Alright, we're out of the weeds here. All of the 2024 albums made by Record Club alumni have now been covered in this supplementary column. I count 41 albums (that I know of! let me know if I missed anything!). After today, we try to catch up with the 2025 slate of albums—already at 39 albums, and more to come.
Released: September 25, 2024
Follow-up to: OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, Week 279
RC f/u is designed to compare a new album by an artist with the album from their discography that we covered in Record Club. Sometimes, that task gets tricky, because the circumstances have radically changed since that RC album was made. I've found that "legacy artist releases an album decades after their classic RC album" has been the most difficult, but this one beats it. This is the first time that I've had to compare an RC album with a posthumous album. SOPHIE tragically died in 2021, and in 2024, he family and collaborators put out a self-titled album, with generous help from others. This is different than if SOPHIE had been able to release a true sophomore album, obviously.
It is with no lack of understanding of the context surrounding it that I describe SOPHIE as "normal." This is a pop album. There are many features, and many of the features help make SOPHIE feel like a completely enjoyable and average pop release from any of the thousand nameless pop musicians in the trenches. This is obviously a different story than her debut (and now only) release, OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, which felt extremely less-than-normal. It felt revelatory. It didn't have as many moments that felt nice or catchy, to be clear. But it had MANY more moments that felt shocking, and audacious. I don't get any of that here.
Which is fine. SOPHIE didn't have anything to do with this album. We can't say that the twelve minutes of non-songs ("Plunging Asymptote" into "The Dome's Protection") are bad, because she didn't make them. She didn't make these decisions. I assume she made the beats, and that's why we're here. But she didn't intend them in this way, no more did she intend for the pop songs to sound like pop songs from the here and now. That's not where this artist should be! She was once the future! And unfortunately, with an album rooted in the present, this posthumous release has grounded this artist irrevocably in the past.
I hope her fans are satisfied, though.
GRADE: 2 pukes out of 5 (-1.0 from original review)
Released: September 15, 2024
Follow-up to: Speed Kills, Week 53
All I needed was five and a half years, apparently. Or maybe it just doesn't seem that important anymore, or maybe I'm more open-minded about different musical styles, or maybe I am so whacked out from emotionally dealing with large-scale global concerns that nitpicking a particular aspect of an album of music just seems too small to be worth it. I don't know. But I will say that this album, And Then There Was..., didn't grate me like Chubby's past two albums have. I didn't mind the vocals.
I'm not saying that Manning-Walker is the greatest singer of all time, nor am I say that he's changed in some way, like taking singing lessons or some shit. I'm just saying that I have changed. I'm cool with it now. It doesn't bother me.
I wonder if that's because of the lineup change—Chubby and the Gang's "the Gang" is now a misnomer. It's just Charlie Manning-Walker (hence that album title), and I assume some session musicians, or maybe he's playing all the instruments too. I didn't look into it too deeply, I just know it's just him now. I speculate that this gave him a little more room to experiment musically, e.g. "The Bonnie Banks" felt brighter and more melodic than this band usually goes for. And because he's mixing it up musically, the vocals hit their grooves a little more accurately. "To Be Young" sounds like he's actually trying to hit more than one note! Which is something!
Maybe there's a little too much room on here. Like, we didn't need a slow Chubby song ("To Fade Away"), did we? But it evens out when the band (or non-band, whatever) goes nuts, like the organ on "Company I Don't Want to Keep" or the guitar solo on "Love Song (A Response)." It all comes back to the singing though, and I gotta say... it's headed in the right direction!!!
I'll probably download this, which is the highest praise I can give most of the albums that end up in RC f/u.
I'll probably download this, which is the highest praise I can give most of the albums that end up in RC f/u.
GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5 (+0.5 from original review)
Released: October 18, 2024
Follow-up to: Fear of Death, Week 225
Look, I'm always gonna be weary of a comedian making music. If I don't find it funny then I'm always going to be worried that I'm not smart enough to get the joke. And if it is funny, then I'm wondering why I'm wasting my time listening to jokes when I could be listening to music. It's a lose-lose. My concerns occasionally feel like a tooth extraction. But I've listened to Slipping Away now, and I gotta say that this seems to me like an album that is honestly, sincerely not concerned with making anyone laugh. The fact that it's Heidecker puts me on edge, but if I can put my own weird hang-ups to the side, I can easily say that this is a really nice, pleasant album.
I really liked some the treatises on fatherhood, especially the one about bringing your daughter to a minor league baseball game. That felt specific enough that I knew it was Tim Heidecker, as his true self, coming through. But there were some other songs that felt nice but generic. They made me wonder why I had to hear these songs from a comedian, and why this dude didn't try his hand at being a songwriter-for-hire, maybe for someone who can actually sing.
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5 (-0.5 from original review)
NEXT TIME: In honor of crossing the 2024 finish line, we're gonna cover the most recent RC alumni releases. The Beaches, the Beths, Margo Price, and Duke Deuce all released albums on the same day (8/29), and I'm going to listen to them all this week and let you know how it goes.
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