Third time’s a charm for the Knack’s excellent 1998 reunion album
Few bands have suffered so much from their success. The Knack’s debut album, Get the Knack, and the lead single “My Sharona†each reached #1, but the resulting radio saturation, and their seemingly out-of-nowhere rise to fame created blowback that sabotaged their future commercial prospects. A number of publicity choices – cover art that mimicked the television stage set of A Hard Day’s Night, a 1960’s Capitol rainbow label design and a tight lid on interviews, didn’t help. The critical backlash was swift and strong, fueled in part by artist Hugh Brown’s “Knuke the Knack†campaign.
The band’s years of sweat equity, a fan base grown organically from gigs, and most of all, the craft of their songs were unilaterally overshadowed by the notion that they’d been manufactured and sprung on the world. But it wasn’t a gigantic publicity machine that accelerated their nationwide fame, it was the catchiness of their music, a world-class hook in “My Sharona,†and – not at all unusually for the record industry – some lucky timing. Sadly, the Knack weren’t able to take advantage of the pop renaissance they helped spark, and to this day they’re often remembered more for the backlash than their success.
The band split at the end of 1981 amid disappointing sales of their third album Round Trip, but reunited over the years for club shows and albums; this 1998 title was their second and best reunion. With Terry Bozio filling in on drums, and new material from vocalist Doug Feiger and guitarist Berton Averre, the band was re-energized. Feiger’s voice still had the tone of youth, and the band’s Beatleisms, such as the guitar figures and vocal harmonies on “Terry & Julie Step Out,†didn’t have to withstand the critical barbs of 1979. And that last point is probably the most important. Removed from their rocket-fueled fame and ensuing backlash, listeners can stop worrying and start hearing the Knack as a pop band, rather than a phenomenon.
Feiger himself seemed to be thinking about the band’s place, rather than worrying about it. The opener, “Pop is Dead,†decries the fate of pop music in the TV-saturated late ‘90s, but makes its point with actual pop music. Feiger’s Rickenbacker chimes in homage to the Searchers as the band looks to its inception with “Can I Borrow a Kiss,†and their problems with the media is echoed in Wonders-like “Mister Magazine.†The album hits for the power-pop cycle of heartbreak (“Everything I Doâ€), breakup (“Harder On Youâ€), recrimination (“Smilin’†“Harder On You†“Tomorrowâ€) and renewal (“Love is All There Is†“You Gotta Be Thereâ€). Feiger is emotionally invested as he strains into his upper register for “In Blue Tonight†and closes the album with the psych-tinged “(All In The) All in All.â€
It’s hard to imagine that the Knack had serious thoughts about a big comeback in 1998, which makes this album more a product of love of music than dreams of fame. The added years shear away any remaining pretense – real or imagined – that might stand between your ears and this finely crafted pop music. At the time of its original issue, and again in a 2003 reissue (retitled Re-Zoom), this set failed to catch the ears it deserved. Reissued again, with the addition of three demos, the superbly dramatic “She Says,†a remake of “My Sharona,†liners by Lee Lodyga, Prescott Niles and Berton Averre, and original art direction by the very same Hugh Brown who needled the band in 1979, it’s time to get the Knack. [©2015 Hyperbolium] 