The Dell Griffiths

Item: I... I Like Me
Author: Bob Melvin

I... I Like Me

(1995)

Reviewed by Bob Melvin

Discogs YouTube

Label Via RecordsThe LighthouseDecember 1995

new wave power pop synth pop

A quick note to all those 80's bands like Missing Persons and a-ha who may have lost their synthesizers (you know, the ones that made all those weird-but-somehow-cool 80's sounds):

The Dell Griffiths have them.

In a world where "retro" has meant dollars for artists like Lenny Kravitz and The Black Crowes, the Dell Griffiths are an anomaly: they may be Christian music's first official 80's retro band. Their debut, I...I Like Me!, takes those synthesizers and mixes them with the clean vocals, tight harmonies, and fuzzy guitars that seem to have defined the oh-so-90's pop-punk phenomenon.

Enough reviewer posturing about who The Dell Griffiths sound like-the album is really fun to listen to. The Dell Griffiths definitely don't serve up any of that pouty angst rock that has saturated the junior high/high school/college generation. This is especially ironic, considering that three of the band's members also belong to everyone's favorite pouty, angst-ridden, "we-don't-sound-that-much-like-U2" band, Curious Fools.

Fools frontman Stephen Murray and keyboardist Dave Frank handle the bulk of the songwriting, balancing kitschy pop culture references with deeper-than-you-realize-at-first themes. Highlights include "Annakin," which somehow manages to tie a pretty neat spiritual analogy to the story of Darth Vader, and "Eddie," a misunderstood youth anthem that uses Edward Scissorhands as a focal point-creative stuff.

Quite possibly the coolest track on the record is the pseudo-title track "I Like Me." Aside from capturing the whole Green Day-meets-The Cars thing, the song offers a wonderfully sarcastic picture of a guy who has discovered the coolness that accompanies rock stardom:

Once upon a time I wasn't this cool I didn't wear The clothes I wear I only thought About the wrongs in this world Never the cut Of my hair But now I see There's no one like me I like me, I like me I can rock around the world I like me, I like me I'm gonna rock around the world

The album has its share of silliness, too, with tracks like "My Bike" and "Funky Chick" that aren't a whole lot deeper than their titles. Covers of Split Enz's "I Got You" and the Cars' classic "Best Friend's Girlfriend" round out a great party or driving album. All those 80's compilations that are so popular now should be this much fun.