(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Ben Lee was Australia's rock phenomenon of the 1990s.
With his Noise Addict, since he was 14 year old, Lee offered melodic grunge, and
even had a hit, I Wish I Was Him, from the EP
Young And Jaded (Wiiija, 1994).
Also included on the EP were the original versions of Pop Queen and
Don't Leave.
On the solo album Grandpaw Would (Grand Royal, 1995),
marked by the acoustic guitar, Lee wears the clothes of an even more childish
Jonathan Richman
(Away With The Pixies).
The Noise Addict ended their career with the released of a mediocre album,
Meet The Real You (Grand Royal), whose only standout number is
16.
Another solo acoustic album followed,
Something To Remember My By (Grand Royal, 1997), highlighted by
How To Survive A Broken Heart.
Following the lead from Beck, Lee turned 180
degrees on Breathing Tornados (Grand Royal, 1998) and adopted
a modern-day instrumentation of computers, keyboards, samplers and drum-machines,
besides enrolling a small army of collaborators:
Ed Buller (producer for Suede, Pulp, Spiritualized),
Harmony Korine (director of "Gummo" and "Kids"),
Petra Hayden (That Dog), and Donovan.
Without the machines, this would sound like
Smog or
Mark Eitzel.
Lee's songs
(Breathing Tornados, Nothing Much Happens,
Cigarettes Can Kill You, Burn to Shine)
are never trivial and mostly profound.
Now they are also radio-friendly.
Hey You Yes You (Red Ink, 2003) includes the plaintive
No Room To Bleed and little else.
Awake Is The New Sleep (New West, 2005) is a bit more musical than
its predecessor and, although hardly a note is original, probably stands as
his most accomplished album.
Ripe (2007) and
The Rebirth Of Venus (New West, 2009)
were pleasant but uneventful.
In
2008 Lee married actress Ione Skye Leitch,
Donovan's
daughter.
Deeper into Dream (2011) was a more ambitious cognitive concept album,
although musically another awkward failure.
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