Jason Falkner: Can You Still Feel? : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Just as the great British psychedelic rock band the Move gave birth to ELO, Roy Wood and Wizzard, the American early-Nineties power-pop explosion known as Jellyfish may be remembered for spawning Roger Manning (half of the Moog Cookbook and a switch-hitter for the touring bands of Beck and Air), Andy Sturmer (now producing hits for Japanese teen cuties Puffy) and studio-rock dynamo Jason Falkner. With the help of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Can You Still Feel? amps up the dysfunctional drama of this survivor's happy-sad 1996 solo debut, Presents Author Unknown. A zillion groovy guitar overdubs drive home sophisticated song structures radiating frustration and joy, despair and revelation. Check how the manic-depressive mood swings of "I Already Know" give way to the optimistic retro twang of "See You Again." Invoking the dark pop geniuses of rock's golden age (Big Star, Badfinger) while playing with today's sonic toys, Falkner follows fellow one-man band Elliott Smith into melodic, melancholic heaven. (RS 808)

BARRY WALTERS