Pabz Reviews

Here's what they said about my last album, Pabz:

The Noise (Boston)

Gratifyingly high-quality... a classic local recording, a keeper in every sense of the word. 25:25 (Our Highest Rating) [see full text]

Improvijazzation Nation (Seattle)

just an EXCELLENT example of DIY in action! FINE guitar works & lyrics to keep yer' BLOOD movin'! Pabz has a definite "style", electric & acoustic guitarz melded together to draw you in to a web of enchanted musics you won't soon forget! MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! [see full text]

Gajoob (Salt Lake City)

Cambridge Mass is well known around the underground pop crowd for its plethora of popsters and Pabz' work here is right at home with the very best of them. What sets this tape apart is the breadth of material, besides the seeming ease that it is all laid bare in outstanding guitar pop splendor. One of my favorite tapes this year (and I've been getting a lot of good stuff lately). [see full text]

Pop Culture (Memphis)

I wish I had lots of money, for a number of reasons of course, but the reason I mention it here is cuz, in a perfect and just world, Paul would've had access to long green to go into a big time studio to do this album for lots of folks to hear... There's enough good ideas per song here for 3 or 4 songs and I love it... All told, I'm bowled over by Pabz. I was very pleasantly surprised by it. [see full text]

Full text of Pabz reviews

The Noise

PABZ 12 songs

Paul Desjarlais, bassman for the Uncalled Four, Haberland, and The Wallflowers has put out a gratifyingly high-quality solo project. The demo is alternatingly fun-loving ("Little Town Flirt"), poppy and gratuitously silly ("Still Like You"), and translucently folky (particularly my personal favorite, the transcendent "Balloon in the Sky.") A tune like "Baby Come On Now" comes across like a Syd Barrett tribute with a gene splice from King Crimson's "20th Century Schizoid Man" in the chorus, bueno. The busy but irresistably lively "Bullet Head" is a thing of beauty and a joy forever; the OMD-ish "Green Eyes" is conventionally mordant-cum-fizzy but also intriguingly experimental. "But You Never Told Me" is a seamless blend of Zombies and Pretty Things-style '60s art-rock. "You're No Fun at All" evokes those neo-psychedelic faves The 3 O'Clock back when they called themselves the Salvation Army. Finally the poignant heart-wrencher "Instead of You" caps the album with an eminently coverable classic-in-the-making. We haven't been this impressed with a self-made demo since Stephen Merritt's Cooking for the Priests and, indeed, fans of Magnetic Fields, Luna and suchlike should seriously consider owning this, a classic local recording, a keeper in every sense of the word, and my pick for Tape of the Month for September. 25:25 (Our Highest Rating) [top]

Improvijazzation Nation

PABZ: Self-titled, PABZ - Full-blown C-90 in from one Paul Desjarlais... just an EXCELLENT example of DIY in action! Folk-rock orientation, FINE guitar works & lyrics to keep yer' BLOOD movin'! Th' most exciting part of th' whole D.I.Y. "thang" for me is knowin' that THOSE folks, no matter what "format" (if any) they're playin' - it won't be T-I-R-E-D! Pabz has a definite "style", electric & acoustic guitarz melded together to draw you in to a web of enchanted musics you won't soon forget! Voicings are CRYSTAL clear, very well-recorded, 'specially for a home studio (mastering at M-Works in Cambridge) - &, this music has RAW creative energy as it's most notable feature! Critz? Next time, just a lil' more work on yer' j-sheet, Paul; and, DON'T forget to PUNCH OUT those recording tabs, please! This is BEAUTIFUL music, & I'd hate to see a reviewer's mo-chine (like mine) EAT it! Comparisons? Sections reminded me of Henry Gross (am I datin' myself TOO much?) - but, naught to worry, Paul's his OWN player... this tape is MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Contact Paul at P.O. Box 782, Brookline, MA 02446, or via e-mail to paul@pharlap.com Rotcod Zzaj [top]

Gajoob

Pabz

Cambridge Mass is well known around the underground pop crowd for its plethora of popsters and Pabz' work here is right at home with the very best of them. Pabz (aka Paul Desjarlais) has been playing on the Boston underground scene for many years as the bassist for such bands as the Uncalled Four, Haberland and the Wallflowers. What sets this tape apart is the breadth of material, besides the seeming ease that it is all laid bare in outstanding guitar pop splendor. One of my favorite tapes this year (and I've been getting a lot of good stuff lately). The tape is not yet in mass production, but Paul says you can write for a cheap "or possibly free" RATING: 9 out of 10. [top]

Pop Culture

I wish I had lots of money, for a number of reasons of course, but the reason I mention it here is cuz, in a perfect and just world, Paul would've had access to long green to go into a big time studio to do this album for lots of folks to hear. Paul's got ideas just poping outta his head so fast, it's a wonder he was able to concentrate long enough to record Pabz. There's enough good ideas per song here for 3 or 4 songs and I love it.

None of the above describes what Pabz sounds like though, and that's the hard part. Well, it's sophisticated music, which incidentally is the hardest to describe. But here goes: First it's pop music, melodic as all get out. He's obviously done his time listening to Beatles/Kinks/XTC/Bowie/Smashing Pumpkins (huh?...bear with me here). Okay, enough name droppings. Where he borrows from the Fab Four and the other Limeys mentioned above is primarily in the songwriting department. There are lots of strangely perched harmonies and hooks to hang onto at every turn. Where he borrows from the Pumpkins is in the production department. It's really imaginatively produced. Each song segues right into the next to form a seamless whole. The mood changes from snarling "Little Town Flirt" to tender "Balloon in the Sky" to playful "Kids From a Cartoon" to downright hoppin "You're No Fun At All". The album (I use the term album to denote any collection of songs presented as a whole, whether it be on cassette, CD, or 8 Track. The LP may be dead, but the album lives on.) closes on a touching, honest note when he sings "I don't have much to think about instead of you" in the closing track entitled "Instead of You".

The guitars are multi-voiced and always interesting. However, the real victory here is the thousand different vocal styles and timbres. Paul does everything here in true DiY (Do it Yourself) style. You'd swear there were two, maybe three, different singers involved in this recording. But Paul claims to have done it all. Most impressive. The only sticking point for me is the drum machine providing the rhythm on Pabz. A necessary evil perhaps, but maybe they could've been disguised or augmented with real human percussion. This is such rich music that the drum machine tends to cheapen things somewhat. Also, the complexity of this music would really benefit from a fuller studio production. But then, if it was, it wouldn't be DiY music in the strictest sense. Part of the charm of DiY recording is seeing what people can do with limited gear/space/money/outside influences. The sound here is not bad by any stretch of the imagination. You can hear everything clearly. It just has that "see-how-much-I-can-cram-onto-one-track" kinda cramped feeling. Comes with the territory.

All told, I'm bowled over by Pabz. I was very pleasantly surprised by it. I'm pretty sure you home-fi pop buffs will love it just as much. I'm not sure what Paul wants for a copy of this tape. Five bucks oughta do it though. A bloody bargain if you ask me. Send a nice letter and a picture of Abraham Lincoln to Paul Desjarlais at P.O. Box 782, Brookline, MA 02446, or e-mail him at paul@pharlap.com to make arrangements directly with him. [top]