kevin Griffin's lyrics are more detailed and brooding, moving the band closer to its doom-laden post-grunge contemporaries.
The problem is, Griffin doesn't have anything particularly original to say, nor does he have an original way to say it.
Better Than Ezra were never particularly good with melody -- their breakthrough hit, "Good," was catchy because of a vocal tic, not a melodic phrase -- but Friction, Baby is almost completely devoid of hooks and melodies, which makes Griffin's gloomy lyrics even harder to stomach.
In its favor, Better Than Ezra are developing a stronger, tighter group sound, but it's hard to ignore how thoroughly mediocre most of the music on this record actually is.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | King of New OrleansKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | Long LostKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 3 | Normal TownKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 4 | Return of the Post ModernsKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 02:54 | 6 MB | 20 MB |
| 5 | Hung the MoonKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | Desperately WantingKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 04:37 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 7 | Still Life With CooleyKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | WWOZKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 9 | Happy EndingsKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 02:43 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 10 | Speeding up to Slow DownKevin Griffin | Better Than Ezra | Play | 04:09 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 11 | Rewind | Better Than Ezra | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 23 MB |
| 12 | Scared Are You | Better Than Ezra | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 13 | At Ch. Degaulle | Better Than Ezra | Play | 02:20 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 47 mins | 108 MB | |||||
| 47 mins | 352 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethan Allen | Assistant Engineer |
| 2 | Better Than Ezra | Primary Artist |
| 3 | Anthony Dagrade | Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone |
| 4 | Jim De Barros | Art Direction, Design, Photography |
| 5 | Tom Drummond | Bass |
| 6 | Joe Gastwirt | Mastering |
| 7 | Don Gehman | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 8 | Kevin Griffin | Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 9 | Peter Holsapple | Guest Artist, Mandolin, Organ, Piano |
| 10 | Travis Aaron McNabb | Drums |
| 11 | Mark Mullins | Trombone |
| 12 | Frank Ockenfels | Photography |
| 13 | Mathew Perrine | Tuba |
| 14 | Jamil Sharie | Trumpet |
| 15 | Lawrence Sieberth | Piano |
| 16 | Kathy Stewart | Photography |
| 17 | Doug Trantow | Mixing Assistant |
| 18 | Joan Wasser | Violin |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |