Just Fine

M.J. Fine does it again

Ten artists had No. 1 songs on Billboard's modern rock chart in 1998, and with the exception of Hole, they pretty much used the same template. Marcy Playground and Fastball owned the first five months; Goo Goo Dolls, Eve 6 and Barenaked Ladies ruled the summer. June belonged to Semisonic's piano-rocker "Closing Time," a pleasant collection of platitudes capped by Dan Wilson's plaintive "I know who I want to take me home." Supposedly inspired by the birth of his daughter, it sounded more like a theme song for drunken college students angling for one last hookup. Overplayed, for sure, but despite the clichés and poor grammar, it held up well.

Semisonic Feeling Strangely Fine (MCA, 1998)

Dan Wilson Free Life (American Recordings, 2007)

The rest of Feeling Strangely Fine is, well, fine. "Singing in My Sleep," the follow-up single, is a sweet response to a lovingly made mix tape; "Completely Pleased" and "All Worked Out" show men at their most whipped. Satisfying for four minutes, but they won't stick with you.

Given their sensitive songs, Semisonic's current status is appropriate: amiable but inactive since 2001. Drummer Jacob Slichter turned their music-biz misadventures into an insightful and endearing memoir, which would've been a respectable last word from the one-and-a-half-hit wonders. But Wilson (the band's other Harvard alum) apparently had more to learn.

Free Life was ready three years ago; label shenanigans kept it from getting released until last month. (In the meantime, Wilson produced for Mike Doughty and earned a Grammy for a song he wrote with the Dixie Chicks.) Though mostly slow and often wistful, Free Life's standouts are the relatively rocking "Breathless" and the pedal-steel-tinged "Easy Silence," which is as pretty as the Dixie Chicks' version. "All Kinds" and "Come Home Angel" show Wilson up to his old tricks, with lyrics so vague they could just as easily be about fatherly feelings as romance, and the wife-pleasing songs outnumber the ones about broken hearts and the thrill of the chase. Good thing there's no expiration date on love and peace; that's all Wilson knows.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)

It's opening time for Dan Wilson; get to Sondre Lerche's Nov. 28 show at World Café Live early.