Musician gets help on first solo CD

by Ali Patterson

Daily Lobo

The lead singer of Something Corporate, has strayed from his successful band to try a solo effort with a band called Jack's Mannequin.

Everything In Transit, the debut album from Jack's Mannequin, isn't just about Andrew McMahon flying solo, though. Tommy Lee plays drums on most of the songs, and successful sound engineers and producers play the rest of the instruments.

This is supposed to be McMahon's side project, but a side project would seem to be a separate band with some sense of coherence and lasting power. Tommy Lee probably doesn't have much of a desire to keep playing in a laid-back emo band when he has so many better offers.

But whether Jack's Mannequin is a side project or not, McMahon's vocals on the album seem to scream out, "It's all about me!" Everything in Transit is a theme album, and the songs are supposed to be written like McMahon's journal entries. The cover even boasts, "This is a story." But the listener, however, doesn't gain much insight into McMahon's life other than finding out he smokes pot in "Holiday From Real," the first song: "She lets me drive her car so I can score an eighth from the lesbians out west in Venice."

But McMahon deserves credit for originality. The songs aren't called tracks; they're called chapters. Chapter 10, "MFEO," even has two parts, making it an eight-minute ode to a girl - awww.

OK, so how does the album sound? Not too much different from Something Corporate, surprisingly. The same kinds of melodies are present, especially between the vocals, keyboards and piano, which are all the work of McMahon. And Tommy Lee's drumming doesn't sound like anything special.

The album is much more mellow than Something Corporate. Instead of being able to pick out favorite songs to sing along with, this album has more of an ambient feel. The songs blend into one another. Where Something Corporate was a band to get up and dance to - especially at concerts - sing along in the car with and generally have a good time to, Jack's Mannequin is a band to lay on the grass and look at the stars to - and then start crying.

When all is said and done, this album is a fine effort. McMahon's spoken parts, the flowing melodies, the light guitars and the elegant piano all come together in a relaxing, soothing album. But something's missing: The old Something Corporate band. The album just doesn't have that "everyone contributed" kind of feel. One wonders what Jack's Mannequin will do on tour - will random musicians be recruited to play with McMahon?

But McMahon comes to the epiphany of the year in the fourth chapter, "I'm Ready," singing: "My life has become a boring pop song and everyone's singing along."

Well, gee, whose fault is that?