RSSJad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward [extended]
- We Are the Rage [Avant, 1997] B+
- Strange But True [Matador, 1998] **
- Monster Songs for Children [Kill Rock Stars, 1998]
- The Sound of Music [Shimmy-Disc, 1999] *
- I Like Your Face [Wire Monkey, 1999]
- Happy Hearts [Kill Rock Stars, 2023] A-
See Also:
Consumer Guide Reviews:
Jad Fair and the Shapir O'Rama: We Are the Rage [Avant, 1997]
Although these 23 soliloquies in 46 minutes are a little long on noize-will-be-noize guitar, umpteenth collaborator Kim Rancourt (of When People Were Shorter and Lived in the Water, since you asked) does the 42-year-old boy wonder a favor by sticking up for himself. In fact, while nothing tops the climactic love poem only Jad could have written ("Her eyes are the color of a Slurpee"? "She smells as good as pizza"?), it was Rancourt who gave him the definitive "I Comb My Hair With My Hand." And who sings several of the best soliloquies here all by himself. B+
Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo: Strange But True [Matador, 1998]
Jad never runs dry, but he does trickle off sometimes ("Circus Strongman Runs for PTA President," "Texas Man Abducted by Aliens for Outer Space Joy Ride") **
David and Jad Fair: Monster Songs for Children [Kill Rock Stars, 1998]
Jad Fair and Kramer: The Sound of Music [Shimmy-Disc, 1999]
Kramer's settings took three days, Fair's words two listens and one day, and when it jells you'd think it was even less ("Sleeping Beauty," "Elenor") *
Jad Fair and the Shapir O'Rama: I Like Your Face [Wire Monkey, 1999]
Happy Hearts [Kill Rock Stars, 2023]
At 69, Half Japanese main bro Jad still sounds like a half lyrical, half cheeky teen twerp. With his pitch elevated and his timbre lubricated, his boyish enthusiasm perches comfortably atop the full-bodied minimalist alt-rock filled in by his latest partner Ward, a sometime comics guy perfectly capable of darker thematics who lists "folk-punk" among his musical gambits. Whether twentysomething cynics are ready to admit it or not, what's not teen at all about these songs is that most of them are lived love songs: "Love is in charge/Love is now ours/We have it now/It's in the stars" is no more simplistic than the crushes of he and his brother David's musical youth and in all biographical likelihood less so--after all, David announced he was quitting the band decades ago so he could spend more time with his family. Jad, however, is set on proving he can have it all. A-