R.I.Y.L. ReviewAre the Smiths the right “Recommended If You Like” for Fine China?

Music review magazines, CD stores, and promoters often use R.I.Y.L. (“Recommended If You Like”) suggestions to help potential listeners make a pre-connection to what they’ll find inside the jewel case. Periodically, Music Spectrum will review one such R.I.Y.L.


Fine China’s The Jaws of Life
R.I.Y.L.: the Smiths.

The promoters of Arizona’s Fine China upped the ante considerably when they invoked the Smiths, a band that many may have aspired to emulate but few have actually produced the same combination of Morrissey’s lyric and vocal passion with Johnny Marr’s inspired electric guitar. Could Fine China actually be doing so on their 2005 release, The Jaws of Life?

Actually, track 1, “Rated-R Movie,” does have a Smiths tag ending sounding very much like “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” with a chime strum guitar and a hollow/dead drum kick. In many places on the album, Greg Markov’s basslines resemble Andy Rourke’s work. Robert Withem and Josh Dooley bring out Marr’s high-toned strumming, but they never deliver any of the fatter parts of Marr’s electrics (“Bivouac” comes close). Withem’s vocals remain in the 90’s Britrock tradition of Oasis, Coldplay, etc., remaining quite distant from Morrissey’s over-the-top lyrical and vocal flair.

Another R.I.Y.L. for Fine China is the Go-Betweens. Here’s a more appropriate vocal connection in that more ethereal sustain, especially on “Don’t Frown.” What you have then are the night sky watching sound of the Go-Betweens with some of the high-tone strumming and bass lines of the Smiths, yielding a more upbeat House of Love.

Aside from the R.I.Y.L., Fine China’s The Jaws of Life bounces down the pop song alley, a little darkness and mystery in an otherwise cleaned-up, gentrified alley. Withem’s airy voice keeps things a little more distant, but the lyrics speak to what’s happening on the ground. Similar to the Prayer Chain, considering the band’s Christian faith, the songs are honest prayers and explorations of the challenge of faith. However, no songs here are overtly Christ-centered. Therefore, like Switchfoot, these songs lead the listener to be considering important, delicate, difficult, soul-searching questions, without necessarily designing easy answers in the last verse. Because of the English Rock sound and the lyrical artistry, Fine China is a welcome addition to the growing number of underground artists producing music that points to Christ without being a part of the Christian music scene.

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Three people will win free copies of Fine China’s The Jaws of Life. Enter Now! Please send an email to pastorsquires@redeemermanty.com. Winners will be asked to send $1.50 in postage (Non-U.S. residents will be asked to pay the required postage through PayPal). Thanks!

Thanks to Fine China, Common Wall, and Team Clermont for the review CD.