by Cracker
1992, Virgin

the sound: Lumped under the category “alternative” in 1992, Cracker’s first album would probably now be considered “alt-country.” Really, it should be given its own description of “smart-ass rock,” the often sarcastic and funny lyrics playing a role that’s as important as the music. It’s definitely a rock album with a country twinge. Almost all of the songs have a serious twang, probably influenced by singer David Lowery’s Texas upbringing. Lowery has a voice like honey laced with broken glass. It sounds almost hoarse, like he’s shouting, without actually being too loud. It could have gotten that way from singing his damnedest. In the album’s first and fastest track, “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” he howls, “’Cause what the world needs now / is a new Frank Sinatra / so I can get you in bed / ’cause what the world needs now / is another folk singer / like I need a hole in the head.” The song also contains possibly the most profound lyrics in rock: “What the world needs now / are some true words of wisdom / like la la la la la la la la la.” Lowery occasionally reins it in, like in the album’s last song, “Dr. Bernice,” a waltz about a cross-dresser. “Baby, don’t you drive around with Dr. Bernice / she’s not a lady doctor at all / she’s got hands like a man / with hair on the back / she’ll crush you in her embrace.”

the background: Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman were members of the ’80s rock/punk band Camper Van Beethoven. With Cracker, they carried over all the fun of CVB and mixed it with a little southern rock. Awards should be given just for having entertaining song titles, such as “Can I Take My Gun Up to Heaven?” and “Don’t Fuck Me Up with Peace and Love,” and the silliness that drives the lyrics. “Now, do you have a girlfriend, and does she look as good as you?” sings Lowery on  “Mr. Wrong,” the album’s straight-up country tune. “Would she like to meet my brother? He’ll be out of jail in a month or two.” And on “Can I Take My Gun Up to Heaven,” the band lays down a catchy honky-tonk beat as Lowery promises, “Can I take my gun up to heaven? I’ll check it with St. Peter at the gate.”

the significance: This is what it sounds like when those wise-cracking geeks from the school band grow up and make an album. While Cracker’s fully-fleshed out second album, “Kerosene Hat,” may have sold more copies, “Cracker” is still better, with its stripped down, jangly rhythms and goofy lyrics, and presently contains the band’s only number one single (“Teen Angst”). It is also home to “Another Song About the Rain,” one of the saddest, most beautiful love songs recorded by this band, or anyone else. (For this track, Lowery conceded lead vocals to Hickman, and they’re heartbreaking.) Cracker has been on-again, off-again over the past decade, with a break in between for a Camper Van Beethoven reunion tour. The band’s most recent studio release was “Greenland,” in 2006. Cracker is currently touring the country.