Considering Perfecta

Perfecta was the final release by Adam Again, if I remember correctly.  Similarly to the 77’s, I heard an early album (New World in Time) and was not very impressed.  In a store one day, a friend had me listen to some of their Dig album and I was sold.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I listened to it driving up to Orlando the other night.  Ah, the memories.

Gene Eugene liked metaphor, so many of his lyrics were not easy to interpret.  The average CCM band they were not.  Along with Daniel Amos, the 77’s, and the Choir, they led the alternative rock movement among Christian musicians.  It was no mistake that Gene would join with Terry Taylor, Mike Roe and Derry Daugherty from those respective bands to form The Lost Dogs.

Perfecta was not Adam Again’s best album but it was still a very good album.  I think this was following Gene’s divorce, and a fair amount of that sense of alienation comes through somehow.  It starts off with Stone, “and I try to forget the day I chased you away.”  The guitar has plenty of reverb, and it stays that way throughout the album.  There are plenty of songs with extended solos, or musical interludes.

Strobe is one of those songs where you just aren’t sure what Gene is trying to say.  The chorus is a bit repetitive, but it works for some reason.  All You Lucky People sounds like the complaint of a prisoner to me (“I’ve got nothing but time”).

Air is one of those songs short of lyrics, but long on musical interludes.  The first verse is about the electric company employee demanding he pay his bill.  He doesn’t have money, but he’s got friends coming over.  Dogjam is one of my favorite songs, which could be due to lines like “3-legged dog hobblin’ in the back yard/ I don’t mind at all/ 3-legged dog, cat chasing is hard/but I can’t forget that she paid for it all.”  Lots of good guitar going for it too.

Every Mother’s Way is the token slower, more gentle song.  Try Not to Try is almost as slow, and seems to be about the process of sanctification, but I could be wrong. 

But songs like Unfunny and Relapse have plenty of loud, alternative rock ‘n’ roll.

Like the rest of the Adam Again catalog, this is hard to find.  I’ve never been able to replace my stolen copy of 10 Songs, which I think is their best collection of songs.  This is unfortunate, because Gene and company sure could make some interesting music.