In a world of hit or miss b-side collection albums, Pinback's Nautical Antiques is a long fly ball out—having decent moments but hardly having enough under it to get out of the park. Considering the band was formed as a side project back in 1998 from members of San Diego's Three Mile Pilot, it is not too far off to say that every single release from Pinback has already been of the b-side variety. But with Pinback's latest release, the duo of Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow make a collection which is mediocrity at its best.
""Messenger"" kicks off the album with exciting promise by relaying all Pinback's positive characteristics: Persistent minor key, mellow bass and guitar layering. The next songs ""Anti-Hu"" and ""Byzantine"" continue in this vein, which may lead listeners to think that this may be one of the better b-side compilation releases in a long time. They will only to be disappointed further down the line.
For some strange reason, Pinback took it upon themselves to include the tedious dirge-like waltzes such as ""Versailles,"" ""Water Run"" and ""Clemenceau,"" compelling even those with the highest tolerance for boredom to wish for those four to five minutes of their lives back so they could watch meat thaw instead.
On top of those debacles, they also added two demo versions of previously released ""Seville"" and ""Concrete Seconds,"" which, though are both great studio tunes, share no artistic differences from their hi-fi releases. The icing on the cake, however, is two separate recordings of the same song ""Avignon"" in a non-full band version (whatever that means) and a full band version. Same song, maybe a little faster paced in the full band, but the only real difference is one uses a drum machine and the other does not—that's it.
Call it laziness or a quick opportunity to make a buck off of loyal fans, but side projects and b-side comps are never really publicized in any major way simply because the band does not want to be held responsible for the steaming pile of garbage they may or may not be releasing.
Sure, all artists are entitled to their share of writers block here and there, but that does not mean devotees to a group should have to wade through their sub par moments. Pinback may not lose any of its fans with the release of Nautical Antiques, but it certainly will not help them gain any.
