Description
Am I Pretty? is the debut album by the American alternative rock band Skypark, released on Word Entertainment in 1998. Also manufactured and distributed by Epic Records, a division of Sony Music. The album was produced by Thom Roy, except “Emily’s Love Song” produced and mixed by Phil and Joe “The Butcher Bros.” Nicolo.
Just as the words “alternative rock” have become meaningless, spread so thin that they hold no weight at all, along comes Skypark, a band with an innate sense of where modern rock is headed for the next 15 minutes or so. Looking back, Skypark invests its songs with a sense of where rock music has been these last 40 years but manages to coalesce these influences in a way that’s both familiar and fresh.
The title track and «Face of an Angel» take on our cultural fascination with the visual, the surface of things, and pushes us to ask what really matters. What matters in Skypark is not image or facade, but the sense that this is a real band playing real songs that they care about. Heavy, but never losing track of the song, as in «Shelter», which builds and ebbs, builds and ebbs, allowing the band to make its point in words and music that stand together as an organic whole. That’s a rare feat these days, where music seems often to be forced to carry the weight of a lyric like a beast of burden, or the lyric is thrown on to justify the music’s energy with feigned poignancy.
Of course, every now and then the apple lands a little too close to the tree; «Wizard of Id» and «My Mirror» sound a little too much like a Black Crowes song. But then, while it’s rockin’, who’s going to stop this fine band to complain? Certainly not this reviewer. Three words for Skypark: Go for it. [Brian Q. Newcomb, CCM, May 1998]
Skypark has one of those unique sounds, a mixture of funk, blues, modern rock, and some rootsy rock-n-roll. If you can imagine a funked-up Pearl Jam with some bluesy vocals, you’re on the right path. But Am I Pretty? has an edge to it, both musically and lyrically. The second song, «Emily’s Love Song», is the story of a girl who is constantly changing boyfriends and shows the results of such promiscuity. The title track, «Am I Pretty?», deals with physical beauty and insecurity, and could well be the theme for anorexics everywhere. The seventh song, «My Mirror», starts off with a slow Pearl Jam-like guitar picking intro, and then gets going with some near-rapcore vocals. The goofy «Starbucks Girl», sounds like something from Hawaii in the 50’s, and before you know it you’ll be crooning along “Cuuutee, little Starbucks girl.” Skypark’s not just about girls and failed relationships, though. The second to last song, «Christ Will Save You», was written by lead singer Tyrone Wells and is explained by him: “We were playing out at Newport Beach on the pier, and there was a gentlemen who was watching us real closely. I went over to talk to him afterwards. He just kind of broke down, crying. He was twice my age. I really didn’t know how to deal with the situation, but I just stood there and talked to him for a while. That song was written from that experience.”
What I like most about Skypark is that everything seems to work together. The music, the lyrics, the whole sound just flows. While this brand of rhythmic rock may not appeal to everyone, and while many may dismiss it as just another lame CCM product, one listen will dispel that myth, and a second listen will hook you. [Joe Rockstroh, The Phantom Tollbooth, 1998]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/am-i-pretty/1165981481)
CD tracklist:
01. Am I Pretty? – 2:11
02. Emily’s Love Song – 3:15
03. Face Of An Angel – 5:02
04. My Mirror – 2:35
05. Nondescript – 3:07
06. Wizard of Id – 3:50
07. Shelter – 4:23
08. See Through Me – 3:04
09. Cycle Me Through – 3:40
10. Starbucks Girl – 2:34
11. Here Come The Bugs – 1:33
12. Christ Will Save You – 3:38
13. Cycle Me Through (Subverse Remix) – 3:34
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Word Entertainment.
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