Unraveled

Album Review

It's been a long, rough ride for Don Miggs and his band, and now having signed with yet another label, Rock Ridge, he takes a look back at all that came before. Unraveled is a chance for the group to reinvent their past, revisiting 11 old numbers drawn from their EP and two full-lengths, and retool them as Miggs sees fit. In several cases, "I Believe" and "Suddenly Wonderful" spring to mind, it's more of a tweaking, as the songs undergo a subtle remix. There again the singer/guitarist seems to be hard to be please, to his mind even "Perfect" wasn't, and now it reappears with a brighter sound. "Everything Is Fine" is remodeled in the opposite fashion, it's bright sound now muted to give the piece a moodier feel. A clutch of numbers now feature new guitar parts, on "To Be Wrong," they add dramatic accents. Both "Nothing" and "Maybe" are shifted blues-ward, with the latter adding an electric guitar to what had been an acoustic number. "Taste," meanwhile, now sports a much bigger sound. But the biggest change comes on "Lie to You," whose coursing rhythm is replaced by a more contemporary, angular one. It's an interesting exercise, but somewhat pointless. A true remix is one thing, a total do-over another, but this is neither, and besides, wouldn't most Miggs' fans prefer new material to a make-over?