It’s been almost 20 years since Find A Door, and Droge hasn’t done a whole lot that’s been commercially mainstream since then. I suppose that’s a compliment to Droge’s ability to write songs that dig deep into his own desperation one minute and flip over to have some fun another. It’s weird how these albums compliment one another so well but seem so at odds at the same time. If one of the concepts behind Necktie is “one man trying to make it on his own” then Door is a “Community rallying around its leader”-type story. Musically, Find A Door seems to be everything Necktie isn’t. There’s some great guitar work on here from Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks) that kicks it up a notch. A bit rockabilly juke joint fun is just what you need in the middle of this album and Droge is happy to oblige. “Brakeman” sounds a little like The Everly Brothers covering “Helter Skelter” in the best way possible. Droge’s still singing about a lot of the same stuff, but with his band/friends behind him everything is a bit more upbeat. The first couple songs are the weakest on the album, but from number 3 to 11 it’s pretty much all gold. They took the songs a bit further out, especially tracks like “Dear Diane,” which sounds like a classic Petty track all reverby and fuzzed out. This time he played with his backing band The Sinners, which gave the whole record a little more heft. O’Brian returned to produce Droge’s next album, 1996’s Find A Door. It’s a reminder that despite all the bad times, the sad times, the gloomy mad times if there’s love in your life everything will be alright. I think by now those things are clear to us both.īut I tell you every day, cuz it makes me feel better babe. Sure he steals a bit from Lionel Richie, but who doesn’t? He’s singing a tune that conveys exactly what I imagine life on the road would be like: lonely, sad, terrifying. Brilliant in both its simplicity and execution. “Hampton Inn Room 306” is not only a great end to Necktie, but one of my favorite closers of any album. You say, your backpack’s heavy bitch set the bricks loose Was it a love sick virus or the knot in my noose? I got a choked up feeling in the back of my throat When I read to you baby from the book that you wrote “Northernbound Train,” “So I Am Over You,” “Faith In You” all hit the theme pretty dead-on:
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It’s something that Droge comes back to often, unable to let go like his unheard partner. The closest we come is “Two-Stepping Monkey,” but even those similarities are few and far between.Īt its heart, Necktie is about wanting to be with someone who has decided they’d rather not be with you anymore. As great as it is, there isn’t anything else that sounds like that on Necktie. That song almost doesn’t even belong with the rest of these tracks. “If You Don’t Love Me (I’ll Kill Myself)” was used in the blockbuster megahit Dumb & Dumber to great effect. The lead track is probably the only one most of you have heard. It’s just a light folk/rock record that happens to hold some of the finest songwriting for which you could hope. It’s a great credit to O’Brian that he allowed Droge to be so breezy and loose. Necktie is a far cry from Evil Empire to say the least.
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O’Brian is famous for working with a lot of the Seattle grunge scene’s finest as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and Rage Against The Machine. Like my favorite films protagonist (Jefferson Smith), he thinks that there is good in every person and that we can all contribute to making the world a better place.īrendan O’Brian produced Droge’s first album, Necktie Second. He’s a romantic in a world of cynics and naysayers, and I dig that about him. He’s a guy that wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t afraid to say the things that most of us worry will make us uncool.
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Broken hearts are a great place to start when you’re writing a song, and judging by the material on Droge’s first couple of records he must’ve gone through his share of messy relationships (or maybe just one REALLY messy one). Instead of tackling the bigger issues of the world, he internalized.
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That’s a great thing, but not necessarily the only criteria for me to consider you a master of the art form. Some people, your Guthrie’s, Dylan’s, Springsteen’s, seem to have an innate ability to take a whole group of people’s frustrations or hopes and put them to song. But like poker, it takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. The ability to take a feeling or idea, put it down on paper and set it to music is a talent that many have. I’ve always been a sucker for singer/songwriters.