FIZZY FUZZY BIG AND

The Refreshments: Brian Blush (guitar); Arthur "Buddy" Edwards (bass); P.H. Naffah (drums); Roger Clyne. Additional personnel: Clif Norrell (trumpet); Skip Edwards (piano, Hammond B-3 organ). Recorded at Ocean Way, Sunset Sound and Mad Hatter, Los Angeles, California. The debut from this fatalistic foursome is a tour (de force) of the dark American underbelly. The Refreshments' upbeat, hard-edged roots rock serves as a foil to some decidedly pessimistic lyrics. The trenchant portraits on FIZZY FUZZY essay life on the bottom of the barrel. These are songs of the dispossessed, the disenchanted and the just plain dumb living lives of existential decrepitude. The driving, guitar-driven "Blue Collar Suicide" finds the narrator detailing his lack of domestic bliss with lines like "I can't sleep 'cause she snores like a chainsaw." The song titles alone ("Down Together," "Suckerpunch") give a good idea of the high level of unhappiness so lovingly rendered throughout the album. The only relief in sight is musical, in the south-of-the-border feel of "Mexico" and the balladry of "Don't Wanna Know." On the barnburning "Banditos" the band poses the question: "Just how far down do you want to go?" Whatever the answer, you can bet the Refreshments will take you there. Hailing from Tempe, AZ, the Refreshments launched their short-lived career as a solid frat boy band, and Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy captures that period with muscled guitar riffs and strong vocals. Though much of this debut is about alcohol, Mexico, and girls (topics that the band later revisited on 1997's The Bottle & Fresh Horses, albeit with a stronger southwestern influence), the album also sports a sense of humor and lack of pretension that helped make the Refreshments minor stars. Listening to "Girly" or "Banditos," the album's flagship single, is like kicking back with a college bud and a brew: summery, smirky, and somewhat yearning. The irreverence in the Refreshments' lyrics makes all the difference between them and other increasingly self-serious bands in the same vein. All the anguished grunge and post-grunge posing got old fast -- and with clever lyrics, solidly melodic guitar work, and Roger Clyne's marketable voice, the Refreshments kept fun alive on the alternative scene throughout the decade's latter half. ~ Bryan Buss