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Mike Knott
Strip Cycle
Tooth and Nail
Ever prolific and increasingly popular of late, CCM's underground chameleon Mike Knott is back in another disguise, this time as ... Mike Knott.
Heading into the Fall of '95, we've got another Lifesavers release fresh in the bins, an LSU disc on the way, and in February '96, the Elektra Records release of The Aunt Bettys (formerly Aunt Betty's Ford). Someone else will have to write about all of those. Tooth and Nail brings us his latest, Strip Cycle, a thirteen track excursion through the seedier side of life.
Through Knott's solo projects, from Screaming Brittle Siren, to Rocket and a Bomb, and now Strip Cycle, we've seen this restless artist step progressively further outside of the alternative/progressive arena in which he established himself. Strip Cycle is certainly the most stripped down Knott on record, even more so than last year's earthy Rocket, on which Gene Eugene's Rhodes playing filled out the mix and gave tracks like "Jan the Weatherman" a laid back, blue-eyed soul feel.
There is not an electric guitar to be found here; the album's wide open, low-tech mix includes an oddly thunking and buzzing acoustic guitar, standard bass and drum rhythm section, and a few other colors tossed here and there to catch the ears. Word is, Knott's daughter Stormie came across his guitar and messed up the tuning knobs. Knott enjoyed the sound, and wrote and recorded most of the album with it. This is a record that knows it's not necessarily perfect in time or tune, and it wants to know why you should have a problem with that.
"Sugar Mama," the story of a once hard-luck friend now enjoying his life as a kept man, contains what will surely and proudly go down as one of the most poorly executed trumpet solos ever recorded.
On the sadly funny "Bad Check," Knott sings, "Wrote a bad check to the government/Wrote a bad check to my parents/Wrote a bad check to this cello player/She didn't know it at the time, 'cause I'm singin' it later," followed closely by a sweetly soothing cello lead. Several songs use this instrument to good effect, both dreamily, as on "Too Long," and aggressively, as on the most LSU-ish cut here, "Tattoo."
Knott is renowned for writing from what he knows firsthand, and the bittersweet humor of a song like "Bad Check" is underscored by the fact that it's supposedly a true story. Another song in the same vein, "Am I Winnin' Somethin'," drolly asks, "Bill collecting calls wouldn't leave me alone / Then Pacific Bell shut off the telephone / Am I winnin' somethin'?"
Not that Strip Cycle is all autobiography; as on Rocket and a Bomb, Knott to continues sketch out character studies and tell stories such as "Milk and Peas," which finds a married couple with unraveling lives still struggling to raise the baby.
One of Strip Cycle's pleasant surprises is a re-worked version of "Everything," which was previously released on LSU's Cash in Chaos - World Tour album. The newer model comes across as disarming and lighthearted.
Unlike recent message-oriented LSU recordings such as last year's Grace Shaker, Strip Cycle doesn't set about to make many heady statements. The points that are made tend to come via Knott's observation and wit, as with the unstoppably upbeat and bouncy rockabilly rave-up "Rockstars on H" (Sesame Street lesson for today: H is for Heroin). Knott wheezes anemically such phrases as "They were cool when they were poor / now they're just rich spoiled druggies on horse," and "They're so wasted they can't play at all / just what I need, some more winner role models."
Knott repeatedly displays his knack for creating the simplest, most engaging hooks. "Burning on Fire" is pretty darn catchy for a song that essentially amounts to the same line repeated over and over. "Super Girl," with its rikki-tikki drum machine-like shuffle (played by Knott himself), and utterly singable chorus, will stick for days after a single listen.
The album closes with yet one more graphic image of a soul in turmoil, recalling "Double" from Grace Shaker. Knott sings almost emotionlessly, "One more drink, and Heaven could be calling / and I don't care if the sky starts falling / 'cause I feel free, with God and a bottle in me." The song is entitled, rather pointedly, "Denial."
With the potential commercial landslide of The Aunt Bettys on the way, it's hard to say where Knott will go for his next batch of hard luck stories. If he finds a break from the inner demons, I figure he's earned it.
- Jeff Elbel