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A musical Rubik’s Cube
Jules Shear tackles life's Great Puzzle
by Robb Frederick
The Collegian
The comparisons are
inevitable, so let's just get them
out of the way.
Jules Shear, with his limited
vocal range and his lyrical,
acoustic-flavored blend of folk
rock, sounds a lot like Bob
Dylan. Or maybe like Jackson
Browne singing a Bob Dylan
tune. Or even stay with me,
now Jackson Browne doing a
Dylan-esque cover of any of the
songs from Tom Petty's Into the
Great Wide Open.
That may sound deep, but it
hardly breaks the surface of
Shear's introspective and often
bitter - new release, The Great
Puzzle.
The disc, a collection of
smart, poignant narratives,
revives the spirit of the
singer/songwriter, the fallible
vocalist with a gifted sense of
perception.
These are familiar waters for
Shear, who picked up some name
recognition awhile back as an
early host for MTV's
"Unplugged" series. This time
around, he plots a course through
the relationship game, dwelling
primarily on the petty mind
games that muddle almost all
new loves.
The ride begins with "The
Trap Door," which tackles the
unpredictable break-ups that cut
so many relationships short.
"But the trap door gives in /
Under the wicked weight of sin /
You fall down down down /
Farther than you've ever been,"
sings Shear over a jangling guitar
melody. The frank lines cut
pretty deep, but Shear never
points a finger or places blame;
he's been here before, and he
knows we have too.
He’s caught off guard again
during the title track, keeping the
elaborate arrangement in check
with his hushed vocals and
strained choruses.
Easy Reading Ahead: Comics, page 10...
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Entertainment
The number is a lyrical gem,
a string of intricately woven
metaphors brought into focus
with the representative details of
"coal miners who hate coal" and
"thieves who hate what they
stole."
"The Sad Sound of the Wind"
wistfully slips Shear into the dull
ache of loneliness, while "We
Were Only Making Love" sets a
past flame into perspective.
"What feels so good at
bedtime / Doesn't always make it
through the day," he warns,
Ssss
igw®a
Jules Shear
The Great Puzzle
Polydor Records
going on to explain the blinders
we voluntarily don when the
moment feels right.
"I couldn't see it happening /
The change that comes upon us
slow / And changes us before we
know / Into a different same old
thing."
The high point of Shear's
stripped-down performance comes
with "Something Else to Me," a
complex account that eulogizes
the death of a former girlfriend.
Again benefiting from
hindsight, Shear weaves a dark,
twisting tale, finally admitting
that, even now, he still isn’t sure
what the fling meant.
Shear's strengths obviously
lie in his songwriting skills, but
even his weaknesses most
notably a warbled voice that
downright refuses the high end -
complement the thematic premise
behind The Great Puzzle.
Like Dylan, Shear recognizes
that an insightful lyric can create
intense bonds with an audience,
no matter what channels the
delivery takes.
His relaxed voice is an
acquired taste; Shear may not be a
smooth crooner, but he is a
regular guy trying to wade
through some of life's more
perplexing moments. So of
course he has his rough spots. In
some cases, Shear's sedated voice
actually improves the material,
demonstrating the angst and
befuddlement he is singing about.
This is also the case on the
sardonic "Jewel in a Cobweb,"
and the catchy "Dreams Dissolve
in Tears." The former hurls a
frustrated barrage of insults
toward a former girlfriend's latest
beau, while the latter, an offbeat
duet with Pal Shazar (who draws
heavily from Kate Pierson of the
B-52's), documents the erosion of
a doomed tryst.
In spite of its melancholy
subject matter, The Great Puzzle
manages to remain positive.
Shear's arrangements are stripped
down to their acoustic essentials,
but they never bog down into
depression.
On the disc's closing number,
"Bark,” Shear pulls out his most
humbling observation to date.
"You kill me with kindness /
And it's all uncontrived / But you
barely know me / When I'm
really alive / 'Cause you don't
know how I feel," he sings, again
placing matters under the lens of
his unpretentious eye.
Shear knows his place in
popular music, and he's certainly
adjusted to the role of a
struggling artist flirting outside
the mainstream. He may never
find himself straddling the
Billboard top spot, but as long as
he produces literary works like
The Great Puzzle, he's also in no
danger of disappearing from the
forefront of the folk rock scene.
Maybe now he can stop
worrying and enjoy himself.
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Oscar Nominations
Here are the experts’ picks for the 1992 Oscar Awards which will be
aired on March 30. Watch The Collegian for an upcoming contest in
which you'll be able to pick the winners in each one of these
categories.
Picture
•Beauty and the Beast
•JFK
Best
•Prince of Tides
•Bugsy
•Silence of Lambs
Best
Actor
•Warren Beatty in Bugsy
• Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear
• Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
• Nick Nolte in Prince of Tides
• Robin Williams in Fisher King
Best
Actress
• Susan Sarandon in Thblma and
Louise
• Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise
• Laura Dem in Rambling Rose
• Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
• Bette Midler in For the Boys
Supporting Actor
• Harvey Keitel in Bugsy
• Ben Kingsley in Bugsy
• Tommy Lee Jones in JFK
• Michael Loner in Barton Fink
• Jack Palance in City Slickers
Best
• Jultette Lewis in Cape Fear
• Kate Nelligan in The Prince of Tides
• Mercede Ruehl in The Fisher King
• Jessica Tandy in Fried Green
Tomatoes
Best
Best
Director
• Oliver Stone for JFK
• Barry Levinson for Bugsy
• Jonathon Demme for Silence of the
Lambs
• Ridley Scott for Thelma and Louise
• John Singleton for Boyz 'n the Hood
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