CD $16.13

If the two-part title weren't enough of a tip-off, let's make this clear: Songs from an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile is a concept album, based on Everclear leader Art Alexakis' divorce. Many pop musicians have mined this territory before, but Alexakis pulls off an ingenious move by dividing his divorce album in two parts and two records, separating falling in love from the fallout. Learning How to Smile is the courtship album, painting a picture of when everything was wond   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Everclear separated their double album into two different records, isolating the poppier songs (thematically, the courtship songs) onto the first album, leaving Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude as the hard rock record (thematically, the divorce songs, or, as Art Alexakis puts it, "When It All Goes Wrong Again"). This may have concentrated their talents a little bit too much, but it does result in two pretty dynamic, effective records -- albums whose connectio   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

CD $5.68

It has been said that the key to a successful cover is making the song sound like your own. By that measure, Everclear are very successful indeed, as every song on The Vegas Years -- a covers collection consisting partially of new cuts and previously released material, much like Poison's Poison'd!, released in 2007 on Capitol, the very same label that put out The Vegas Years -- bears the unmistakable heavy hand of Art Alexakis, who leans on heavy muted eighth-note rhythms through many o   [ read more ]

CD $18.03

Art Alexakis always was, for all intents and purposes, Everclear, so the fact that he's the only remaining original member on the group's seventh album Welcome to the Drama Club doesn't really affect the sound of the band all that much: it's still the same melodic grunge that has defined the group since Sparkle and Fade. But where the Everclear on that 1995 debut was a lean power trio, the Everclear on Welcome to the Drama Club is a full-bodied quintet comprised entirely of pros -- a   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Art Alexakis always was, for all intents and purposes, Everclear, so the fact that he's the only remaining original member on the group's seventh album Welcome to the Drama Club doesn't really affect the sound of the band all that much: it's still the same melodic grunge that has defined the group since Sparkle and Fade. But where the Everclear on that 1995 debut was a lean power trio, the Everclear on Welcome to the Drama Club is a full-bodied quintet comprised entirely of pros -- a   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Instead of releasing another full-blown collection of new songs, Everclear issued In a Different Light in the fall of 2009. Harking back to the earliest days of rock & roll, when rock & rollers cut new versions of their old hits whenever they signed to a new label, Everclear redo their old tunes for 429 Records, but where Fats Domino and Chuck Berry pretty much stuck to the letter of their original hits, Everclear revamp these tunes, not so much making them into unplugged versions but t   [ read more ]

CD $13.25

Everclear separated their double album into two different records, isolating the poppier songs (thematically, the courtship songs) onto the first album, leaving Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude as the hard rock record (thematically, the divorce songs, or, as Art Alexakis puts it, "When It All Goes Wrong Again"). This may have concentrated their talents a little bit too much, but it does result in two pretty dynamic, effective records -- albums whose connectio   [ read more ]

CD $18.98

Aging was never going to be an easy task for Everclear. Led by Art Alexakis, a singer/songwriter who was just a little older than the rest of his post-grunge peers, perhaps inevitably led to his tackling subjects outside of the range of the Seven Mary Threes of the world; but that wasn't as much of a problem as the fact that his band was a career band in an era where the music industry and the audience generally ignored career bands. So, after their time in the sun in the mid- '90s, they earn   [ read more ]

CD $44.63

Everclear's major-label debut is a tough, melodic set of gnarled post-punk hard rock. An easy comparison is Nirvana, but Everclear's music is closer to the country-rock leanings of Screaming Trees -- underneath their loud, grungy guitars there is a distinct rootsiness lacking in most Seattle bands and that gives Sparkle and Fade its edge. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $11.38

Everclear, or more specifically their lead singer/songwriter Art Alexakis, were a little more ambitious than the rest of the second-wave grunge bands. They weren't tied to the all-guitars, all-the-time aesthetic, leaping to incorporate synths into their sound on So Much for the Afterglow, their 1997 follow-up to their 1995 breakthrough Sparkle and Fade, and they also released a two-part concept album in 2000s twin records Songs From an American Movie. Alexakis had a broader world view t   [ read more ]

CD $18.03