The Czars are one of the also rans of Americana who could easily have been all but forgotten were it not for leader John Grant's subsequent success as a solo artist.
The Denver-based band released five albums although all but one of the fourteen tracks on this compilation comes from the three studio albums made between 2000 and 2005.
There are four songs from 2000's 'Before ....But Longer' and five apiece from 'The Ugly Vs The Beautiful People' (2001) and 'Goodbye' (2004).
You will find nothing from two earlier self released albums and the only other song to make the cut is a middling eight minute version of Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren released in 2005 from the b-sides/covers album 'Sorry I Made I Made You Cry'.
Grant has gone on record as saying that he has no nostalgia for his past work and feels that only his band's final album went any way towards fulfilling the band's potential.
This is understandable since I suppose it would hard for anyone to have fond memories of songs which so accurately chart the songwriter's fragile psychological state and struggles with addition.
The songs mostly have a gloomy downcast character, a mood established by the aching sadness of the opening track, Val, where the singer dwells on a life dominated by feelings of emptiness.
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Other plaintive songs like Anger and Goodbye are in a similar vein whileLullaby 6000 is not designed to ensure a restful night's sleep
A few songs hint at a more philosophical, though far from joyous, perspective. Get Used To It is partly about looking for infatuation and feels less burdened by negativity.
Paint The Moon is more Twangy and upbeat despite the the fatalism of the opening line: "I had a dream last night, a nightmare to be exact".
Drug is the best song here, and significantly is one of the few that Grant revives in his solo concerts. It hints at dependency on an unhealthy relationship with a compulsive liar which is "not ecstasy but better than cocaine".
Grant's crooning on Little Pink House is indicative of how his voice and song writing matured over this period.
All in all, this is album confirms that The Czars were, and are, seriously underrated but also shows how and why they failed to gain anything more than a cult following.
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