Jack's Mannequin Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
Andrew McMahon made his exit from Something Corporate in 2004 and launched Jack's Mannequin the following year, funneling his taste for sun-kissed power pop and piano-fueled ballads into Everything in Transit. The album was a strong, cohesive effort from a songwriter who previously sailed beneath many critics' radars, but McMahon's success provided little relief from his plummeting health. He was diagnosed with leukemia two months before the album's release, and a series of chemotherapy treatments prevented him from supporting Everything in Transit with a proper tour. Three years later, McMahon (now cancer-free) returns with his much-anticipated second album. Like Something Corporate's own sophomore effort, The Glass Passenger captures McMahon during a darker period -- understandably so, given his recent history -- and the introspective tone sometimes pales in comparison to the summery songs that graced Everything in Transit and Something Corporate's debut, Leaving Through the Back Window. There's pain here -- morphine drips, decreased sex drives, and the like -- and McMahon tackles those difficult subjects bluntly and tactfully. "What Gets You Off" deals with the recovery of his libido, even if the song sounds somewhat flaccid until the chorus' arrival, while "Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)" is a vintage, waltzing ballad that serves as a pledge to McMahon's returning fans. "To the sleepless, this is my reply," he sings, "I will write you a lullaby." From the woozy, theatrical elegance of "Caves" to the orchestrated "Annie Use Your Telescope," ballads account for a big portion of The Glass Passenger, yet some of the album's best moments still occur during the faster songs. "Spinning" is a surging pop/rock gem, simple enough to become the most instantly recognizable song on the disc, while "American Love" and "Bloodshot" are flecked with buzzing synths and other New Wave flourishes. The Glass Passenger might not bare the same pop hooks as Everything in Transit, but it does stay afloat under the weight of McMahon's past, which bodes well for the songwriter's future work. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide
'Everything in Transit'
Release Date 8/9/2005
Tracks 11
Label Maverick
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
If Andrew McMahon is the Ben Folds of Something Corporate, then his side project Jack's Mannequin is his Fear of Pop, his opportunity to step out of the group and try something different. Except in McMahon's case, it isn't so much fear of pop as much as an embrace of pop, since he sheds the loud guitars and punky overtones of his main band for a sunny, unabashedly tuneful Californian pop on Jack's Mannequin's debut album, Everything in Transit. In truth, it's not all that far removed from his contributions to Something Corporate, which were also tightly written and tuneful, but it sounds truer to his artistic inclinations than either of SC's studio albums, since underneath its guise as a loose concept album about a year of turbulent relationships on Venice Beach, it's a full-blown singer/songwriter piano-pop album. More than ever, on Everything in Transit McMahon sounds like the heir to Ben Folds' wise-ass interpretation of Joe Jackson, but McMahon isn't as cynical or goofy as Folds. His humor is sardonic and low-key, plus he's more concerned with affairs of the heart. Although he relies a little bit too heavily on first-person narratives, he has a keener eye for character and behavior than his emo peers, and he's a better tunesmith, too, not just content to write hooks, but taking the time to let the music build and breathe. With producer Jim Wirt, McMahon has given Everything in Transit an appropriately colorful, even cinematic, scope and, thanks to drums provided by Tommy Lee (who proves here that he's a more versatile drummer than he ever did in Mötley Crüe), it also has strong backbone. So the album has momentum, but it's as sweetly melancholy as a fading summer, yet not nearly as transient as that, either. It really shouldn't work -- it's a conceptual power pop album, delivered by an emo songwriter, backed by an aging metalhead, and co-produced by a guy who gave Hoobastank hits -- but the result is one of the more pleasant surprises of 2005. It's good enough that it makes you hope that McMahon makes Jack's Mannequin his full-time band. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
